A contract awarded and a postponed vote on the Capital Improvement Plan was the result of a special session of the Sulphur Springs City Council Tuesday night, June 26, 2018. Work begins on the awarded contract today and a final vote on the CIP will be on the agenda for the July council session.
Sulphur Springs City Council awarded the contract and approved a bid of $247,000 for sanitary sewer work to be performed along Highway 11W from just west to Stonebriar to the east within the city limits. Work to move the 1000 feet of sewer lines and a pump station begins today, June 27, 2018. The cost of the project will be reimbursed by the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT has already approved the amount and the contractor. The work is necessary for TxDOT to complete roadwork along State Highway 11W. The rework of 11W has taken 10 years and is now in the final stages.
With a limit to budgeted funds that can be spent on the 2019-2023, the five year Capital Improvement Plan will receive one tweak prior to final approval according to discussion of council with city staff. The city engineering department, utility departments and capital construction crew leadership answered council questions regarding how the plan is developed and the flexibility of the plan. City staff noted that the age and condition of sewer and water lines were a driving force in the streets designated for rework. They pointed out that the older segments of the city contained the older lines that were in dire need of repair. The downtown area and streets along Connally and College Streets were noted as priority areas. The five year plan calls for $3.5 million to be spent from the water and sewer funds and $5.5 million from street funds. The sewer work moving a major line from across hospital property to around hospital property and down Jackson Street from money already budgeted is also underway.
The council did question if flooding along College Street had been evaluated. Staff answered that it had been evaluated and would be eliminated or reduced during the rework of that street. Staff assured council that flooding would not be worse than it currently is.
The council requested that city staff extend one project, Bellview Street, for an additional block. That means that another project will be dropped from the list of 10 projects proposed to the council due to budget limits. The Bellview project was set for South Moore and finish at Texas. A council member advocated that the work extend to League Street to Texas Street.
The motion to approve the CIP for 2019-2023 that had been tabled at the June meeting has now been postponed until the July session as they await final cost of the Bellview rework including the extension requested.
