Friday, April 26, 2024
Tolar City Hall
With more development coming its way, the city of Tolar is facing growth and infrastructure-related issues similar to its larger neighbor to the northeast.
Like Granbury’s City Council, Tolar’s governing body is making plans to improve and expand its wastewater treatment infrastructure.
The Tolar City Council, at its regular meeting in April, agreed to move forward on the expansion of its wastewater treatment plant and to work with Government Capital Securities Corporation on how best to finance the $8 million project.
More specific details may be discussed at the Monday, May 16 council meeting, but the process to expand sewer capacity in Tolar has officially begun.
Longtime Mayor Terry Johnson told the Hood County News that the town and its surrounding area have seen an increase in development since the Granbury City Council imposed a city-wide development moratorium last year.
The moratorium is due to a delay in building a much-needed second wastewater treatment plant on the east side of the city.
At its April 18 meeting, the Tolar council heard a presentation about wastewater treatment plant upgrades from Colden Rich, a project manager for Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd, Inc. He spoke on behalf of Chris Hay, the firm’s associate vice president and senior project manager.
Council members also heard from Jake Lawrence, who spoke on behalf of D’Anne Bowden Carson, vice president of Government Capital Securities Corporation.
The city’s current WWTP has a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to treat 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day. It currently averages 80,000 gallons per day, which means it is at 80% capacity, according to Rich.
He stated that the TCEQ requires municipalities to begin planning to expand its wastewater treatment capacity once capacity reaches 75% for three consecutive months. Once a plant is at 90% capacity for three consecutive months, construction to increase capacity must be underway.
After an hour-long dialogue with Rich in which he detailed various options, the council agreed to allow planning to continue for a Sequencing Batch Reactor, or SBR, system that will be able to treat 300,000 gallons of wastewater per day using topnotch technology.
Rich said that 300,000 gallons per day should be enough capacity to service the city until the year 2050.
An SBR system reduces both the mechanical and manual resources used and, according to Rich, leaves a smaller “footprint.” It utilizes one tank to equalize, aerate and clarify the water rather than using separate tanks for each of those processes.
An SBR is mostly automated and does not require continual supervision. That means that the city would not have to hire additional staff to help its current two wastewater treatment workers.
The city’s current WWTP will not be rehabilitated. It was built in 1977 and, according to Johnson, “has been patched three times.”
When it was Lawrence’s turn to speak to the council, he stated that his presentation on financing was “broad in nature” and intended to provide a “big-picture look.”
He spoke about the importance of the city’s credit rating for securing low interest rates and explained timelines that involve placing notices in the local newspaper.
Lawrence said that Certificates of Obligation might be the “cheapest” and “fastest” way to get the facility built.
“We will get together with our underwriters and start putting (together) a more concrete kind of package,” he said.
