Phone Books, Public Hearing #2, Public Safety, and 2020 City Population

Phone Books, Public Hearing #2, Public Safety, and 2020 City Population

Hello Copperas Cove! This meeting covered everything from citizens concerned with the current state of safety in our neighborhoods to the Chamber of Commerce giving its quarterly update and request for funds.

The Council:
Mayor Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Dianne Campbell-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Jack Smith- Present

Workshop Link

Council Agenda Link

Workshop Notes:
During the workshop, Ryan Haverlah recognized Silvia Rhoads for her retirement after serving Copperas Cove for 20 years, most recently as Staff Accountant.  She's also contributed heavily to "Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful" and was presented with an appreciation award from the group.

From there, they started a final workshop review of  the 2020 Comprehensive Plan. The city has been working on updating this plan extensively during the past 6 months, covering all chapters of the plan. These chapters  cover:
-Future Land Use
-Housing Strategies
-Community Image & Urban Design
-Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
-Government Facilities and Services
Next, the plan will go to Public Hearing during normal Council Meeting.

Regular Council Meeting:
During the announcements, Fred Chavez reminded the public that this weekend is the Polar Bear Plunge and 5K at city park. He's planning on participating in both and encourages the public to come support the event! February 1st will be the "Superbowl of Caring"

Citizens Forum:
-Mark brought forth a petition asking for the city to provide better street lights, more stop signs, and  speed bumps throughout Copperas Cove.
-Jayme Sigler said she ran for City Council during the last election with the main concern being for street safety, more sidewalks, and better lighting. She only received excuses for why the city isn't putting in more improvements such as the street lights are installed and maintained by the electric company, the sidewalks are put in by the contractors, and the city can't force citizens to install sidewalks on their properties. Along with these excuses for not giving the citizens more sidewalks and better lighting - our roads are falling apart, and we have no safe parks in the city. None of our parks are completely fenced in, and because of this she doesn't feel like we can let our children play in the parks without them running out in the streets and getting hit by traffic. She went on to reiterate that we have inadequate sidewalks and street lights, and if the City Council doesn't act, any future accidents will be due to their negligence. After all, this is supposed to be the city built for family living, and we need to be looking after our families. She did clarify that this has nothing to do with her losing the election and is all about her wanting to make our city safer for the families that live here.
-Michelle Adkins with the Utilities Department wanted to publicly thank the Public Works and Solid Waste Directors for sending over people to temporarily help the Utilities Department with handling the phones. The few people they were able to spare have made a tremendous impact on the operations of the Utilities Department Customer Service.
-Jessica brought forward her public safety concern for people and animals in Copperas Cove. Since she's been here, she's only seen 1 speed limit sign. She also noted the few street lights we have use the dim yellow lights so it's still hard to see out at night. That combined with there being no sidewalks led to an incident where she busted her head open on a curb one night because she couldn't see where she was going. We need to think about the disabled people trying to navigate the streets at night, but really we need to think about all people because we're all in this together. She is also concerned about the creek behind her fenced in back yard. She's worried that her children might find their way to the creek and drown in it one day. She's also worried about the snakes because they're all over the place and some of them are poisonous. There are a lot of dangers around here and she would like to see the city address as many of them as possible.
- Siggi brought up that even in the newer developments, they only have 1 sidewalk per street instead of a sidewalk on both sides of the street. She talked to a contractor about this and was told they do this per city code, so the council should address city code for side walks and street light spacing/brightness. As a closing note, she mentioned that we should take care of safety before the golf course, and these should have been addressed before the golf course put in a new sidewalk.


Public Hearing:

1. The council held its second public hearing and action on an ordinance amending the FY19-20 Budget. With no council discussion or public comment, this reached a PASS 7-0 vote.

2. For the next public hearing, Joanne Courtland recused herself from the item and left the room due to the request being submitted by Councilwoman Courtland and her husband for "Operation Stand Down", which they both run. He is requesting to rezone a property from R-3 (Multifamily Residential District) to B-4 (General Retail District), locally known as 201 & 203 Carpenter Street, Copperas Cove, Texas. They are planning on using the property to construct a 4500 sq ft storage warehouse and office space for Operation Stand Down Central Texas. The site will have adequate parking and space available for two offices and a donation drop off area within the warehouse building. The applicant will be submitting for a minor re-plat to combine the two existing parcels into one parcel once this rezoning application is approved. Once the minor re-plat is approved and recorded, then building permits can be issued for construction. The applicants agent briefly approached the podium to take questions regarding the rezone, with no questions being brought up. Johnathan Haywood came forward and spoke very strongly in support for how much Operation Stand Down supports the local veterans and community, and that we need to take care of them as not to run them off to another city. With that, the council voted to PASS 6-0 Editorial Note: After the council meeting, it was brought to our attention that the Courtlands purchased the property from a senior member of the city staff in August 2019. It is listed in the supporting documents from the P&Z meeting in December 2019. Here is the link to view it: 201 & 203 Carpenter  LOOK ON PAGE 5

