Town Manager Brian Roberson provided several project updates at the Providence Village Town Council meeting on Tuesday.
That included information about the regional lift station project with Upper Trinity Regional Water District, located at the east end of Fishtrap Road between Blazer Boulevard and Brewer Road, and the prevention measures the town is taking to address future safety concerns for drivers who have not complied with the barricades or signs.
“[The] police department's been helping us monitor some of that activity, and hopefully it will come to a stop, because eventually they're going to have a 20- to 40-foot-deep hole in the ground where they put the pipe,” Roberson said.
The sanitary sewer repairs that are planned at the intersection of Providence Boulevard and Waterbury Drive have been rescheduled to June 15.
The intersection will be fully closed, with detour routes marked, and the project is estimated to be complete within a week.
“The contract is behind due to rain and some other projects, but Tx-DOT is planning to add a second turn lane at southbound Main Street onto 380, so we're hoping that gets done,” Roberson said. “They said early June.”
Also at the meeting, the council voted to approve three health benefit options for employees.
The ancillary benefits are paid to staff for qualifying injuries or hospitalization that occur both on and off the job.
“It's an additional expense,” Roberson said. “But we could potentially cover all of our employees with about a $22,000 impact total for all three of these plans into the budget. ... We are expecting a 5 to 11% increase in our normal benefits. They haven't given those yet, but they said that's kind of the range. So, we're planning for that in the budget, but we don't know exactly what the number is yet, but these have to be turned in by June 12 if we're going to participate.”
The benefits will help cover lost wages, deductibles and other employee needs.
“This is an important thing to have because you never know when you're going to end up in the hospital for seven days or so,” Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Nelson said.
