State okays plans for new Olney water plant

The Olney City Council breathed a collective sigh of relief on Friday, after learning that state environmental regulators will allow the City’s $13.5 million water treatment plant to go ahead with construction.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had held up engineering plans by the City’s engineers, Corlett, Probst & Boyd for more than 60 days, demanding changes.

The Council had hoped to start construction on the water treatment plant this summer, and was facing the prospect of more delays that would push groundbreaking in to next year “Corlett Probst & Boyd re- ceived confirmation on July 11 that [TCEQ] approved both the exception for the discharge water and also for the entire plant,” City Administrator Arpegea. Pagsuberon said.

The engineering company is “90 percent complete with the electrical [system] in the plans” she said.

Corlett Probst & Boyd expect to have the plans completed by Aug. 9 and the project out for bids on Aug. 14, she said. Contractors will have two months to submit bids, which will be due Oct. 16, she said.

“Corlett Probst & Boyd will meet here at City Hall at 2 p.m. on Oct. 16 to open sealed bids for the contractors and they will have a week to vet the contractors to make sure they meet the requirements.”

The winning bid will be presented to the City Council on Oct. 23 at the regularly scheduled meeting, she said.

“Well, it’s good news that we got everything approved and it’s now the next step in the timeline,” Mayor Rogers said.

The City missed a July 10 deadline for keeping the construction of Olney’s new water treatment plant on track as delays by state environmental regulators pushed back the start of the $13.5 million project yet again.

The TCEQ demanded revisions to the plans, pushing back the planned summer groundbreaking of the plant by 60 days, and then returned the plans a second time with some minor tweaks.

These included asking the engineers to revise an air gap and move a power line and to apply for an exception to existing water and wastewater lines that are crossing each other but will be abandoned when the new plant is operational.

The city of Olney sold $13.5 million in revenue bonds on April 4, 2022 to fund construction on a replacement of its 100-year-old water treatment plant in a move that city council members said was essential to the city’s long-term growth and water security.