Repairs needed on tank could cost more than $88,000

In order to complete repairs on the main tank of the Stagecoach sewer, the Village will rent a temporary tank for the location. Whether that temporary tank is part of a temporary pump-and-haul program for the treatment of wastewater for 16 commercial customers or as part of repairing or replacing the damaged main tank will be decided at a later date.

Phase 1, which will tie the sewer to the temporary holding tank, is estimated at $31,358. The cost of renting the tank is estimated at $718 plus the monthly cost of pumping and hauling $800.

“If we get the plant decommissioned in 24 months, which is our plan, we are looking at $24,000 rather than $88,000,” Alderman Frank Coachman said.

The amount of repairs cannot be determined until the original storage tank is emptied. The cost of removing the old tank and connecting to a new tank (which will have to be removed when the system is decommissioned if and/or when the sewer system is built) is estimated at $57,628 in addition to the $31,358 cost of Phase I.

“Disregarding repairs puts the Village at risk should the tanks malfunction, break or leak,” Code Enforcement officer Chrissy Lee stated. “This could lead to potential daily fines from TCEQ and the costs of HazMat clean up. These potential costs would far surpass the estimated cost of this repair and potential replacement.”

“The worst decision we ever made was taking that water treatment plant,” Mayor Blancett said. “There are so many other things…. That is just beyond comprehension.”

Then-Mayor Danney McCort signed a letter on May 13, 2014 to accept the donation of the Stagecoach sewer planet and the donation of  two tracts of real property totaling 4.972 acres and the wastewater plant located at  401 South Stagecoach Road.

Aldermen at the time the letter was signed were Shannon Ashe and Bryan Fritch (at the end of their terms and neither seeking re-election) and Fred Brown, Hans Fields and Michael McDougal.

The acceptance letter marked the culmination of six months of negotiations between the Village of Salado and Foster in 2014 to accept the sewer treatment plant that treats water for the Stagecoach Inn and more than a dozen other downtown businesses. The plant has a capacity of 50,000 gallons per day and currently utilizes less than 40 percent of that total capacity.

Under the arrangement at that time, Terry Potts, who owned Stagecoach Inn until July 2015, operated the sewer on behalf of the Village.

“This is an excellent opportunity for Salado to own at little to no cost an established sewage operation that would benefit most of Main Street and have the opportunity to expand in the future,” Foster said at the time of the donation.

A year after the Village accepted the Stagecoach sewer, the largest user of it — Stagecoach Inn– closed as new owners have closed the property for a top to bottom renovation of the restaurant, meeting facilities and hotel property.

In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Village spent $82,803 in repairs  of the Stagecoach sewer system in addition to the operating costs associated with the treatment of sewage from its customers.