Stafford claims fireworks best in Brazos Valley
Navasota City Manager Brad Stafford made a bold claim in this week’s edition of Grilling Stafford, stating the fireworks display was “the best in the Brazos Valley.”
See what else Stafford has to say in this edition and his responses to community questions as he sits down with Matthew Ybarra, senior news reporter for the Navasota Examiner and Willy 98.7 Radio Personality Kenny Graves.
Highlights from Grilling Stafford – episode 61
At the recent budget workshop, you mentioned emergency management for utilities. What exactly is that and how much does it cost?
“It was discussed during the legislative discussion that we were having. There was a bill that passed that is going to require utilities to have certain emergency power on their facilities. Most of our facilities are actually already covered by generators, so we don’t really have an expense incurred on that. We have a few spots we may have to add a generator, but most of them are already covered. We paid for that through grants over the last several years.”
When it comes to replacing and fixing fire hydrants, how much do they cost? “To replace a fire hydrant, it costs about $2,000 just for the hydrant. It’s about $4,000 to $6,000 total to buy a new one and have it installed. Labor is about twice the cost of the material. It’s not cheap, but it’s not cheap not to have one either.”
Has the Railroad Street ribbon cutting been rescheduled, if so when is the new date? “It will be rescheduled. We are actually going to wait a little while because due to all the inclement weather and other circumstances beyond our control and the contractor’s control – it is not fi nished yet. We want to make sure we have substantial completion before we do that ribbon cutting. My best guess is that will be in the next month to month and a half. The circumstance beyond our control is getting the phone lines placed under ground. We are waiting on CenturyLink to take care of that.”
Is fishing permitted from bridges within the city? “Probably not, because that wouldn’t be safe because it is on streets and some of the bridges are very narrow, so they probably shouldn’t fish off of those.”
Can you tell us about the upcoming Sounds of Summer concert? “We have the fi nal show in the Sounds of Summer Concert series Friday, July 16. The Highway 105 Band will play beginning at 6:30 p.m. It’ll be good music. Bring your dancing shoes or your boots and your lawn chairs. You can bring coolers and we will have food trucks like we have all summer long. Sounds of Summer has been a great series this year.”
Navasota Police Department was recently awarded a grant. What was that for and how will it be used? “It was a grant, so they can buy more ammunition for training. It will be used to train officers with their rifles and pistols. The grant was approximately $2,800.”
There was a great turnout in downtown for the second annual Navasota Freedom Festival. Do you have any attendance numbers? “We don’t have any official numbers because we didn’t really have a gate that people came in. But our best guess is anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 people. It was a great night. There were so many people and the band was awesome. There was also a great parade and that firework show was the best in the Brazos Valley.”
To view the full video of Grilling Stafford – Episode 61, or to watch archived episodes, visit The Examiner website, www.navasotaexaminer.com. If you would like to submit a question for Grilling Stafford, email news@navasotaexaminer.com. New episodes of Grilling Stafford are released every Thursday.