“So, you’re asking us to spend City tax payer money to fund a study for an area that is not in the City limits?” asked Fairfield Councilman Keith Daniels of Mark Berend, resident of the Oak Forest neighborhood.
Mr. Berend came to Council on August 14th requesting for the City to authorize a consulting engineer to assess the viability and cost of installing a fire hydrant in the neighborhood near the intersection of Private Roads 1280 and 1283. This assessment would cost roughly $4,000 to perform.
“It is very important to me and my neighbors, not only for safety reasons, but in order to give us a better ISO (Insurance Service Office) fire rating in order to lower insurance costs,” explained Berend.
Currently, the nearest fire hydrant for the neighborhood stands about a half mile away, in the City’s Industrial Park.
Since the City has recently acquired the water system that services the Oak Forest neighborhood, and is considering the possibility of annexing said neighborhood, Berend and fellow residents feel the City should assist in this endeavor.
However, this hydrant would only service about 44 of the 405 homes located within the area that is serviced by the water system.
“I just don’t see how we can do this for only a few without doing it for the whole,” said Fairfield’s newest Councilman, Jason Bosely. “It wouldn’t be fair, or right.”
Councilman Landis Bayless asked, “Where does it stop? I know how engineers are. ‘It would be viable if this, or it would be viable if that.’ So, at what point do you stop asking the City for funding?”
Berend explained that if it was found that putting in a hydrant is a viable option that he and his neighbors, with possible assistance from the County, would pay for the hydrant to be installed.
“Would ya’ll also be willing to pay for the assessment?” asked Councilman Randy Johnson.
Council asked Berend to speak with his neighbors to see if they are willing to pay for the assessment as well; and if so, to come back at that point. For now, no action was taken on this issue.
Also at this meeting, Councilmen voted to approve the acceptance of a bid for $182,695.25 to repave the section of South Bateman between Dogan and Church Streets. The project is slated to begin sometime in October.
Originally, Oak Street was also part of this project, but it was found that extensive repairs are needed to a 250-foot section of the road which could potentially cost upwards of half a million dollars to repair.
Councilmen opted to remove Oak Street from this project until further analysis can be made.
During Department Head Reports, Public Works Director Clyde Woods recognized employee Shane Reves for earning his AA Water License. This is a license very few people in the State of Texas have, and is the same license that Woods holds.
Chief of Police Kenny Bulger informed Council that the PD is currently reviewing three potential candidates to fill the open officer positions. He explained that he feels confident they will have a new hire soon.
City Council is scheduled to meet again Tuesday evening, August 21, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Nicole Schaefer reporting