3. Bobby Lewis (Development Service Director) brought forward action to approve the final edits of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan. Dale Treadway (Chairman of the P&Z), on behalf of the P&Z, took a moment to thank Bobby for his help in bringing this together. There has been over a year of work put into making this happen and for one last change, Dale requested that the prior Chairman of the P&Z be listed on the final draft as well since he was Chairman during the majority of the work. The council obliged to his request and voted to PASS 7-0 the 2020 Comprehensive Plan.

Action Items:

1. The Chamber of Commerce presented their Quarterly Presentation and request for reimbursement of funds. Alicia Menard (President - Chamber of Commerce) gave the presentation which covered a broad range of topics. To start, she went into the Chamber of Commerce mission statement and how funds are used. They have a new website coming, and are running multiple ads out showcasing the CoC events as well as local public events hosted by other parties. They are also bringing in conferences, trade shows, and events to the Civic Center in addition to going to events in other cities to promote what Copperas Cove has to offer. She said they even gave out 351 Phone Books! After reviewing the 1st quarter FY20 stats and analytics, they requested a reimbursement amount of $10,321.  PASS 6-0 (Chavez had to step away for a phone call)

2. Ariana Beckman (Director of Budget) presented an amendment to the Hotel Occupancy Tax policy concerning language related to the amount being requested by outside agencies. The motion struck out the 25% requirement leaving not revenue requirement to qualify for HOT funds. The just need to promote tourism. With little discussion regarding clarification among the council, this reached a PASS 6-0 (Chavez had to step away for a phone call).

3. The City intends to finance the funds for the purchase of  Mobile Data Terminals and applicable accessories for the police department to replace current equipment. Out of the 32 laptops from the original purchase in 2013, several have been experiencing problems and are in need of replacement. With little discussion from the council, this reached a PASS 7-0 vote from the council.

4. Annually, the City adjusts its population count to assist with anticipating service needs from different departments. Bobby Lewis brought forward consideration and action to establish the city population at 35,307. PASS 7-0

5. City staff has identified several projects within the City Capitol Improvement Plan for the parks that no longer require services of MRB Group (Formerly BSP Engineering). Johnathan Haywood asked if we had already pre paid MRB for services until the city parks improvements are complete, and if so would we be getting any money back. Jeff Stoddard (Director of Parks and Rec) stated that we pay as we use them, so this action would be cutting costs for services not needed. With that, the council voted to PASS 7-0 this item.

6. Section 4.02 of the City Charter requires the City Manager to file a letter with the City Secretary designating qualified individuals to perform the duties of City Manager in their absence or disability. Ryan Haverlah has designated the following personnel as qualified individuals to perform in his absence:
1. Eddie Wilson (Chief of Police)
2. Scott Osbourn (Public Works Director)
3. Velia Kay (Financial Services Director)
The council voted to PASS 7-0 this designation.

Reports from City Staff
Ryan Haverlah update the Council that DEAAG is in the process of awarding funding for the S. HWY 9 Ramp going to Tank Destroyer Rd, and noted that once this goes through it would be contingent on about $3,000,000 in city funds which would be reimbursed by TxDOT. TxDOT will also donate the design cost.

He also touched on the Utility Department transition and said it is going smoothly and things are on a good track. They currently are not charging any late fees or performing any shut offs due to late payments, but he highly recommends you still stop by and make payments to your account. Once the bills start going out again, they will be covering the current billing period as well as the prior billing period that wasn't sent out so to avoid a huge bill - help yourself out and stop by to make payments.

Future Agenda Items
Fred Chavez requested that they discuss new comer briefings for citizens as well as touch on the Citizens Ombudsman Program that is in the works. This was agreed on and will be added to a future agenda.

Executive Session:
The council announced that they approved the evaluation of the City Manager. Vote 7-0.

