Non-plan plan gets nod from Council
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com

A five-year improvement plan for city streets and drainage got the blessing of Council - with the provision that it wouldn't be listed that way.

The plan, which a list of infrastructure improvements to be paid for via excess dollars in the General Fund, shouldn't obligate future City Councils to a specific scope of work, leaders said.

But they quickly added that improvements should proceed at an orderly pace.

The city manager, they directed during an October session, would simply bring projects before City Council as they are ready to processed.

The $2.2 million plan calls for reworking South Meadow Lane at an estimated $320,000, Phillips Southland at an estimated $560,000 and the 3P's area at $320,000 as well as two major ditches and drainage in the Avenue F and Pecan area.

Those projects ballpark at $275,000 and $150,000.

There is $200,000 designated for strip paving and about the same for an engineering study of the Town & Country area.

In mid-September, City Council gave its blessing to a five-year, almost $2 million plan to upgrade the waste water treatment plant and sewer/water mains.

At that meeting, they shot down the General Fund Capital Improvement Plan because of the timeline which Council members said obligated future Councils to a scope of work.

Last month, they agreed to the same scope of work with the elimination of the timeline although no formal vote was taken.

The votes will come as the individual projects develop, they said.

The formally accepted Utility Fund plan does have a timeline and will be funded via fund balance dollars in the city's Utility Fund.

The first year, the city plans homeauction2.to spend an estimated $400,000 upgrading a "digester" at the waste water treatment facility - an improvement the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is demanding.

In the second year, the plan calls for an emergency generator at the facility as well as providing matching dollars for a water line improvement grant, upgrades to water and sewer mains as well as a new sewer lift station on Olive Street - almost $460,000 in work.

An additional $250,000 of main upgrades are planned in year three and almost $200,000 in year five.

Exact costs will have to be determined later.