Hewitt council hears staff plan to reprioritize street and water projects ahead of possible bond

City of Hewitt staff told the City Council on July 21 that a multi-year list of street, water and drainage capital projects will be used to shape any upcoming borrowing and that priorities may shift based on outside development or emergency repairs. City staff said the projects include long-standing items such as New Acres, Pier, Sunset, Sunnydale, Redbud and Ivy (water-line replacements and related street work), and higher-traffic rebuilds such as Alliance Parkway; they advised council not to assume the order on the list is final. "These are a listing of the projects. They're not in priority 1," a staff member said during the workshop discussion. The projects reflect aging infrastructure in neighborhoods where pipes and pavement are 40 to 50 years old and where some lines are still four inches, which fails current fire-flow standards. Staff described the typical practice of coordinating water main replacement with major street work to avoid repeatedly digging recently paved roads. For localized drainage work, they described constrained backyard and easement conditions that increase complexity and cost. Staff warned that timing and outside factors — development activity on adjacent properties, TxDOT projects, and heavy construction traffic — can move a project up or down the priority list. As an example, they said Alliance Parkway has required spot treatments but will likely need full reconstruction because of heavy use from commercial traffic and nearby construction. They also identified Rolling Hills as an area with poor soils and repeated curb upheaval tied to tree root systems and moisture changes. Councilmembers asked for a prioritized list tied to funding scenarios so they can decide how much to borrow in a potential bond or certificate of obligation issue. "If I know what reasonably we feel like we can accomplish and what we think the influencing factors may be in those projects," one council member said, "I might be more comfortable with a larger number." Staff agreed to prepare a prioritized list and cost estimates to help council set a borrowing amount and schedule. Staff discussed in-house capacity and equipment limits. They said the city owns much of the equipment needed for water-line work and smaller drainage tasks but that many major street projects require outside contractors because of manpower and specialized paving equipment. For example, paving work using a laydown machine typically needs multiple operators and dump trucks; using in-house crews on a large-scale reconstruction can strain daily service operations. Cost benchmarks mentioned during the meeting included a rule-of-thumb estimate previously prepared for other cities: about $885,000 per mile for reclaiming an existing pavement section and roughly $2.5 million per mile for full reconstruction, depending on substrate, drainage and curb work. Staff cautioned these are high-level estimates and that actual costs vary by scope and soil conditions. Councilmembers asked staff to return with: (1) a clear prioritized project list, (2) project-level cost estimates, and (3) a borrowing plan showing what could reasonably be spent within the underwriting timelines discussed later in the workshop. That information will be used to refine a bond or certificate of obligation proposal and to avoid funding work that may be disrupted by upcoming external projects, such as TxDOT roadway work near Hewitt Drive. The council did not take formal action on this item; staff indicated they will provide a revised prioritized list and cost schedule at a subsequent budget workshop.