Revitalizing Sanger: Jim Bolz on Advancing City Infrastructure and Fostering Civic Engagement

Step into the world of civic innovation with Jim Bolz, the Director of Public Works for the City of Sanger, as he unveils how a municipality breathes life into its infrastructure. With a wealth of knowledge from his nearly two-decade tenure, Jim walks us through the complexities of managing a city's vital systems. He enlightens us on the pioneering replacement of water and electric meters that will revolutionize efficiency and transparency for residents. Not only does this technology spotlight leaks in real-time, but it also marks Sanger’s commitment to water conservation and its synergistic road improvement efforts with the county. This episode promises a fascinating look at how a city stays ahead of the curve, maintaining robust growth and infrastructure resilience.

Delving deeper, experience how the Public Works Department champions water quality and navigates the City through emergency scenarios, like Winter Storm Uri, with grace and expertise. Jim discusses the annual water quality report, the City's proactive measures to ensure safe drinking water, and the robust response systems in place for potential issues. We also applaud the City’s brush removal program, which is a testament to the department’s success and tenacity. Amidst the challenges, listen to how Sanger maintains a laser focus on growth and community involvement, keeping its pulse on public needs and expectations. Join us for an episode that captures the essence of a city’s heartbeat through the stories and insights of those who keep it ticking.

You have been listening to The 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger, TX. IF you have comments or suggestions, please send them to dgreen@sangertexas.org

Transcript

John Noblitt: 0:07

Welcome to the 266 Express. I'm John Noblitt, here with Donna Green. Donna, who do we have with us today?

Donna Green: 0:13

Today we have Jim Bolz. He is the Director of the Public Works for the City of Sanger. Welcome.

John Noblitt: 0:18

Jim, thank you for having me. Yeah, this is the first time, I think, I've met you.

Jim Bolz: 0:22

Yes, I think so Today.

John Noblitt: 0:26

Jim, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. How long have you been with us?

Jim Bolz: 0:30

Yeah, I've been with the City of Sanger. I started in July of 2004,. So July will be 20 years here. Prior to that, I worked for the city of Louisville. I started there in September of 87. In the wastewater field. I have a Class A wastewater license. I have a groundwater license also. That I obtained here at the City of Sanger. Initially, I came in to the City of Sanger as a wastewater operator and then I transferred to the Water Wastewater Superintendent and from there I moved to Public Works Director.

John Noblitt: 1:01

Sounds like you missed a meeting along the way and they just.

Jim Bolz: 1:03

I missed several meetings along the way and attended way too many along the way also.

Donna Green: 1:09

He was in the wrong meetings. That's what it was. So, John and I pretty much have a good idea of what you do. But for those people who have no idea what the Public Works Department does, can you give us kind of an overview?

Jim Bolz: 1:23

Yeah, the Public Works Department is responsible for the water and wastewater departments. We also have the street department beneath us, and then we also track vehicle maintenance and fuel usage, things along that line.

John Noblitt: 1:37

It's quite a bit of stuff. I know we started started replacing water and electric meters along, and water meters is in your wheelhouse there. Tell us a little bit about that project. Where are we? When do we expect it to possibly be done?

Jim Bolz: 1:51

The City has contracted with Aquametric to replace all the water and electric meters in town. As of yesterday we have replaced a little over 2,700 water meters. All of those are residential meters. We have a total of about 3,650 water meters in the city. Of that, about 200 of those meters are commercial meters. We are going to install all the residential meters first and then get to the commercial meters we still have about 700 residential meters and then we will begin with the commercial meters. Now we about 700 residential meters and then we will begin with the commercial meters.

John Noblitt: 2:27

Now we know that's going to help the residents a little bit, be able to do some other things as we bring things online. But during the testing phase and everything, are you guys seeing some positive results there and maybe some help in how you'll be able to handle your workloads in the future?

Jim Bolz: 2:44

Yes, the meters we had in the past that we're replacing currently were outdated. They had an 8 to 10-year life expectancy when they put those in and some of those meters are approaching 20 years in age. They do not pick up well on their reading. So a lot of the time the guys spend a lot of time going back to those meters because they don't pick up with our mobile collector on the read. So we go back and then manually read those and there are times we were manually reading over a thousand meters per month.

