Waelder council votes to upgrade standpipe

WAELDER — With the city’s standpipe in need of maintenance and repair work, city council on Tuesday voted to award a bid to subcontractor Williams Painting and Sandblasting for $159,842.00 to do the work.

Bradley Loehr with Befco Engineering briefed the council on the status of the project, saying the decision was made just over a week ago after a meeting between Loehr, the subcontractor and city officials.

“At the last council meeting it was decided to use Vinny with Williams Painting and Sandblasting, who would be doing an interview on Nov. 24. There, Waelder City Engineer Gene Kruppa (who also works with Befco Engineering), Councilman Curtis Hadnot and City Administrator Avery Williams - along with myself - had a positive interview.”

“Williams Painting were the ones who painted the last elevated storage tank on the northeast part of town,” Loehr said, “which we’re still getting good life out of that coating job.”

The council first considered a $153,042.00 package that would include all interior and exterior coating systems, as well as the holes in the roof, which Loehr said were an issue with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

“That issue was the primary reason we got this project going,” Loehr pointed out.

Loehr mentioned the option of adding exterior piping to the north side at ground level for an additional $3,500, totaling $156,542.00. Another interesting feature would be to add the city’s name to the standpipe.

“That would be an additional $3,300 to add it to both sides,” he said. “That would bring it to $159,842.00.”

Councilman Roy Tovar asked if financing was an option, to which City Administrator Williams replied there were some options - from 5 to 7 years - that were out there but had not been fully explored yet.

“There is a bank we talked to about financing,” he said. “They said they would be willing to finance.”

After a motion from Roy Tovar, the council voted unanimously to move ahead with the project in the amount of $159,842.00 as well as get financing from their bank - with the financing timeline to be set over the five-year option.