Greenville council approves staff appointments, infrastructure change orders and consulting contracts

The Greenville City Council at its February meeting approved a package of resolutions covering personnel appointments, consulting agreements and infrastructure change orders, and authorized staff to pursue a federal grant application for police investigative software. All recorded votes on those items passed unanimously.

Why it matters: the approved items affect day‑to‑day city operations (personnel and holiday designation), water infrastructure reliability (a larger generator and a temporary bypass/header project) and planning capacity (extended planning consultant services and engineering for a Texas Department of Agriculture block‑grant application). Several approvals use existing bond or grant funds, city staff said; no new general fund tax increase was proposed at this meeting.

Votes at a glance

- Appoint Bridal (Rai) Brown as Civil Service Director — Resolution approved unanimously. (Presentation by city staff; no public testimony.)

- Extend consulting services agreement with city planner Latoya Anderson (up to $52,000) — Resolution approved unanimously. The contract extension covers completion of downtown planning, InterGov implementation and zoning‑map updates.

- Increase existing purchase order by $175,800 to WPI for water‑treatment plant generator installation — Resolution approved unanimously. City staff said the vendor’s real installation cost exceeded the original estimate; interest earnings from bond funds will cover the increase.

- Add Juneteenth (June 19) as a city employee holiday — Resolution approved unanimously.

- Approve change order with MH Civil Constructors Inc. for a temporary bypass/header project at the Lake Tawakoni pump station — Resolution approved unanimously; change order amount: $285,716. Staff said the temporary bypass will allow pumps to run while the header replacement proceeds and estimated the work will take about four months.

- Appoint/replace members on boards and commissions, including replacing Renee Shelton with Blake Taylor on the Greenville Board of Development — Resolutions approved unanimously.

- Award contract negotiation/engineering services recommendation for application to the Texas Department of Agriculture (2025 block grant, $750,000) to Schaumburg & Polk — Resolution approved unanimously.

- Authorize submission of a U.S. Department of Justice (Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant) application for investigative software — Resolution approved unanimously; the grant would cover software that searches public social‑media accounts for investigative leads. If awarded, the grant would not require local matching funds.

- Accept consent calendar (minutes, routine items) — Approved unanimously.

Action details and notes

Several agenda items included additional staff comments clarifying funding sources and timelines. For the generator installation, staff said the generator is already manufactured and located in Houston; the installation cost increase will be paid from interest earnings on bond proceeds for the raw‑water line and water‑treatment‑plant projects. On the header change order, staff explained the temporary bypass will allow the city to keep pumping to reservoirs while crews replace the existing 27‑inch header with two 36‑inch headers.

A city planner consulting extension (Latoya Anderson) was presented as a one‑year extension at the same hourly rate previously approved ($50/hour) with a contract cap of $52,000; council approved the extension and staff said funds were budgeted.

There was no recorded council vote on the Greenbelt developer presentation or on any public‑improvement district at this meeting; developers were asked to provide engineers’ cost estimates for further consideration.