Council approves candidate declarations, infrastructure contracts and a planning commission appointment

The Victoria City Council completed multiple formal actions at its March 4 meeting, approving candidate declarations, several contracts for infrastructure work, a water meter replacement project, and an appointment to the Planning Commission.

Votes at a glance

- C1 — Ordinance (emergency reading): Declared unopposed candidates elected to City Council District 5 and District 6. Motion passed on emergency reading; vote recorded as passed.

- C2 — Ordinance: Amended the FY2024-25 budget to cover 2024 Tejas Fest costs in the amount of $142,495.51. Approved (first reading passed by voice vote).

- E1 — Resolution: Appointed Braden Robertson to the Victoria Planning Commission to fill an unexpired term ending August 2027. Motion passed; Robertson received a majority of votes on council ballot.

- E2 — Resolution/Contract award: Awarded the 2025 mill-and-overlay contract to CK Newberry LLC for $4,847,489. Contract scope covers multiple street resurfacing projects including Mallette Drive (Ball Airport Road to Loop 463), Hoover Street, Ben Jordan Street, John Stockbauer, Ben Wilson Street, Delmar Street and Odom Street. Motion to award passed.

- E3 — Resolution/Contract: Awarded a water meter replacement contract to Third Kettle Corporation d/b/a Aquametrics Sales Company in the amount of $801,702.52. The project funds replacement of roughly 3,000 meter transceiver units (MXUs) and approximately 650 residential meters with Sensus iPerl meters; staff said the new meters include a 20-year accuracy and battery warranty. Motion passed.

- Consent Agenda (D1–D8): Adopted minutes (02/18/2025), appointed presiding and alternate judges for the May 3, 2025 joint election, approved professional engineering services for Burroughsville Road reconstruction ($163,775), approved Motorola APX 8,000 radios purchase for public safety (year 1 replacement, not to exceed $425,068), approved TxDOT municipal maintenance agreement, and approved other change orders and zone designation actions listed on the consent docket. The consent agenda passed as a block.

Context and details

City engineering staff told council CK Newberry submitted the low bid and the recommended award is about $1.55 million under the department’s construction budget for the 2025 mill-and-overlay program; work is scheduled under a 180-day construction timeline. In the utilities presentation staff said the meter-replacement contract continues a multi-year program that began in 2024; prior work replaced 1,700 meters and transceiver units and included larger meters. Staff said about 18% of the system’s meters currently require manual reads and the replacement project focuses first on areas with the highest number of “no reads.”

How council voted and what happens next

Most motions were approved by voice vote; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded for all items in the transcript. Council accepted staff recommendations and authorized the city manager and appropriate department directors to execute the awarded contracts. The Planning Commission seat will be filled by Robertson through August 2027; the mill-and-overlay and meter-replacement contracts will move to procurement and construction scheduling.

Ending

The council recessed for a short executive session after the business portion of the meeting. Staff said they will return with implementation details and scheduling for awarded contracts and with a detailed Tejas Fest plan as requested by council.