Tuesday evening, city manager Marc Maxwell presented his manager’s report sharing the progress of ongoing projects throughout the city as well as city maintenance reports and an update on active COVID-19 cases.
“The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus seems to be spreading like wildfire across the nation,” Maxwell commented. “Unfortunately, I cannot give you any accurate numbers regarding the number of local cases as the State of Texas is having difficulty updating the numbers. This has been a recurring theme with the Department of State Health Services for almost 2 years. The number of people hospitalized at Christus Trinity Mother Frances remains low at 7.”
There were no worker’s compensation claims in December however there were two liability claims in December,.
One for a slip and fall incident and the other for a sewer backup inside a residence.
Maxwell shared that both incidents were submitted to the TML risk pool. The slip and fall incident was denied and the wastewater incident is pending.
The city is in the process of applying for a grant to enlarge the Senior Citizen building with the deadline set at Jan. 19.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs recently announced a grant program called the Texas Community Resiliency Program that will award grants between $500 thousand and $5 million for qualifying projects with senior citizen centers being specifically called out as a qualifying project.
Progress continues at Pacific Park with the fitness court currently under construction.
The next portions to be installed are the playground and new bathrooms. Elsewhere on the agenda for the evening was to award a bid for concrete for all of the paths throughout the park.
“Kudos to the Capital Construction Division for solving the long-standing drainage problem on Martin Luther King Junior Drive between Davis Street and Oak Avenue,” Maxwell said. “This was a complicated problem that required close cooperation with the Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS) and a delicate touch installing new drainage pipe around existing utilities and KCS control conduits.”
Work has begun on the College Street project. The Capital Construction Division installed a new sewer main and new water main between Oak and Jackson. Next, a small drainage component will be constructed and the project will continue to the east.
Maxwell shared that the city had hoped to make progress on the drainage last month, but are waiting on Atmos to relocate a gas main.
Bids for construction of the concrete street will be advertised in the next 60 days.
The $1.9 million runway project at the city municipal airport is 95% complete.
The only items lacking are applying striping, test results on the concrete and a bit of cleanup.
Two street segments remain in the Street Improvement Plan with more delays expected from Texana land and Asphalt. Two streets are left, League and Lee Streets with Woodbridge crossing currently in progress.
Elsewhere around the city, employees made eight extensive street repairs following utility repairs.
A sidewalk was installed to the kayak dock at Coleman Lake that was provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Sold 2,095 gallons of AvGas and 8.863 gallons of JetA fuel and accommodated 675 take-offs/landings at the airport.
The city fire department responded to 230 fire/rescue calls including two vehicle fires.
The fire department also performed preventative maintenance on 78 fire hydrants, performed 15 fire inspections and reviewed 15 pre-fire plans.
The city parks and recreation department top-dressed baseball fields and winterized irrigation systems in the parks and power washed sidewalks in the baseball and soccer complex. 17 dead trees were removed at Coleman Park.
The city animal control officers responded to 150 animal control calls while achieving a 98% adoption rate.
The Sulphur Springs Police Department made 3 felony arrests in the Special Crimes Unit, responded to 26 accidents including 1 fatality, wrote 421 citations, recorded 34 offenses, and made 53 arrests in the Patrol Division.
Necessary repairs were made for the downtown Christmas Lights.
Security lighting was installed at Coleman Park and designs are being drawn up for lighting for Pacific Park.
City employees began investigating potential for automatic locks on restroom doors at
Imagination Mountain and a new pump was installed for Coleman Lake waterfalls.
Preventative maintenance was performed at the wastewater treatment plant and the water treatment plant.
Wastewater was treated to a daily average of total suspended solids count of .22 mg/L. The current limit is 15 mg/L.
Seventy-seven tons of wastewater sludge was sent to composting and 65 tons to the landfill. 72,000 feet of sewer mains were washed and 29 sewer mains were washed and eight water main ruptures were repaired.
Eight water meters were replaced and 147 million gallons of potable water were treated.
Forty-five building inspections, 17 electrical inspections, 19 plumbing inspections, nine mechanical inspections were conducted and 21 building permits were issued.