Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Meeting - February 26, 2026
Weatherford Municipal Utility Board Meeting - February 26, 2026
The Municipal Utility Board of Weatherford, Texas, held its regular meeting on February 26, 2026, at 12:03 PM in City Hall. Chair Paul Paschall presided with a quorum present; Howard McClurkin was absent. The meeting covered a wholesale wastewater contract update, approval of delinquent lake lot licenses, a major water infrastructure contract, a quarterly risk management report, and action on an executive session item regarding lake lot expansion. Several routine items were approved on consent.
Consent Calendar
- Authorizing a contract with Northeast Service, Inc. dba Horton Tree Services for Utility Forestry Services not to exceed $400,000.
- Authorizing the Water Utility to apply for a Texas Water Development Board grant (Drinking Water State Revolving Fund – Emerging Contaminants) and adopt Resolution R2026-03.
- Authorizing a professional services contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for a water system analysis not to exceed $27,500 (total aggregate $269,000). All consent items passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
No members of the public spoke during the citizen comments portion.
Presentations & Reports
Wholesale Wastewater Contract Update (Item 4a) – Sterling Nairon, City Administrator of Hudson Oaks, provided a semi-annual update. Three projects are underway: a new Willow Park wastewater treatment plant (partner with Hudson Oaks; 1 MGD capacity; 75% Willow Park, 25% Hudson Oaks; completed late May/early June 2026), the South Fork lift station (under construction), and a force main (on track, slightly ahead of schedule). All projects are expected to be operational by midsummer 2026, ahead of the October 2026 contract expiration.
Quarterly Risk Management Report (Item 8a) – Joe Farley reported that 66% of wholesale power supply is fixed-price; effective natural gas price for the city is $4.35/MMBtu (vs. NYMEX $7.46/MMBtu). The rate stabilization fund is at $15 million (goal $12-16 million). The residential rate of $0.13/kWh has been stable for over 40 months, below the average retail provider ($0.142) and national average ($0.172), and in the middle of similar Texas municipals.
Discussion Items
Delinquent Lake Lot Licenses (Item 7a) – Staff requested acceptance of payments from all nine delinquent license holders. A motion to accept payments and reinstate licenses for Lots 41, 115, 296, 380, 388, 406, 491, 493, and 627 was made by Heidi Wilder and seconded by Ken Davis. The board voted to approve.
Franklin Pressure Plane & Fort Worth Highway Water Improvements (Item 7b) – Matt Leppla presented a $2,999,605 construction contract with Capital Underground Utilities, LLC. The project includes 15,000+ linear feet of water pipe (6 to 12 inch), 108 valves, and 33 fire hydrants, connecting the Franklin and Harburger Hill water tanks, upsizing aging infrastructure on Bankhead, Allen Street, and Fort Worth Highway. Construction timeline: 270 days, starting March 2026. A discussion clarified that roads will be fully resurfaced after construction (not just patched). A motion by Lindsey Hester, seconded by Heidi Wilder, passed unanimously.
Action on Executive Session Item – Lake Lot 156 (Item 10c) – After executive session, Zack Smith moved to authorize a modification of the license agreement for Lake Lot 156, adding approximately 4,466 square feet to the south, with an increase of $1,380.26 to the annual license fee and a one-time payment of $61,031.15, contingent on an official survey. The motion passed 5-1, with Ken Davis voting no. No action was taken on other executive session items.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on delinquent lake lot licenses: Approved (no tally recorded).
- Vote on Franklin Pressure Plane water contract: Approved unanimously in a roll-call vote (all yays, no nays).
- Vote on Lake Lot 156 modification: Approved 5-1 (one nay by Ken Davis).
- Approval of January 29, 2026 meeting minutes: Passed with one recusal.
- No action taken on wind/solar contracts (10a), water purification plant security (10b), or marina lease (10d).
- Meeting adjourned at 1:31 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. All right. I think that was a prank. It's my first time to use this module here. So we okay to go? All righty. Still hearing a little bit of feedback. Before we call the meeting to order, want to uh ask Utility Board Member Lindsey Hester to lead us in our invocation. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, God, thank you so much for all the blessings that you pour on us and our community here. Father, we just uh ask for your wisdom today as we meet and deliberate and help us to make wise decisions for the city and our community. And Father, we just thank you for each one who serves this community. Uh we pray your blessings and protection on them. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for that, sir. One brief item too before we call the being to order because this is not on the regular agenda, so I cannot talk about it during the regular meeting. But did want to make mention of our uh electrical outage last night. Uh we had the 8,074 meters that were interrupted during this event, which is significant for our community. Um the amazing thing is that the overall event was concluded and rest restored all these units back in 152 minutes. And so I know that seems like a long time when people are at home and there's no lights and that interruption is there, but I'll tell you based on the magnitude of the challenge and the problem that presented itself. That is amazing data that we recovered that fast. And I've asked assistant city manager Chad Marbutt to uh briefly comment on the operation side of that. Yes, sir. Just to acknowledge the team that brings things like this back online because it does affect several aspects of our uh our life and our infrastructure. So public works mobilized, we had signals out, we had areas where uh we don't have any street lights, and so they were on call. Uh police and fire, obviously fueling a lot of calls and then trying to get to incidents among this this issue too. Um our water department mobilized, we have infrastructure that needs that power, and we had lift stations and the wastewater plant that how do we redirect that power but also operate without it until we can get it back up. So uh, and then our engineering staff, electrical staff, um, James McGill, uh all the team there, just the work that they did to coordinate with Brazos Electric for our substations to get everything back on in that short period of time. Um, it's just amazing to see this teamwork and uh and the work that goes into it to get these things back up. So just want to acknowledge them. Thank you to everybody. And an unfortunate incident, but what what we know and what we want our citizens to know is we'll analyze this, we'll learn from it, and we'll learn how to grow and get better from it to serve you better. And again, on behalf of the utility board, we thank all the staff for their commitment. Uh, a lot of late, a lot of late hours last night from everybody, and we thank the citizens and our customers for their patience. We're gonna continue to try to get better to serve you better. Thank you. All righty. At this time, it is uh 12.03 p.m. and I will call the meeting to order and announce we do have a quorum present. Please let the record reflect that Mr. McClerkin was unable to join us this afternoon. Item three on the agenda is to call the or to have the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags be led by Tom Novak. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Indivisible justice called Texas Lag. Pledge these one state. Item four on the agenda is presentations and proclamations. 4A is to receive a report on the wholesale wastewater contract between Weatherford Municipal Utility System and the City of Hudson Oaks. Mr. Rick Schaefer.
openpublica.com