Saturday, January 18, 2025
SPRINGTOWN — Springtown City Council is moving forward with street improvements that were promised after the council passed a bond — specifically, certificates of obligation that didn’t require voter approval — last year.
Around August 2023, the city obtained about $4 million in bond funds to pay for upgrades to streets and the public park. In January, the city council agreed to repair multiple streets with the bond funds, and at last month’s meeting, the council awarded a $727,370-contract to Intermountain Slurry Seal, which is based in Lewisville. This covers the first phase of the project, resurfacing Avenue D, Church Street, East Third Street, East Sixth Street, Oakview Drive, East Ninth Street as well as inside the North Gate and Bonnie Bell Estates subdivisions.
Intermountain Slurry Seal was the only bidder on this phase of the project, and the bid was about $100,000 more than the anticipated cost. However, City Administrator David Miller said the price was “not out of line” and still manageable for the city.
“From a financial standpoint, we’re solid enough to absorb the additional cost,” Miller said during the meeting.
The city’s engineer Thomas Hoover described slurry seal as a cousin to chip seal, which is a process used by Parker County to pave roads. The difference is chip seal uses a larger aggregate, which results in more road noise, than slurry seal. Miller pointed out there aren’t as many rocks slinging around on the road with slurry seal versus chip seal.
Hoover said the slurry seal has a longevity of about five to 10 years. Before the resurfacing can start, the city’s public works department will have to clean up the streets and fix potholes. The city will have 45 days to do this before the contractor starts working. Then, Intermountain Slurry Seal will have 120 days to finish the job.
When the mayor called for a motion, both council members Michele Chandler Kelley and Scott Richardson spoke up at the same time to approve awarding the bid. Chandler Kelley and Richardson agreed during the meeting that if the council stalled a decision, costs were liable to go up even higher.
“Quite frankly, the longer we wait, the worse streets get, which then causes us to have to spend more money for the repairs as well,” Miller added.
The city of Springtown is also working on improvements to its water system, and to that end, Miller said the council may be able to decide on awarding bids at its August meeting. Additionally, the city received a $6.2 million grant from the Texas Water Development Board to resolve water loss issues across the city.
“Most of our water loss has been identified in the 10-inch pipe that feeds from our water intake plant to our treatment plant, but it also will help with any other water loss that we identify throughout the city, whether there are leaky pipes or things of that nature,” Miller said during the meeting.
The grant requires a 10% match from the city, and Miller said the city may take advantage of a low-interest loan from the state water board.
