The Houston City Council on Monday OK’d a major expenditure to continue a multi-phase program to upgrade the community’s electrical system.
The six-member body approved the purchase of $90,022 in transforms that not only are more energy efficient, but are better able to control electrical power load, said City Administrator Larry Sutton.
The matter was among several topics tackled by the council.
Members:
-Approved its engineering firm, BWR of Kansas City, to submit a long-range master plan for the Houston Memorial Airport to the Missouri Department of Transportation aviation division.
The move allows the city to continue to make improvements at the airstrip, while tapping MoDOT funds that pay 95 percent of the cost of improvements. A short-term plan calls for the addition of airport hangars, acquiring additional land or air easements and installing a new beacon.
-Approved the purchase of $39,120 in breathing apparatus and $5,320 in radios for the city’s fire department. The 100 percent grant was received from the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
-Heard that concrete pouring is under way at Houston’s new wastewater treatment facility.
-Learned Maggi Construction Co. of Rolla will soon complete concrete work on a walking trail segment near the airport.
-Heard that the city will participate in the Mid-Missouri Municipal Power Energy Pool, a group formed to find solutions when wholesaler Sho-Me Power Corp. ends selling wholesale power to 15 communities in 2013. Sutton joins representatives from St. Robert-Waynesville and Richland on the steering committee.
The group is seeking proposals from electric consultants and engineers as the group studies the issue.
-Learned that Licking developer Jim Friend has started another duplex in a subdivision off Oak Hill Drive.