Sulphur Springs City Manager Marc Maxwell presented the following report to the City Council during the regular monthly council meeting on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
We have 0 patients in the COVID unit at the hospital. (I hope soon we can leave this off entirely.)
CLAIMS
We had a fleet accident in March involving a police cruiser. One unlucky driver ran a red light and crashed into the squad car causing $1,500 worth of damage. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
We had one workers compensation claim for a laceration when a Capital Construction employee was struck by rebar during demolition activities at Pacific Park.
SENIOR CITIZENS BUILDING
It’s official; we got the $2.4 million grant from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). As soon as we sign a contract with TDHCA we can begin the project. I expect the contract to be ready for signature in June.
PACIFIC PARK
- The playground complete. Demolition has begun on the splash pad.
- The Capital Construction Division in installing a concrete walking path around the park.
- Next up will be the basketball pavilion.
COLLEGE STREET
The water/sewer/drainage is complete for phase 1 from the plaza to Patton. Next, Highway 19 Construction (the contractor) will build the road and the Capital Construction Division will continue to the east with utility construction on Phase 2 (Patton to Como).
SPRING CLEANUP
The Spring clean-up was a busy event this year with 1,285 vehicles bring rubbish to the site. In total 3,480 cubic yards of trash was hauled to the landfill, and a small mountain of green waste was left on site to be burned later this summer.
ONCOR RATE INCREASE
Oncor advised the City in writing that they plan to file a full rate case with the Public Utility Commission of Texas later this month. This is different than the periodic Distribution Cost Recovery Factor (DCRF) that we are accustomed to seeing. The DCRF only recovers costs for new investment in distribution equipment, whereas this will be a full review of the base rate. The city is a member of the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor. The steering committee is fully aware of this development, and they have already procured the consultants to review the filing once it is made. Expect action items related to this filing to be on future agendas.
REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES
Finance Director Lesa Smith will present a report of year-to-date revenues and expenditures.
STREET IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Texana Land and Asphalt plans to pave the streets listed below this summer.
Around the City
Elsewhere around the city, employees:
- Cleaned storm drains 3 times.
- Cleaned up the property at Jefferson and Alabama.
- Placed the new utilities on College Street into service.
- Conducted 37 building inspections, 24 electrical inspections, 21 plumbing inspections, 51 mechanical inspections and issued 27 building permits.
- Sold 3,061 gallons of Avgas and 5,750 gallons of Jet-A fuel.
- Accommodated 1,595 landings/takeoffs at the airport for an average of 52/day.
- Checked out 2,841 items from the library plus 643 eBooks.
- Responded to 206 animal control calls while achieving an 88% adoption rate.
- Made 1 felony arrest in the Special Crimes Unit.
- Responded to 38 accidents, recorded 39 offences, made 35 arrests and wrote 521 citations in the Patrol Division.
- Sprayed for weeds downtown and changed out flowers for spring/summer.
- Repainted restrooms at Imagination Mountain.
- Hosted two baseball/softball tournaments.
- Assisted with the Kids Kingdom rehabilitation (Thank you Adult Leadership Class of 2022!!!)
- Responded to 196 calls for fire/rescue including 2 structure fires, 1 vehicle fire and 4 grass fires.
- Conducted 30 fire inspections.
- Performed preventative maintenance on 78 fire hydrants.
- Installed a new electrical service at Pacific Park.
- Performed preventative maintenance on several items at the water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant.
- Treated wastewater to a total suspended solids reading of .41 mg/L (less than one part per million).
- Repaired 10 water main ruptures.
- Replace 10 water meters.
- Unstopped 23 sewer mains.
- Repaired 4 sewer mains.
- Washed 75,000 feet of sewer mains.
- Flushed 39 dead-end water mains.
- Repaired Cooper Lake water pumps.
- Treated 129 million gallons of potable water
