Capitol Improvement Plan Town Hall

11 FEB 2019 - Capitol Improvement Plan Town Hall 

Hello Copperas Cove! The Copperas Cove City Manager (Ryan Haverlah) held a Town Hall event tonight to go over some of the projects the city is working on right now. He wanted to do this to inform and update the public of what is in the works as well as let citizens voice their opinion about the current projects and bring up ideas for future projects. The presentation is non-prioritized, and still has several different projects in their early stages of planning. 

This was not a required event for our City Council members to attend, however we did have most of them in attendance along with Bradi Diaz and Ron Nelson (Mayoral Candidates), as well as several other directors of public departments and organizations. In case you're wondering about your elected council members:

Joann Courtland: Present

Fred Chavez: Present

Dan Yancey: Present

Jay Manning: Present

Kirby Lack: Absent

Marc Payne: Present 

Charlie Youngs: Absent 

The presentation was presented in 5 sections divided by funding: General Fund, Water and Sewer Fund, Solid Waste Fund, Drainage Fund, and Golf Course Fund. A lot of these don't require a lot of commentary, so I will be touching on key points. 

The General Fund is expected to be funded through a bond not to exceed $40,000,000, so they do still have some trimming to do on costs. As of now, the expected total for the General Fund sits at about $55,000,000, so that's at least $15,000,000 that they need to cut back by revising projects or putting them on the back burner. 

For starters, we'll dive into the General Fund Projects. A few points to note:

-Fire Station #3 is located out west of Ogletree Gap. It isn't that old itself, however shortly after we finished building it - it was already too small. Fire trucks and ambulances have grown in size since then which requires bigger bays to store them. Additionally, this station staffs 2 people. Each truck requires a minimum of 2 people to run it; even then, those 2 people are usually taking the vehicle and meeting up with other crews. Once that truck is out, there's nobody left to staff the station if another call goes off in it's area or if someone shows up needing assistance. So this project will be to update and expand the building which will accommodate the larger vehicles and allow increased staffing. This is scheduled to be a 2019 project. 

-Radio Station Communications System Infrastructure Update- Over the years, our first responders have been updating their equipment, including radios. New radios and old equipment/infrastructure don't mix very well. They will be updating this facility to fully maximize use of the current radios, update consoles and add 2 additional consoles, 

-The animal shelter has long been identified as being inadequate for our needs. The current plan is for them to build a completely new building at a new location in 2020. It will have more kennels, an upgraded adoption space, more office space, an updated clinic, and updated quarantine area. This plan as it stands was presented to the council and kicked back due to exceeding what they wanted to spend. It is being revised right now to bring the cost down, but as it currently stands the cost shown is correct. 

-Fire Station #4 will be a new fire station on the east side of town. The EDC has donated land in the Narrows Business Park for this. The 24,409 sq ft building will be started in 2020, is expected to be completed in 2021, and will need an additional $1,895,000 for trucks and equipment on top of the $12,805,582 for the building itself. 

In the Transportation projects, they will be using MPO funding for the majority of these projects. 

-Business 190 Project  was originally a 2 lanes in each direction project on top of widened sidewalks and bike lanes added. That was recently changed to 3 lanes in each direction, with sidewalks not as wide and only on the south side of the highway. It is currently in design phase, but you can find schematics on the City Website (embedded link). It is projected to start construction in 2020 and be completed in 2021. 

-South FM 116 & FM 3046 Sidewalk Improvements will possibly be having bike lanes added to the sidewalk improvements for this project. That is currently under revision. 

-Narrows Business Park will be having sidewalks installed for the entire park. 

The street projects are slated to have some MUCH needed work done around town. It won't fix all our street problems, but it's a good start. 

-Pecan Cove Drive was JUST talked about at last weeks city council meeting, so I'm hoping that Mr Oliver is paying attention. This is a very heavily used road and has had problems going back 20 years. It sounds like instead of just doing another patch job, they will finally be getting the job done right. In 2019, they will be completely reconstructing this road and installing guardrails where needed. While they have it up, they will be inspecting and relocating some water lines as needed to avoid having to dig up the road at a later date due to water line leakage. If they can get this done, it will be one of the first road projects completed in 6 years. 

-S. FM 1113 Sidewalk will be in its 2nd phase of construction. They got this started in the previous phase, but there's a lot of spots where the sidewalk didn't connect in spots like it should. This will be fixing those issues in 2020. 

-Eagle Trail Dr has sections where the road base has failed (usually due to erosion) and will require the city to completely tear it up, correct/replace the road base, and re-lay asphalt. I can tell you from personal experience in this field - sometimes you can lay a great base and top it off with a beautiful layer of good asphalt. Mother nature may have different plans for the longevity of that road, or other man-made factors may come into play from nearby projects. This is just one of those things, and I'm glad to see the city going about this with a proper fix. This is looking to be done in 2020. 

-Oakhill Drive has been having drainage problems for a few years now which has torn away at the asphalt. They're going to correct the drainage issues and replace the asphalt in 2021. 

-Veterans Ave is one of our older streets around here and the sidewalks reflect this. In 2021 they will be giving all the sidewalks on the NE side an overhaul as well as installing ADA compliant ramps. 

