Morgan Wheatly

The City of Clarendon will hold a Town Hall meeting this month to discuss a proposed $3.9 million water system upgrade that is designed to solve water quality problems and other issues.

The meeting on Tuesday, March 29, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Bairfield Activity Center on the Clarendon College campus, and city leaders will take questions on the need for the improvements, the opportunity for a partial grant, and the debt the city will incur to take on the project.

City officials say residents in some parts of town are suffering from discolored water that is caused by miles of cast iron distribution pipes and poor flow through the system.

The city is also out of compliance with state regulations for elevated storage due to problems with the standpipe (or water tower) on the east side of town. Clarendon could face state fines in the near future if those issues are not addressed.

The city additionally would like to replace all water meters with auto read meters. City officials say the aging meters currently in use are inaccurate due to normal wear and tear, and automated meters would significantly reduce the man-hours needed each month to read more than 700 meters.

“The City Council knew this project was needed for more than two years and has explored funding options,” City Administrator David Dockery said. “The USDA Rural Development Program’s grant/loan option was identified as possibly the best avenue for funding.”

Through the USDA program, Clarendon will receive a grant of $1.387 million and take out a loan in the amount of $2.522 million. The loan would take 40 years to pay off at 2.5 percent interest and with an annual payment of about $100,500.

The loan payment would require additional revenue for the city equal to $10 per month per water connection.

“We understand that we need to work on our streets, but this work needs to be done before any extensive street resurfacing,” Dockery said. “City Council is also concerned about raising rates, but this is the most cost effective and time effect way to do this.”

If the project moves forward, approximately six miles of cast iron distribution pipes would be replaced (the equivalent of about 30 percent of the distribution system), a new standpipe would be constructed on the east side of town, and new auto-read water meters would be installed throughout the city.

The standpipe would cost about $800,000, the water meters would cost about $400,000, and the remainder of the project cost would be for new distribution lines, engineering fees, and other expenses.

“Basically, through the grant/loan we would get the water meters and the standpipe for free and finance the rest of the project,” Dockery said.

Although a lot of time and resources have been spent to get to this point, city officials say they want to know the public’s opinion before they move forward.

“Once City Council feels they have informed the residents and received feedback, final approval will have to be given to USDA before May 1,” Dockery said.

If the city moves forward, the bidding process will be done in less than a year, and then it will take up to three years to complete the entire project.

“We encourage people to ask questions any time,” Dockery said. “We prefer not to wait for the town hall to have questions. Residents can call my office at any time, and their questions will be added to the list of questions to be addressed at the meeting.”

Dockery said the only downside to the project, in his opinion, is the cost and the disruption that the work will cause.

“I see this as being a positive improvement that is absolutely necessary to improve the viability of an aging system,” he said.

For more information about the project, contact Dockery at City Hall at 874-3438.

A low turnout marked last week’s primary elections as Donley County Democrats and Republicans went to the polls to help choose their parties’ candidates.

Sixty-nine people voted in the Democratic Primary, and 811 voted in the Republican Primary, reflecting a 38 percent turnout among local registered voters.

Local Democrats preferred US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to be their presidential candidate over former secretary of state Hillary Clinton by a margin of 35-33. One voter liked Willie L. Wilson for president.

US Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was Donley County Republicans’ top choice for the GOP’s presidential candidate. Sen. Cruz received 358 votes compared to 248 for business man Donald Trump, 73 for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, 72 for neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, 34 for Ohio Gov.

John Kasich. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul received four votes, former Florida governor Jeb Bush got six, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee had four. Three other candidates – Sen. Rick Santorum, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, and Sen. Lindsey Graham – each got one vote.

Local candidates in both parties were running unopposed for their offices and will appear – also unopposed – on the General Election ballot in November.

The Clarendon College Meats team ended their spring season with a big win at the Houston Livestock Show Meats Judging Contest this past weekend.

Courteney Walker placed 2nd high individual, Thachary Mayer was 5th high, Wesley Burnett placed 6th, Rachel Evenson finished 8th, and Taylor Stubenbordt placed 10th.

Other team members were Maggie Roque, Dyllan Galligan, JD Davis, and Taylor Swinson.

The Meats Team is coached by Tate Corliss and coordinated by Johnny Treichel.

By Kay Ledbetter, AgriLife Extension

AMARILLO – Water challenges in the Ogallala Aquifer region are the focus of a $10 million grant that will include scientists from the Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

The inaugural meeting of this new project will be March 31-April 1 in Amarillo, said Dr. Brent Auvermann, an agricultural engineering specialist with joint AgriLife Extension and AgriLife Research appointments in Amarillo.

“We wanted to meet early in the project, agree on our expectations of one another and build a solid framework for accountability,” Auvermann said.

The four-year grant supporting the project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“For many years, researchers have been developing more efficient irrigation techniques, water-efficient crop varieties and water-conserving soil management methods,” Auvermann said. “But we’re still draining the aquifer. It’s time to put all of the pieces together, and it’s time for each of the affected states to learn from the others.”

Colorado State University is the overall lead and the Texas Water Resources Institute in College Station will serve as the Texas lead for this project under USDA’s Water for Agriculture Challenge Area.

Other participating entities include University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, New Mexico State University, Texas Tech University, West Texas A&M University and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service.

“The Ogallala Aquifer and the agricultural production reliant upon it are critical to the long-term sustainability of not only the region, but also food security for the United States,” said Dr. Kevin Wagner, Texas Water Resources Institute deputy director in College Station. “Through this collaboration, we hope to extend the life of the aquifer and develop long-term solutions supporting sustainable agricultural production in the region.”

The water institute and Extension participants on this project will be engaged primarily in technology transfer efforts, including leveraging Extension venues and networks to address different audiences and stakeholders and their diverse information and education needs.