Sulphur Springs City Managers Report February 3, 2026

February 5, 2026 – During the regular meeting of the Sulphur Springs City Council on Tuesday February 3, 2026, City Manager Marc Maxwell submitted his monthly report.

TO: SULPHUR SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CITY MANAGER, MARC MAXWELL
SUBJ: MANAGER’S REPORT

CLAIMS – We had one workers’ compensation claim in January when a Wastewater Plant Operator slipped and fell at a lift station, resulting in a contusion to his right wrist. The employee was treated and released to limited duty, and a first report of injury was submitted to TMLIRP.

We also received a liability claim related to a broken water main on Commercial Services Drive that flooded a building. The notice of claim advised suspected damages exceeding $8,000,000. TMLIRP denied the claim in its entirety after investigation, stating the City has no legal liability.

Thermo 18″ Water Line (Capital Construction) 

Crews installed 1,500 feet of 18-inch water line in January, bringing the total installed to 17,797 feet. Phase 1 is now fully installed. Remaining work includes installing concrete pads around valves, pressure testing, and final ditch-line cleanup.

For the Thermo 21-inch sewer line, staff began laying out the alignment and mulching the path for installation.

City Hall Site & Parking 

City Hall parking lot sidewalks are complete. Engineering continued civil-site design revisions and underground utility tracing for the City Hall addition.

STREET IMPROVEMENT PLAN (SIP) & 2026 PLANNING –

Routine street maintenance continued while staff advanced SIP 2026 planning. The list remains prepared and coordinated with Water & Sewer and Streets. Contract extension paperwork has been executed, IWorQ street-condition updates are complete, and shapefiles for new streets have been prepared and sent.

TENTATIVE 2026 SIP LIST

Miracle League Field

Texas Parks and Wildlife has approved the construction plans for the project. We will now start seeking bids for each of the subcontracts; the city will act as general contractor on the project.

Departmental Activity

Public Works

• Repaired 111 potholes and cleaned storm drains 2 times.
• Repaired streets following 15 water or sewer repairs.
• Installed 120 feet of curbs at Gaines and Fuller Streets for the SIP list and began setup work for valley gutter at Gaines and Putman Streets.
• Began setup for new curbs at Robertson and Towne Streets for the SIP list.
• Continued the program to check every street and trim trees within 14 feet of the roadway.
• Repaired/replaced 2 stop signs and mulched overgrown trees along Houston Street.
• Repaired a ditch along 7th Street by installing fill dirt and compacting.
• Prepared trucks and equipment for winter weather operations and worked the winter weather event by applying 25 loads of sand/ice melt mixture.

Utilities — Water

• Water breaks repaired (by size): ¾″–2; 1″–1; 6″–5; 12″–2.
• Water meters replaced: ¾″–13 (with 3 meter boxes replaced). Dead meters: 0.
• Located over 8,600 feet of water mains and services for contractors and installed one new 1inch tap.

Utilities — Sewer (City Lines Only)

• Sewer calls answered: 39 city calls (private 26 and grease 13 excluded from totals).
• Sewer mains and services repaired: 4″–1; 6″–2.
• Washed over 80,000 feet of city sewer mains under the F.O.G. program, plus over 8,600 feet while locating mains for contractors.
• Located 8,600 feet of city sewer mains and services and made one 4-inch tap and one 6-inch tap.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

• Monthly average effluent TSS = 2.87 mg/L.
• Hauled 245.75 tons of sludge to Maloy Landfill (0 tons to Pleasant Oaks).
• Completed multiple maintenance items, including belt press bearing replacement, PLC troubleshooting and repair, filter media cleaning, and replacement of a VFD drive on sludge pump #2.

Community Development — Inspections & Permits

• Inspections: 68 building; 9 electrical; 12 plumbing; 11 mechanical.
• Permits: 23 building; 36 trade.
• Planning & Zoning approved a replat request (PL#260101) for Rock Creek Addition to create two lots (Approved).
• No Planning & Zoning or Zoning Board of Adjustment applications were received for February.
• Engineering handled 27 development inquiries in January involving multiple corridors and infill locations. Staff continued work on the Coalmine project utility revisions and master planning, ongoing water main installation along Trinity Parkway, and final inspections and mapping updates for Stonewood Phase I and Stonecreek Phase 2.

Fire Department

• Responded to 210 total calls; conducted 38 inspections; maintained 76 hydrants; and logged 178 CE training hours.
• Incident detail: 3 structure fires; 4 vehicle fires; 12 fires not in structure; 14 alarms; 1 county mutual aid.

Library

• Recorded 3,973 visitors, 3,497 checkouts, and 233 public computer sessions.
• Served 214 eBook users with 854 eBook checkouts.

Parks & Recreation

Downtown/Plaza

• Completed daily maintenance and cleaning, changed banners to Celebration Plaza, cleaned leaves, top-dressed beds with mulch, cleaned the Plaza fountain wet vault 2 times, removed Christmas décor, applied deicer to sidewalks, and mowed downtown areas multiple times.

City Park Areas

• Completed work at Pacific Park where the new pavilion has been finished, prepared parks for freezing temperatures, trimmed trees in Buford Park, performed preventative equipment maintenance, and mowed the airport terminal area 1 time.

Grays Building & Senior Center

• Made repairs at Grays Building (oven and water heater) and prepared the facility for 13 rentals.
• Assisted with 82 senior activities and hosted a New Year’s Eve party (75 attendees) and Silver Saturday Night (50 attendees).
• Continued SECO grant work for LED light replacement at Coleman Fields and coordination with architects and TPWD on Miracle League Field design revisions.

Police Department

• Personnel: Silas Whaley was promoted to Investigator.
• Recorded 1,625 total calls; investigated 36 accidents resulting in 5 injuries and 1 fatality; issued 373 citations; recorded 49 offenses; and made 45 arrests.

Animal Control

• Responded to 132 complaint calls.
• Picked up 20 dogs and cats and accepted 2 owner drop-offs.
• Released 7 animals to owners and facilitated 6 adoptions, resulting in an 87% adoption rate.
• Issued 3 citations, responded to 2 bite reports, and euthanized 2 animals. Animals in shelter at month end: 14.

Airport & Tourism

• Sold 2,912 gallons of AvGas and 5,647 gallons of Jet-A fuel.
• Recorded 2,173 operations (average 70/day).
• Tourism staff continued distributing local information and assisted local organizations with event planning and execution.

Out-of-State Travel

• None