The Brownfield City Council met in their first meeting of the new year with a short agenda. After the invocation, pledges, and public comments, of which there were none, the Council moved on to the agenda.
The next two items of business were the financial and investment reports. Under the City Charter, the Director of Finance which is City Manager Jeff Davis shall submit to the Council a monthly statement of all receipts and disbursements in sufficient detail to show the exact financial condition of the City. Also Under the City of Brownfield’s Investment Policy, Davis gives monthly investment reports to be prepared and presented to the City Council showing returns from the investment program. The investment reports shall comply with Section 2256.023 of the Public Funds Investment Act at a minimum. According to Davis, there are $3,041,149.14 (13.77% of the budget)in expenditures, with $2,708,728.10 (12.26% of the budget revenue) in revenue.
Davis explained to the Council, “The general fund… you gotta remember we have no revenue coming into the general fund (which has a revenue of $155,281.27 since Oct. 1, 2023). All that is we got 1.94% and that basically the rent of the party house, the small things, franchise fees, and stuff like that. That’s why the revenue on the general fund looks so small. Actually, there is no revenue in the general fund until after the first of the year when you see your property taxes start coming back in. There has been no appropriations from other funds to the general fund.”
On the investment reports, Davis showed the Council that there was $30,256.44 of earned interest from the accounts. Also, the investment report shows that the required amount of operating funds for cities in Texas to have is well above the state’s requirements.
The Council moved on to hear the quarterly reports from the streets and sanitation departments. Javier Duran told the Council that his department continues to work on maintaining streets and patching potholes. “We have also patched the cutouts that were made to repair water leaks on 1001 W. Webb and N. 5th and Ripley. We also are continuing to work on the caliche roads. We will continue to maintain these roads as needed.” Said Duran. The street dept. also helped the animal shelter clean and upgrade their parking lot as well. With the cooler weather, it has slowed the weeds down, but they continue to mow. Duran said, “Hopefully this will be the last round. Most of the mowing on city right of ways such as E. Webb and Old Lamesa Rd has been done and most of the lots have been done as well.”
The sanitation dept. continued with the alley clean up running the sections as needed as well as taking care of work orders. Duran stated, “We are also continually working on keeping alleys maintained. The landfill continues business as usual.” The construction of the lined pit began in October and the equipment rolled in on Oct. 11, 2023, and broke ground on Oct. 14. The excavation was completed approximately Nov. 7, 2023, and the liner construction began approximately Nov. 15. The liner construction was completed on Nov. 19 and then began the protective cover on Nov. 20. The leachate system construction began on Dec. 7, 2023 and the bottom section was completed onDec. 11. They did break ground on the construction and demolition (C&D) pit on approximately Nov. 9 and have continued to dig between the other jobs at hand.
On the final item of business, the Council voted to abandon a roadway in the High Plains Winery Estates located on TX Hwy 137 south of Brownfield across the highway from the prison. Brownfield Industrial Development Corporation (BIDCorp) has been in negotiations with Helena Chemical for the development of Tracts “’U”, “V”, & “W” of the High Plains Winery Estates. However, before closing on the property Helena Chemical requested to abandon Grapevine Drive which currently runs between the tracts. The roadway was a conceptual roadway across the Industrial Development Park and was never developed. After a lengthy discussion on right away issues, the Council voted to abandon the “conceptional non-developed road.
All Council members were present. The next meeting is slated for January 18, 2023, at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Brownfield City Hall.