Project changes at the parks, Sensory Parks. Quality of Life January 9, 2020

Project changes at the parks, Sensory Parks. Quality of Life January 9, 2020

QOL Board members:
Adam Redmond-Present
Billie Pederson-Present
Cheryl Keilman-Present
Robert Sizemore-Present
Craig Foster-Present
Shawn Alzona-Present
Rachel Baker-Present
Amy Williams-Absent

Council Liaison:
Fred Chavez-Present

Meeting Agenda link

This is the Quality of Life Board meeting that was held on January 9, 2020. They started off by reviewing and then approving the meeting minutes for December 2020. There were no speakers during Citizens Forum.

Action Items:
1. The was a discussion on the Friends of the Park proposal. Jeff Stoddard said there was only one person that responded to it last month. Councilman Chavez proposed it to the Quality of Life in December. If it goes forward into action, it would be organized like the Friends of the Library. The goal is to enhance all the parks image through personal volunteerism and donations where the city isn't able to participate. The board tabled the discussion until next month so the Parks and Rec can post another message about it.

2. Parks and Golf CIP updates.
    A. Golf Cart path paving will begin on January 15 (depending on weather). It will start at Hole 18 and work back toward 9. Some of the pathway will be wider in areas in order to accommodate carts passing each other. City employees were involved in the planning process.
   B. Jeff Stoddard explained to the board why the bid for the bathrooms were cancelled. There was $378,000 for the bathrooms at the parks. The current plan would bring it over $100,000 over budget. Stoddard he wants to bring it to a Design Build Phase vendor. This would be to save money and get the same results. He will be bringing to council on January 21 to terminate the agreement with MRB. He said he has found that the same job can be done by his department with a phone call and without the engineer firm expense. At the same council meeting he will also recommend going to the Design Build vendor program. For the bathrooms it would be 4 weeks to design and 90 days to build.

Jeff Stoddard said that in regards to CIP that we need fix what we have before we build something else. He will be doing a park by park walk through with board members to see what needs to be done. TTAB Baseball and TTAS Softball will be coming back. Adult Softball will be back at City Park soon. He also announced that Caycee Hauck was promoted to Superintendent.

3. There was a discussion on Capital Improvements. Stoddard said that priorities need to be assessed for each park. One example he suggested was whether we needed walking trails at all three major parks. Robert Sizemore told him the deferred maintenance doesn't work!

4. There was an recommendation that the By Laws be amended to have board members perform volunteer work for the Parks. While highly encouraged, the board said that requiring board members to perform volunteer hours would discourage future board members from participating. The Board voted 7-0 to not amend the By Laws.

5. The agenda item died because of item 4.

Staff Reports:
The Parks Master Plan is almost complete and will go to council in February. MRB is being terminated because of cost effectiveness and the Director can do almost all of the work in-house. Ogletree Gap will have two ramps with the south one being ADA compliant.

The Parks Department is looking at converting Rhode Park from a Community Park and into a Special Needs Park. It would have adaptive equipment with a sensory playground and smaller sports fields. Rhode Park is located off of Big Divide Rd in Skyline Flats Subdivision. The closest such park in the area is in Round Rock. 

Copperas Cove City Council for February 19, 2019

Copperas Cove City Council for February 19, 2019



The Council:
Mayor-Vacant
Joann Courtland- Present
Fred Chavez- Present
Mayor Pro Tem Dan Yancey- Present
Jay Manning- Present
Kirby Lack- Present
Marc Payne- Present
Charlie Youngs- Present

Mayor Candidates:
Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present
Ron Nelson-Present




The Workshop

The workshop tonight lasted about forty minutes. It was basically a summary of the CIP Town Hall from last Monday. Since all the council members were not at the Town Hall, this was a good briefing for them. The Interim City Manager briefed almost the entire time.




This is what was briefed to council:

Fire Station #3 expansion- Will be included with the upcoming Certificate of Obligations for $2,050,000 but has not been planned yet. It will be discussed next month. This project would double the current fire station into a fully functional station with a full compliment of fire fighters.

Animal Shelter- Still in the planning stages to reduce the cost of $7,473,000. It was first discussed last year and is badly needed.

Business 190 Phase 1 project- $11,435,212 funded by TxDOT and KTMPO, with the design  funded by the city. You can still send comments in and the link is on the city web site. Construction is scheduled to start in 2020. Councilman Youngs asked why they have not received any written feedback. The ICM said he will send it to him.

South 116 and FM 3046 Sidewalk project- $1,300,000 for bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the streets. Bike options will be brought to council.

