The Bryan Board of Public Affairs Tuesday welcomed a new board member and gave approval for a change order for a piece of equipment that has been long delayed.
New board member Bob Eyre took the oath of office just prior to the meeting, but has officially been a board member since the end of January. He replaces Tom Sprow who elected not to return to the board for another term.
“I’ve always felt I should give back to the community,” Eyre said.
The board approved a $12,168 change order for a digger derrick for the electric department. The original order for the truck was made in 2021 and was set to cost $273,749 at that time.
Bryan Municipal Utilities Director of Utilities Derek Schultz said that they learned in 2022 the cost of the outriggers and a commodity surcharge was left off the price, which added another $24,011 to the cost, bringing it to $297,760 in 2022.
Now, International has applied another surcharge as the city waits for a 2025 model, bringing the total cost to $309,928.
“That (surcharge) includes a model year increase from 2024 to 2025, emissions updates and rear axle and tire changes,” Schultz said. “We’re on our third model year for the build, so a change like this isn’t really all that unexpected.”
The current truck is 23 years old and Schultz said a new truck is expected to last the city at least 20 years.
In other business, the BPA:
Approved a letter of support for a 50-unit senior housing development proposed for Bryan. It is hoped the letters of support from BPA and council will help the project receive tax credit financing from the state.
Approved a request to put Jimmy Dunning on regular employment as the operations manager following the conclusion of his probationary period.
Discussed committee assignments for the year. Those will be passed during the next regular meeting.
Received 2023 year review reports for the water department and communications.
Held an executive session to discuss employment of personnel and compensation of a public employee. No action was reported.
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