City staff briefed Crockett council on multiple infrastructure and economic development items during the Feb. 3 meeting, including street and waterline work, sewer projects to address infiltration, a federal foreign-trade zone (FTZ) application and a denied state parks grant for a proposed swimming pool.

Alan Warshall, the staff presenter, described current construction: completed water-line installations on South Seventh and South Tenth Streets and ongoing work on South Grey Street and North Grace. He said the city has access to a new round of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) pre-applications with an early-April pre-application deadline and that the program can fund streets, water and sewer projects. Warshall reviewed the city's recent MLK Street project: the previous CDBG award and a State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loan covered a portion of MLK from the loop to Bell Street; the remaining portion of MLK requires additional funding sources.

Warshall said the city is under a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) initiative and has prioritized sewer mains and failing manholes for replacement. The city has begun an inventory and inspection program for manholes and is inputting data into a GIS system to prioritize repairs. He reported the Texas Water Development Board approved a categorical environmental exclusion for certain water-line replacements — meaning the city can avoid a longer environmental-review process for projects that replace lines within existing disturbed ground — and said staff expects to advertise water-line bids in the late spring or early summer.

On economic development, Warshall reported a large industrial building in the industrial park is near completion and the city has submitted its FTZ application with concurrence letters from local taxing entities; staff expects further federal review. The building's first phase was described as supporting roughly 60 jobs in phase one and staff said job fairs and recruitment are planned for spring.

Parks and recreation: staff said a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant application for a municipal swimming pool finished ranked 32 of about 68 applicants and fell outside funding cutoffs (only 22 projects were funded). Warshall said council will have to decide whether to scale the pool project, borrow more, seek other funding or reprioritize.

Animal shelter: staff said they are finalizing a job description for a shelter attendant/technician and plan to partner with a local veterinarian who has offered support on a noncompetitive basis; staff will present partnership options to council in the coming days.

Council asked staff to return with CDBG pre-application priorities for council input and to continue work on sewer priority lists, manhole repairs and schedule updates for the MLK and East Houston/East Goliad sections that are moving toward bid.