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Weatherford staff seek 30‑year extension to raw water contract with Tarrant Regional Water District
Summary
City staff told the municipal utility board they are negotiating a 30‑year extension of Weatherford’s raw water contract with Tarrant Regional Water District to address bond‑rating concerns and preserve the city’s wholesale water capacity; the board discussed new minimum‑take language and liability protections.
Rick Schafer, the city’s water utilities representative, told the Weatherford Municipal Utility Board that staff are negotiating a 30‑year extension to the city’s additional‑party contract with Tarrant Regional Water District to address concerns raised by bond‑rating agencies and to preserve Weatherford’s existing wholesale supply rights. "During our annual bond‑rating meetings, the bond rating agencies… had brought this up as a potential concern," Schafer said, explaining that extending the contract would push its expiration 30 years from the month it is signed.
Schafer reviewed the three core agreements that define Weatherford’s relationship with Tarrant Regional: a 1997 Sunshine Lake agreement that yields roughly 0.5 million gallons per day (MGD) at no purchase price (aside from pumping), a 1992 Benbrook contract that provides about 2.5 MGD and qualifies the city for an in‑district (lower) rate, and a 2001 additional‑party contract originally intended to route treated Weatherford water through Parker County Utility District (PCUD) to other wholesale customers. He said Weatherford currently holds about 1,600,000 gallons per day of purchased capacity under those arrangements.
Board members focused on two provisions in the proposed extension. First, Schafer said the draft adds a take‑or‑pay style minimum that would require a wholesale customer to commit to at least 30% of Weatherford’s current contracted volume (about 0.48 MGD) if Weatherford brings on a new wholesale account. "If Weatherford were to bring on another wholesale customer, we would want to make sure that they are going to obligate themselves to at least that volume of water," he said, adding the clause is intended to protect the city from being left on the hook for unused capacity.
Second, the board asked about liability language. Schafer said some liability limits had been removed in Tarrant Regional’s draft and the city attorney helped negotiate mutual indemnity and other standard protections "to the limit allowable by law." He cited potential water‑quality risks — for example, litigation arising from an invasive species such as zebra mussels — as the type of exposure the indemnity language seeks to address.
The staff recommendation was to approve and authorize the city manager to execute the contract extension; Ken Davis moved to approve as presented and Heidi Wilder seconded. The transcript shows the motion and second; a formal recorded vote is not included in the provided segments.
