Lampasas approves funding and contracts for $3.54 million wastewater solids-handling project; CO priorities reviewed

City of Lampasas officials on Monday moved forward on replacing aging solids-handling equipment at the municipal wastewater treatment plant, authorizing $2,544,455 from the city's 2022 Certificates of Obligation (CO) fund and accepting a $1,000,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to finance the work.

The action authorized contracts for grant administration and engineering services and cleared the way for procurement and environmental review. Staff said the total project budget is $3,544,455 and includes equipment, building and yard work, engineering, grant administration and contingency.

Why it matters: The existing belt press is failing and replacement parts are no longer manufactured; when the machine is down the city must modify sludge handling and incur recurring costs. Staff said a replacement will reduce recurring emergency handling costs, increase capacity and be sized to meet the plant's full build‑out.

City staff told council the city has $6,860,000 available in the 2022 CO fund balance. The staff presentation recommended allocating $2,550,000 (rounded in discussion) from that fund to the belt‑press replacement and using $1,000,000 from the EPA grant, producing the $3.54 million project budget later cited in the meeting packet.

Staff said the city has not yet selected a specific technology;…