By John Ramirez
The Brownfield City Council last Thursday morning, Sept. 5, 2024 spoke about the parks maintenance funding from an interlocal agreement between the City of Brownfield and Terry County. Plus also the Council would propose a new tax-rate. After the call to order was made and the pledges to our country and state made. Public comments were allowed on agenda items, of which there were none, the council would move to approve the agenda minutes and recognize Robyn Flippin as the employee of the quarter.
The Council then called for a hearing on the 2024-2025 proposed budget and chose Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Next, the Council approved the proposed 2024 property tax rate for the city, which was the voter-approved rate (VAR). This tax rate would bring in an additional $52,895 into the city. According to City Manager Jeff Davis, this proposed rate would subtract an average of $19.00 off of the $100K valuations. By law each member and mayor of the council is required to say individually their vote. Mayor Eric Horton, Mayor Pro-Tem Leon Pope, Council members: Paul Vasquez, Mary Valdonado, Lee Gamez, Marshall Martell, and Mark Williams voted in favor of the proposed. Councilman Jimmy Garza voted no.
Following this, the Council would hear the summary reports of the electric and water director. Cat Gonzales stated Brownfield Power and Light received 100 calls between April 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024. The most significant day was May 31, 2024, when the weather became unstable and broke many electric poles on the north side of Terry County on Bynum Rd. There were about 27 poles that needed to be replaced, and some fell on top of the city lines and poles
James Nix would be next to speak to the Council on the water/wastewater quarterly report. .Nix brought up a drainage issue at 202 Tahoka Rd. According to Nix, that this sewer extends out into the middle of Tahoka Road and that the road is a Tx-DOT highway, that he could not go onto their highway and fix their issues. He would go on to say that Tx-DOT may have rectified the issue, however, if they (TxDOT) did not fix it, and the issue could appear again.
Once the matters for each director were concluded, the council moved to consider and approve the appointment of the new BIDCorp board member. Gina Kelly would step to the podium and make her recommendation for Manual Macias to be put on the board. Council member Garza would make another recommendation; his nomination would be Sarah Hernandez. Mayor Horton would call for a vote on both nominations, with Macias receiving the most votes with a 5-2 vote. Mayor Horton abstained from the vote. The Council then voted to approve Macias to be placed on the BIDCorp board with six yeses and one no, being Garza.
The next item of business was to discuss the interlocal agreement of park maintenance and management between the city of Brownfield and Terry County. Terry County has been paying the city $300K yearly to help with the maintenance and management. (related article)
Davis said, “I want to give kinda an update on where we are at with this. I think everyone is aware that the county, in their proposed budget took out $300 thousand form the funding of the parks services… at the last commissioners court meeting the mayor spoke during the public comment and I went and spoke during the actual item because I asked to be placed on the agenda. We didn’t get much response from the commissioners. It was about 30 seconds of silence and they tabled the item. So at some point and time its gonna have to be brought back up for further discussion. I havent heard anything… I expected to receive a letter that they discontinuing the agreement. I have not recieved that so I’m moving forward just like we are going to get the money.”
Councilman Mark Williams said, “You said there had top be a 90-day notice?”
Davis said, “There are provisions in the agreement there has to be a notice.”
Mayor Horton chimed in, saying, “There has to be a 90-day written notice.”
Councilman Leon Pope asked, “When does their budget fall?”
Davis answered, “They have to adopt the tax rate the same time we do.”
Councilman Marshall Martell asked, “What was their reasoning?”
Mayor Horton said, “There was no reasoning… we haven’t been able to have discussions with them.”
Since this was an item of discussion, no action was taken. The Council moved to the next item of business where the council members discussed casting the city ballot for the election of the board of trustees for the Texas Municipal Intergovernmental Risk Pool. The council would vote and appoint Randy Criswell, Allison Heyward, Harland Jefferson, and Mike Lan to this board. The Council went into excutive session and took no action when they returned.
There will be a public hearing on the proposed 2024-2025 fiscal budget on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, at 7:30 am in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The next meeting is slated for Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, at 7:30 am in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
