The City of Kennedale and the City of Arlington have reached an agreement in principle that would transfers the operation and maintenance of the water and sewer system of Kennedale to Arlington. The agreement was reached in committee between the two cities and was announced Thursday night at a meeting of the Kennedale City Council. It still needs final council approval.{{more: continue}}
For Arlington, who has excess water, it would give them another large and growing customer base and access to additional transmission lines to better serve its current customers.?
contractual obligations …
The essence of the agreement is that Arlington would take over the daily operation of the Kennedale water and sewage system in a 5 year agreement, renewable every 5 years. The agreement does have an escape clause which would allow both city to re-evaluate the agreement and if needed to terminate under terms agreeable to both sides.??The current staff of the Kennedale water department would be given the opportunity to be employed by Arlington in a similar capacity. Kennedale would retain ownership of all current utility assets and would maintain the current department facility which would be used by Kennedale and Arlington.? ?
With the agreement Arlington would be responsible for the construction of connection lines, maintain the current Kennedale system including existing wells while using their current technology and resources to improve the Kennedale system.?Kennedale and Arlington will honor all current contracts including with Fort Worth, Arlington, Progressive Waste Management and Fathom billing management system.?customer benefits …??
Kennedale customers would see little change in the current operation as Arlington takes over other than more Arlington water department trucks in the area. The transition period is expected to last 2 months after which customers would report service issues directly to Arlington. Kennedale citizens would still be able to pay online or in person in Arlington or Kennedale city offices.?budget obligations …??
Kennedale
would sill maintain a budget for water/sewage which will include the cost for the
Arlington operation and maintenance agreement which in the first year is
projected to be $1,092,566 and estimated typical cost of $788,000 in a typical
year. Kennedale would also need to budget for reserve emergency expenses
estimated at $150,000 per year and annual capital expenditures, estimated at
$250,000. As a result one of the budget expenditures that would go away is ?Other
Kennedale Operation Costs? which was budgeted this year at $1,654, 953. There would be no personnel budget for water department.
Note: Changes could still be made before a formal vote is taken.?Credit for
hammering out the details of the agreement goes to the Arlington team composed
of Buzz Pishkur, Craig Cummings, Angelia Garrett, Brad Franklin, Craig Gantt
and the Kennedale team of George Campbell, Brady Olsen, Wayne Olson, Tom Gooch.?
