Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Meeting – August 28, 2025
Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Regular Meeting – August 28, 2025
The Municipal Utility Board met at Weatherford City Hall on Thursday, August 28, 2025, at 12:00 PM. Mayor Paul Paschall, Councilwoman Heidi Wilder, and Board Member Tom Novak were absent; a quorum was present. The meeting included an invocation, pledges, a presentation on the Hudson Oaks wastewater project, approval of minutes and consent agenda items, a budget presentation, adoption of the Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update, and an update on the Lake Weatherford Trail System.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No citizen comments on non-agenda items were made.
Presentations & Reports
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Wholesale Wastewater Contract Update (Hudson Oaks): Sterling Naron, City Administrator for Hudson Oaks, provided a semi-annual update on the project to connect Hudson Oaks to the new Willow Park wastewater treatment plant. He reported that the treatment plant is under construction and expected to be operational by the end of 2025. Hudson Oaks is building a lift station and force main in two phases, with contractors JRM and FM Utilities on site. Property acquisition and permits (including TxDOT crossings) are complete. The target completion date for Hudson Oaks’ portion is October 2026, though earlier completion is possible. Naron thanked the board and answered questions.
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FY26 Proposed Municipal Utility System Budget: Ashley Esquivel presented a brief overview. The proposed budget includes $80.6 million in revenues and $76.3 million in expenses, resulting in a net operating result of $4.3 million. Contributions to capital funds and reserves total $5.5 million (water capital, wastewater capital, electric vehicle reserve, and substation reserve). The 90-day reserve is $11.5 million, with an available balance of $7.7 million. Electric expenses: $49.6 million; water expenses: $17 million; wastewater expenses: $9.7 million. Budget highlights include year two of the phased water and wastewater rate increase, service center restroom upgrades, and capital projects funded by newly issued bonds (e.g., water purification plant phases, elevated storage tank, lift station expansions, Town Creek trunk line). No action was required.
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Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update: Bill Smith and Colin Carlson (Freese and Nichols) presented the updated master plan. The plan evaluates current systems, uses a risk-based assessment (RBA) to guide infrastructure rehabilitation, and provides a roadmap for future growth based on population projections (25,000 new residents over 25 years) and land use assumptions. Smith emphasized flexibility to adapt as development changes. Carlson reviewed the methodology: population projections, design criteria, and projected water demand/wastewater flow through 2049-2050. Board member Ken Davis raised questions about the plan’s ability to adapt to changing assumptions and the correlation between the RBA and the board’s 2% annual replacement goal. Staff confirmed they continuously update the model as new development information arrives. The board unanimously approved the master plan.
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Lake Weatherford Trail System Phase 0 Update: Bill Smith reported that after evaluating costs, staff revisited an alternate alignment (shown in yellow) that routes the trail through the emergency spillway and on top of the dam, previously set aside due to operational and topographic challenges. After a site visit and coordination with operations, those challenges appear surmountable. The proposed yellow route would connect the Lake Way and Lake Hills neighborhoods to the trail system, bypassing the water plant area. Board members discussed retaining a segment along West Lake Drive for more direct access to the marina. Staff will bring a further update in one to two months.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the July 24, 2025, Municipal Utility Board meeting were approved unanimously.
- Consent Agenda Items: The board unanimously approved the following items:
- Amendment 1 with Teague Nall and Perkins for additional design services for the Center Point Wastewater Improvements, Phase 3 project (not to exceed $34,250; total contract $304,150; aggregate FY expenditure $606,350).
- Amendment 1 with Teague Nall and Perkins for development review services (not to exceed $10,000; total contract $60,000; aggregate FY expenditure $616,350).
- Award of RFP 2025-020 Utility Pole Inspection to Davey Resource Group, Inc. (not to exceed $132,000).
- Contract with Carollo Engineers for $520,000 (as per agenda item 6.d).
Key Outcomes
- Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update was adopted unanimously.
- The board received the FY26 proposed budget; no action taken.
- The Lake Weatherford Trail System update will return with a revised proposal in one to two months.
- No action was taken on executive session items.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:04 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Before we call the meeting to order, we'd like to welcome Father Kevin Goodnight with Christ the King Church to pride an invitation. Thank you, sir. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us as we gather today to do the work you have set before us. Grant us your blessing and guidance and your wisdom. May our words be thoughtful and our listening be attentive. Help this board to work together in unity, always seeking what is best for our community. Teach us to act with honesty and wisdom and to walk in faith, hope, love, and forgiveness in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. May it be blessed. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Father Cow. All right, it is 12 noon. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Please note that Mayor Paul Pascal. Um Councilwoman Heidi Wilder and Utility Board Member Tom Novak are not able to be with us today, but we do have a quorum. So we'll call the meeting to order. And we're invited this time, Howard McClarken, to lead us in the pledges of allegiance. Please join the meeting. One nation indivisible. Awesome. Texas. One state. One and now thank you very much. Next on our agenda, as we were gonna have a presentation. I believe you'd like to introduce our guest. Board members. Yes, we have Mr. Sterling Naron, City Administrator for the City of Hudson Oaks is here to present a semi-annual update on Hudson Oaks wastewater project for extending out and connecting to the new Willow Park treatment plant. Thank you, Rick and Board. As uh Rick pointed out, uh we kind of come semi-annually to uh give you a little bit of update on the on the project of what we have going on as you're all aware. Uh for many years we have been a wholesale customer of the city of Weatherford. We're in the process of getting off of that agreement, and we have entered into agreement with the city of Willow Park, and to which we are a partner uh in a wastewater treatment facility. So that's a million gallon treatment facility. Uh, we will be a partner in the in the form of we own uh equity stake in 25% of that. Then they would have 75% stake um in that uh in that agreement. So just give you a little bit of update. I think I was here uh a few months back and we were kind of getting the project kicked off. Um kind of what you see there is is actually the wastewater treatment plant that's being currently constructed in Willow Park. So if you recall, there's there's kind of three phases to this project the way we see it. There's the uh wastewater treatment facility, the actual plant that's under construction now, which Willow Park is handling all of the construction uh of that, and then we are doing basically the lift station in force main that will get the wastewater from the city of Hudson Oaks over to that treatment facility. That project for us is a two-phase project, and that we have two contractors working simultaneously on one contractor doing the lift station portion of that and the other contractor doing the uh forced main project. So a little bit of an overview of of the routing of that. I know you probably have seen this before, but basically uh we are going um kind of from the west side of the city of Hudson Oaks on the south side of the interstate, constructing a lift station, which you see up there in the top top left, uh, that we are calling the South Fork Lifts Station. Uh and meander south uh through a couple of properties that you have labeled there, which is the Wallace and the Bill property. Um, and then it agains up in the right of way of Bankhead uh with a pretty long run running to the east of Bankhead, coming up Kingswood Roads, crossing under the interstate uh for a second time, and then ultimately ends up where that new facility is in the city of Willow Park that's kind of highlighted there in green. Uh this is the uh list station. I think you guys have seen this slide before, but um kind of what you're looking at there, the green is the existing lines that uh are being utilized now to go to a list station at the corner of Bankhead uh that ends up coming to Weatherford as the wholesale customer. You can see the new line to the north of that, which you see in red, uh kind of outline flow there, those aerials as that set that sanitary sewer line will cross under the inner interstate onto that property there and turn into that list station, and then heads uh to the right of this slide, which is actually south towards bankhead and create continues that routing. Um I think the last time we were here, we're we're in the process of of closing on the property and getting it all plated, all that is is finalized. So we what you see outlined in kind of that the reddish outline there that property is owned by the city of Hudson Oaks, um, closed on with the Wallace property.
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