City okays downtown project bid

The Clarendon City Council approved a bid for downtown revitalization work during its regular meeting October 13.

Aldermen unanimously approved a bid from Carter Sand & Gravel of Pampa for about $314,000, which came in under the budgeted amount for the grant-funded project.

Three other bids came in higher than the budget for the project with the high bid more than $300,000 higher than the winning bid.

City Administrator said work will likely begin in November on the project that will remove and replace all the sidewalks in the 100 block of South Kearney Street and install ramping and street lights.

The project is expected to take 90 days to complete.

The council also accepted and approved a proposal from OJD Engineering to provide a study on the availability and quality of groundwater in the city, which is seen as a first step in the consideration of possibly developing a municipally-owned water system. The study will be billed on an hourly basis for a total not to reach $50,000.

Prior to the meeting the council met in closed session for about 45 minutes for consultation with an attorney regarding the house at 602 S. Bugbee. No action was taken following the closed session.

In other business, the city approved the budgets of the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation and the HOT fund budget of the Chamber of Commerce. The council also adopted a fund investment policy for the city for the new fiscal year and named the city administrator and city secretary and fund investment officers. Foster & Lambert was selected to perform the audit for the fiscal year 2022.