City council okays reducing speed limit on Business 190

By BRITTANY FHOLER 

Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove city council approved reducing the speed limit on the stretch of Business 190 between Constitution Drive and Avenue D from 40 to 35 miles per hour. 

The council voted 6-1, with Councilmember Jay Manning voting against. 

Manning said that he thought people are trying to get where they want to go at a reasonable speed and without an accident.  

“My observation of this road is that people tend to drive more than the 40 mile an hour speed limit that’s put on it, and so it may actually be a little bit low at this point, and so I’m called upon to use my best judgment to vote the way my heart tells me I should after preparing some reason for it,” Manning said. 

He added that he thought if the speed limit was reasonable, there would be a higher chance of compliance than if it were set very low.

The speed limit reduction was requested by the Gatesville Area Office of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for the 1.219 mile stretch of road where construction is set to begin for the Business 190 sidewalks and median. 

The project involves a six-foot wide sidewalk with an eastbound five-foot wide bicycle lane and a westbound 14-foot wide outside shared-use lane, while the roadway will feature three lanes on each side with a raised median limiting where drivers can turn left, between Constitution Drive and Avenue D.

TTG Utilities is the firm constructing the project, at a cost of $4.8 million. The eastbound lanes were closed on Thursday morning, in advance of crews begining on the sidewalk work. 

After that is completed and the outside lane reopened, the left turn lane and the inside lanes on each side of the turn lane will be closed for the median construction. After the median construction is completed and the inside lanes are reopened, there will be various lane closures to install the final surface of the roadway. The project is scheduled to be complete by the summer of 2022. 

The council also approved an amendment of the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation’s budget, for an expenditure increase of $405,102 to fund the gas lines being run by Atmos Energy to bring gas to the Narrows Business and Technology Park. 

The council, minus Marc Payne who recused himself, approved the reappointment of F.W. “Bill” Price as the Municipal Court Judge. Price was first appointed to the position on December 15, 1992 and has been reappointed each two-year period since then. 

Price gave praise to the staff at the Municipal Court and shared that the courts have been adapting to the new way of doing business thanks to COVID-19. 

He said that he was asked by City Manager Ryan Haverlah how long he would continue to work. He answered that as long as he was enjoying his work, he would work “until they drag me out by the heels, I guess.”

The council also reappointed Lisa A. Kubala as the city’s Associate Judge. Kabala had been first appointed on December 2, 2015 and has been reappointed each two-year period since then. 

The council approved amendments to the Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2021-2025 and approved the city’s official Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal year 2021. Changes include adding the City Park Pool Renovation project, of which savings of $165,000 identified in the 2017 and 2018 Certificates of Obligation will be used to fund the project. It includes replacement of two 5hp pumps for the pool, replacement of one 15hp pump that circulates pool water through filter, replacement of two sand filters with one Stark S Series Filter and refinishing of the pool plaster with the installation of Eco Finish surfacing. The current pool filtration system at City Park pool is failing, and the amount to repair the pumps is not considered cost effective and would only minimally increase the life expectancy.  

Another change is to update the cost for Southwest Water Improvements Phase II and III Project to $5,061,787. Savings of $365,000 were identified in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Certificates of Obligation for funding. The current budgeted amount for the project is $4,696,787, and the contract awarded on November 3, 2020 amounts to $4,223,995. Additional funding is needed to cover estimated Oncor expenditures, costs associated with the developer participation agreement with 4JC Partners, LP for construction of a roadway and contingency funds in the event of change orders on such a large project. The change also includes adding the water distribution system hydraulic model update, which will be funded by savings of $35,056 identified in the 2018 Certificates of Obligation. 

The council also approved amendments to the Capital Outlay Plan for fiscal years 2021-2025 and amending the official Capital Outlay Plan for fiscal year 2021. Changes include replacing essential electronic equipment in the Police Department, using $12,000 identified in savings from the 2019 Certificates of Obligation; replacing two of the 5-ton HVAC units at the Municipal Court building, using $6,937 in savings identified in the 2014 Certificates of Obligation; replacing one of the 10-ton HVAC units at the library building, using $11,000 in savings identified in the 2019 Certificates of Obligation; and using $110,000 in savings identified in the 2018 Certificates of Obligation for the Microsoft Exchange server migration project from version 2010 to 2019.