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From the Mayor’s desk – 10/17/25

Happy Friday! 

The 50^th celebration is really starting to take shape, which is planned for October 25^th.  Posters and signage are being distributed that detail the celebration day.  We are adding some entertaining booths and visitors that will include more give aways and fun activities.  Some unfortunate modifications to the 50^th celebration plans have occurred as a result on a few items that were out of our control.  First, the burn ban that is creeping down the state towards us has put a halt to the fireworks show that night.  We will plan for another fireworks display with the PD soon!  Next, there is a massive backlog of electrical work existing at CenterPoint and our power pole installation for the outdoor stage cannot be scheduled until January!  So, we will set up music in another location near City Hall to utilize existing power supply.  The stage is erected and looks great.  Please stop over and visit to check it out before, during or after the 50^th celebration.  We will plan for a full blown unveiling and opening ceremony of the outdoor stage upon its total completion early next year.

Beach & Parks:

We received our new-used skid steer for use on the beach.  This is a huge savings as we had previously rented equipment at a cost annually which has been far in excess of purchasing this used one.  One project that will be addressed in the off season with our equipment is improving the beach entrances by fixing the existing cement humps that we have at a few of the entrances.

There are currently 4 openings in Beach & Parks for anyone interested.  Please contact City Hall.

Public Works:

About half of the red water disconnect tags were distributed this week and the remainder will be delivered next week.  Again, please get current with your charges or visit City Hall to discuss plans for payment.  We DO NOT want to shut off water to any property.

We received water sample results from TCEQ this week from quarterly sampling taken on 9/8/25.  The VOSB has been in open violation for exceeding the 4 quarter rolling average for TTHM, or total trihalomethanes.  TTHM are a group of 4 chemicals that are formed as a byproduct of the water disinfection process.  The compliance limit is 0.080 mg/L TTHM.  Our current readings on 9/8/25 at 2 sample points were 0.0201 and 0.0193 mg/L, and the 4 quarter rolling averages were 0.088 and 0.092 mg/L.  So, we are still in violation of the 4 quarter rolling average compliance limit of 0.080 mg/L.  It is very important to understand that since we have removed the influx of Freeport water into our system, the TTHM levels have dropped significantly.  Our readings back on 10/23/24 with Freeport water mixing were 0.191 and 0.203 mg/L, and then on 1/29/25 when we had recently shut off Freeport water supply the readings dropped to 0.0792 and 0.082 mg/L.  Followed up with a reading on 4/15/25 when our system was back to 100% VOSB well supply with further reduced readings of 0.0624 and 0.0624 mg/L.  So we are trending in the right direction and can absolutely identify a root cause for the elevated levels from last year that are still hurting our rolling 4 quarter calculations.

Other Items of Interest:

An agenda item at this week’s City Council meeting worth noting is the Waste Connections garbage collection changes that were approved by Council.  In order to avoid their proposed 6% increase in rates, we have negotiated down to modified services with reduced rates.  The new service will return to the seasonal pickup of 2X per week in the summer months and 1X per week in the winter months but will only result in roughly a 2% increase from current rates.  Waste Connections is currently drafting a new contract and plans to move to this new pick up schedule January 1^st.  If any increase in customer garbage collection rates occurs, it must be reviewed and approved by City Council.

I was invited to tour the new restaurant construction project at the Salty Pelican this week.  It is a very impressive structure and I’m personally very excited about the grand opening.  Speaking of that, they are pushing forward with plans to be open in February or possibly even earlier.  They have an expansive open area bar on the lower level, a gift shop and dining room on the main floor, and an upper level that can be used for events or overflow on busy nights.

A related item from the Salty Pelican worth communicating.  They will be installing fire suppression per Fire Mashall instruction.  In order to accomplish this, they must tie into the main water line that runs under Ft Velasco and “hot tap” a 6” water line into the existing water main.  There is some inherent risk to this procedure that I will detail and share openly after we have some meetings with the contractor next week.  Worst case scenario, the hot tap could crack our main water line which will be under pressure and would effectively create a water main break and shut off supply until repaired.  We will be planning for the worst here and communication will be active to all residents as we plan and execute this work in the near future.  I would selfishly appreciate a few prayers this weekend from anyone who might be in that capacity, as it would be a blessing for everyone in the Village to have this work execute to perfection.

As always, I hope that you have a great day in wonderful Surfside Beach!  Get out and enjoy the beach this weekend.

Thanks,

Zach

05/01/2025

SCAM ALERT: Beware of Fraudulent Emails Posing as City Communications

The Village of Surfside Beach has been made aware of scam emails being sent to residents, falsely claiming to be from official city departments. These emails may request personal information, demand payments, or contain suspicious links.

Please Note:

• The City will never ask for Social Security numbers or bank details via email.
• Official emails from the City will come from addresses ending in @surfsidetx.org
• If you're unsure about the legitimacy of a message, do not click any links or download attachments.

If you receive a suspicious email claiming to be from the City, mark it as spam. When in doubt feel free to call the City first. 979-233-1531

Help us spread the word by sharing this post. Stay alert and stay safe!

— The Village of Surfside Beach

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If you need help obtaining a WPI-1 for Windstorm Inspection, feel free to call the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Angleton Office at 800-248-6032, option 4, then option 3; or you may hire a Texas Certified Windstorm Engineer.