By Doug Carder
Miami County Republic – September 5, 2018
Ted Bartlett stood at the corner of First Street and Carr Avenue in Osawatomie.
It was his birthday. But the Osawatomie fire chief wasn’t in a festive mood June 30, 2007.
Just a short distance away, at the levee, the Marais des Cygnes River continued to churn closer to the brink.
“I can still remember standing there that Saturday morning and calling the police chief, whose daughter was getting married that day,” Bartlett said. “I said, ‘Chief Stiles, we are in trouble.’
Chief Mike Stiles replied, “Ted, we’ve had water against the levee before.”
“I said, ‘Not like this, boss. We are in trouble,’” Bartlett said.
The rainwater pooling inside the levee was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
“I brought in a truck to pump water out of the area …,” Bartlett said.
The fire chief would soon discover pooling water was the least of his troubles.
The Pottawatomie Creek crested its banks and rushed into Osawatomie, leaving unfathomable destruction in its wake.
“I was dumbfounded,” Bartlett said. “No one ever believed the river would come inside the levee, and no one ever believed the Pottawatomie would be the river that came over. It was utter destruction, not just property but the animals that were affected and lost their lives in the flood, and the helplessness of so many people.”
Bartlett did not sleep for four days, he said, spending most of that time in charge of a command center or at a temporary fire station that was set up underneath the side of the high school stadium.
“We had to evacuate the fire station,” Bartlett said. “Standing in what was my place, seeing it empty, that brought a tear to your eye.”
Bartlett said the community’s ability to come together in a time of tragedy showed what communities can do when they work together.
But the good memories Bartlett said he has experienced over the past 30 years washed away many of the bad memories, like the 2007 flood.
Last Friday, Bartlett, 52, had a chance to relive some of those memories and see many familiar faces when he retired as a building official with the city of Osawatomie. He met his KPERS requirements for retirement at the end of June.
Bartlett began his association with the city as a volunteer firefighter in 1988, and went on to serve the community in many functions with the police department, including as a patrolman and school resource officer at Osawatomie High School.
He’s also served as fire chief, building inspector and animal control officer in charge of the city’s pound, working some of those jobs simultaneously. For the past six years he has been a building official, overseeing zoning, meter reading and nuisance enforcement.
“My favorite job was SRO, hands down,” Bartlett said. “Being there for the kids and working with the kids. I would never have left the SRO position had they been able to fund that position and keep me in the schools like they do the officer today.
“I don’t think we’ll see those SRO positions disappear anymore,” he said. “They’ve just become too vital for our children’s safety.”
As SRO, Bartlett walked the halls of the high school where he graduated. One of the biggest thrills from his tenure as SRO was being able to watch his children Alex and Angel, and stepchildren Sarah and Matt start at OHS as freshmen and graduate while he was with the district, he said.
His most challenging job, Bartlett said, was in his current position as a building official.
“The learning curve associated with this job is kind of outside everything I had done to this point,” he said. “The building codes and zoning regulations, there’s a lot to learn. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever get it out of my head.”
City Manager Don Cawby said Bartlett was the perfect fit for the job because of the way he works with people and always goes out of his way to try and help them.
“He’s talked about volunteering with Olive’s Hope [animal rescue group], which just speaks to the kind of person he is,” Cawby said. “He’s usually the one who keeps things light around here. We’re going to miss him, and I’m sure I’ll be talking with him after he’s left.”
Bartlett has overseen the city’s pound for about 15 years, which handles animals from the cities of Osawatomie and Paola, the county, and the state at Hillsdale Lake.
The infamous “railroad dog,” which used to roam the streets of Osawatomie and chased after one particular railroad truck, has lived with Bartlett and his wife, Lisa, for a number of years since he caught the “longhaired terrier mutt” – for the second time.
“We call her Momma Dog now,” Bartlett said. “We had to rename her because she got a new life.”
He’s handled a lot of calls through the years, picking up all types of animals, including trapping and relocating a group of foxes that had been living in John Brown Memorial Park, where people were handfeeding them.
“I’ve picked up just about everything you can think of, but I won’t do snakes,” he said, laughing.
Of the 400 to 500 dogs and cats that come through the pound each year, this past year Bartlett said he only had to euthanize five dogs and 30 feral cats, in large part to the terrific work of rescue group Olive’s Hope.
“I can’t say enough good things about Olive’s Hope,” he said.
He also couldn’t say enough good things about the current Osawatomie City Council, City Manager Cawby and the city staff.
“They truly care about the city of Osawatomie.”
Posted by Gwen Dorr Romine, KSFFA Webmaster
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