John Noblitt: 3:18

So now all that's going to be coming into City Hall and you'll be able to see when you have maybe a leak or a problem sooner right, that is correct, and there's going to be a customer portal with these meters where the customers can get online, look at their usage, see things.

Jim Bolz: 3:33

But it also notifies us. If we see an abnormal flow, continuous flow going, where we're able to notify the customer that they potentially have a problem on their side, that's great. That's going to be an exciting have a problem on their side.

John Noblitt: 3:45

That's great. That's going to be an exciting new tool for us.

Donna Green: 3:47

Yeah, that's great.

John Noblitt: 3:48

Yeah.

Donna Green: 3:50

So I know, speaking of water, the City Council recently approved your new Water Conservation and Contingency Plan. So tell us, what is that? What does that mean?

Jim Bolz: 4:01

The Water Conservation and Drought Con contingency plan is required to be filled out every five years by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. What it does? It encourages entities to be good stewards of the resources we manage, and then it sets limits, such as time of day and day of the week watering during extreme drought. And then it also sets five and ten year goals for us to to uh reduce water loss and, as I said before, it's required to be updated every five years. But it's kind of a model, uh that tracks your water usage and and where you're going, because we look back at the past five years when we're filling this out, we can see the growth, uh, we can see the increase in water demand that we have, and it it allows us to set goals and look forward in planning.

John Noblitt: 4:48

With your experience, do you think that Sanger does better than average or about on par with other communities? When we talk about water conservation and drought, contingency plans during the summertime and things?

Jim Bolz: 5:01

I think we do better than most. The last couple of years we've had some pretty extreme dry months for extended periods. We did not tax our system to any extent during those dry times. Now, as growth continues and we are seeing a lot of growth in this town the demand for water is increasing and so, looking ahead, we will have to get out in front and plan ahead to make sure we stay ahead of the growth and development that is going on.

John Noblitt: 5:31

Now, jim, I know water and wastewater. Those aren't the only areas. You know we talk about streets and roads a lot. Right now we get a lot of questions about Bells and Marion and Jennifer Circle and some of those other areas that do need repairs and do need constant repairs. Really, tell us a little bit about this partnership with the county on the improvements and what we think the timelines are Okay.

Jim Bolz: 5:56

yes, the city has partnered with the county in a 50-50 partnership in the funding of repairs for these roads. Marion will be the first road that we will do on that. Funds have already been allocated on the county side and the city will match those. The city will be responsible for the engineering portion of the Marion Road project. But Marion Road, as everyone knows, with the growth in the Sanger Circle area it receives an immense amount of traffic on it and it continues to become a problem area in that area on that part of the road out there. But as we get this we're going to have that engineered to expand Marion Road, to redo it, to put drainage underneath on the sides and to widen that out for us. So we do have an engineering mind to begin the design portion of this project.

John Noblitt: 6:55

That's less even a repair, a major repair. We're really talking more about reconstruction of those roads. That is correct.

Jim Bolz: 7:02

Yes, yes, that is correct. We do have funding that we've asked for for this upcoming budget to kind of maintain the road and get us through until these major projects begin. But we do see a lot of truck traffic on those roads and things concrete trucks and things of those things like that because of all the construction Sanger Circle, and they really do make the road, I guess, fall apart quicker.

John Noblitt: 7:33

Yeah, and these projects, these projects. We're very grateful to the county for including us in their bond initiative.

Donna Green: 7:38

Yes, we are.

John Noblitt: 7:38

Because this is not just, you know, a few hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars. We're talking. You know, $12 to $13 million on each of those that is correct.

Jim Bolz: 7:47

That is, our initial cost estimate was about between $12 million and $13 million, and that's been about two years ago, so we have been looking at this and just trying to get funding available for it.

John Noblitt: 8:00

Yeah, and for people that still have questions on that, I know, jim, that we're in our budget cycle now here at the city and not only have we been allocating the funds to get our portion of that project done with the county, you've also continued to add a high level of maintenance funding towards, kind of keeping those roads drivable and safe, kind of keeping those roads drivable and safe, and even though that may not be noticeable all the time, those are still top of our list to maintain until the reconstruction happens.

Jim Bolz: 8:33

That is correct. We have allocated funds to maintain those roads until that time. We do have a small staff in the street department. Have, uh, three individuals total in street department right now. Uh, so that does kind of present a problem at times, trying to get people out there when you're having to flag and and do the work itself. So a lot of that work, uh, we typically contract out and then we help them, assist them as best we can so, um, in addition to Bells and Marion Road and all that, we also have a street utility maintenance program, right?

