Three matters involving federal COVID relief dollars met approval from the Mineola City Council in a special meeting Monday.

The council approved KSA to provide architectural services and Schaumberg and Polk to provide engineering services for any projects the city undertakes using the $1.2 million it received as part of the American Rescue Plan.

One of the main projects is a planned restroom and charging station in the downtown area.

Wood County is also working through how it will spend $8.8 million from Washington, and one idea is to partner with the city to provide services for septic companies that need a place to dump the waste product they collect.

City Manager Mercy Rushing said companies in the area have only a couple limited options in Tyler and Greenville.

The county would pay for the machine that would accept the waste and the city would operate and maintain it and collect the revenues.

She estimated the machine to cost $1 million, which would be funded by the county and operated through an inter-local agreement.

She explained the city wastewater treatment plant has plenty of excess capacity, and the amount projected would be minimal.

The city has capacity for 2,000,000 gallons per day and uses about a fourth of that. Estimates are for 15,000 gallons per day in additional waste.