The Texarkana, Texas, City Council on Monday agreed to delegate some authority in the effort to build new water supply infrastructure at Wright Patman Lake.
The council approved a joint resolution authorizing Riverbend Water Resources District Director and CEO Liz Fazio-Hale to apply for government permits needed for construction of new water intake structures at the lake. Specifically, the resolution authorizes Fazio-Hale to apply for federal permits under the Clean Water Act and for permission from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to place the structure anywhere on the lake's shoreline.
The council tabled the resolution at its last meeting and held a workshop meeting on it a week later. City Manager Shirley Jaster said the workshop had been helpful in working out a version of the resolution both parties are comfortable with.
"We're all in agreement," Jaster said.
Because council members Josh Davis and Bill Harp were absent, Mayor Bob Bruggeman was required to cast a vote. He and the four council members present voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
The Riverbend board will vote whether to approve it at a future meeting.
During the meeting's public forum, Kelly Mitchell offered the council his resignation from the Riverbend board. Gov. Greg Abbott recently appointed him to the board of the Sulphur River Basin Authority and by law, he cannot serve on both. Mitchell said he would do his best to facilitate a long-delayed meeting between the council and SRBA.
The council approved a pair of contracts with local firm Heritage Construction totaling more than $412,000 for new filter basin troughs and filter media for the Wright Patman water treatment plant.
The filter basins have been in place since 1971 and the filter media since 1987, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recommended replacing them a year and a half ago, Texarkana Water Utilities Executive Director J.D. Phillips told the council.
The council also approve four street repair contracts: for street reconstruction, 1-inch overlay paving, concrete replacement and seal coating, respectively. The contracts will be paid from the city's major maintenance fund, which the council recently approved creating, Deputy City Manager Kyle Dooley said.
The meeting included a number of public hearings on rezoning issues, six of which the council then fast-tracked and approved unanimously. The council approved:
n rezoning a tract in the 6800 block of Richmond Road from Single Family-1 to Single Family-2;
n granting a special use permit to allow a residential treatment center for women at 1217 Hazel St.;
n revoking the previous special use permit for 1217 Hazel, which allowed a treatment center for psychiatric, alcoholic and narcotic patients;
n rezoning lots at 2107 W. 14th St. from Multiple Family-1 to Single Family-3;
n granting a specific use permit to allow a double-wide manufactured home at 2107 W. 14th St.; and
n rezoning a lot in the 3700 block of Trotter Lane from Two Family-2 to Multiple Family-1.
The council's next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26.
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