The Devine City Council approved the purchase of a $37,109.21 lift station motor for the wastewater treatment plant and amended the budget for that figure during an Emergency meeting on November 16.
“We don’t have a backup motor to the lift station pumps that are currently at the wastewater treatment plant,” Public Works Director Rob Flores said. “So what we’re doing is ordering one. I want to do an order for this motor so we have a secondary pump as a backup.”
There are currently two motors in place, and Flores said there is a wait time of 14 weeks between order and delivery.
“It’s 14 weeks that we just pray that nothing happens because that’s how far out we are on an order right now,” Mayor Cory Thompson said.
Thompson noted that the cost of the motor will come from the water and sewer fund, which had approximately $277,000.
“We chatted briefly about seeing if it was available from the CARES Act, but we’re going to have to use basically all that CARES Act money for generators,” Thompson said. “So we’ll just have to pull this out of the regular sewer fund.”
A motion by District 5 Councilwoman Debbie Randall and District 3 Councilman David Espinosa to purchase the motor and amend the budget for $37,109.21 passed unanimously with support from District 1 Councilman Rufino “Flipper” Vega, District 2 Councilwoman Angela Pichardo, and District 4 Councilwoman Kathy Lawler.
The archived live stream of the Emergency meeting and Regular meeting that followed it is available on the City website at cityofdevine.org/live-council-meetings/.
The next Regular Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 14.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer