BISHOP, Tx — Bishop City Council is in the preliminary stages of major street repair discussions. From holding excess dirt to forcing drivers to dodge potholes, the council said a lot needs to be fixed.
"There’s been many concerns here about roads and streets. I hear it all the time. I can go to a convenience store, a restaurant, social media," Council member Tony Mechelle said.
Right now, the city has a budget of $38,000 for minor street repairs, but streets like W First, W Third, and Joyce are going to need more funds for more than just minor work.
"The streets are beyond bandages. It's time to take it a step further and get roads fully repaired instead of just fixing potholes," Mechell said.
Bishop City Secretary Sal Ochoa said traffic and weather cause a lot of the street damage.
"If you want to build a street, you want to make sure you have the proper drainage because water causes a lot of the damage. It would involve engineering costs, costs of different bids, we want to do it right," Ochoa said.
But to get to that step, the city needs a way to pay for it.
"There’s bonds or certificates of obligations. Some certificates of obligations don't have to go through voter approval, and some do depend on the amounts and requirements, but most don't. It just varies. We don't want it to come from taxpayers, but we just have to explore all the options. We have to do more research. But if it does have to go to voter approval, then we’ll let the city of bishop decide," Ochoa said.
If the city chooses to take the street repair proposal to a bond, it will more than likely be on the November election ballot. Regardless of the form of payment, drivers should not expect any street changes until 2025.
"The next step once we get the method of payment would be researching engineers and getting bids. We want to find the best deal. We don't want roads to last ten years. We want them to last 40-50 years, so we need to make sure this money is well spent and lasts for our city. If we have nice streets, we'll have a nice town. We'll look at every option. We don't want to hurt our taxpayers or their pockets. When you’re a small town like Bishop we don't have a lot of resources, so it's definitely a challenge," Mechell said.
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