City engineer says 2018 bond projects remain on budget despite pandemic delays

Zach Shaner, Longview's city engineer, told the City Council on July 9 that the 2018 bond program'—about $104.2 million worth of projects across public safety, streets and parks'—is largely on schedule and on budget despite COVID-era delays and supply-chain challenges. "We are currently on budget across all projects," Shaner said, summarizing the city's progress and financial picture.

Shaner reviewed the bond program's three propositions: public safety (police, fire, an annex and a new four-story burn training building), streets and infrastructure, and parks. He reported completed work at the Longview Police Department and at Fire Stations 5 and 8; the municipal annex renovation is finished; a public-safety training center is substantially complete but still needs burn props (scheduled for installation by the end of 2026). On streets, Shaner said Fairmont reconstruction is finished, Mobberly Complete Streets has been reconfigured to add bike lanes and sidewalks, and Real Road reconstruction is on pace for early October completion.

Shaner acknowledged pandemic-related delays and higher costs but said the city offset much of that with bond interest earnings and outside grants. "We've experienced interest earnings of about $4,800,000," he said, and cited grant support for the Mobberly Complete Streets and the Cotton Street sidewalk project. He described the Cotton Street project as a split scope: the city will construct the north side while TxDOT will manage the south-side work, with sidewalks ultimately connecting downtown to nearby amenities.

On parks, the Broughton Recreation Center and the Longview Arboretum projects are substantially complete. Shaner said additional trail work and amenities are in design, with some park bids scheduled in August and targeted openings tied to next-year schedules (for example, a new parking lot and a 1,300-foot, 10-foot-wide sidewalk tied to the Fair Street area is expected to be complete by Memorial Day next year).

Council members asked for timing details and finance clarifications; Shaner answered that issuances of the bond debt took place in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and that contingency and inflation impacts were mitigated through interest earnings and grant awards. The presentation closed with staff taking questions about contractor pours, project sequencing and the TxDOT let date for the Cotton Street south-side work.

Next steps: council accepted the update and had no formal action on the bond portfolio at the meeting; project-specific contracts and bids will return to council as needed.