Narrows sidewalk project- $2,116,838 for year 2020. It is currently be replatted for to easement for a 10 foot sidewalk and bike facilities. Councilman Payne asked the progress of the replatting.

South 1113 Sidewalk Phase 2-  Cost is only $61,855. This will connect the existing sidewalks and is already funded. Councilman Youngs why are we not funding street projects. They are different sources of funds.

Pecan Cove rebuild will start this year at a cost of $1,477,156 but has not been planned out yet. It will be done in conjunction with a drainage project ($404,000).

The library renovation project cost $564,000. The Five Hills Art Guild debuted their new mural.

SCADA System Replacement for $200,000. Both proprietary PCs are permanently down and are manually manned at this time until replaced.

South West Water improvement II and III at a cost of $4,500,000 will be fore the Valley of Great Hills subdivision.

The Killeen/Copperas Cove 24 inch water line replacement for 29,500 feet will cost $6,700,000.

There was a lengthy discussion of parks project. Lack asked about when the 2 pavilions that were donated by the Rotary Club would be finished. Joe Brown said it would be done in the first week of April. Councilman Youngs complained about the amount of money being spent on the park when the condition of our streets are so bad. Councilman Chavez said the amount being spent is because of all the years the city neglected the parks. This set off a heated exchange between Chavez and Youngs. Youngs told Chavez something to the fact that you don't need to worry about it because you won't be up here much longer. Watch the video at about the 18 minute mark for the real quote. It should be available by Thursday afternoon.

Thinks we spend to much on parks

The Council Meeting

The Agenda

The council meeting part of the evening lasted for approximately two hours and had three public hearings and four agenda items.







Citizens Forum: One gentleman came forward to speak in opposition to the medians that are being proposed for Business 190. He stated that they would be an impediment to safety to the contrary.

The 1st public hearing dealt with the rezoning from AG1 to R1 for low density housing along Grimes Crossing by the railroad tracks. Kempner Water Supply will provide the water service. There were no speakers. Vote passed 7-0.

The 2nd public hearing dealt with the youth curfew in Copperas Cove. There was no speakers and it passed by a vote of 7-0.

The 3rd public hearing was about Chapter 12 in the Code Of Ordinances. There was only one speaker from the Chamber Of Commerce President. They spoke about the entire ordinance and the ramifications of changing it. The intent of the change was aimed at the illegal gaming places in Copperas Cove. Her recommendation was to to separate it into two sections (Eliminate 12.81) so to just deal with the gambling. That is what the council did eventually. Councilman Payne asked about ten minutes worth of questions. They were very good question.  Watch the council video, also. It passed by a vote of 7-0.

One problem during the debate was that Councilman Payne was interrupted several times while he had the floor. Roberts Rules of Order says he has the right to finish his statements unless he yields the floor to another speaker. This happens way to much during the council meeting.

Agenda H1 was about paying the Lady Dawg Tip-Off tournament HOT funds for $3,691.50. I did not think HOT funds could be used to pay for hotel rooms. http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=279577 and https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/2016/june-july/hotel-tax.php also https://www.tml.org/p/What%20Cities%20Need%20to%20Know%20to%20Administer%20the%20Local%20Hotel%20Occupancy%20Tax%20(20%20%20%20.pdf . Please read these documents.

It passed by a vote of 7-0.

Agenda H2 was for the Certificates of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) from Kempner Water Supply Corp. The rejected the council proposal from November of $732.32 ($173 from the city and the balance from the developer) per acre. KWSC said it is worth $810 per acre. The developer also then made his lots larger to reduce his cost on his side. There was no vote on this item but the council authorized the ICM to continue to negotiate with KWSC.

Agenda H3 simply authorized the ICM to inter into a Interlocal Agreement with the Centex Fire & Arson Task Force. It passed 7-0.

Agenda H4 was about IChoosr LLC and Texas Power Switch. They are are a new international company which only US operations are in Texas. They partner with cities and bring to the city a variety of power company options for people to choose. It is an volunteer only opt in service. There are lots of questions about this company. Lack and Youngs wanted to contact other cities individually about the service. Manning had a problem with lending the city logo and credibility to anybody. Payne said he disagrees with this service after what we went through with Fathom. He also wants to see more of their company history. It failed by a vote of 1-6. Fred Chavez For, Everyone else Against. 

Future Agenda Items:
Councilman Manning wants to repeal Appendix D in the Fire Code
Councilman Payne wants to discuss widening 6th Street near the Ave E school to make it easier for school buses, Fire Trucks, and Ambulances to pass through. 

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!!!