City to spend $1.4M on sewer main projects

Officials also introduce ordinance on how firefighters can swap shifts

City staff introduced a dozen new measures, including a pair of proposed sewage construction contracts at Monday’s meeting of the Texarkana, Texas, City Council.

The council heard first briefings on 12 measures including those contracts and Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department’s “swap time” policy on how firefighters may trade shifts.

J.D. Phillips, executive director of Texarkana Water Utilities, briefed the council on the proposed new sewer mains, which together will cost more than $1.4 million.

RBIS LLC of Texarkana, Ark., placed the low bid of $582,625 for a project to extend sewer service northward into annexed areas. Excel Utility Construction of Kilgore, Texas, placed the low bid of $827,280 to replace a sewer main along Wagner Creek from Pleasant Grove Road to the Wagner Creek Wastewater Plant.

To accommodate future population growth in the area, TWU will replace the 18-inch Wagner Creek main with a larger pipe lined to resist corrosion, Phillips said.

The TTFD swap time ordinance is necessary to bring the department’s policy into compliance with state law, Chief Eric Schlotter said.

“The changes we propose for the policy would set a total limit for swaps in a given fiscal year at 12. It would eliminate or prohibit unqualified swaps, which are two-step swaps where you’re trying to swap with somebody that’s two grades above or below you. It would eliminate and prohibit swaps for cash or other forms of remuneration, so all swaps would have to be time for time. It would eliminate overtime swaps, so you couldn’t employ a sub to work overtime for you, so you earn overtime pay. It eliminates a previous prohibition on swapping to attend college during normal business hours,” Schlotter said.

The measure has previously been before the council but failed to get the four votes needed for approval. With two members absent and Ward 6 member Josh Davis voting no, the measure failed by a 3-1 count on Nov. 14, 2016.

City Manager John Whitson briefed the council on proposed changes in the city’s master fee list for fiscal year 2018, including some higher animal shelter and building permit fees.

The council also heard briefings on eight zoning matters, including a request by business owner Bryan Callaway to open a landscape design office and retail nursery at 3603 Texas Blvd. Some neighboring property owners have objected to Callaway’s site plan, so it will require votes from three quarters of the council to be approved.

Public hearings on all 12 ordinances and resolutions will take place at the council’s next meeting, slated for June 12.

On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter