BURTON CITY COUNCIL ADDRESSES WATER & WASTEWATER PROJECTS, DISCUSSES CHANGES TO SOLID WASTE CONTRACT

  

The Burton City Council took action Tuesday on several items relating to the city’s ongoing efforts to improve its water and wastewater system.

First, the council agreed to use $25,000 in savings to abandon and plug an old water well that is no longer in service.  Mayor Karen Buck said as the well plugging is required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, it is important to get it done and out of the way as the city pursues the drilling of a new well.

Next, the council rescinded a resolution from last month to submit a Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program application for drainage improvement projects, before approving another resolution for both drainage and wastewater improvements.  City Secretary Angela Harrington said the reason for this is because the CDBG has a new project form, and the city is looking to add new project information like the Amkin lift station.

After that, councilmembers rescinded a motion made in July to approve Strand Associates for engineering services for the city’s Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) water line replacement project.  They then approved entering contract negotiations with BEFCO Engineering, who the city scored as the highest-ranking firm when seeking qualifications for the project.

Buck said the cause for the change was a “procedural error”, which Harrington said had to do with how the original agenda item was worded and handled.  Harrington said the routine thing to do is to choose the highest-rating firm and negotiate a contract with that firm, moving on to the next-highest firm if a contract cannot be agreed to.

The regular session ended with updates on the city’s ballpark use agreement with Burton Friends and Neighbors and on the solid waste collection contract with Texas Commercial Waste (TCW).  Not much information was presented on the ballpark agreement, as Buck said it is still in the hands of attorneys. 

As for the solid waste contract, the city intends to renegotiate its contract with TCW for residential services, but allow commercial and industrial customers to procure their own trash collection services.  Buck said that will involve establishing ordinances and processes to where the city can collect franchise fees, similar to the City of Brenham’s model with roll-off dumpsters.  Further discussion on the contract will take place next month.

In other business, the council:

• Approved amended budgets for the 2024-25 Fiscal Year reflecting actual income and expenses of the second quarter of the fiscal year.
• Authorized road closures for the annual Burton ISD homecoming parade on Wednesday, October 30^th.