NEWS
City of Bowie decides to buy street paving distributor truck
After receiving only one bid for chip and seal on 1.8 miles of street in Bowie, the city council opted to buy a new distributor truck, which will enable the street department to make the repairs much cheaper.
At last week’s budget workshop, City Manager Ricky Tow reviewed the sole contract repair bid, which was $177,466.94. There had been nine inquiries into the bid letting.
That amount broke out into $77,477 for materials and $94,851 for labor, plus an additional $5,168.94 for the required bonds.
During the discussion Councilor Wayne Bell, retired highway engineer, said he crunched the numbers in the bid and he did not feel they were correct. The bid was rejected by a unanimous vote.
Facing a massive need for street repairs, the council decided to purchase a new distributor truck, which lays down the liquid for the chip and seal.
The present truck is an early 1980s model. Public Works Director Raymon Johnson told the council its computer no longer works and it does not lay the liquid down evenly on the roadway.
Using Federal Emergency Management Administration rates the city staff calculated they could do the those repairs for less than the bidder. Total costs using the newer liquid product would be $69,302.09 and using the old liquid it would be $108,952.31.
However, those figures do not include the cost of a new truck, which is quoted at $159,160. The council voted to purchase the truck using funds in the present street budget based on the savings of using the newer, cooler material.
Read the full story in the mid-week News.
The Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on June 23.
The agenda includes both old and new business items.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his report on the 2026-27 budget process, bid opening for the Glenn Hills lift station on July 16 and the bid for Rock and Pillar repairs.
In new business a pair of planning and zoning committee recommendations for replats at 107 E. Nelson and 412 Green will be reviewed. An ordinance adopting an office of emergency management amending a present ordinance will be offered.
Old business will see the second reading of the pickleball court reservation fee ordinance and the ordinance prohibiting drilling and mining or the reopening of an abandoned well or mine in any public park in the city limits.
A HEAT ADVISORY will be in effect from noon until 9 p.m. today (Thursday). Please plan accordingly.
Hear Audio Alert:https://hrpow.us/oeFZANN
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas has confirmed human skeletal remains were recovered on June 13 in the Sunset area, and they could possibly be those of a flight attendant believed to have been murdered almost a year ago in the Fort Worth.
The murder suspect, Dennis William Day, 66, admitted in June 2025 to strangling Rana Soluri, 47, an Envoy flight attendant who lived with Day during that last year. She was reported missing by a co-worker on June 11 and had not been seen or heard from since March 2025.
Day initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to the murder and indicated he dumped her body somewhere in the Montague County area. Lawmen have scoured the areas in questions in both Montague and Wise County, but found nothing.
Sheriff Thomas said on June 13 the SO received a call of possible skeletal remains in the Brushy Creek area north of Poss Dyer Lane on Farm-to-Market 1749. A deputy went to the scene and confirmed it was human remains.
Investigators responded and kept the scene secure overnight until staff from the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Center could arrive and made the recovery on June 14. A Texas Ranger and staff from the Fort Worth Police Department also were on scene.
“There is no determination made yet on how long it has been there,” said Thomas. “The anthropologist was pleased to recover most of the skeleton in these conditions. Heavy rains previously made the past searches difficult. We are working jointly with Fort Worth to make an identification and if it is the victim in their homicide.”
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