The Brownfield City Council had a regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday morning June 17, 2021. Although there were several items on the agenda, the meeting went quick. After the call to order, invocation, pledges, hear public comments (there were none), and approving the past meetings minutes the Council went into the other agenda items.
The Council heard from City Manager Jeff Davis on the monthly finance report. The City of Brownfield is now in the ninth month of their fiscal budget showing eight months of budget revenue and expenses. According to the summary of all accounts which include the General Fund, Power & Light Fund, Water & Sewer Fund, Garbage Fund, and Infrastructure Fund the overall budget is $20,650,272.00 and 53.37% has been expended. Although the expenses look to be well under what the budget is the summer has not been completed. Davis said, “You need to remember most of our expenses come during the summer.”
Next Davis showed the Council the Monthly Investment Report as of May 31, 2021. This report shows the balances in each bank account the city has. The “Pooled Fund” account which is the operating account is $1,928.130.35. Brownfield Industrial Development Corporation (BIDCorp) fund shows a balance of $1,163,789.37. The Hotel Occupancy Tax fund (HOT funds) has a balance of $218,530.41. In the Reserve Fund, which by law is supposed to be at least three months of operating expense has a balance of $3,613,014.13 which is more than the three months needed.
Moving on to the next item of business the Council considered a “request for proposal” (RFP) for a new auditing service for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Eddie Holloway had been the city’s auditor, however he had sold his business to Bennett, Bennett, & Trice which does not specialize in municipality auditing. There was only one auditing company who submitted their proposal to the City of Brownfield. The auditing company is Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert, & Moss, LLP. Their bid amount came in at $32,500 which was about $4K over the previous auditing company. The Council also took in to consideration that BIDCorp will also use the same auditor and will cost $7,500 and there is a strong possibility there will be a “single audit” and it will cost an additional $7,500.
A single audit is for a nonprofit or governmental organization with federal expenditures which exceed $750,000. It is required by law to have a single audit performed, which includes an audit of both the financial statements and the federal awards. The single audit reviews how you managed the grant and ensures you followed the rules for dollars associated with the grant or award. The City of Brownfield, like most government entities in 2020, was granted federal dollars to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council then heard reports from Director of Electric Utilities Cat Gonzales, and Director of Water/Wastewater James Nix. According to Gonzales there were 38 power outages in the first quarter of the year. Theses outages ranged from trees falling on lines, blown transformers, wind damage, a car hitting a pole, house fires, Excel Energy Blackout, and routine maintenance. For the water/wastewater Nix showed there were 18 major water leaks from January 2021 to the end of May 2021. There was one major replacement that took place which was in the 400 block of Cub Street where a manhole has been positioned.
The final item of business was for the Council to consider and approve the appointment of two members to the BIDCorp Board of Directors. Current Chairman of the Board Steve Carter and Board member Michael Franke both terms were up. However they could stay on for one more term and the BIDCorp Board recommended that Carter and Frankie be re-appointed. The Council unanimously approved the re-appointment of Carter and Frankie.
The meeting was adjourned and Michael Tackitt was the only Council Member absent. The next meeting is slated for Thursday July 1, 2021 at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
