Council reviews proposed five-year capital improvement plan covering water, wastewater, streets, drainage and airport

Bay City — City staff presented the proposed five-year Capital Improvement Program for water, wastewater, streets, drainage and airport projects and walked council through priorities, project timing, funding sources and grant applications.

Crystal Mason, assistant director of public works, led the water and wastewater portion of the CIP. She reported the completed lead service line inventory found 57 service lines requiring replacement work; the city identified those as galvanized (not elemental lead) and located on the customer side of the meter, and staff proposed spreading replacements over a 10-year schedule. “It was determined there's only a 57 lines that are gonna require replacement,” Mason said, and staff intend to seek grant funding to limit direct homeowner costs.

Mason described a fire-hydrant preventive maintenance and replacement program that began this year with 30 hydrants and intends to process roughly 400 hydrants over multiple years through testing, sandblasting and painting to NFPA colors; crews also received valve-and-hydrant training to allow some in-house repairs. She presented project updates including the East Water Treatment Plant (well drilled; generator pad and storage tank work underway; substantial completion dates discussed), the Fifth Street 12-inch waterline assessment (assessment showed roughly half the line needs replacement), and a five-year tank recoating schedule tied to…