Sewer grant change could impact decision
The federal Economic Development Agency grant for $1 million may have expanded use for the sewer system after the Wimberley City Council has requested approval to use the funds for the collection system, which could have a major impact on the council’s looming decision to use Aqua Texas as a wastewater treatment provider.
Originally, the $1 million grant from the EDA was for the entire sewer system. City Administrator Shawn Cox said that EDA representatives told him the agreement was amended to only be used on the treatment plant portion of the project after the city was forced to go with the second bidder on the collection system.
“When we were going to award (the collection system contract) to Pearson, they discovered there was rock in the hill country,” Cox said. “ …As state law allows, we went to our next lowest bidder. Federal law does not allow that. To continue the project, we followed state law… (Former) Mayor (Mac McCullough) and (Former Interim City Administrator Paul Parker) worked with the EDA to work on the language, and they approved it. Because we did go with our original bidder on the treatment plant side, we were able to apply it to that side.”
If the EDA funds were only allowed to be used on the treatment plant, the city would not be able to use the grant if it decided to go with Aqua Texas as the wastewater treatment provider. Wimberley Mayor Susan Jaggers said she has had discussions with the EDA about the potential for approval to use the funds on the collection system, which would allow the grant to be used even if the city decided to go with Aqua Texas for treatment.
The Wimberley City Council voted 3-0 in favor of asking the EDA to use the funds on the collection system. Council members Gary Barchfeld, Craig Fore and Patricia Kelly-Cantu voted in favor. Allison Davis abstained “due to legal concerns.” Councilmember Michael McCullough was absent at the meeting.
Davis also asked the council to move forward with the sewer system as planned and remove the current pause on the Blackcastle Contract for the wastewater treatment plant. Davis’ motion died for lack of a second.
A group of local residents who formed a group called “Wimberley Citizens For No Aqua Texas” presented a petition to the city council with more than 1,000 signatures of people against allowing Aqua Texas to serve as the city’s wastewater treatment facility. While many of the signatures provided were from citizens of the city of Wimberley, many were also outside of the city limits and some outside of the Wimberley Valley altogether.
The mayor also announced a new policy for how the council plans to handle public comments, which drew protests from many in the crowd including a small walkout.
Jaggers stated at the beginning of the meeting that the public comment during future meetings would be “restricted primarily to citizens that reside in the city limits and the property owners for the first hour.” Comments from those who do not live in the city limits would be reserved for later in the meeting if there was time. She said this was in order to try and keep meeting lengths to a reasonable time. She also said that public comments would only be taken at the beginning of the meeting as opposed to at the time a specific agenda item comes up.
Also, some people in attendance were not allowed into the building due to not having enough space. In the past, the council has allowed the chamber to be filled to standing room only.
At one point, Jaggers told the crowd, who were clapping and cheering after certain public comments, that the constable would escort them out if they were not quiet during the meeting. Former Mayor Steve Klepfer offered to be the first person to be escorted out before leaving the meeting himself. Klepfer would later say that he felt he was thrown out, his first amendment rights were violated and he was protesting the mayor’s changes.