City manager reports progress on water, wastewater and street projects

The City of Breckenridge is threading the needle on infrastructure upgrades, with City Manager Cynthia Northrop reporting steady progress across water, wastewater and street projects. 

Northrop began her update at the commission’s Tuesday, Sept. 2 confirming that the city is now in compliance with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on previous violations at lift and pump stations. 

“Those are all resolved. There is one outstanding one that we are working on—it’s waiting on some parts,” Northrop said. 

The city is awaiting a notice to process on a waterline project contracted to Raydon Inc., which ties into the broader Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) initiative.

Northrop explained that leftover funds from the downtown revitalization grant allowed the city to expand its scope. 

“All of the sidewalk improvements and intersection improvements have been done,” Northrop said. “That bid came in way under, so we added to that project—paving Elm Street from Rose to McCamis Street. We’re going to use that money; but before we use that money, we have to do the waterline from the TWBD projects.”

Once the waterline is complete, paving will begin on those streets and the remaining TWDB waterline work will continue. 

The wastewater treatment plant project is also moving forward, with the Request for Proposal (RFP) process underway and a bid award expected on next month’s agenda.

Meanwhile, upgrades to the city’s lift stations also continued. Auto dialers and control panels have been installed or were en route for stations 1, 3 and 5. Northrop noted that installation timing is crucial to avoid redundant work. 

“Since the control panels are behind it, we don’t want to install the auto dialers, take them out and then install the control panels,” she said. 

Some of the pumps have already been installed and Northrop said that they are waiting on a bracket to install lift station 2. Others are expected to arrive by mid-to-late September. A trailer-mounted pump is currently in place at Station 3. 

Three companies are currently digging in Breckenridge, including Texas Gas and two fiber companies—contracted through FiberLight and Oncor. While these projects promise long-term benefits, they’ve also introduced short-term risks.

“Good news, bad news,” Nortrop said. “They are improvements; the bad news is that there is always an opportunity for them to hit a water line.”

Back in July, FiberLight contractor HP Communications struck a water line on East Walker Street, draining both towers and prompting a citywide boil water advisory.

“The good news is that fiber is going to be available to every home in Breckenridge soon, but there is digging that has to happen before that,” Northrop said. “They have to get their permits and we are inspecting them; wherever they are at, they have to leave it in the same shape they found it. We have met with both of those fiber companies and we have cautioned them on digging and just the condition of our water line. They have been working well with us.”

Northrop said that the fiber companies are projecting about six months for the projects to be completed. 

Additionally, the city is kicking off Phase III of its street improvement project with a notice to proceed for Monday, Sept. 8. Construction kicks off that day. 

“We’ve accomplished quite a bit with our streets. I know there’s still a lot of streets that need to be done,” Northrop said. “We’ve got 66 miles of road, but we’re making significant progress.”