City Commissioners meet, pass pothole project and unveil new firetruck

The Breckenridge City Commissioners met Wednesday Jan. 2, with barely a quorum to do business. In the meeting, they announced a new project to begin filling potholes around the city, approved a bid and unveiled the new ladder truck for the fire department.

Icy conditions caused the dilemma but commissioners Tom Cyprian and Russell Blue met along with Mayor Bob Sims, the City Manager Andy McQuistion and City Secretary Heather Robertson-Caraway.

Also in attendance was the Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney, Director of Public Works Houston Satterwhite and Public Services Director Stacy Harrison.

The big reveal of the night was the new ladder truck, 1997-98 model, with 20,000 miles on it. The big selling point was the self-contained ladders that can reach the sixth floor of the First National Bank building. The water capacity is only 300 gallons but when hooked up to a hydrant or Tanker truck, can provide a substantial amount of hose action up the extended ladder and make it a decisive tool in fighting a fire, Chaney said. The local fire department traded a Class A Pumper and paid a $10,000 difference to obtain this new tool for $54,777, which included more than $4,000 worth of ladders and hoses. This type of truck would go for $75,000 to $100,000. Chaney presented the new acquisition at the end of the commissioners meeting, with ladder extended and all lit up.

Other business included approval to award a low bid to Fambro Construction, LLC of Stephenville to lay a new water-line under Highway 180 E, for a bid of $23,135. This would increase the water pressure for those residents east of the city.

Another big item of interest to all residents of Breckenridge is a new program to fill the potholes, prevalent all over Breckenridge, due to the unusual amount of rain generated, which produced a number of potholes and the former ones made even worse.

“The priority will be the main, more travelled streets, the area around Stephens Memorial Hospital, the schools and then a systematic approach to the worst problem streets,” McQuistion said.

Satterwhite said it averages out to about $14 per pothole. McQuistion said that they would drive around the city and evaluate the top priority streets and make a schedule for the program to begin as soon as possible. The funding for this project comes from the Street Maintenance Sales Tax Fund. McQuistion took phone bids and Raydon was tied with a company in Mineral Wells. His recommendation to the commissioners was to award the contract to Raydon, at $3.50 per square foot, which involves the process to saw, cut and remove all broken asphalt, stabilize the sub-grade and replace with hot mix asphalt.

Also on the agenda was to authorize bidding on the Highway 183 N waterline project. The city would begin taking bids in order to award the contract in February for that project.

Additionally, the commissioners passed Resolution No. 19-02, with appropriate changes since 2014, which entails some policy changes required in civil rights policy and upgrade of Mayor Bob Sims signature. This deals with federally funded Community Development Block Grant projects (CDBG) and adherence to new regulations described within the document.

The Breckenridge City Commissioners meet on the first Tuesday of each month at the city offices. They are set to meet next on Feb. 5, 2019.