The City of Brownfield looks to improve some streets in the city limits during its latest Council meeting on Thursday, June 20, 2024. After the invocation and pledges, the Council would hear public comments, of which there were six.
All six public comments were about the same issue: Brownfield’s unpaved streets. Those who spoke were Cynthia Main Diaz, Rachel Franco, Santo Martinez, Diana Perez, Layne Marlow, and Evan Cornett. All six expressed their concerns about the unpaved roads in their neighborhoods and asked the Council to move forward on paving certain streets.
According to the City Manager, Jeff Davis, certain streets have never been paved, and it’s been that way for many decades. Davis has expressed since 2019 the need to pave some of these residential streets. In the past, it was customary for homeowners and contractors to pave the residential streets. In some cases, streets that are not paved, have only a few houses, and some streets have no houses.
After the public comments, the Council moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Davis then stated the monthly financial and investments reports. Under the City Charter, the Director of Finance, which is the City Manager, 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, the City Manager shall prepare a quarterly investment report to be presented to the City Council showing returns from the investment program.
In the finance summary, out of the $22,088,530.00 fiscal budget (Oct. 1, 2024 – Sept. 30, 2024), $14,862,455.37 has been utilized. Thus far, $14,978,266.62 in revenue has come in, leaving $115,811.25 ahead. 67% of the budget has been used, leaving 33%. According to Davis, this is on target. In the investment report, the City brought in $28,589.01 from interest. Also, the city is 80% over the 5% required by the state with $4,897,574.66.
The Council would hear from Streets & Sanitation Director Javier Duran about the quarterly update. According to Duran, they continue with the alley clean-up running the sections as needed, and taking care of work orders. Duran said, “There has been a continued increase in the amount of debris in the alleys. We
are also continually working on keeping alleys maintained.” Duran also mentioned that the landfill continues business as usual and on March 23rd the landfill began opening on Saturdays through the spring and summer months. “We normally do this after daylight savings time. This was the first Saturday after that date. We will continue to remain open on Saturdays until November 2nd as daylight savings ends on the 3rd of that month.” Said Duran.
Councilman Leon Pope asked Duran, “How are the trash trucks holding up?” Duran said, “The garbage trucks are holding together. We are running on just two, we usually have three. The new truck is expected to be here in September.”
On the street side of things, Duran said, “We continue to work maintaining streets patching potholes. We continue spraying the weeds along the curbs as the weather has permitted. We also are continuing to work on the caliche roads. Due to the recent rain, we will have to go back over some of these roads. We continue to mow the right of ways and the vacant lots around town to try and stay on top of the growing season.”
Mayor Eric Horton asked about the end of Crystal Lane if the drainage issue had been fixed. Duran said, “No… but we’ve been out there moving some dirt and getting the weeds out of the way. Also, Kimley-Horn will be assisting soon.”
The Council moved to consider the bids on the street paving project. In the 2020 budget sessions, the Council approved a five-year plan for paving the unpaved residential streets. Unfortunately, due to supply chain issues from 2021-2023, the city has been unable to begin the five-year project. In 2022, the city did widen North Cedar, for the new high school, from Tahoka Rd. to Stewart Street. Due to the lack of materials, the city could not pave the expansion properly.
The Council in early 2024 approved the repaving of North Cedar and to pave the unpaved residential streets. On June 11, 2024, at 2:00 pm bids were read aloud, and the results of the bids we tabulated for the North Cedar Street, Strip Paving Phase 1, and Coleman Park Culvert projects. A representative from Kimley-Horn will present the tabulations and make recommendations to awarding the bids by issuing notice to proceed.
Landon Shuley with Kimley-Horn was at the meeting to present bids. Three contractors bid the project, Blacksmith Venture came in with a $1,062,238.00 bid, T&T Earth Movers came in with a $1,440,845.62 bid, and West Texas Paving came in with a $2,577,963.00 bid. The Council approved the $1,062,238.00 bid from Blacksmith Venture.
Mayor Horton asked, “If we take this bid, how long would it be for them to begin the work on North Cedar?” Shuley said, “Based on what they told us last week when the bids were open, they’re about four to six weeks out to get started. That’s also a preference for the city to get started.”
The final item of business was to approve the engagement letter from Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert, & Moss, CPA to conduct the annual outside audit. The City of Brownfield’s Charter requires an outside audit of the City of Brownfield’s financial records. This letter of engagement is from Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss LLP. to perform the financial audit for the fiscal year ending 9-30-24. The engagement letter was approved.
