IVANHOE – When the Ivanhoe City Council met in its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Sept. 19, Mayor Skip Blackstone gave the councilmembers a series of updates on several infrastructure projects within the city.
Blackstone began the regular agenda of the meeting with his monthly report, during which he went over several grants the city had applied for, and projects being funded by grants.
On the city’s $11.4 million grant awarded by the GLO, he said that for the Lake Ivanhoe project, the second submittal had been sent to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the city was awaiting follow-up from that agency.
For the Lake Camelot dam, the city received notification from TCEQ that all of its construction plans had been approved, and the city was awaiting hydrologic and hydroanalysis reviews to proceed.
On the Lake Tristan dam, engineering firm LJA is currently working on the final round of plans to submit to TCEQ.
For the $7.9 million grant the city was awarded, Blackstone said that multiple street repair projects are ongoing. Twenty-second street, he said, is done, and construction has begun on Sir Henry and Mill Creek streets.
In doing those streets, the city has found some hang-ups in beginning the process, such as a telephone pole in the way on one street and a valve in the middle of the road.
Blackstone said he has met with both Entergy and Southwest Water Corp. to address those findings, respectively
On the Charmaine Dam repair work, Blackstone reported that workers had pumped 153 cubic yards of grout into multiple voids that were found in the dam back in April.
The city also approved a bid to caulk that dam from Marsh Waterproofing in the amount of $38,300 to caulk 12,000 feet of the dam.
Councilmember Will Warren addressed that item on the agenda, and said that Chance Construction had submitted a bid at a rate of $19.23 per foot, and Epoxy Designs for $12.50 per foot, for a total cost of $146,400.
Warren said that although Epoxy Designs was a good company, “quite frankly, the city cannot afford that.”
Marsh Waterproofing, he said, came along with the underbid for the total package, and would use the city’s materials. He recommended the city go with Marsh.
Blackstone said there was $74,000 budgeted in next year’s budget for the dams’ maintenance.
The city also approved a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scan for the Galahad Dam.
Warren said that Tolunay-Wong Engineers, out of Houston, will conduct the scan at a cost of $18,400.
He said the process will identify any issues, such as voids, if there are any present.
“We don’t know what we have going on. We presume we may have some voids,” he said.
In order to scan the dam, Blackstone said, the lakes’ level will have to be lowered for a period.
