City staff reported that engineering work on a new pump station, pipeline and a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for a replacement or expanded water treatment plant has advanced to a contracted phase while the city seeks State Revolving Fund financing. The staff member presenting the update said the district contracted HDR Engineering to begin phase 2 design and that the city provided money to maintain engineering momentum.

The presentation said rehabilitation of the existing pump station (described as "option 1") became infeasible after structural review, so the team moved to alternate options 2 and 3 that reuse much of the existing structure. The presenter said the design approach is modular: construct necessary concrete and infrastructure now but stage expensive pump installations for later. "The talk now is that, yeah, in the future, this needs to hold 5 pumps. Does it need to hold 5 pumps tomorrow? No. We need to pour the concrete tomorrow, but we don't have to put expensive pumps in tomorrow," the staff member said.

Staff said phase 1 of the PER for the treatment plant is underway and that the ACR team reviewed work by John Heinemann and rolled that capacity data into sizing for a new plant. The presenter described phase 2 engineering scope as "designing the pipeline, hydraulics, topographies, geology studies, everything you need to help build up that construction spec," and said he signed paperwork the prior week to start that phase.

According to the presentation, the district is paying HDR for the engineering contract while the city provided funds so that engineering would not lapse before SRF funding is available. The staff member said those steps "reduce the timeline between when funding arrives and when we can put equipment on the ground." No formal vote or ordinance was reported during the update; the work described was characterized as contracting and design direction rather than a final construction award.

The presenter listed members of the engineering team as Corey Shockley, PE (HDR), John Heinemann, PE (HDR Dallas), Scott McKinnon and David Morgan, working with the presenter to steer the project forward. The presenter said pump-sizing reports, needs assessments and evaluations are complete and referenced a report on pumping capacities included in the project record.

Next steps reported were ongoing PER work for the treatment plant, continued phase 2 design for the pump station and pipeline, and coordination with SRF timelines. The presenter emphasized that the SRF-required analysis is a reason the team is examining expansion or remodeling options for the existing hilltop treatment facility. The update did not specify construction start dates, final costs or an SRF application deadline.