June 5, 2025 – During the regular meeting of the Sulphur Springs City Council on Tuesday June 3, 2025, City Manager Marc Maxwell submitted his monthly report.
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CITY MANAGER, MARC MAXWELL
SUBJ: MANAGER’S REPORT
CLAIMS – We had 2 workers compensation claims in May. One employee missed 2 steps descending stairs and broke her foot. After two weeks off she is back on light duty. Another employee injured his shoulder making entry on a SWAT call. That injury did not result in time off.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN – Kimley Horn is meeting with department heads tomorrow to receive input, then they will meet with the City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission Jointly. After that they will schedule more public meetings.
MIRACLE LEAGUE FIELD – We are waiting for Texas Parks and Wildlife to approve the construction drawings.
THERMO WATER – The Capital Construction Division installed 4,160 feet of 18’ water main in April for a total of 8,200 feet. We are replacing
old 8” main. This will be the first water project of many at Thermo.
COLEMAN BALLFIELD LIGHT UPGRADE – This $250,000 grant from the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) to upgrade the ballfield lights to LED is on again, off again. It’s currently on again…mostly. SECO conducted a site audit in May. We think that is a good sign. They tell us that the approval to proceed is imminent.
MIDFIELD APRON – This project is substantially complete. We expect to open the midfield apron by June 15.
This project included drainage improvements as well as repaving the midfield apron in concrete. Total project cost is $5.28 million, of which 90% is funded by a grant through TXDOT.
WASTEWATER CHLORINE CONTACT CHAMBER – Hayter Engineering is presently designing the new chlorine contact chamber. We have encountered an obstacle that threatens to prevent us from re-rating the plant from 5.4 MGD to 10 MGD. Our Primary clarifiers are only 8 feet deep. TCEQ now requires a minimum depth of 10 feet. They are applying the depth requirement to us if we want to rerate. Staff is working on the issue. We have applied for a variance and we are waiting for an answer. Our data shows that our clarifiers are doing a fantastic job as they are.
This $2.2 million project will repurpose a former (abandoned) sand filter turning it into a chlorine contact chamber. Chlorine contact time is a bottleneck at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The WWTP has a rated capacity of 5.4 MGD. Staff believes we can increase the capacity to 10 MGD when the project is completed. The increase will require TCEQ approval, but staff thinks it is feasible. The project is being funded from the Enterprise Fund balance.
STREET IMPROVEMENT PLAN (SIP) – Following is a list of projects for the 2025 SIP. Highlighted segments have been completed. The contractor is waiting for the school year to end before finishing the list.
2025 Street Improvement Program Street From/To Length Hodge Davis to Fisher and Texas to Brinker 925 South Davis Lee to Industrial 1047 Debbie/Kayla/Price Camp thru Cul de sac 961 Foscue Jefferson to Weaver 808 Middle Church to Mulberry 918 Turtle Creek Main to end 702 Village Linda to End 301 Ponder Connally to Van Sickle 702 Sunset Houston to RR 1193 Sprite End to End 1109 Stacy/Beckton/C P Alley Fuller to College 1244 Tate Texas to Brinker 570 Michel College to Gena 850 McGrede Sprite to Lemon 1660 Lilly/Bird Cir. MLK to Cul de sac 570 Ponder Van Sickle to Houston 449 Levi/Cottonwood End to End 988 Ingram Texas to Locust 359 Locust Tate to Bellview 449 Asphalt/Concrete repairs Various 1000 Coleman Parking Expansion 250 x 190 Camp Texas to Brinker 550 Kimberly End to end 675
REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES – Finance Director Lesa Smith will present the monthly report of revenues and expenditures.
Elsewhere around the city, employees:
• Repaired the AC units at City Hall.
• Reprogrammed locks at the Police Department, the business office, and the old senior citizens building.
• Hauled 774 tons of sludge to the landfill.
• Treated wastewater to a daily average total suspended solids reading of 2.4 mg/L. • Cleaned and painted the old senior citizens building.
• Repaired 9 water main breaks.
• Replaced 8 water meters.
• Unstopped 17 sewer mains.
• Repaired 8 sewer mains.
• Washed 81,000 feet of sewer mains.
• Removed 1 raw water pump from the Cooper Lake Pump Station and sent it in to be rebuilt.
• Planted flowers downtown.
• Changed out banners for Dairy Festival.
• Cleaned the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial fountain.
• Hosted 168 local youth ball games.
• Hosted 3 Tournaments.
• Made several repairs to Kids Kingdom.
• Responded to 206 fire/rescue calls including 3 structure fires and 4 grass fires. • Performed preventative maintenance on 76 fire hydrants.
• Performed 35 fire inspections.
• Conducted 64 building inspections, 22 electrical inspections, 16 plumbing inspections, and 3 mechanical inspections.
• Issued 21 building permits and 37 trade permits.
• Responded to 192 animal control calls while achieving a 74% adoption rate. • Responded to 32 accidents, wrote 567 citations, recorded 43 offences and made 51 arrests in the Patrol Division.
• Repaired 154 potholes.
• Repaired a Storm Drain Box on Gilmer.
• Cleaned out storm drain catch basins 4 times.
• Replaced 4 stop signs.
• Made 10 extensive street repairs following utility repairs.
• Sold 3,747 gallons of AvGas and 8,316 Gallons of JetA fuel.
• Accommodated 2180 takeoffs/landings at the airport. • Checked out 4,025 items from the Library plus 991 eBooks.