Donna Green: 9:09

So can you tell us a little bit about that and how that works?

Jim Bolz: 9:12

Yeah, the Sump program is going to be a citywide program and we have selected Kimley Horn to begin that analysis, a street analysis and grading process of all the streets within town. And what they will do is they will do a study on our roads throughout the town and then they will assign a grading to them and prioritize which roads need to be worked on first and in what order, and then they will present packages to us so that we can fund those packages first, because the funds are not available to do everything at one time. So they will. They will bring those back to us in packages, you probably in a hundred thousand dollar increments, and then we will be able to pick and choose, depending on, depending on which has the greatest need, and begin that process.

John Noblitt: 10:06

Yeah, those packages. You know the council. I'm very excited that they're supportive of your program here, because we know those packages are just the beginning. You know it's not just spending $100,000 on the streets. That's the engineering and design of those that need to go, and this is in addition to the existing program. That nothing's going to change there, right?

Jim Bolz: 10:24

That is correct. We've been doing this existing program for about five years. In the last five years we have rebuilt a subgrade and repaved 120 linear blocks of streets. This year's current projects we are going to work on the Duck Creek Road from the service road extending all the way to the west to Tejas, so Duck Creek in its entirety within the city. We're also going to rework Brook Laney and Benjamin, as well as Brook Glenn and Fairfield along Keaton Drive there this year.

Jim Bolz: 10:59

That's great and I will Take that project to council within the next month or so. We've already contacted our contractor, got updated quotes and we will get them on the schedule to begin that this summer.

John Noblitt: 11:14

We're going to give you all the hot topics. Jim, we know that water is always a hot topic. We know there's been some chatter online about several things, but we know most of that is tied to the TCEQ. It's tied to a lot of the regulations that are laid down by the state and the federal government regs on that. Can you tell us a little bit about that, including the water quality report which is coming out soon? Tell us a little bit about that process and a little bit of what that report tells us.

Jim Bolz: 11:42

Yeah, we're required by the TCEQ to fill out an annual water quality report and mail it to all our customers. That's due out by July 1st of each year. That report is filled with information about the quality of your water. The various chemicals and things like that are in the ground minerals, things of that nature. There's reports on all those. They have levels assigned to them. We have not exceeded any levels. Our water quality report looks great but we take the information throughout the year. We're sampled. We do daily samples at all our entry point samples. We do samples out within the city. We take samples to the laboratory twice a month as required by TCEQ. So they take all that information, compile it. It's all part of the report. Plus, they have TCEQ has contract samplers that come quarterly to the city and pull samples and send them off for analysis. All those samples that are taken are used to complete this report.

John Noblitt: 12:57

And that's important to our rating correct.

Jim Bolz: 12:59

That is correct. We have to do that, but we are recognized as a superior public water system. It's rated by TCQ. We've maintained that rating for the past four years.

John Noblitt: 13:11

Yeah, and that certainly doesn't diminish that at times all systems have some quality issues, turbidity discoloration, that is correct, that is correct.

Jim Bolz: 13:23

All cities have something you know we do E coli samples. That's the ones we take to the lab every month. We take two sets of five samples, so ten samples to the lab each month. But you can get a bad sample very easy. You know just from when you sample. But you can touch a lip of a bottle, potentially you know, and have something on your hand you didn't know about, you know and contaminate a sample. So it's a very tedious process. We bleach the faucets and just try to make sure it's not windy outside, where we don't pick up an airborne something to contaminate a sample. But it does happen.

John Noblitt: 14:04

Yeah, you're just extremely careful with the water system. We understand that. What, uh, what is the best way? If people still are experiencing an issue or have an issue, what's the what's the fastest and best way for them to report that?

Jim Bolz: 14:17

the fastest way would be to call public works department and, uh, and just ask for me and I would be glad to talk to anybody about this, you know, and stuff if they're experienced, and I would be glad to talk to anybody about this, you know, and stuff if they're experiencing problems, and then I would immediately dispatch someone to their residence, pull a sample and things of that nature.

Jim Bolz: 14:34

But, the fastest is by phone by far. If email a lot of times if it's after hours, I won't see it until the next morning. But I will get in contact with you if you prefer that method.

