Burnet council awards contracts for water-line work
BURNET — The City Council has awarded contracts to firms for needed repairs to some of the city’s water and sewer lines, as well as the construction of water tanks.
“Those are all projects previously approved by the city council that we are applying for, hopefully grants and, if not grants, zero-interest loans … from the Texas Water Development Board,” City Manager Michael Steele told The Daily Tribune Wednesday.
The city is seeking funding awards from the state board to cover the engineering costs of the projects, he added.
“All of the projects are projects that have to be done, and if we don’t get the grant and we don’t get the loan … then the engineering is still good and we’ll have the engineering done and we’ll just have to move forward,” Steele said.
The water line and water tank upgrades will be on the northwest side of town, Steele said, adding the water lines there are in very poor shape.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. firm was awarded the contract for engineering of the project during the council’s Tuesday night meeting, while Marble Falls Surveying & Mapping got the contract for the surveying work.
Another project involves aging sewer lines.
“(The project) is three sewer lines that are very old,” Steele said, adding one was located in the northwest part of town, another in the northeast portion and the last in the southwest part.
KC Engineering Inc. won that engineering contract, while Cuplin and Associates got the council’s nod for the surveying work.
Steele said projects in which the planning has been done fare better in receiving the TWDB funding for the work along with Burnet’s designation as a disadvantaged city.
“Disadvantaged city has to do with the number of people in our city that are below the poverty line, and that’s how that’s scored,” Steele said.
Basically, the poorer the city, the higher the projects are scored, he added.
Green uses can also attract TWDB funding, Steele said, such as in the sewer-line project.
“The green part of that project is we would be putting effluent lines in the ground with the sewer lines, so that if we have enough effluent, we could pump it to the high school or the 51-acre park we’re building,” he said.
The council next meets 6:30 p.m. March 23 at council chambers, 2402 S. Water St., which also is the air museum at the municipal airport on U.S. 281.