District F: Statewide Stay Home Order to Expire, Mask Distribution, Briarmeadow and Alief SN 25 Virtual Meetings

• Statewide stay home order will be allowed to expire on April 30th
• On Friday, May 1st, businesses such as retail stores, malls, restaurants and theaters to reopen, but will be limited to 25% occupancy
• Barbershops, salons, gyms, and bars to open “as soon as possible” and expect them to open no later than mid-May

• City’s free testing sites opened late today due to the inclement weather from last night.
  • To schedule an appointment, visit: https://houstonemergency.org/covid-19-testing/
• The free testing site in Sunnyside at Worthing High School (9215 Scott Street, 77051) opened today at 12pm and will operate through May 3rd. The site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (with the exception of Wednesday), or until reaching its daily capacity of 150 tests.
  • To make an appointment, visit txcovidtest.org or call 512.883.2400
• The City is extending the suspension of water disconnections through the end of May

Here were the notable Agenda items passed at Council:

• Item #12 – Approval of final contract amount of $2,341,988.65 and acceptance of work on contract with MCKINNEY CONSTRUCTION, INC for Water Line Replacement in Tanglewilde Area - 1.14% over the original contract amount - DISTRICTS F – THOMAS and J – POLLARD
  • This project was part of the City’s Water Line Replacement Program and was required to replace and upgrade water lines within the City to increase availability of water, improve circulation, and fire protection.
  • This project consisted of construction of approximately 29,170 linear feet of water lines (326 linear feet of 4-inch; 333 linear feet of 6-inch; 17,528 linear feet of 8-inch; 10,983 linear feet of 12-inch) and construction of service lines, fire hydrants, valves, fittings, connections, and appurtenances. Van De Wiele & Vogler, Inc. designed the project with 310 calendar days allowed for construction. The project was awarded to McKinney Construction, Inc. with an original Contract Amount of $2,315,662.92.
  • Location: the project area is generally bound by Westheimer Road on the north, Richmond Avenue on the south, Dunvale Road on the east, and Rocky Ridge on the west.
• *TAGGED*: Item #16 – ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 39-1, 39-49, 39-62, AND 39-63 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, HOUSTON, TEXAS, establishing a fee for the Lease and Management of Containers for Garbage and Recyclables for Residential Units; establishing an effective date (July 1st, 2020).
  • During the annual budget process, Council has routinely approved $1,000,000 for the purchase of black and green 96-gallon automated solid waste carts.  The carts are distributed to authorized customers for garbage and recycling services.  The current in-use inventory of carts totals more than 780,000.
  • Since 2006, the department has been annually appropriated $1 million dollars for container replacement.  The amount was formally in capital funding but was shifted to department operating expenditures.  The funding was historically established to provide for procurement/maintenance of black carts only, replacing or adding up to 20,000 carts per year, as a result of growth, damages, and losses.  Additionally, the funding was for a customer base of 340,000.  Since 2006, the customer count has grown more than 10%, or 50,000 additional service units, to the current customer count of 390,000.  Between 2010 and 2015, with the city-wide implementation of automated single-stream recycling, the container count doubled to the current total of 780,000 with all customer homes having a cart for garbage and a cart for recycling.  The funding level for container maintenance and replacement did not, however, keep pace with the customer count growth and service expansion.  It remained $1 million in operations.
  • The Chapter 39 update establishes a cart lease fee of $0.57 per container, or $1.14 per customer household served.  The applied lease payment will provide proper maintenance and replacement levels for the city’s container inventory.  The updated asset management program places the City operation on par with other major Texas cities’ container management programs. The lease fund will support appropriate purchasing levels of both black and green containers; replacement parts and tools; rolling stock; and personnel to support deliveries and customer service in the four solid waste operations quadrants. The lease charge will appear on customer monthly water bills beginning effective July 1, 2020.
• Item #35 – ORDINANCE approving the issuance of Bonds and Notes by SOUTHWEST HOUSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY for REINVESTMENT ZONE 20 (TIRZ 20) – DISTRICT F – THOMAS and J – POLLARD
  • By various prior ordinances, City Council has authorized the Southwest Houston Redevelopment Authority (the “Authority”) to issue bonds and notes in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $50,000,000 at any one time. The Authority currently has approximately $46,470,000 in bonds outstanding. The Authority now needs to obtain financing to fund the design and construction of capital projects outlined in the current Project Plan and Reinvestment Zone Financing Plan for Reinvestment Zone Number Twenty (Southwest Houston Zone) and to implement the Fiscal Year 2020 Operating Budget and the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan for the Southwest Houston Zone previously approved by City Council. Therefore, the Authority desires a $30,470,000 increase in its debt authorization to an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $80,470,000 in bonds, notes, or other debt instruments outstanding at any one time.
  • Approval of this ordinance will provide the capital needed to support redevelopment projects in the Southwest Houston Zone, consisting primarily of the reconstruction of Harwin from Fondren to Gessner, major flood detention at Club Creek, Fondren South reconstruction, and Sharpstown Mall infrastructure and redevelopment. The estimated financing for these capital projects is $65,592,000. Based on an increase of debt authorization of $30,470,000, the Authority will determine which projects will be funded with the available proceeds from any issuance of debt under the increased authorization.
  • The bond authorization, subsequent issuance, and repayment of the debt, from tax increment generated by and collected from the Southwest Houston Zone, will occur during the existing remaining life of the Southwest Houston Zone, which will terminate on December 31, 2040.

ITEM #16, REGARDING THE GARBAGE BIN FEE, WAS TAGGED AND WILL BE VOTED ON AT NEXT WEEK’S MEETING.  WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. DO YOU SUPPORT THIS FEE?

Today, we mourn the passing of former Texas State Representative Al Edwards, the beloved legislator who represented House District 146 in south Houston from 1979 to 2007 and again from 2009 to 2011. Known also as a civil rights leader, those who knew him would attest to his conviction of what was right and wrong. In 1979, he introduced the bill that made Juneteenth a state holiday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.

Public Works has provided an update regarding the construction on this project along Westpark Dr.

• Traffic Signal Changes, Effective Friday, April 24th
  • As a response to increasing traffic, as drivers get back on the road, a two-phase signal has been implemented that will provide more green time on the left turn lane going westbound and southbound at Westpark and W Houston Center Blvd for drivers to clear the intersection.
  • Eastbound and Northbound left turns will be restricted completely to minimize the impact to through traffic. This means drivers heading eastbound and northbound will use the next signal to turn to their destinations.

Please be advised that sidewalk repair is currently taking place at this location and is expected to be completed on May 8th.