Lago Vista cuts Garver sewer deal, taxpayer share $476,477.80

When we wrote this story, the city had not posted minutes for this meeting. This story is based on the meeting video.⁵

What is the Garver contract?

Garver, LLC is the engineering firm the city hired to design work at its wastewater treatment plant. The old plan was to grow the plant from 1.0 million gallons a day (MGD) to 1.5 MGD. The contract has a not-to-exceed amount, which is the most the city can owe the firm. The council votes on this change, and then the city manager signs it.³

The new total has two parts. The grant and the city's share cover $965,277.00 in new work. The other $608,491.10 is what Garver had already billed for the old design.³

Our Nov. 2 preview of this vote found that the amendment drops the bigger plant and points the grant at new filters and a new sludge press.³ That story also told how the contract began in December 2024 at no more than $2,821,902.00.⁶

Victor Manzano, the city's capital improvement plan (CIP) manager, submitted the item.³ The council took it up at its regular meeting in the City Council Chambers, 5803 Thunderbird. The meeting began at 3 p.m., and the open session was set to start again at 4 p.m. after a closed session.⁷

The council heard three other water items at the same meeting. We cover them in separate stories on the state loan, the effluent study, and the EPA grant split.⁸

The presentation

Mayor Shane Saum read the Garver item aloud together with the other three.^7,8 He said, "They're all water related."⁸

Public Works Director Ernesto Rios then gave a slide presentation.⁹ The city won a $750,000 EPA Community Grant on Sept. 22, 2026, for planning and design at the plant and for handling its treated wastewater. The grant requires the city to add $187,500, for a total of $937,500. EPA money can pay only for planning, permitting, design, and bidding work.¹⁰

Rios said staff propose splitting the grant between two engineering jobs. One is the Garver work.⁹ The other is a study by a second engineering firm (DCS Engineering, LLC) of how the city handles its treated wastewater.^7,9

A council member asked whether 2024 bond money would pay for some of this. Rios said it was not, for now. Manzano called it "a pending decision."¹¹

Manzano said the plant work no longer qualifies for wastewater impact fees because the city is no longer adding capacity.¹¹ Under state law, an impact fee is a charge on new development to pay for the capital projects that growth makes necessary.¹²

The mayor asked why the project was moving away from the city's 2024 wastewater master plan.¹³ He suggested that Freese and Nichols, the engineers who wrote that plan, come back and talk with staff to check whether "this is the right route to go."^13,14

Rios said the amendment removes the 1.5 MGD expansion and moves two fixes forward, as our preview explained.¹⁵ A council member asked how much of the bigger-plant design had been abandoned. Rios answered, "It has not been abandoned."¹⁶

Council Member Jess Hall said he was concerned about paying for more planning before the city handles "the immediate needs that are before us right now." He named repairs at Pond 17, Pond 14, and the Cedar Breaks pond.¹⁷

What Garver said

The mayor asked whether anyone in the audience wanted to speak on the four items, and no one did.¹⁸ Mayor Pro Tem Norma Owen then asked Garver to walk the council through its work from the start.^7,19

Jeff Meadows, a treatment lead at Garver, said the firm got "just short of 30% design" on the bigger plant before the city put it on hold. He said that work "is not all abandoned." Garver finished a permit change with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the state environmental agency, that lets the plant grow to 1.5 MGD later. He said the state first wanted 20 million to 30 million more gallons of pond storage, and Garver showed that the ponds the city has now are enough.²⁰

Meadows said the site survey and soil tests carry over to the new design. Meadows said Garver worked with city staff and visited plants in Kyle, Huntsville, and Pflugerville before choosing a volute press. He said the city owns the report, so it "can pick up where they left off" if it returns to the expansion.²⁰

Hall said he would love to see the belt press replaced and a move to Type I water.²¹ Under state rules, Type I reclaimed water is treated wastewater clean enough for places where the public may touch it, such as parks and home lawns.²² Hall said he wanted those pieces to move forward "without necessarily obligating the city" for "a sizable loan" it would have to repay.²¹