-Freedom Lane, South 1st, Ogletree Pass, Grimes Crossing, Suja Lane, and Megg Street are all due for reconstruction due to base failure. Freedom Lane will be having ribbon curbing installed as part of the project. 

Joe Brown over with Parks and Rec has some big things going on with revamping the city parks over a 5 phase project. Currently we are in phase 1 of that project. It will entail things like new restrooms, overhauling parks, and installing new ADA compliant parking lots. For more information, I HIGHLY recommend you sit in on a Quality of Life meeting or Parks and Rec quarterly update. I can answer specific questions, so if you have any - please leave them in the comments. Parks and Rec is also going to be building a new maintenance shop which will be 5,600 sq ft with 2 bay doors. They've added in some newer storage shops recently, and this will be the final touch to their vehicle storage/maintenance area. Construction is expected to begin 2019. There was a crowd mention to use EDC funds to help towards the almost 8 million dollar Parks Improvement Plan. 

The library has been going through some pretty major changes recently including an addition of a very nice reading room and mural in the front entrance area. Next on their list is to overhaul the childrens room, updating their shelves to be more friendly towards kids and bring in technology to modernize the room. 

A citizen stated to Ryan that she would like to see sidewalks on both sides of residential areas as well as better street lighting. She would like to see us have the contractors make this happen when new neighborhoods are put in. Ryan responded that this is currently in the works. 

The Water and Sewer Projects are coming from the Water and Sewage Fund

-SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Aquisition) allows for remote monitoring and adjustment of public water and sewer systems. Most cities and municipalities are running them to some degree these days. We are going to update our water systems SCADA, and install one for our sewer systems. Currently, our sewer department has been having to do this job with radios and people on the ground. This update will make things much more efficient for the sewer crew and free up people to take on more work orders. 

-Oak Hill Drive is currently in the middle of its water pipe improvement. They are upgrading to a bigger 8" waterline down Oakhill Drive. 

-A few years ago, we upgraded our waterline through Ft Hood. We never officially abandoned our 8" and 12" lines that we were using. Unfortunately, you can't just say "hey- we don't want it anymore" to abandon a water line. You have to pull it out, burst it in ground, fill it with a solid substance, or find another way to make it unusable. We are currently looking into our options and costs associate. 

-Hogg Mtn has a water tank that is needing a rehabilitation. To do this, they will be draining the tank, cleaning the inside, re-coating the metal so it doesn't rust, and then applying a new coat of paint to the outside. Turkey Run has a water tank that needs the same applied. 

-South Meadows will be seeing a waterline improvement in the nature of a loop system upgrade. Currently, the system is a dead end which is harder to maintain quality pressure and requires more cleanings/service. The loop system being installed will address those issues. 

-Mickan Mountain needs to have the "Bulldog" tank torn down and a new one built in its place.  I suggested to Ryan that if we do this - can we get a group like the art guild to come in and put a bulldog on the new tank. I feel like that has been a long standing staple of this town and would like to see us keep our Bulldog pride for past alumni and future students alike. He added that to his notes. 

-The 24" N. Loop Water Line was actually voted on by the citizens back in 2008 or 2009. When the city started looking into it, they saw it would require an easement through Fort Hood, and the easement cost more than the project itself. With that knowledge, they backed off the project. Now, the area that we needed an easement through has our hwy 9 on it, so we are going to use that area for the water line and avoid the easement fee. 

-The city has a lot of galvanized water line that they are wanting to replace to PVC. This will be a project which will take many years to complete. 

-The City Park Sewer Line has a lot of other smaller sewer lines that tie into it. So this upgrade is vital to the general health of the surrounding areas. Along with the pipe upgrade, they will also be adding in several new manholes that are needed. 

- There are many manholes around the city that need to be upgraded. They are made of brick which has problems with corrosion. There are 266 identified brick manholes that will be upgraded at a rate of 13 per year over 20 years. 

The Wastewater plant upgrades are also coming from the Water and Sewage Fund. 

-A Submersible UV Disinfectant System is scheduled to be installed. Micro-Organisms are used to treat the water, and then the UV system removes them. Other than that, they are trying to update a lot of systems due to breakdown/wear out with age as well as upgrade to that SCADA mentioned earlier. 

The Solid Waste Dept is using its Solid Waste Fund to give the transfer station some much needed upgrades. One of the biggest will be the addition of a wash rack for the garbage trucks. There are strict regulations to what is involved in washing one of these trucks, and this wash rack will address all of those. For those of you who go with smaller cars - they will be installing a lower window and transfer drawer for receipts/money at the drive up scale house. 

The Drainage Dept will be using Drainage Funds to perform upgrades city-wide to our drainage systems. They will also be addressing the washout at the Indian Camp Trail Shared Use Path. I think the plan was to run the water under the trail rather than over it, or maybe slow down the water coming onto it. 

The Golf Course will be using their fund to pay for several improvements including an ongoing Cart Path Improvement, renovation of the tennis courts and pool area (putting in a canopy for events), moving and reconstructing the Pro Shop back to its original location overlooking the golf course, remodeling the current pro shop, and reconstructing the cart barn. There was a comment from the public again about using the EDC to help fund some of these projects. 

As you can see, there is a LOT of improvement going on around Copperas Cove. What are you looking forward to? What do you think they could do better? The city council will be reviewing the CIP and public input in March so you still have time to Speak Up!!!