June 28, 2018

Thank you for subscribing to my e-newsletter.

As you may notice, my newsletter has gotten an update. While it looks a little bit different, it still contains the same important information to keep you and your family informed about what's going on in HD 127, in Austin, and around the state.

This week, I was in Austin meeting with the House Committee on Public Education to discuss mental health and school safety. Both hearings lasted several hours, and we heard from various experts in the fields of: law enforcement, mental health, school administration, technology, and teaching. We additionally heard from parents and students of the school community, and their stories were emotional and inspiring.

My office will soon begin compiling the recommendations and information gathered from both of the hearings into a report that will be sent to Speaker Joe Straus detailing the committee's findings. We will be sure that you have a copy of this report as well, so be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to get it delivered straight to your inbox.

Next week, we celebrate Independence Day! Accordingly, both of my offices will be closed Wednesday through Friday. My staff will have limited access to email, so if you need immediate assistance, I encourage you to email them through the links at the bottom of the newsletter.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely, 

Click Here to View and Download This Month's Calendar!

To meet water demands for 2025 and beyond, and to meet the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District and Fort Bend Subsidence District's groundwater reduction requirements, the West Harris County Regional Water Authority has partnered with the North Fort Bend Water Authority to deliver the Surface Water Supply Project. This project will consist of an approximately 39-mile-long cathodically-protected welded steel 8-foot-diameter pipeline and two large pump stations. It will supply surface water from Lake Houston by way of the City of Houston's Northeast Water Purification Plant.

The pipeline will be built through part of House District 127.

Design for the project is ongoing and has reached a point where the West Harris County Regional Water Authority and the North Fort Bend Water Authority have organized a contractor outreach meeting for the Project on June 29. 

June 29, 2018

Embassy Suites by Hilton Houston Energy Corridor

11730 Katy Freeway

Houston, TX 77079

8:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon

The informational networking session will help contractors learn how they can provide services on the Surface Water Supply Project. This event is FREE.

The Water Authorities have reached out to the City of Houston's Office of Business Opportunity, general and minority trade associations and other organizations plus a number of individuals who have indicated interest in it. We are providing this information to you in case you or anyone that you may know might be interested in working on this project as either a contractor or subcontractor.

Meeting registration starts at 7:30 a.m. with the formal presentation starting at 8:00 a.m. The presentation will provide important project information about each project segment. Following the presentation, attendees will be provided the opportunity to network with other contractors to discuss potential partnering opportunities to bid on project packets. The networking session starts at 10:00 a.m. and attendees are encouraged to stay until 12:00 p.m.

The Surface Water Supply Project is seeking contractors for the following services:

If you would like more general information about the Surface Water Supply Project, and when bid documents are posted, please visit us at http://www.surfacewatersupplyproject.com.

As we’ve previously discussed, the Harris County Flood Control District is holding a series of 23 community engagement meetings - one in each HCFCD watershed - to discuss potential projects and receive community input on the emergency bond election under discussion for August 25, 2018. The following meeting has been scheduled that impacts your district:

 

San Jacinto River Watershed Community Meeting

July 10, 2018

6:00pm – 8:00pm

Kingwood Park High School 

4015 Woodland Hills Dr.

Kingwood, TX 77339

 

Community input may also be provided in other ways. Full details on how to submit comments via the web, mail and phone may be found here: https://www.hcfcd.org/bond-program/community-input/

 

The meeting schedule is updated as meetings are added at the following link: https://www.hcfcd.org/bond-program/community-engagement-meetings

 

An interactive map of projects under discussion is available and will be updated as projects develop. (The interactive map allows you to click on the button to the left side to turn on legislative district boundaries.) By clicking on icons for the project locations, you can read more about expected projects, their costs and participants/funding. The link to the site is: http://www.harriscountyfemt.org/cb

On Wednesday, July 11, 2018, representatives from the San Jacinto River Authority, Montgomery County, and the City of Conroe will hold the second of three public meetings to discuss the flood protection study and flood early warning system project being conducted with respect to the upper West Fork San Jacinto River watershed.

The Texas Water Development Board offers grants to political subdivisions of the State of Texas for evaluation of structural and nonstructural solutions to flooding problems, including early warning systems, implementation of local strategies for alerting and responding to floods, and flood protection planning.

In June 2016, the San Jacinto River Authority coordinated with Montgomery County and the City of Conroe in submitting an application to TWDB for a grant to conduct the first phase of a Flood Protection Planning Project in the watershed from Lake Conroe to Lake Creek. On August 25, 2016, the Texas Water Development Board approved the application and authorized the grant.

The project will update floodplain information on the studied streams within Montgomery County, improve the existing hydrologic monitoring network in the County in order to enhance flood early warning capabilities of the region, and investigate structural and nonstructural flood damage reduction projects for selected tributaries in the City of Conroe, primarily Alligator Creek. This project is being funded by the Texas Water Development Board, the San Jacinto River Authority, Montgomery County, and the City of Conroe, with management and administrative support services being provided by the San Jacinto River Authority.

The second public meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 6 p.m., at the Montgomery County Commissioners’ Court, Commissioners Courtroom, 501 N. Thompson, Suite 402, Conroe, Texas 77301. This project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year and the third and final public meeting is targeted for early December, 2018. A new grant application for the second phase of this project is also anticipated to be submitted to the TWDB on July 11, 2018. If successful, this additional project would begin early next year and would build upon the results of the Flood Protection Study and Flood Early Warning System Project which is the subject of this second public meeting. Both of these projects will be incorporated into and support the separate Regional Flood Study for the San Jacinto River Basin scheduled to begin later this year by the Harris County Flood Control District and its partners.

All interested persons are invited to attend the meeting to express their views with respect to the project. Questions or requests for additional information may be directed to Mr. David L. Parkhill, P.E., Director of Raw Water Enterprise, San Jacinto River Authority, 1577 Dam Site Road, Conroe, Texas 77304. Interested persons unable to attend the meeting may submit their views to Mr. Parkhill prior to Monday, July 9, 2018.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District announced today that RLB Contracting, Inc., was the apparent low bidder in the amount of $33,988,050.00 for emergency dredging of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.

"This emergency project funded by FEMA involves the removal of 1.8 million cubic yards of material within 270 days,” said Curtis Cole, a contracting official with the USACE Galveston District's Contracting Division. Cole said there will be a bid and pre-award verification phase with the awardee prior to officially awarding the contract.

"Pre-award verification allows us to exercise due diligence to verify awardees can meet the scheduling, production and resource requirements,” said Don Carelock, a USACE Galveston District Chief of Construction. “Once we perform our analysis, a recommendation will be announced to our contracting officials.” Carelock said this process is expected to take between 10-14 days.

During the public opening, three bids were received: CrowderGulf submitted a bid in the amount of $108,887,733.33 and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company bid totaled $69,814,060. RLB Contracting, Inc. was announced as the apparent lowest bid of $33,988,050.00.

Under provisions of the Stafford Disaster Relief Act of 1988, FEMA responded to a request from the State of Texas and directed the Corps to begin the initial assessment for the Emergency Project.

Corps officials have stated the FEMA funding scope of the project allows for debris and dredge activity that restores the area to its pre-Harvey flood conditions. The project is limited in scope and does not include operations beyond the West Fork of the San Jacinto River area.

Corps survey teams from the New Orleans District began collecting data in April to determine the level of shoaling and silt accumulation within the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. A six-phase value engineering study was completed in May.

The USACE Galveston District was established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements. The district is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 250 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates.

For more news and information, visit www.swg.usace.army.mil. Find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/GalvestonDistrict or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/USACEgalveston.

Our office is always ready to assist you. Call or email us and we will do our best to help. Many State Agencies also have hotlines or citizen assistance offices to assist you. That contact information is available at this link, in alphabetical order: 

http://www.lrl.texas.gov/genInfo/stateAgencies.cfm

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