Fire Department to ESD transition underway
Submitted by jcht2010 on
The transition of the Edna Fire Department to ESD3 is still underway. At the Nov. 5 Edna City Council meeting, council members approved a lease agreement with the ESD3 for the current fire and EMS station. The agreement now goes to the ESD3 for approval.
The agreement calls for no rent or deposit from the ESD3 for use of the city-owned facilities. Instead, the city is asking the ESD3 to provide liability insurance.
Council discussed maintenance to the building, but per the agreement the ESD3 would be responsible for up to the first $1,000 in repairs with additional costs to be considered by the City of Edna.
“We are going to do everything we are able to do to make sure they are not going to have to shell out a lot of money,” said Mayor Joe Hermes.
The remaining ambulance has been transferred to the Jackson County Hospital District.
In other business, council met with Mike Reeves with Republic Services, the company the city has contracted with to handle waste collection for its residents.
Council asked to meet with a representative of the company to address concerns on brush pickup. Reeves said because of the wet weather earlier this year the brush collected in the city was four times the normal volume in this pickup area. He said the drivers will not pick up brush piles containing trash bags or construction debris and the piles should not be larger than a small car. The driver is supposed to tag these piles and report them to the city.
Reeves said Edna is the only city they contract with that has weekly brush pickup, but Price replied that was what Republic Services agreed to in the contract.
Maxine Price, council member for District 3, said there were some piles of brush on Allen Street that had not been picked up for several months. Reeves assured her the company has taken steps to remedy the problem, but residents should call the city to report brush piles that remain after the weekly pick up.
Also, council accepted a bid to Mercer Controls Inc. of Edna to replace the UV disinfection system for the wastewater treatment plant. Mercer Controls had the low bid of $458,957, which was lower than the engineers estimate of $532,000.
Council accepted a bid from Layne Inliner of Baytown for sanitary sewer improvements totalling $265,550. Philip Huseman with KSA Engineers, said the lines are currently 12 in concrete pipes buried 18 feet deep that were probably installed in the 1950s. Layne Inliner will reline the pipes with a sock-like material that will harden when water is applied to it. He said it was the most efficient and inexpensive way to repair the leaking pipes.
During staff reports City Manager Don Doering told council he would be meeting with a grant writer about possible grants for repairing or replacing the city’s sidewalks.
Brad Ryan, public works director, advised council city employees would begin putting up Christmas decorations the week of Nov. 9.
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