Some Residents in MW See New Streets;County Agrees to Help with Roads
By Amy Bearden/MWAN Editor
The wait is finally over. Residents in Mineral Wells are beginning to see new roads built around their neighborhood.
DFW Paving began laying and rolling asphalt along Northwest 5th Avenue. The process has been lengthy as the city wanted to improve the infrastructure under the streets before building new roads.
These repairs were part of the 2018 Go Bond package approved by the citizens in 2017 and will improve approximately nine miles of road in Mineral Wells.
City Manager Dean Sullivan has been devising a plan to improve the rest of the roads in the city limits which total a little over 130 miles.
Recently Sullivan went to the Palo Pinto County Commissioner’s Court requesting help to build roads within the city and managed to get an agreement with the county for assistance.
“In Texas, counties can actually assist municipalities but we have to ask for help,” Sullivan said.
And so he did. Sullivan, who is also currently the city’s chief of police, recently told the city council he is big on partnerships.
“Each one of those commissioners is a road building expert. That’s their job,” he said.
Sullivan encouraged the community to thank their commissioners and said hopefully this will be an ongoing agreement. Councilperson Beth Watson spoke about the importance of this agreement with the county.
“I think this a big step for everyone working harder together,” Watson said.
All four precincts will be cooperating with the city to improve roughly three and one-half mile of road within the community before the end of the fiscal year in September. The agreement lays out specific streets in each precinct within the city. It also states the city will provide the materials/supplies and the county will provide the crews to do the work.
Since the bond package and the county agreement only provide for 12 miles of roads, Sullivan is working on an aggressive plan to get the rest of the city’s streets repaired.
“Long term goals for city roads will be discussed in further detail during upcoming budget workshops and council meetings. The agreement with PPC was just one portion of a larger plan that I have not rolled out to the council just yet. We are very grateful to the commissioners for their offering to assist us in this matter.”
He says the budget modeling is complete, and finance is beginning to input some of the preliminary numbers.
“We can then refine our 5-year road plan and present it for discussion and implement the plan starting this fall. There are a lot of moving pieces, but it is coming together,” stated Sullivan.
The next budget planning meeting is May 24 at the city annex. The general public is welcome.
Mineral Wells Area News is a nonprofit digital newspaper working hard to keep the citizens in the community informed, but we need your help to keep our mission moving forward. We are completely funded from donations by our readers. Please consider a donation through Venmo @mwareanews, or our PayPal Link or send a check to Mineral Wells Area News, PO Box 2 Mineral Wells Tx 76068 Anything will help keep the mission alive!
