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Sewage spill reported
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–An 800-gallon sewage spill Tuesday in Lakeview Acres off
State Highway 198 in Gun Barrel City was reported to state regulatory
agencies.
East Cedar Creek Fresh Water Supply District, which also provides
wastewater treatment service, issued a spill report to Tarrant Regional
Water District (TRWD) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Thursday.
The spill was due to human error, ECCFWSD general manager Bill Goheen
told The Monitor.
An after-hours call to the district by Lakeview Acres resident Donald
Kline prevented more raw sewage from flowing into the lake, Goheen
added.
“We really appreciate him giving us a call,” Goheen said.
Lift Station 32 on Harmon Road was recently installed with a telemetry
device to automatically send a signal to the district when service is
disrupted. However, on this occasion, a maintenance crew had forgotten
to restore power to the lift station before clearing the site around 3
p.m. that day.
Kline told The Monitor spills have repeatedly occurred over the years,
and he’s fed up.
“You know what the first indicator of a spill is?” he asked, then
pointed to his nose.
The members of the maintenance crew were severely reprimanded, Goheen
said.
Also, the district is looking into various ways to tighten quality
control, to reduce human error.
One measure would require maintenance crews to call the office, once
they’ve finished working on individual lift stations, with a report that
power has been restored.
Goheen explained power was disrupted so the electronic terminal
connection could be inspected and screws tightened as needed to avoid
short circuiting.
Lift Station 32 serves 15 to 20 houses, Goheen said, and has a
1,000-gallon holding tank.
The power was off to the lift station from around 2 p.m. until 10:20
p.m., when the district corrected the mistake, Goheen said.
To his credit, Kline kept making calls to the district and TRWD until he
was able to report the spill to a live person. That was the TRWD’s
Darrell Andrews out of Fort Worth.
As it so happens, Andrews serves with Goheen on a committee looking at
ways to protect the Cedar Creek Lake watershed from contaminants,
especially from high levels of phosphorous, found in organic matter.
Restaurant renovation
Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
The Jalapeño Tree has purchased Papacita’s Mexican Restaurant on Main
Street in Gun Barrel City from Robert Hampton. The location will remain
closed three to six weeks for renovations, and then reopen as the
Jalapeño Tree. Prospective employees and managers will be training at
the Athens location. Hampton still owns the Papacitas in Longview, and
will have no connection with the Jalapeño Tree, other than the fact
Hampton and Jalapeño Tree president Paul Bambrey are great friends.
Jalapeño Tree has opened locations in Sherman, Mesquite and Tyler this
year, and will soon open one more in Granbury. The chain’s Kilgore
restaurant has been voted “Best of Best in Mexican Food” three years
running.
EDC measures pass
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–As expected, the Gun Barrel City Council approved an
agreement between the city’s Economic Development Corporation and East
Cedar Creek Fresh Water Supply District to get sewer service for
Heritage Cove.
The agreement was initiated by councilmen Charles Townsend and Todd
Hogan.
However, in a vote to approve the plan, Hogan cast the lone dissenting
vote.
“It was my obligation as a councilman to find a solution to the
impasse,” Hogan told The Monitor. “It is also my obligation to vote my
conscience.”
Hogan believes these types of expenses are part of doing business, and
should be paid by the developer.
“The majority of the council opposed payment based on a contractual
argument. I oppose its payment on principle,” he said.
Council members Patsy Black and Kathy Cochran were absent when the vote
was taken.
It passed 2-1, with the mayor also in favor of the measure.
The EDC agrees to pay $35,143.55 as an impact fee, and ECCFWSD agrees to
connect the project to its main sewer line.
Another performance agreement between the EDC and Harbor Point Cinema,
Inc. was approved, which changes the dates for hitting major milestones
in the construction of a planned eight-plex movie theater at Heritage
Cove.
The former agreement had not gone into default, and the council had no
problem unanimously approving it.
In other business, the council:
• set a joint workshop between the EDC and the council to discuss an
east-west road, traffic light installation and seawall at Heritage Cove,
among other topics to be determined. The workshop is set for 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 13.
• tabled action pertaining to preparing a sewer franchise fee ordinance
at 5 percent of sewer rate.
Hogan put this forward as a possible way to help fund other city
services, such as street lighting and fire hydrants. He estimated the
fee would only add $1.75 to $2.50 to the billing, and raise about
$46,000, annually.
Councilman Marty Goss opposed the measure, saying that amount would not
be enough to finance what Hogan proposes.
City manager Gerry Boren didn’t have hard figures, but said the electric
bill on new lines and poles for street lighting would amount to $58,000
per year, while installation costs would be much higher.
Goss said he put in three poles, one transformer and lines recently at a
cost of $11,000.
Goss again predicted the need for an ad valorem tax in the
not-too-distant future, saying this would amount to stacking fees
unnecessarily. Hogan countered that the proposal was a way for “growth
to pay for growth.”
• appointed Harry McCune, Steve Webster and Joe Agnes to the Hospital
Search Committee, and Townsend as chairman. |