John Noblitt: 14:46

Yeah, I appreciate that you and your teams are so responsive on those issues.

Donna Green: 14:51

You've got all the hard topics.

John Noblitt: 14:52

Yeah, I do. We're going to get them all out of the way, right? Yeah, absolutely.

Donna Green: 14:55

So well, something more fun. So are there other key infrastructure projects or things planned that people might need to know about?

Jim Bolz: 15:05

I don't know if I'd call them fun, but there are projects underway. For instance and everybody's dealing with this in this town the I-455 project is currently still ongoing and will be going on until summer of 2025 when that's completed. But we have selected a contractor to redo the I-35 project for the city, relocating water and sewer lines. The electrical department's already well along in their process. Water and wastewater lines will begin moving within the next month and that project it will not be as lengthy and I don't believe it will be as impactful on the on the residents as much as it will be on travelers going down the highway uh, now, if you travel to and from commuting back and forth uh to Denton, you may experience that some, but it will not be as impactful on the residents as the 455 project is currently yeah, we just encourage everybody just not to leave, just stay here, just stay here.

Donna Green: 16:06

Stay in Sanger Shop.

John Noblitt: 16:09

Do all those?

Donna Green: 16:09

things there, all those things.

John Noblitt: 16:10

And all the travelers. Maybe the same thing. Maybe we just put another sign up on the exits that says dead end, road ahead.

Donna Green: 16:17

We can fill up the Holiday Inn real quick. That would be. It would fill up the Holiday Inn very quick.

John Noblitt: 16:22

So you, jim, out of all the departments, really, because of the streets, the water, the wastewater, coupled with the growth of the city and we've talked about the growth a lot with various people how do you manage, because I mean those are all areas under your purview how do you manage those and prioritize those?

Jim Bolz: 16:46

What's kind of your system, uh prioritizing. Sometimes and it's an old saying the squeaky wheel gets a grease and that that happens a lot of times. But, uh, we try to be mindful of what's coming up, uh, pre-plan, uh. We have resources available to us to help us with some of these projects, uh, whether it be consultants or engineers. But it is a day-to-day battle that we deal with every day and I won't say it's easy. It can be difficult sometimes, but I don't take it home when I leave here. It stays here, and I'm a different person when I get home.

Donna Green: 17:24

Your wife thanks you for that get home. Your wife thanks you for that. So why don't you tell us about some recent successes and accomplishments of the Public Works Department?

Jim Bolz: 17:34

I think one of the primary recent successes and if you drive this town at all you'll see this is a brush removal program. About 18 months ago we started implementing this program and prior to that, if you drive down any street, there was typically a brush pile or two or more piled along the curve. We chipped the brush internally with a small staff and as time dictated or allowed us to do it, because the Parks Department primarily did it at that time and they have other responsibilities with Porter Park and the ball fields and the downtown park and the mowing and everything else getting ball fields ready for play, things like that so it was hard to stay on top of that project and so we have went out with a contract and have a call-in system. So if people will call in and report their brush, usually it is chipped on the Wednesday following. So for instance, yesterday they chipped brush throughout town for calls that they had received the prior week. We do not have any backup on brush like we did there Eighteen months ago, it was not uncommon to have between 80 and 120 residents waiting to have their brush removed and the piles were unsightly.

Jim Bolz: 19:02

All that has improved. It looks much better. I have a good grasp on it. All that has improved. It looks much better. I have a good grasp on it. And Republic Waste?

Jim Bolz: 19:09

who does our trash service also does our brush removal and there's no additional charge on it no additional charge to citizens, which is rare these days Most cities. If you have brush, they have a scheduled day and then there will be a fee attached for it, or you're paying a fee throughout the year for this. City of Sanger does not charge a fee. It is a convenience that the City of Sanger offers its citizens Awesome.

John Noblitt: 19:36

So we know we talk a lot again about police and fire and their jobs and what they do extremely busy crews most of the time and super busy during an emergency but we don't talk a lot about public works and what they do during times like that. I know that you all recognize really in most systems as first responders for events like that. Now, what does public works? What is their role during events like that?

