No, really, it was a presentation by KSA Engineers about the sad shape of the dams on both the old and new city lakes.

Stephen Dorman and Brent Bassett, both of KSA Engineers (consultants and engineers retained by the city) said their finding show that 45 projects that need to be addressed, some in the very near future to comply with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) standards.

Dorman and Bassett found in their on-site evaluations, the old dam cannot pass required flood waters as regulated by TCEQ and the new dam can pass required flood waters but not an old dam breach, mainly due to lack of maintenance efforts to the dams by previous administrations. Also, trees, shrubs and vegetation have not been cleared on a regular basis and have caused many problems on, and under the dams and surrounding areas.

The engineers presented the council members with the 45-project list of projects, some of which the city should be able to take care of, while others will need professional expertise.

The engineers also presented three options to ponder that will concur with TECQ standards, (that can be done in stages), but the least costly option being $2.54 million.

Council members, and the major, had many questions for the engineers, but member Scottie Henderson said, “Whichever option we choose to explore, it has to be done to satisfy TECQ”. He also noted that with the loss of either or both dams, there would be not water to draw from.

The Council all agreed that option 1 would be the course to go with and that KSA would notify TCEQ with the city’s intention.