Katy City Council approved a contract for $2.5 million to B-5 Construction Company, Inc. out of Magnolia Texas for improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant during its Nov. 9 meeting. It also approved the purchase of agenda and documentation management software that will help move the city toward more efficient streaming of its meetings.

Council members voted unanimously to approve the contract awarded to B-5 Construction which will expand the capacity of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, according to documents provided by the city. The job entails identifying and rerouting several pipes near the complex, adding other piping, expanding overall capacity and repairing items such as missing hardware in one of the water clarifiers. The total cost of about $2.5 million includes all of these items plus contingency funding for any overages on the project which is standard practice in Texas for government projects such as this.

Council members also unanimously authorized an agreement with CivicPlus for software that will allow city staff to incorporate agenda archiving and video archiving together in conjunction with software purchased through SwagIt. The CivicPlus software will be purchased with CARES Act funding and will use about $11,500 of the city’s CARES Act funding. If renewed, the cost for a year of continued service is about $7,600. It is unknown how a renewal might be paid for.

City Secretary Becky McGrew said she had worked with CivicPlus’ representatives to ensure the system would work with the SwagIt software approved at the council’s Oct. 26 meeting.

“I believe the city of Abilene uses it directly in the same regard,” said McGrew. “But I also called just to verify that I was remembering correctly and (CivicPlus’ representative) was able to verify … that we will be able to upload the file from SwagIt and as I’m doing (meeting) minutes, I will be able to video tag that recording and push it out to the web.”

This upgrade in the city’s streaming will bring the city in line with many of its neighbors and regional partners such as the city of Fulshear and Fort Bend, Harris and Waller counties commissioners courts.

At the meeting, council also:

• Heard a presentation from representatives of Spiritual Warriors Against Trafficking – also known as SWAT – regarding human trafficking intervention in the Greater Houston area.
• Accepted the transfer of utility billing for street lights in the Young Ranch subdivision.
• Approved membership dues for the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $10,000.
• Approved the closure of Avenue C between Second and Third streets on Dec. 4 from 4:30-8:30 p.m. for a holiday event.
• Authorized the sale of $3.9 million in bonds by the Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 163 for improvements within that district which overlaps the city of Katy’s borders.
• Approved no parking signs between Highway 90 and I-10 on Pedersen Road on the western side of Katy as recommended by City Engineer David Leyendecker.

Katy City Council generally meets the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and holidays, it has been meeting at 4 p.m. on those days since March. Meetings in November and December are at irregular times due to the holiday season. The next scheduled Katy City Council meeting is set for Nov. 17 to canvass the city’s election results.