Jim Bolz: 20:10

Public Works' role is. We will, you know, remove downed trees, keep the roadways clear, try to sand. You know we have people monitoring the roads, driving in roads prior to storms or during the wintertime, you know, checking for ice drivability On the water side and the wastewater side. During those hard freezes, for instance winter storm URI, we did not lose a customer. We maintained that we have a SCADA system where we can monitor our wells, our tank levels. We had people in around the clock during those times ensuring that we were delivering our product to the customer.

Jim Bolz: 20:52

During major storms we have and I've had a few of those that I've worked through here generally we will pull all the crews together water, wastewater, streets, parks all the crews together, as far as if we're cutting trees or clearing roadways, setting up barricades. We've had bricks come off fronts of buildings where we've had to, you know, until the building could be inspected, it was unsafe. Down on Bolivar Street, where we've had to barricade, basically a block, you know, just to keep public out until those analysis could be performed. So it's just, you know, it's all hands on deck generally, just due to our staffing size. If you get all of us together parks and wastewater, and water and street department. You're looking at a total of about 20 people, so it's not a large staff, and sometimes you know if you have a large storm. You're looking at what looks like an insurmountable workload, but when we all come together we can generally get through it in a few days.

John Noblitt: 21:59

Yeah, and that's right. That's just natural disasters and things like that, that doesn't count like special events. I know, donna, you lean on public works a little bit, is that?

Donna Green: 22:06

right A lot. Yeah, jim makes a lot of Freedom Fest happen, for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Jim Bolz: 22:12

Fourth of July and things like that Fourth of July and things like that Easter egg hunt that Parks does. We have a lot of guys that are willing to volunteer their time and a lot of them are. You know, it's unpaid time. They come in and they share their day and it is helping. But most I will say 90% and maybe more than that of the employees here are very civic-minded, care deeply about the city. They're committed to Sanger and they like to give back.

John Noblitt: 22:46

Yeah, and I've seen that across the board, the staff here is truly. This is not a job to them, it's a commitment to community and they take it seriously.

Donna Green: 22:58

I'm appreciative for that. I'm 100% appreciative. Without the staff, there would be no events, there would be anything.

John Noblitt: 23:05

There would be anything.

Donna Green: 23:08

My world wouldn't exist.

Jim Bolz: 23:09

Trash off is another one that the guys work quite a bit. Twice a year we do the trash off at Railroad Ball Field. That's another benefit that the City of Sanger offers that I don't think you'll see anywhere else, where citizens are allowed to bring their debris and trash old couches, whatever you know, and dispose of them at no charge to them, and city staff helps with that and helps loading and unloading and pays for all the dumpsters and the disposal. You know that's dumpsters and the disposal.

Donna Green: 23:39

That's a benefit to the citizens. So, jim, is there anything else that we haven't talked about, that residents of Sanger should know about the public works department, or major projects, or just anything?

Jim Bolz: 23:54

Major projects I have gone going at I haven't mentioned yet. We're installing, uh, some backup power generators, some standby generators. We uh one on the police station, one on the fire station, one on city hall, one on well six which controls our radio system for a lot of dispatch and things like that emergency services and then one on utility road pump station and what that will enable us to do, the utility road and the well six in particular, during power outages, prolonged power outages, you can still maintain water supply to the citizens and maintain above 20 psi of pressure which is required, and we'll be able to do that days on end. You know, provided we can get diesel to those units and I don't think that would be a problem. And then the others are just, you know, in the event of a major emergency we would have a center that we could go to, you know, with power to it that we could all come together and plan from.

John Noblitt: 25:01

Jim, I'm going to put you on the spot. I get to spend a little bit of time with you. We've had several conversations back and forth over the years and I'm very appreciative of what you do for the city, what you contribute to the organization, your experience, and not just your work experience, your life experience. Is there a word of wisdom you could share with the citizens of Sanger Force?

Jim Bolz: 25:31

I don't know if I have a word of wisdom. What I will say is and it's about attitude, and a cloudy sky is no match for a sunny disposition. There you go, so I try to go through my day being happy and cheery.

Donna Green: 25:48

I appreciate it, I do too, and you know, I think I've always seen the happy side. I don't think I want to see the other side. It's not pretty. Jim, again, we thank you for being here with us today. It's been a lot of fun.

John Noblitt: 26:02

Thank you.

Donna Green: 26:04

I'm Donna Green.

John Noblitt: 26:06

I'm John Noblet. You've been listening to the 266 Express. Thank you for listening in to what's going on in our small little North Texas town.