Riverbend approves extending contract of consultant at Wednesday meeting

Riverbend Water Resources District approved extending Water Consultant Susan Roth’s contract by up to $50,000 during their regular meeting Wednesday. The district contracted with her two years ago to help develop the Regional Water Master Plan, which was passed in September.

The plan, which received input from Riverbend’s 16 member entities and the public, identifies the area’s water infrastructure needs. Those include a new intake structure on Wright Patman Lake, a new water treatment facility and a raw water line to the TexAmericas Center. The projects will be paid for through state and federal bonds and extending

Roth’s contract makes her available to help the district apply for and secure that funding.

Liz Fazio Hale, Riverbend executive director and CEO, said this will bring them a step closer to getting the projects started.

“Applying for financial assistance through state and federal entities and securing that financing is the next natural step in implementing our regional water plan and the much needed water infrastructure for our region,” she said. “We will seek financial assistance through those state and federal entities, assess how much interest and how much is available, then proceed with issuance of the bonds.”

She said the first thing that needs to be funded is pre-design on the water intake and raw water line.

“This is a multi-year commitment,” Fazio Hale said. “We do not perceive or anticipate issuing bonds all at once. The first step is to issue bonds for pre-design, then bonds for the intake and raw water line and then issue bonds for the water treatment facility.”

For the bonds to be issued, Riverbend’s entities must pass a resolution supporting the projects.

“We would really like to go to the state and say we have a commitment from 80 percent of the water users in our region to issue bonds to apply for this assistance and issue bonds,” she said. “We need to be able to show the state when we apply for financial assistance that the members are in support of the projects.” The cities of Texarkana, Texas and New Boston have both passed resolutions of support.

The board also heard a presentation on the Hooks Waste Water Treatment Plant feasibility study from David Williams of MTG Engineers & Surveyors. The study, which was requested by the City of Hooks and paid for by Riverbend, shows possible courses of action for the future of the plant. They include reconditioning the existing facilities, decommissioning the facility and constructing a new one and decommissioning and connecting to the Ron Collins Treatment Facility owned and operated by Riverbend. Short term upgrades would cost $300,000, long-term upgrades could cost up to $1.8 million and plant replacement would cost $13.8 million. Connecting to the Collins plant would cost 3.4 million.

This study, along with a draft study conducted by AECOM Technical Services to analyze the Industrial Pretreatment Facility at Red River Army Depot will be published on Riverbend’s website, www.rwrd.org for public analysis and comment.

“Both feasibility studies discuss the age of the infrastructure and options for either maintaining the infrastructure, rehabilitating the infrastructure or building new infrastructure,” she said. “They make recommendations on paths forward and how to achieve those, keeping in mind we’re very mindful of the most cost effective alternative.”

In other business, the board passed a resolution approving Fazio Hale to enter into negotiations with firms for civil, structural and environmental engineering services along with water planning contracts. The firms are Pape-Dawson Consulting Engineers; CDM Smith; HDR Engineering; Garver; LJA Engineering; Cobb, Findley & Associates and MTG Engineers & Surveyors.

The next regular meeting will be held at 12 p.m., Jan. 23, at the Riverbend Offices, 228 A Texas Ave., New Boston, Texas.