With all the recent construction projects going on in Sealy, Councilmember Place 5 Larry Koy said flood issues need to be addressed by the city. If not, he said, “something bad is going to happen.”

“We are going to flood one day and that is a high possibility,” Koy said at last Tuesday’s regular meeting. “The more concrete you pour on land, the more trouble you are going to get into with your drainage and flooding conditions. They upped the rating from the 100-year storm from 12 inches to 14 inches, which makes it a greater storm event in Sealy and something needs to be done.”

During the Jan. 18 meeting, Koy’s comments were made as the council heard a presentation and discussed the 2018 certificates of obligation and potential projects.

Koy named several projects that the funds could be spent on and said he knows that there are always various sewer, water and gas lines that need to be maintained.

“I would like to see if we can somehow or another squeeze out enough money and see how much – according to an engineer – what would it come out to put a ditch in from Interstate 10 to Rexville Road,” Koy said. “(As well as) from the school property north to Eagle Lake Road and a drop culvert from the VFD park to West Street.”

Koy said that when it comes to Sealy’s various drainage issues, they cannot wait and say they will get around to it one day. He said that he is not asking to use the entire amount of the remaining balance, but just what the project would cost.

“There has got to be some money in there to spend on drainage and fix something,” Koy said. “Because when you raise IH-10, you add another three apartment units that drain into Allen’s Creek on the north side of IH-10 and we are going to be in trouble if we have a heavy-duty rain.”

Interim City Manager Warren Escovy said Koy had requested a presentation to discuss ideas on how any leftover funds could be spent on potential projects.

City of Sealy Financial Director Steven Kutra gave a presentation on the bonds and an overview of the expenditures made so far out of the funds.

“One of the projects was the utility extensions along Highway 36 North and so far on that project, we have spent a little over $611,000. Another project was the downtown water main upgrade. I understand that is completed and was done for $2,269,000,” Kutra said. “The wastewater treatment plant was $2,340,000 to finish that project up. … We have had a total expenditure out of the bond proceeds of $5.2 million that leaves about a little over $6 million in unspent revenue.”

Kutra said as far as assets and investments, there is a retainage that is still due for the wastewater treatment plant and on the Highway 36 North extension for $1,074,000.

Escovy added that city staff needs to provide a list of projects that have potentially spoken for funds regarding the remaining funds.

“That is probably also part of the five-year capital improvement plan but some of the projects (including) a $1.5 million sewer project on North 36 are requiring the easements,” Escovy said. “There is a possible need for a regional lift station in a couple years down the road – or maybe not that long. We may need to look at replacing one of our water wells.”

Escovy said he is not saying drainage is not essential but that it is something that the council will have to look at strategically.

Councilmember Place 6 Adam Burttschell said that council had been given ideas from Strand Engineering and Engineer Tommy Kuykendall.

“Perhaps this is something that we can look at for the annual meeting, the priorities meeting, to kind of figure out what we want to do and analyze. Along with what Mr. Koy brought up, along with some of the ideas that have been presented to us in the past to see which direction we want to go,” Burttschell said.

Councilmember Place 1 Dee Anne Lerma said the debt issuance’s purpose also includes repairs to the city streets.

“I know that we are going to be short in our budget for street repairs this year. So maybe we could even add some of those city streets to the list, not that we are going to have the funds to do that and maybe our priorities should be the drainage,” Lerma said. “I know that we have a lot of buildings coming up and that probably should be our number one priority.”

Burttschell said the council has had these conversations several times and it is time to prioritize these projects and see what they can do with what they have.

Councilmember Place 4 Jennifer Sullivan said she would like to see the council meet in late February and make solid plans regarding how much money will be left in the certificates of obligation.

“As a council, (we can) start prioritizing which projects are the most important and start chipping away at those instead of just talking about them. We need to take some action,” Sullivan said.

Bilski said the City of Sealy is $30 million in debt for past work.

“Let that sink in as we think about next year’s budget. I did look at the comptroller’s (website) and I would advise all you to do that,” Bilski said. “We have one of the highest debt services out there for a community our size.”