An engineer for Garver answered that those two items are the ones moving forward, and "everything else was removed and stripped out of the scope."²³ A staff member added that the grant pays for design and planning, and the proposed state loan would pay for construction. For the plant work before the council at this meeting, the staff member said, the city's part would come from the bonds or from utility money.²⁴

Timing and the old press

The Garver engineer said the current ponds are enough until the plant reaches 1.5 MGD. He said city staff found that the plant's flows had leveled off. He said the last time it came up, the need to expand looked to be "past 2030 at this point."²⁵

The mayor said he did not want a future council telling this one, "You had your chance to expand when you needed to."²⁶ The engineer said the new filters would treat 1 MGD now and be built so they can grow to 1.5 MGD and later 2.7 MGD.²⁷ He said Garver would work out filter prices with the maker ahead of time, so the price does not jump on bid day.²⁸

The plant's belt press squeezes sewage sludge between two belts to wring out the water, the engineer said. A volute press uses a turning screw that lifts the solids while the water drains away.²⁹ The engineer said design would take at most six months.³⁰

The mayor called the old belt press "a ticking time bomb." After bids, the engineer said, buying and installing the new press would probably take 6 to 8 months. Garver would also help the city find a rental press on a trailer. He expects that to cost less than hauling away wet sludge when the old press breaks down.³⁰ Council Member Amanda Chavarria said she was "really impressed" with the choice of the volute press.³¹

The vote

Before any motion, the mayor said, "I am comfortable now with the Garver one."³² Council Member Adam Benefield said he was not comfortable moving forward on either the Garver amendment or the effluent study that day. He said, "I've seen too much waste on these designs." The mayor noted the council meets again on Nov. 19.³³

The council then approved the state loan papers by voice vote.³⁴ Next, a motion to approve the effluent study failed 3 to 4.^35,36 Before the Garver vote, a council member asked staff to explain to the whole council why bond money is being used and what limits apply to impact fees.³⁷

Council Member Paul Prince then moved to approve the Garver amendment, item VIII.2. He said the need for it had been "laid out pretty well."¹ Council Member Karen Van Ness seconded.³⁸

Chavarria said she would normally vote against it without more information. But she said she wanted the press work started "as quickly as possible."³⁹ Prince noted that the amendment lowers the contract, calling it "a reduction in spend on the city's part."⁴⁰

The mayor called the roll. Hall answered, "I move approval." Benefield, Chavarria, the Mayor Pro Tem, Van Ness, and Prince each said yes, and the mayor said he was also a yes.² Benefield's yes came after he had said he was not comfortable moving forward, though he had added that his mind could be changed.^2,33 The mayor said, "It's approved unanimously."²

What it means for you

Which fund pays the city's share is still open. The packet says the city-funded part is "subject to confirmation of available balances and final budget allocation." Staff no longer recommend using wastewater impact fees for this work.³ Yet the adopted 2026-27 budget still lists $820,000 in wastewater impact fees as the source for this project's design work this year. The budget page calls those amounts planning placeholders, to be updated as staff works with the engineer on the design amendment, final scope, and costs.⁴¹ If bond money pays, property taxes repay that debt.⁴

What we could not find

• Minutes with each member's vote. The city had not posted minutes when we wrote this.⁵
• Which fund will pay the city's $476,477.80, and the current balances of the 2024 bond money and the utility reserves.³
• A city record that says what "Utility Reserves" holds and where it comes from.³
• Staff's written reason that wastewater impact fees no longer apply.³⁷
• The revised EPA grant workplan, which the packet says is due to the EPA by Nov. 12, 2026.¹⁰
• A construction cost for the filters and the new press alone.³ The budget shows only a $9,000,000 planning placeholder for construction on the whole plant project.⁴¹
• What Garver has billed since Aug. 29, 2025, the last invoice the amendment names.³

What you can do

• Watch the motion and the vote in the city's meeting video.¹
• Ask the city for the revised EPA workplan and the 2024 bond balance under the Texas Public Information Act. The city's open records page says it has up to 10 business days to respond.⁴²