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Main break drains water towers
By Pearl
Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
SEVEN POINTS–A break in a water main crossing Persimmon Creek
near Jess Hinton Road in Seven Points overnight Sunday left nearly all West
Cedar Creek utility customers without water or with very low pressure Monday
morning.
Utility workers searched feverishly for the break – locating it only after
hours of searching during rainy and cold conditions.
“The leak wasn’t found until one or two o’clock (Monday),” West Cedar Creek
Municipal Utility District spokeswoman Wanda Sanders told The Monitor.
Within an hour, workers had repaired the break, and water supplies were
being restored, she said.
The break drained both of the district’s elevated water towers, affecting
every customer, Sanders added.
Tuesday afternoon, the district was still pumping water into its storage
towers.
“How fast we can refill depends on how sparingly customers can be in their
use of water,” she said.
Water restrictions and surcharges are still in place, she added.
“We’re encouraging everyone to continue conserving water. The lake level is
still below normal, and we don’t know if we’ll have another rain like this
one,” she cautioned.
Preliminary reports attribute the break to the heavy rains and moving creek
water washing out the ground supporting the pipe, and not due to the
plunging temperatures.
Sanders reports there will be some financial consequences of the break, but
didn’t think those consequences would be enough for the customer to notice.
Flood danger closes SH334
Roadside pond
springs a leak
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
SEVEN POINTS–A crumbling dam leaking water
from a private pond on the south side of State Highway 334 caused Seven
Points city officials to close a section of the roadway Monday night and
most of Tuesday.
Traffic in both directions was rerouted along a three-mile circuit from the
bridges – to south on Arnold Hills Road, west on Waller Road and then back
north on Wood Street – for drivers to continue on the main street through
the city, or vis-a-vis for drivers from the opposite direction.
The heavy rain over the weekend (the Tarrant Regional Water District office
at the lake spillway measured 5.46 inches) swelled the huge,
long-established pond, placing enough pressure to compromise the dam on its
north side.
Residents of Knob Hill, believed to be in the path of the water should the
dam be breached, were alerted by Seven Points police officers to the
possibility.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) sent a crew out to relieve
the pressure on the dam Tuesday.
Mayor Gerald Taylor said he expected the road to be reopened by the time
most people were returning home from work Tuesday.
“This was a precautionary measure to prevent anyone from being swept away,
should the dam break all at once,” Taylor told The Monitor.
Police Chief Wayne Nutt got in contact with the out-of-town owner of the
stock pond to inform and provide some options and gain permission to relieve
the pressure.
Authorities were first made aware of the leak around 10 a.m. Monday. It was
monitored throughout the day before the decision was made around 6 p.m. to
close that portion of the road.
This pond whose northside fronts the highway has swelled
posing a threat of flooding Monday. The Tarrant Regional
Water District office recorded 5.46 inches of rain over
the weekend at the Cedar Creek Lake spillway.
County orders elevator repair
Commissioners OK manufacturing part for $42K
Monitor
Staff Reports
ATHENS–In a special meeting last Thursday, Henderson County
Commissioners ordered repairs to the courthouse elevator.
Commissioners bypassed the bid process for the $42,159 expenditure by
declaring an exemption under the Local Government Code.
AVL Elevator Inc of Dallas, with whom the county has a service contract, was
given the go-ahead to construct a componenet to replace an obsolete driver.
Obsolete parts are specifically excluded from the service contract, Judge
David Holstein pointed out.
“The likelihood of getting the parts to repair it are slim,” he added.
So, commissioners opted for the alternative, which is to repair the system
with a more updated piece of equipment. Doing so requires the part be
manufactured.
Usually, such a high-priced repair would be put out for bid, but the law
also allows the county to act in the interest of public safety and
well-being.
A check covering the first 25 percent of the total cost was issued to get
the work started.
The county hopes the elevator will be back in service in 30 days.
In the meantime, courthouse personnel are assisting the public by either
fetching the paperwork they may require from another floor, or carrying the
disabled upstairs to their court appointments.
Holstein said those requiring elevator service may call his office and
arrangements will be made for them to get done what they need done at the
courthouse.
Commissioners approve first request for utility installation
By Mary Landrie
Monitor Correspondent
ATHENS–Henderson County Commissioners authorized Judge David Holstein to
sign an agreement with Monarch Utilities during the first Tuesday meeting.
Monarch submitted a request to install utility lines in county right-of-way
near the Beachwood Estates subdivision, next to the Cedar Creek Lake
spillway.
The action was the first time the full court had authorized the placement of
utility lines.
In December, Precinct 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney (who was not present) and
Precinct 1 Commissioner Joe Hall had asked to establish a formal approval
process for utility lines being placed in county right-of-way, using a
standard set of guidelines.
Hall said the guidelines were not completely set, but the agreement with
Monarch Utilities would work. Those guidelines called for the utility to
bore and encase all lines going under county roads, and to bury all lines at
least 36 inches deep.
Hall said Monarch Utilities planned to bury four-inch water lines five feet
deep, and six-inch sewer lines 11 feet deep.
In other business, the commissioners:
•named Jimmy Reynolds (the current board president) and Richard. L. Smith to
the Henderson County Emergency Service District No. 2 board of directors in
Payne Springs .
•appointed three members and five alternates to the County Grievance
Committee. County Judge David Holstein drew the names of former grand jury
members from a basket.
Thomas Robinson of Chandler, Vicki Nobles of Gun Barrel City and Charlie
Hughes of Athens were selected as members.
Kenneth Webster of Athens, Dawn Dunn of Athens, Charles Jenkins of Athens,
W.D. “Dee” Warren of Athens, and Kenneth Mason of Chandler were named as
alternates.
• ratified a lease agreement dating back to March 3, 1976, between Henderson
County and the Upper Neches River Municipal Authority. This will allow
repairs to be made to a public boat launch facility.
• approved surety bonds for county officials in amounts ranging from $500 to
$100,000.
• heard the walls on the new expansion of the county jail will start to go
up this week. The project is on schedule and on budget, commissioners heard.
• approved payroll changes.
• paid fiscal year 2006 bills totaling $116,845.67, and fiscal year 2007
bills totaling $26,591.41.
Holstein, West to keep seats
Both
reappointed to Economic Development Board
By
Mary Landrie
Monitor Correspondent
ATHENS–Henderson County Commissioners chose to reappoint County Judge David
Holstein and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry West to the East Texas Economic
Development District’s Board of Directors Tuesday.
The district covers eight counties and allots two seats to Henderson County.
The ETEDD promotes increasing employment opportunities for the unemployed
and underemployed, as well as assisting and coordinating economic
development planning.
Both Holstein and West have served on the board for more than five years.
In other business, commissioners:
• continued an interlocal agreement with the Andrews Center and approved
$2,500 per month payments to the center, which provides mental health
services.
• transferred a lease agreement between the Upper Neches River Municipal
Water Authority and the county to the city of Chandler.
The 3.17 acres of land outside of Chandler was annexed into the city to
allow for police surveillance and city upkeep of the land.
The boat ramp will remain open to the public.
• heard that the jail expansion project is three and a half weeks ahead of
schedule; however, delivery of materials has slowed, due to weather
conditions.
• received financial reports.
• approved replat of lots 45 and 46 of Champion Ranch into one 10-acre tract
to be named 45R.
• tabled two contracts for further review.
• paid bills totaling $183,966.43 for fiscal year 2006 and $265,014.92 for
FY 2007.
The court noted court-appointed attorney costs came in almost $7,000 over
its $650,000 budget allotment.
Also, $255,000 of the 2007 payments were for annual insurance premiums.
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