Pampa approves 10-year master services agreement for water-tank maintenance

The City of Pampa voted to approve a master services agreement with Utility Service Company (USG Water) to manage inspection, maintenance and renovation of the city's water storage tanks.

City staff and a USG representative described the proposed asset-management program as an all-in approach: annual climbs and inspections, periodic washouts and interior evaluations, and renovations or overcoats as needed. "There's one point of contact, and it's all—as you'll hear me say a lot—one throat to choke," the contractor representative said, describing USG’s centralized responsibility for maintenance and emergency repairs.

Officials said Pampa has roughly 10 major storage tanks (including elevated and ground tanks) with varying ages; some tanks have not had major renovations in decades. A city presenter summarized engineering estimates: rehabilitating many tanks independently can cost about "$500,000 to $1,000,000 a tank," while replacing storage can be substantially more (the presentation cited roughly $3.75 million per million gallons of storage as an average replacement cost). The contractor and staff discussed a planning horizon that spreads work and cost over multiple years: a city staff member described a roughly $6,000,000 estimate for inspections, repairs and renovations over a 10-year program while noting the city retains annual opt-out flexibility.

Officials said the water fund will cover work approved in the budget and that the master agreement provides flexibility to spread out costs rather than face a large debt service if multiple tanks required emergency replacement simultaneously. Staff emphasized the program would be structured as annual scopes of work under a master contract; each tank’s scope and first-year costs will be presented to the commission during the budget cycle.

Quotes and context

"We started out doing tank maintenance in 1963 in North Carolina," the USG representative said while describing the company’s national program and capacity to provide crews and inspections.

"If you call with an emergency on the tank, we'll roll trucks within 48 hours," the contractor added, noting emergency response commitments and local crews in the region.

Budget and next steps

City staff said the current budget includes allocations in the water fund to begin the program. The commission authorized the city manager to execute all necessary documents for the master services agreement. Staff will return with recommended first-year tank scopes, a budget schedule, and options for spreading specific project costs across multi-year periods in spring budget discussions.

What this means for residents

Staff cautioned there will be rate and service implications over time as water-system maintenance and replacement costs are realized, but they framed the program as a planning tool to avoid sudden, large rate increases caused by emergency replacements.