Water membranes to be replaced

By Melinda L. Lucas

Most of Monday night’s brief December city council meeting was a review of November and year-to-date finances by city manager Billy Holson, along with an explanation of the need to replace “trains” of membranes at the water plant.

Billy Holson noted that the capital outlay line item will jump from $418,000 to over $600,000 before the end of the year because there are currently 71 membranes failing at the local water plant. 

The only source for these membranes is Hungary at a cost of $180,000 plus $22,000 shipping, said Holson, who added that they need to be in place before the summer months when water demand goes up.

“We were originally scheduled to receive them in September, but (water plant supervisor) Michael Graham has talked them into moving the delivery up to March,” said Holson.

In other business, the council approved a resolution joining with the state as a party in the Texas Opioid Settlement Agreement, allowing the city to possibly receive relatively small payments resulting from a lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies.