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Bryan City Council Wrap-Up 07/14/2026

The Bryan City Council met Tuesday night. Here are the highlights: Council approved all items on the statutory agenda which included $11,953,624.50 in spending. Approximately $2-million of that will go towards the design of a new wastewater pump station and design of an aquifer storage and recovery project. Just over $5-million dollars will cover street maintenance and repairs. An amendment to the city code was passed regarding benches in city cemeteries. All new benches must made of natural stone. Existing metal benches will be allowed to remain for up to twelve months before the city removes them, because the lightweight benches are not standing up to wind and other elements. They will be removed sooner if they show signs of damage. The hot topic of the night was an ordinance that would change the way BTU compensates customers with solar panels. Several residents showed up to speak in opposition of the change. Councilwoman Marca Ewers-Shurtleff suggested grandfathering the 815 current solar customers with the existing agreement. Ultimately, after an hour of discussions, the council voted to pass the ordinance as written, meaning BTU will terminate the existing contracts and require customers with solar panels to sign a new agreement. BTU currently has 71,000 customers, meaning the 815 customers make up 1.1% of their customer base. Below, you will find the statutory agenda in its entirety. This will explain the specifics of the amounts paid and to whom. This is the nearly $12-million that was approved: Approval of a Professional Services Contract for Design of a New Wastewater Pump Station to CDM Smith in the not to exceed amount of $1,165,200. Water Services respectfully requests City Council’s approval of a professional services contract with CDM Smith (“CDM”) in the not to exceed amount of $1,165,200. The professional services contract is for the design of a new wastewater pump station providing service to the future Brushy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Deliverables include preparation of design level bidding documents, site layout, equipment selection, and utilities coordination. The proposed pump station will be built in two phases. The initial phase (presented herein) is sized to accommodate an average daily flow of 3.0 million gallons per day (mgd) and a peak flow of 21.0 mgd. The design services provided in this contract serve as the cornerstone for the pump station’s ultimate build-out, which will expand the pumping capacity to a future average daily flow of 7.9 mgd and future peak flow of 44.0 mgd. Future equipment and machinery spacing requirements for future phases have been incorporated into the Phase 1 design. The pump station plays a critical role in the sewer conveyance strategy for East Bryan. The station will be constructed north of Highway 6 and University Drive and strategically located between two existing sewer mains currently served by the Burton Creek WWTP. Both sewer mains will be redirected to the pump station for transmission to the Brushy Creek WWTP for treatment. The redirected sewer flow is approximately 2.0 million gallons per day (mgd), representing roughly 40% of the Burton Creek WWTP’s average daily treated volume. The pump station’s wet-weather pumping capacity has been intentionally sized at 21 MGD to mitigate weather-related sewer capacity constraints within the Burton Creek Sewer Basin. Hydraulic modeling indicates one of the rerouted sewer mains experiences significant backwater when the Burton Creek WWTP raw lift pump station reaches capacity. The proposed pump station capitalizes on this condition through a “spillover” approach, allowing excess flow from the Burton Creek WWTP to enter the pump station and conveyed to the Brushy Creek WWTP for treatment. The presented contract is for design services of the pump station only. A separate contract for City Council’s consideration for design of the force main and rerouting of the gravity sewer is also on this same agenda for consideration. Both firms selected for this work will collaborate and work in parallel in their design efforts. The contract under consideration allows thirteen (13) months for design and three (3) months to advertisement for a total of sixteen (16) months for design and advertisement. A separate request for construction of the pump station will be presented separately to the City Council for consideration. The presented contract allows for four (4) deliverables: Project Management $29,100 Lift Station Design $877,700 Supplemental Services $217,900 [environmental, permitting, and utility coordination] Proposal Phase $40,500  Total $1,165,200 AND TO PAY FOR IT –> Adoption of a Reimbursement Resolution to reimburse the Wastewater Fund from a future bond issuance(s) for the not to exceed amount of $1,165,200 providing project design for the Highway 6 Pump Station Approval of a Professional Services Contract for Design and Routing of a New Force Main to Goodwin-Lasiter, Inc for a not to exceed amount of $806,500. Water Services respectfully requests City Council approval of a professional services contract with Goodwin-Lasiter, Inc., d/b/a GLS “GLS”, in a not-to-exceed amount of $806,500. The proposed design services are necessary to implement the sewer conveyance strategy for East Bryan by transitioning wastewater flows from the Burton Creek Sewer Basin to the Brushy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Under this contract, GLS will reroute two existing sewer mains (presently served by Burton Creek WWTP) to a proposed pump station and design the alignment and layout of the force main to convey wastewater from the pump station to the Brushy Creek WWTP. The pump station and its associated pipelines play a critical role in the sewer conveyance strategy for East Bryan. The facility will be constructed north of Highway 6 and University Drive and strategically located between two existing sewer mains currently served by the Burton Creek WWTP. Both sewer mains will be redirected to the proposed pump station for transmission to Brushy Creek WWTP for treatment. The redirected flow is approximately 2.0 million gallons per day (mgd), representing about 40 percent of the Burton Creek WWTP’s average daily treated volume. A future project will reroute the remaining portion of Burton Creek’s Sewer Basin and will allow decommissioning of Burton Creek WWTP. GLS will be responsible for completing a […]

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez on WTAW

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez visits with WTAW to discuss BTU changes, infrastructure updates, AI and big data, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Listen to “Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez on WTAW” on Spreaker.

Texas to Receive Nearly $11 Million to Improve Crisis Intervention Programs

Unites States Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) announced on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has awarded $10,973,066 in federal grant funding to the Governor’s Public Safety Office to support state and local crisis intervention programs, including the expansion of behavioral health crisis response initiatives and specialized court-based programs to address risk factors that lead to violence. Funding comes from the DOJ’s Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program (SCIP), which was authorized by Sen. Cornyn’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that was signed into law on June 25, 2022. Cornyn says, “Evidence-backed crisis intervention and prevention programs reduce violence, enhance public safety, and improve outcomes for individuals facing mental health challenges,” said Sen. Cornyn. “Thanks to the law I co-authored, these resources will help train law enforcement in how to better respond to behavioral health crises and ensure drug, mental health, and veterans’ treatment courts continue to have the resources they need to serve Texans and save lives.”