Salado aldermen directed staff to “negotiate and prepare an engineer’s contract for consideration at the next meeting for services to establish the Village’s Certificate of Convenience and Necessity Service Area for a wastewater system.”

The board voted unanimously Sept. 3 for the first of three motions concerning the wastewater treatment plant and the agreements between the Village and The Sanctuary, LLC.

They also voted unanimously for the second motion made by Frank Coachman to direct the Village Administrator to “contact a professional to pursue a contract for property within the specifications by the Village’s wastewater engineering firm for the purpose of acquiring a wastewater treatment plant site, such recommendations for acquisition of a specific site to be brought forth to the BOA as soon as practically possible. The property should be no less than 8 acres.”

The board voted 4-1 for to amend the Wastewater Services Agreement and Donation Agreement that were signed by Billie Hanks, Jr. Sept. 2 in several ways, both minor and major in nature. Coachman gave the motion, which had 13 parts to it, including strict deadlines and which received a second from Michael McDougal. Coachman, McDougal, Fred Brown and David Williams made the motion. Amber Preston-Dankert voted against.

The amendment includes a deadline of 4 p.m. Sept. 8 for the Sanctuary to “provide the amended Wastewater Agreement, amended Donation Agreement, the Public Improvement District agreement and an Economic Development Agreement, along with all supporting exhibits” to the Village.

The Village Board of Aldermen will meet in workshop session on Sept. 10 to discuss those documents, if they are received. The amended agreement requires that the workshop session “will be held with Sanctuary officials present or in attendance via video conference to negotiate the final version of all documents.”

Following that meeting, the Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing regarding all of the agreements with Sanctuary, LLC on Sept. 17. The amended agreement from the Village required “All signatories from Sanctuary, LLC must be present to finalize the agreements with the Village of Salado.”

Other points of change and clarification within the amendment by the Village include these:

• “The land donation location and bounds for the purpose of building the Salado Wastewater Treatment Plant must meet the required stipulations of the current and non-amended TPDES Permit No. WQ0014898001 which states “north of the intersection of Shepard Drive and Farm-to-Market Road 2268, approximately 2,000 feet north from the end of Shepard Drive in Bell County Texas 76571.”

• “The discharge point must meet the required stipulations of the current and non-amended TPDES Permit No. WQ0014898001 which states “north of the intersection of Shepard Drive and Farm-to-Market Road 2268, approximately 2,000 feet north from the end of Shepard Drive in Bell County Texas 76571.”

• “Sanctuary, LLC shall make notification to the Commission and apply for permit transfer to the Application Review and Processing Team of the Water Quality Division of TCEQ within 48 hours of the execution of all related documents to these agreement.”

• “Sanctuary, LLC will bear all expense related to extending or connecting to the Wastewater treatment plant and/or the discharge line.”

• “All references to eminent domain requirements of the Village are to be removed from the documents.”

• “Section 4.8 Wastewater Effluent Matters; Subsection (a) shall be amended to at no cost, for a period no longer than the length of the Public Improvement District taxing period.”

• The service availability date will be two years from the execution date of all documents.

• “The Village reserves the right to choose the design and engineering firms for the construction of the Village System, including the wastewater plant and system funded by the bonds secured for this purpose.”

Finally, references to Sanctuary LP must correctly reflect Sanctuary, LLC and all documents must be edited to be sure that section numbers and letters flow correctly.