Texarkana, Texas, will sell $14.4 million in bonds to fund more than a dozen projects including the replacement of playgrounds and ballfield lights at city parks.
At its regular meeting Monday, the Texas-side City Council approved the bond sale and contracts for 14 projects as part of the city's new Capital Improvement Plan.
Projects include replacing fire station roofs, dredging the lake at Spring Lake Park and improving drainage at Walton Drive and Pavilion Parkway. The bonds will also fund initial design costs for projects planned for 2018, including a new terminal at Texarkana Regional Airport and restoration of the Perot Theatre including an adjacent art park.
Work on the projects can begin right away, Deputy City Manager Kyle Dooley said.
"We have the books and the contracts ready to go, and we've talked to our contractors. We were hoping this would go through and told them to come by and get them in the morning," he said.
Replacement of city park playground equipment will begin with Ferguson Park this week, Parks and Wellness Director Robby Robertson said.
City Manager John Whitson praised the efforts of city staffers to make the Capital Improvement Plan a reality after three years of development.
"Staff has been working really hard to get all these contracts in on this time frame, on this schedule, locking our numbers down to more solid numbers, and making the bond sale go real smooth," Whitson said.
The council also approved a contract to buy body cameras and other equipment for Texarkana, Texas, Police Department officers.
The city will spend more than $250,000 over five years for body and dashboard cameras, cloud storage of audio and video data, and cellular modems/routers in patrol cars.
The contract is with Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz. Body cameras bought in 2015 from a different company failed and were returned last summer. L3 Mobile-Vision refunded the cameras' purchase price, more than $20,000, which had been donated by private citizens.
The vote came after no one spoke during a public hearing on the contract.
There was also silence during a public hearing on demolishing the downtown Kress Building. The council then voted to approve a $629,000-plus contract with Gator Industrial LLC of Joplin, Mo., to do the work.
The city accepted the long-abandoned building, at 116 W. Broad St., as a donation in 2009. "A structural engineering report conducted by Raley and Associates in 2012 stated that the building structure appears to be unstable and needs to be demolished as soon as possible," briefing materials that accompany the meeting's agenda state.
Gator Industrial has agreed to try to preserve the salt-glazed terracotta tiles that adorn the building's facade. Whatever tiles are preserved will be stored by the city for future use.
The council also approved a contract to buy new billing software for Texarkana Water Utilities from Continental Utility Solutions Inc. of Jonesboro, Ark. The total cost is more than $398,000, and the Texas side's portion is more than $249,500. The Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors voted for the contract at its meeting March 6.
The council's next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 10.
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