By J.B. Smith

Tribune-Herald staff writer

The Waco City Council today will be asked to bite the bullet once again for the Texas Ranger Museum annex project and spend another half-million dollars for its archaeology and construction budget.

That brings the city’s total tab to about $1.9 million for dealing with the unmarked graves that stand in the way of utility lines needed for the new Texas Ranger Company F headquarters and education center behind the museum. That’s in addition to the $2.1 million the state of Texas had agreed to pay for the new building.

Council members said they were resigned to the expense, given the investment already made.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Councilman Jim Bush, who also is on the museum’s executive board. “We’re past the point of no return. . . . Nobody would have spent this kind of money on purpose, but it’s like getting halfway across the ocean: You can’t go back. We’ve just got to put this behind us and make sure we make smart decisions in the future.”

The Ranger annex was set to open late last year, but it stalled after project officials began discovering gravesites from the old First Street Cemetery along the route of utility trenches that were to connect with the main building. More than 190 graves have been discovered and are now being exhumed by an archaeologist and prepared for reburial in another cemetery.

The archaeology firm, PBS&J of Austin, already has contracts for $1.15 million. Based on PBS&J’s estimates, City Manager Larry Groth is recommending giving the firm $408,000 more to finish the job. That includes sifting through piles of dirt for bone fragments and preparing a report for the Texas Historical Commission.

Under the contract, the firm also will submit all the necessary paperwork to the federal government to “convert” the Texas Ranger Museum grounds, known as Fort Fisher, for nonrecreational use. Groth has said the remainder of Fort Fisher will be rededicated as a memorial park.

The city also would give the construction contractor for the new building an additional $300,000 to restart and finish the work. Groth said he expects a spring opening.

The combined new archaeology and construction costs total $777,000, but the city is saving $250,000 by scrapping plans to bore under the graves, so the total amount is about $500,000.

The grave-removal project also has included $437,000 in past contracts with the city’s former consultant, American Archaeology. All but $70,000 of that contract has been paid.

American Archaeology is suing the city, claiming it was wrongfully fired. The city is countersuing, saying the consultant failed to warn of the graveyard issues and then bungled the remediation job.

Bush said he hopes the city can offset some of the remediation costs through its lawsuit.

Councilman Randy Riggs said the archaeology project has become a drain on the city, diverting money that could have been used to improve public safety or lower the tax rate. The money is being drawn from the city’s reserves.

“This is nothing we ever dreamed would happen,” he said. “The cost is entirely too much. But once the building was built, what option did we have? . . . I think we are committed to completing the project and remedying the situation as best we can, as correctly as possible.”

Councilman Rick Allen said the cemetery was considered cleared by a state district judge in 1968, and it’s unfair that the state is now requiring that it be treated as a cemetery under modern rules.

“It makes me crazy,” he said. “We’re left holding the bag for mistakes that were made a long time ago.”

But like Riggs and Bush, he said there’s no turning back now.

“We’re nine miles down a 10-mile road, and we’ve got to see it through to the end.”

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

757-5752