NEWS
Nelson Street repairs may top $2 million
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The City of Bowie is like many other cities across the country dealing with aging infrastructure, recurring damage from natural disasters and a lack of funding to make all the repairs or improvements a community may need.
City officials are gathering cost information on the best option to repair the collapsed street and related ongoing flood damage on Nelson. The numbers are scary so far topping $2 million.
Renovation of the police department also has been put on hold for structural concerns which increased the cost and threw up a red flag from the architects for the 50-plus year building.
Nelson Street
On Aug. 21, following more than five inches of rainfall in the city, a section of Nelson Street caved in, prompting the street’s closure for safety concerns for any traffic going down the street.
The next day City Manager Bert Cunningham filed a disaster declaration anticipating the governor would proclaim a disaster for the Dallas area which experienced some of the worst rainstorms and flooding in its history. The state declaration came a few days later for 23 counties including Montague.
Usually, with a disaster declaration, a county or community becomes eligible for certain federal disaster relief programs.
Cunningham had hoped for that but as of Thursday, he said it doesn’t look like Dallas has come up with the necessary estimates. The magic number is $48 million in damage before an application can be made for federal disaster funds.
In the first week, engineers and building contractors were asked to examine the damage and offer estimates that the city staff could provide to the feds.
Thursday, Cunningham said the engineers are estimating $2 million to repair the drainage culverts under the street, along with the adjacent flow areas near the dropbox.
Members of the Bowie City Council will face a brief agenda when they meet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 in the council chambers.
Following routine reports and consent agenda items, the council will consider a resolution authorizing submission of the city’s 2027/2028 Texas Community Development Block Grant application to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Then council members will consider approving Bob Blackburn for appointment as a reserve police officer with the Bowie Police Department.
Following an executive session, the council will discuss and potentially take action regarding the annual employment evaluations and duties of both the City Secretary and the Municipal Court Judge.
After nearly three months of no rain, Mother Nature brought the showers this past week.
Downtown Bowie rain reports varied from 7 to 8 inches, while the Saint Jo area reported a 10-inch total. The city water plant in Bowie reported 5.55 inches on Sept. 30 with 1.6 Oct. 1-3.
Nocona saw a total of 6.31 inches of rain across Sept. 26 to Oct. 3.
On Oct. 6, Lake Amon G. Carter saw a level of 917.39 mean sea level rising to 81.31% full. Just one week earlier the lake was 73.6% full, while one year ago it was 94.01%. The lake is full at 920msl.
Lake Nocona was 73.7% full at 823.02 on Oct 6. One week earlier it was 70.41% full and one year ago it was 92.41%. The lake is full at 827.5 msl.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
One Montague County City has joined the battle against any data centers being built in this county and there is a petition drive underway to urge the commissioner’s court to keep data centers out of Montague County.
At a Sept. 28 called meeting of the Saint Jo City Council, officials unanimously approved a resolution stating its opposition to the “siting, permitting, construction or operation of data centers and similar hyperscale computing facilities within the city limits or the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.”
City Secretary Debbie Dennis said several citizens approached Councilor Jack Dunn about their data center concerns and he helped prepare a resolution. The council gave unanimous support.
Read the full story in your Thursday Bowie News.
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