<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3YOKqC_1FJqJBww00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3YOKqC_1FJqJBww00" width="437" height="500" ><figcaption>General Manager of Public Utilities William Bissette gives extensive update to city council on Thursday&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>BRENHAM — In an extensive update to the Brenham City Council, municipal public utility leadership delivered a detailed overview of the city’s electric, water, wastewater, natural gas, and administrative infrastructure. Department heads outlined current operations, major capital improvement projects, and the hazardous daily conditions faced by municipal crews maintaining Brenham’s essential services.General Manager of Public Utilities William Bissette opened the presentation by providing an operational summary of the city’s overall public utilities, which encompass electric, water treatment, wastewater treatment, water and sewer construction, natural gas, SCADA, GIS, dispatch, central warehouse and project management divisions.Focusing first on the Electric Department, Bissette detailed the high-stakes work environment required of the city's 13 line workers, who directly manage lines carrying up to 12,470 volts phase-to-phase and 7,200 volts phase-to-ground."They wear flame-retardant clothing all day, this clothing does not breathe," Bissette told the council. "So on a day like 100 degrees, it is hard to get cooled off. On top of that, when they're actually handling high voltages, they're wearing rubber gloves that enclose their hand all the way to nearly their elbow, and rubber sleeves that surround their chest, shoulders, and back."Bissette emphasized the strict safety standards required for high-voltage work, pointing out the severe risks involved in electrical distribution line repairs."One mistake means they're alive at that point, or if they live, it means lost limbs," Bissette said. "7,200 volts enter their hand and exit whatever part of their body is touching the other side. So it's just like a gunshot, it goes in little and comes out big, and it kills everything between those two points. Your skin starts dying, your cells start dying... it's not a game, it's very serious."Despite current staffing shortages, with five line worker vacancies out of 13 positions, Brenham’s electrical grid has maintained high reliability metrics. Bissette presented System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) data showing Brenham customers averaged only 64.10 minutes of outage duration in 2025 and 40.44 minutes year-to-date in 2026. By comparison, the Texas statewide SAIDI average stands at 213 minutes, while the national average is 341 minutes.Bissette attributed the reliable performance to proactive maintenance changes, including expanding tree trimming along overhead power lines. By re-bidding contracts and utilizing advanced mapping systems, the department increased line clearing from 2.5 miles annually to 23 miles per year within the same $148,000 budget allocation.Brenham has also instituted a four-year Department of Labor-certified apprenticeship program, requiring 576 classroom hours, 8,000 on-the-job hours, and 128 hours of specialized outside training, to train and retain qualified line workers locally.Director of Water and Wastewater Jerry Saldivar followed with a status report on the city’s water treatment, wastewater treatment, and underground utility construction divisions.Saldivar noted that the water treatment plant, which operates 24/7 with seven full-time staff members, currently produces an average of 84.95 million gallons monthly (1.02 billion gallons annually), drawing raw water from Lake Somerville. The city’s allocation in Lake Somerville is 4,974 acre-feet, or approximately 1.6 billion gallons.An ongoing expansion project funded through American Rescue Plan Act grants will increase the water plant's treatment capacity from 6.9 million gallons per day (MGD) to 8.3 million upon its scheduled completion in 2028. Upgrades include removing older structures to make room for a fourth clarifier and two additional filters. Additionally, a new groundwater treatment plant expansion project expected by 2029 will add approximately 7,600 gallons per day of potable well water to the municipal system.In the Water and Wastewater Construction Department, 13 full-time employees maintain 160 miles of water mains, 3,560 valves, 9,147 water meters, over 1,000 fire hydrants, 139 miles of gravity sewer mains, 2,340 manholes and 20 lift stations. Crews replaced 5,988 linear feet of water mains and 3,280 linear feet of sewer mains this year alone.Saldivar described the challenging conditions faced by construction crews when repairing emergency water main breaks under full line pressure."These operators are exposed to chemicals, pathogens in the water, bacteria ... they are very vulnerable to getting sick, not to mention in the center of the road in the high heat of summer trying to fix something on very short notice," Saldivar said.Showing photographs of a repair crew working in a flooded excavation pit, Saldivar explained the specialized technique required when water main leaks cannot be isolated."The water's on, full pressure, and the water main's underneath that water," Saldivar said. "You see my superintendent in that water, he's actually training the person next to him on what to do, what to feel for, and how to do it underwater, you're basically repairing the pipe by feel at that point."Saldivar also reported on meter system infrastructure upgrades. By adjusting water meter transmission schedules from every four hours to every 12 hours and routing data through the municipal electric meter network, the city significantly extended meter battery lifespans and reduced long-term equipment replacement costs. Over 2,470 under-warranty water meters were replaced this year.At the wastewater treatment plant, five operators manage a facility with a daily treatment capacity of 2.5 MGD (treating 756 million gallons annually). Saldivar explained that the facility utilizes biological treatment processes, turning solid waste into Class A biosolids that are pressed, dried, and sold to local agricultural producers for fertilizer. Completed ARPA-funded rehabilitation work restored aeration basins and clarifiers to ensure both treatment units operate concurrently.Director of Municipal Gas and Utility Services Shawn Bolenbarr concluded the presentation with updates on the natural gas distribution network, utility dispatch, central warehouse, SCADA systems, GIS and project management.Brenham's Gas Department consists of six crew members managing 141 miles of natural gas mains, 551 gas valves, 5,316 meters, and five natural gas border stations. Bolenbarr noted that 141 miles of pipe is equivalent to a straight line stretching from Brenham to Nacogdoches or Boerne.Crews installed 161 new gas services in 2025 and 85 year-to-date in 2026 while maintaining a low line loss rate of 3.12%. Line losses are closely monitored due to frequent third-party utility boring strikes across the city, which generated 194 gas odor and leak response calls this year.Bolenbarr described the emergency procedures required when steel gas mains are damaged."I've been on scene with them where they have gas lines hit that are part of a steel main, and the only way to stop that leak, you can't squeeze a steel main off, is to insert a plug into it," Bolenbarr said. "They may be doing that with gas blowing right in their face, which is very scary."Bolenbarr also highlighted technology and support services, including the city's Outage Management System (OMS) and automated customer text messaging platforms managed by Utility Technology Manager Jordan LeBeouf and GIS Specialist Trevor Neal. The text alert system, introduced five months ago, automatically notifies residents when power outages occur and when service is restored, reducing incoming call volumes to dispatch. An interactive real-time outage map is also accessible via the city's website. City staff are currently developing a similar automated text alert system for localized water outages.Brenham's 24-hour dispatch team, manned by two dispatchers, handled 11,248 utility calls and 11,155 general city calls last year, creating over 17,000 departmental work orders and 9,500 locate requests.Finally, the central warehouse, managed by Jared Beckendorff and staff, processed $1.64 million in inventory during 2025, providing purchasing and material support across all municipal departments. Standardized material specifications and vendor lists are currently being established to streamline future bidding and ensure material quality.City Council members commended utility leadership and staff for their operational achievements and maintained service reliability across all divisions.</div></body>

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BRENHAM — In an extensive update to the Brenham City Council, municipal public utility leadership delivered a detailed overview of the city’s electric, water, wastewater, natural gas, and administrative infrastructure. Department heads outlined current operations, major capital improvement projects, and the hazardous daily conditions faced by municipal crews maintaining Brenham’s essential services.

Public Utilities Department delivers multi-division progress report

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BRENHAM — In an extensive update to the Brenham City Council, municipal public utility leadership delivered a detailed overview of the city’s electric, wat

Public Utilities Department delivers multi-division progress report

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