Round Rock Edition | November 2025

Government

BY GRANT CRAWFORD & GRACIE WARHURST

Round Rock approves $1.6M repairs on drainage basins Round Rock City Council approved a $1.6 million contract with construction company Royal Vista in early October to rehabilitate two wastewater basins within the city. The gist With roughly half of the Round Rock located over the Edwards Aquifer, the city is required to evaluate its wastewater system inside of the aquifer’s recharge zone every five years. By eliminating defects within the recharge zone, Round Rock’s cost for wastewater treatment should decline, according to city documents. The inspections are required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Round Rock has five major drainage basins. The city recently conducted inspections on 14 sub-basins and determined repairs are needed in two of those basins. “We do that [inspection] work in house,” said Public Works Director Michael Thane. “We have camera Sports center expansion to open this month The $19 million expansion of the Round Rock Sports Center is nearly complete, with city officials preparing for a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 17. The setup Chad McKenzie, Round Rock director of sports management and tourism, said crews were finish- ing final “punch list” items in late October, which include small touch-ups and equipment testing. One remaining component—a retractable bleacher system—is expected to be installed in December. City Council voted Oct. 16 to allocate $263,590 in 2023 bond funding to complete final improvements, including parking lot resurfacing, electrical and plumbing upgrades, and landscaping.

Basin 2

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Basin 1

trucks, we have staff that inspect the lines [and] we also inspect all the manholes. We have crews that will do some of the easier repairs that we can handle. Some of the bigger ones will go out to bid, so here we are on basins [one and two].” Work on the drainage basins is expected to conclude in August 2026. Round Rock approves new drone technology Round Rock City Council approved a contract at its Sept. 25 meeting to provide the police depart- ment with new drone technology to help relay information across the city. The gist The agreement with Unmanned Vehicle Tech- nologies will provide radar-based infrastructure to allow autonomous drone deployment, as well as software, pilot licenses, a drone and its ancillary equipment. Assistant Police Chief Willie Richards told council that the new technology provides “nodes,” or a radar system throughout the city that allows drones to launch, respond to calls and feed video information to police officers and communications personnel. The $692,799 contract will be split over five years. A majority of the contract will be paid for using $417,000 in state grand funding from the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority. This will cover the cost of the first two years of the drone program, while the city intends to seek additional grant funding.

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