The Sulphur Springs City Manager’s Report for June 2020 was presented by Marc Maxwell to Sulphur Springs City Council at the Tuesday, June 2, council meeting.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
• Most City Offices have reopened. Police Department, Fire Department, Water Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment Plant remain closed. The Municipal Library has partially reopened.
• Police and Fire continue to implement new procedures for dealing with persons suspected of COVID-19.
• Police and Fire employees still have their temperature taken when arriving at work.
• Department Heads, the City Manager and the Mayor meet each week (virtually) to coordinate our efforts.
• Mayor, City Manager, Police Chief and Fire Chief attend weekly EOC briefings.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
The Wastewater Treatment Plant is finally completed. It is a few months late, but it is $256,000 under budget. We had several change orders during construction, but most reduced the cost of the project rather than increase it. Congratulations to Utilities Director James Jordan for a job well done!
GRAYS BUILDING
Staff is still fine tuning the specifications for this project in an effort to keep costs down and quality up. We are leaning toward utilizing the construction
manager method of construction.
BELLVIEW STREET
Atmos is still replacing their gas line on this project. I don’t expect Atmos to be finished for 60 days.
MCCANN STREET – HOLIDAY DRIVE
We still haven’t done much on these two streets since we are still trying to understand the extent of the economic impact of COVID.
CONNALLY STREET
Construction continues on the sidewalk on the south side of Connally Street. The Capital Construction Division poured 102 cubic yards of concrete on Connally Street in May.
STREET IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
The Street Improvement Program (SIP) is in full swing. Below is a list of the streets to be paved this year. The streets that were completed in May have been struck through. I expect the remainder to be completed in June. The SIP is funded by a combination of General Fund revenues and the Street
Maintenance Fee on the water bill. Streets funded by the Street Maintenance fee are highlighted in yellow.
CLAIMS
We had 2 minor worker’s compensation claims in May. Both claims were minor. One was in the Police Department, and the other was in the Fire Department.
We received 2 liability claims in May. One person injured her knee in Buford Park. That claim was denied by TML. Another person is claiming the vibrations from a house demolition performed by the city caused their floor to buckle. That claim has also been submitted to TML.
Another citizen reported damages from a sewer overflow, and they were paid $1,670 for damages by TML.
REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES
Finance Director Lesa Smith will give a year-to-date report of revenues and expenditures.
MISCELLANEOUS
Elsewhere around the city, employees:
• Prepared downtown for another summer season.
• Fertilized all athletic fields.
• Removed all weeds from Kids Kingdom.
• Burned the brush pile at Coleman Park, actually an arsonist beat us to it.
• Trimmed up trees at Buford Park to a minimum 10’ clearance.
• Trimmed shrubs at the library and the senior citizens center.
• Made major street repairs following 7 utility repairs.
• Repaired 247 potholes.
• Cleaned storm drains 3 times.
• Replaced a downtown streetlight and a seat wall after a wreck.
• Replaced a stop sign that had been run over.
• Hauled 7,600 tons of broken concrete from Thermo to Hilltop.
• Replaced one washed-out culvert on CR 2307.
• Removed concrete at the site of the proposed senior citizen center.
• Conducted 24 building inspections, 29 electrical inspections, 15 plumbing
inspections, 7 mechanical inspections and issued 24 building permits.
• Responded to 182 fire/rescue calls including 4 structure fires, 2 vehicle fires and 6 grass fires.
• Sent out 42 notices for weed violations.
• Performed preventative maintenance on 80 fire hydrants.
• Sold 1,360 gallons of AvGas and 4,480 gallons of JetA fuel.
• Checked out 2,236 books from the library.
• Replaced the lamps on the Peavine Pinion boardwalk.
• Treated Wastewater to a daily average total suspended solids reading of .21 mg/L. our limit this time of year is 12 mg/L. This is a new record for the plant. Once the new plant has been in service for a year, we should have it re-rated for a flow greater than 5.4 MGD.
• Repaired 10 water main ruptures. Replaced 10 water meters.
• Unstopped 17 sewer mains.
• Repaired 4 sewer mains.
• Washed 75,000 feet of sewer mains.
• Treated 143 million gallons of potable water.
• Flushed 36 dead-end water mains.
• Responded to 26 accidents including 2 deaths, wrote 469 citations, recorded 78 offenses, made 55 arrests, and responded to 2,221 calls for police service.
• Made 8 felony arrests on the special crimes unit.
• Responded to 192 animal control calls and achieved an 84% adoption rate.
