Mister Stoltz, presenting the Engineering & Development Services year‑end and fourth‑quarter report to the Washington County Commissioners Court on Dec. 30, said the department closed the year having processed 296 OSSF (septic) permits and 200 addressing actions for 2025.

Stoltz told the court the county completed about 30 miles of paving for the year and recorded multiple surface treatments: roughly one mile of recycled asphalt pavement installation, more than 10 miles of chip seal overlay and nearly 19 miles of full‑depth reclamation with a two‑coat seal. “We have officially done that. We have saved $1,240,000 in in‑house paving,” Stoltz said, attributing the savings to the county’s transition from contractor work to owned paving equipment and staff.

The department reported base‑material purchases totaled approximately 68,000 tons for the year, with an increased focus on limestone and crushed concrete to strengthen roadway structure. Stoltz said the county anticipates a capital‑equipment useful life of about 10 years for the paving assets and expects ongoing savings once the equipment is paid off.

Stoltz described subdivision activity and approvals: final plats accepted for Oak Hill Reserve, and Windmill Ridge is in construction; Maplewood Subdivision, Oakcrest Estates and Hill Creek Ridge Phase 2 are under review. He also reported a modest uptick in subdivision variance requests (22 this year vs. 17 in earlier years) and summarized a specific variance the court approved for a 10‑acre tract fronting Dead End Lane in Precinct 4.

On driveway culverts, Stoltz said the county completed 99 installations in 2025 and implemented a materials reimbursement fee in 2023; those fees generated $63,275 this year to cover the county’s cost of materials (not labor or equipment).

Stoltz briefed the court on bridge work after a set of TxDOT critical findings. For three bridges with timber end caps and steel superstructures, the department has been replacing end caps to extend useful life for another 10–15 years at a fraction of full replacement costs; Stoltz described an end‑cap replacement as an example where a $2,500 repair avoids a $20,000–$30,000 full replacement. He said work on Brant Road and Deer Point Road is complete and Christian Cemetery Road bridge repairs are scheduled next week; four of five bridge projects under contract are expected to reach construction in 2026.

Stoltz noted a slowdown in oil‑and‑gas development permits (three total in 2025), discussed fleet replacement and auction proceeds (anticipating roughly $152,000 from fleet auctions and reporting over $40,000 already received), and described a road‑mapping project: the county has procured and installed cameras to photograph and map more than 600 miles of county roadways, with calibration expected to finish and operations beginning in January 2026.

Commissioners asked for comparative data showing miles versus dollars under the in‑house paving model; Stoltz agreed to provide a year‑by‑year cost and mileage breakdown and a map for constituent communication in the next quarterly report. The court’s discussion closed with praise for staff who operate the county’s paving and maintenance programs.

The department’s appendices, Stoltz said, include equipment mileage, fleet data and a line‑item breakdown of work orders for more detailed review.