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Columbus City Council elected the unopposed city councilmember candidates, received a $36,000 grant from Keep Texas Beautiful and discussed other business in its meeting, Monday, Feb. 23.
Election
This year’s May regular municipal election positioned Councilmember Place Three, Councilmember Place Four and Councilmember Place 5 on the ballot. However, with the filing period having closed on Feb. 13, the candidates for each place are unopposed and also the incumbents: Councilmember Place 3 Paige Sciba, Councilmember Place 4 Renee Long and Councilmember Place 5 Charles Rankin. The council approved the adoption of an ordinance to declare the candidates elected and cancel the May election.
“Pursuant to Section 2.053(b), Texas Election Code, the regular municipal election for Councilmember Place Three, Councilmember Place Four, and Councilmember Place Five called and ordered by Ordinance No. 296-26, for May 2, 2026, shall not be held and is hereby canceled,” the ordinance read.
Recycling grant
The council also accepted a $36,000 grant from Keep Texas Beautiful funded by the H-E-B Recycling for Texans community recycling grant program. The program seeks to assist communities in creating sustainable recycling opportunities and improving public education and awareness about waste reduction and recycling. The approved memorandum outlines that the funds will go towards the purchase of new equipment including an industrial shredder-baler combination ($28,200) and a stand-alone electronic media shredder ($7,800). The project will be led by Public Works Superintendent Fred Heger.
“The goals are to reduce time required of personnel to move shredded material from the current shred equipment to baling equipment. In addition, the new shredder will shred documents to a greater degree, thus reducing possible data theft,” a city representative wrote on the memorandum. “The added capability to shred electronic media is also aimed to allow citizens to safely destroy electronic data to protect themselves from identity theft and other cyber threats related to stolen personal data.”
Other business
Councilmembers accepted a 0.095-acre tract of land from First State Bank on the downtown square for the eventual placement of an ADA-approved public restroom. Mayor Lori An Gobert said the tract is the small gazebo park across from the Live Oak Art Center on Milam Street.
“That pocket park would serve a very functional space,” Gobert said. “…We are hoping to move the gazebo just down a little bit and put this prefab bathroom.”
Sciba questioned the accessibility of businesses, but Gobert said many of the businesses and restaurants on the square do not have accessible bathrooms because they were grandfathered in. The bathroom will be connected to sewage. City Manager Donald Warschak said he will investigate grants from the Lower Colorado River Authority to assist in funding the project.
Warschak also provided numerous updates in his report. For the Interstate 10 expansion project, the section between Business Highway 71 and FM 2434 is expected to be moved by the first week of March and remain that way for approximately a year. Concrete traffic barriers will be installed to convert the section into two lanes in each direction. The sidewalk project to extend the pathways along Business 71 from New World Drive to Highway 90 is scheduled to be bid in October.
The Columbus Volunteer Fire Department will advertise a Request for Qualifications for an architect through March 2 for fire station renovations and addition. The project is partially funded by a $1 million grant from the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Strand Associates estimates for the overall design of the new wastewater treatment plant to be 60% complete by the end of the month and finalized in August. The Live Oak and Center Street water main replacements are about 82% complete and will be finished through more localized, scheduled shutdowns.
Finally, the sewer averaging period has ended. The city instructs customers who repaired a leak during the averaging period to contact City Hall to ensure their sewer bill is not negatively impacted.
