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ESD specifics brought to question
Columbus city manager Donald Warschak had a lot of updates for city council members regarding various ongoing or incoming projects being worked on throughout Columbus at their recent council meeting Monday, Dec. 9.
Warschak highlighted recent work completed on waterlines around Columbus Elementary school, with work being completed during the Thanksgiving holiday while students were away on break.
“The contractors working around the elementary school installed and completed the board underneath Milam St. and Jackson St. and laid out models for Bowie St. during the Thanksgiving holidays. Since school was out, they went on to the school campus itself and replaced the line from the school’s meter, which is inside the elementary school playground, back out towards Live Oak St. They’ve got that in and they’re going to start getting it ready to pressure test and conduct a disinfection test.”
Drainage work is also set to start soon with multiple projects being conducted across Columbus, on the north side of town and south of city hall. One of the projects will take place by Wallace St. and north of Austin St., then east on Houston St. to tie into existing inlets and anvils at the intersection.
The second portion of the project on the north side of town will start on Malik St. and Charter St. From there it will extend from W St. to Front St., and from Front St. to two blocks north.
Warschak also highlighted how the city applied for an LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) grant to work on improvements for Midtown Park. The work would include refurbishing horseshoe pits, activity stations and more.
“We also want to work on the trails, freshening those up, and redoing a couple of benches on that part or location of the park,” said Warschak. “The LCRA grant application period will open up in January, and we’re going to apply for a grant to also build some more pickleball courts here in town.” The city is also preparing to run average water usage tests starting Sunday, Dec. 15 through Feb. 15, 2025, to calculate the sewage bill for residential customers next year.
Council members also held discus- sions about the proposed Colorado County Emergency Services District, specifically questioning whether or not the city would be subjected to enter an agreement if voters decide they do not want to opt in.
Howard Katz, an attorney working with the Colorado County Firefighters Association, clarified certain specifics about the agreement, indicating that Columbus as a municipality would have to rely on their citizens vote to “determine whether or not the city entered the ESD agreement,” regardless if the overall county vote is in favor of the ESD.
However, If Columbus voters voted in favor of opposing the ESD, the city would not be forced to enter into the interlocal agreement despite the county’s approval, but would instead have to provide the firefighting services on their own, likely to either cost residents more in taxes than if they voted to approve being a part of the ESD.
A public hearing will take place on Jan. 13 to discuss the proposed ESD.
