UPDATED: MW, water district approve $60 million loan for Turkey Peak
Oct. 17—MINERAL WELLS — City council and lake board members authorized $60 million in bonds on Tuesday, taking another step toward building Turkey Peak Reservoir.
The Palo Pinto County Municipal Water District No. 1, which was approved in July for $200 million to build the lake next to Lake Palo Pinto, has qualified seven contractors for Phase 1.
That phase will build the dam, upgrade Ward Mountain Road to replace a section of Farm-to-Market 4 that the lake will submerge and move affected utilities.
"Every time I'm here, I feel like we're making history," bond counsel Rudy Segura said after both panels approved related resolutions.
The state loan, in taxable and tax-free portions, is on a 30-year note with annual payments of between $4.1 million and $5.3 million through 2054.
It was the council's decision last November to significantly raise water rates that secured the full loan, Texas Water Development Board members said last summer.
Interest rates on this first $60 million are 4.42% on the taxable portion — $25.2 million — and 3.43% for the $34.8 million that is tax-free.
The joint meeting was followed by a regular council session during which water also was a lead topic. Discussion focused, not on the lake, but on what's planned or already underway amid persistent drought.
Those steps include replacing the 60year-old Hilltop Water Treatment Plant, at an estimated $40 million, de-salting Brazos River water and piping it to the old treatment plant, and steering construction and other non-potable water needs to the reuse of treated wastewater.
City Manager Dean Sullivan said the city is seeking funds for those three projects as a bundle — $71 million from either the Clean Water or the Drinking Water state revolving funds.
"We have a solid plan," he said at the end of the meeting. "We haven't deviated from what we said. It will work, we just need to persevere to provide what this community needs. And this community needs water. This community was founded on water."
Cory Schockley, lead engineer on the lake and the other projects, said the city's application is getting good reviews in Austin.
"Out of 300-something projects, Mineral Wells' came out No. 7," he said, adding he expects the loans to be announced in early spring 2025.
Regarding the lake, Schockley reported seven contractors have qualified for the dam job.
Requests for formal proposals were to go out to those bidders on Friday, he said, with a deadline to reply before Thanksgiving.
That will allow the district to select a contractor by the end of the year, he said.
In other discussions Tuesday, Ward 2 Councilman Carlos Maldonado gave a preliminary report from an 18-member committee looking for ways to keep the city's ambulance service healthy.
The EMS has been struggling with staffing for several years now, unable to keep paramedics reliably in the ranks with big money available to those professionals in cities a short drive east.
"We are holding it together," Fire/EMS Chief Ryan Dunn told the council. "But responding is getting harder and harder."
Maldonado and committee member Bridget Worley outlined options under discussion, and no action was taken Tuesday.
Those options included outright hiring a third party provider with paramedics, while reducing the city crew to strictly EMS level staff.
Partnering with an entity, such as the County Emergency Services District No. 1 or Palo Pinto General Hospital, offer another route, they said.
"That would maybe allow us some flexibility while we're working toward our long-term goals," Fowler said of the partnership option.
The two said the committee is exploring whether a tax district-supported ambulance service would make sense.
Both the Palo Pinto Emergency Services Districts No. 1 and No.2, the latter serving the Lone Camp, Santo and Brazos communities, are funded with dedicated sales taxes.
Maldonado said a city ambulance district would add one-eighth of a cent to the local sales tax rate.
He recommended a public education campaign to let residents know exactly what they can expect from the city service.
But he emphasized the committee, with two meetings under its belt, is at the beginning of solving the problem.
"The process is not done or over today," he said. "It is just beginning.
Finally Tuesday, the council approved a specific use zoning permit for a tattoo shop to open inside the renovated Seaman Building downtown.
Applicant Christian Park specializes in fine-line tattoos, small and delicate patterns.
A Possum Kingdom Lake resident, Park said she has a shop in Jacksboro and clients from Mineral Wells along with the Metroplex.
The shop will be part of the 200-vendor Collective inside the cavernous building at 200 W. Hubbard St.
The council last year approved its first tattoo shop, for the owner of Weatherford's First Revelation Tattoo, Tod Bain.
Bain said his project hit a wall when the property owner where he was to open sold the building. He is looking for another site.
