Correction: A previous version of this article misattributed Trent Vandagriff's comments to Brian Boerner. We regret the error.
City council unanimously approved an agreement with Wall Engineering LLC to oversee design and engineering for the water and wastewater project at the Jan. 8 City Council meeting.
Along with conservation efforts, the city plans to utilize Senate Bill 7, the Texas Water Fund.
“You’ll see some of the efforts that we’re taking as far as landscaping, because the amount of water people lose through watering their yards is a huge number,” City Manager Britt Lusk said.
For the next 20 years, a billion dollars a year in sales tax will go toward maintaining and fixing issues related to water infrastructure throughout the state of Texas, a measure approved by Texas voters in November.
City Manager Britt Lusk said the city is taking water conservation seriously and has plans to try to use the fund.
Along with the bill, the city has plans to improve the wastewater treatment plant.
Public Works Director Nestor Ramirez discussed the city’s updated masterplans to enhance the water and wastewater plant as well as to remove aging infrastructure to keep up with the city’s growth.
“There are plans on how to incorporate reclaimed systems to reuse and reutilize some of the water, some of the byproducts, and the wastewater treatment plants for recycling and those purposes, as what we call a purple pipe water,” Ramirez said.
Trent Vandagriff of Wall Engineering explained why a key factor in this plan will be to gradually replace the older pipes to improve water quality.
“The big thing with your steel pipe that’s over 100 years old,” he said. “If you pull a piece of it out of the ground and you look at it, look at the inside. It looks like probably my arteries after eating bacon. It’s called tuberculation. It’s like plaque in your veins. Well, the same thing happens from all the different chemicals in water.”
Vandagriff also discussed the new hydraulic map, a feature developed to make future planning easier for both the city and developers.
“We go ahead and plug in their demand, and we know all the lines throughout town,” he said. “We’ve got everything mapped. We’ve got age, category, so we know, okay, the first line we want to replace to get back to the water tower.”
Vandagriff encouraged the city to use that model to phase out “all of the old infrastructure and replace it so it’s not burdening, financially, the citizens of Pilot Point.”
Also discussed was the City Council’s decision to approve the development of 48 lots for Lakeview Estates on Morrison Street in December of 2018.
Three of the estates were left unfinished by High Five Homes, managed by Joe Thackery, president of Thackery Living.
Then, in 2021, impact fees were approved by the City Council.
“When we approved impact fees, we allowed for a one-year runoff for any properties that had been platted but that had not pulled permits yet that would not be assessed impact fees,” CFO Michele Sanchez said. “That year, since that runoff was authorized, [it] obviously has passed.”
Thackery would have to pay around $10,500 per home; the total cost Sanchez calculated is $32,000 in total fees.
He disputed the charges, saying, “Construction timing changed.”
“There were just unprecedented material costs,” Thackery said. “Interest rates went way up really very quickly.”
The impact fees would be used toward the city’s debt, Mayor Pro Tem Andrew Ambrosio said.
In a vote of five to two, with council members Brian Murrell and Mike Wilson dissenting, the council voted to approve Thackery’s request and waived all fees with the added agreement to pull the permit by Dec. 26.
Upon her retirement, Community Services Administrative Assistant JoAnn Wright was recognized at the meeting for her 26 years of service in the city.
According to a statement posted on Facebook by the city of Pilot Point, Wright was “the longesttenured employee” in the city.
Community Services Director Darrell Gentry presented her with the award.
“You’ve done many, many jobs for the city of Pilot Point over the 26 years plus,” Gentry said. “It’s all well-deserved and recognized honor that we give you this plaque in commemoration of your retirement and years of service.”
Two new police officers, Alyssa Phillips and Dustin Matthews, joined the Pilot Point Police Department.
The two were sworn in at the meeting by Pilot Point Police Chief Angela Mathews, who commended the officers for their hard work and diligent training.
“As y’all are moving forward, going through this process, it’s not always going to be easy, but that’s why you have us, and you have family, and you have friends, and you have this community to support you moving forward,” Mathews said.
