The Brownwood City Council met this morning in regular session with a rather short agenda.
Emily Crawford, Tourism & Marketing Manager of the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce, presented to council the Chamber’s quarterly tourism report. Crawford reported that convention and tourism is up as the town is drawing more out of town people into the city for special hobby events and professional events. This was a contributing factor to the Chamber seeing income of 133% of projected revenue. Additional hotel tax revenue with the opening of the new LaQuinta Inn was also a contributing factor to this increase.
Crawford also outlined how the Chamber is helping to market Brownwood to other areas by using the internet, rep cards, and magazine articles. Interest in Brownwood is up as the Chamber has given out over 1500 goodie bags & noted that visitor inquiries to the Chamber is up for last quarter.
Other City Council Items included:
*Approval of acceptance of the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Regular Grant in the amount of $12,782. This will be shared by the city and county though an approved Memorandum of Understanding to go towards purchase of police communication & safety equipment.
*Approval of a settlement agreement with Atmos Energy Corporation, Mid-Tex Division.
*Approval of an agricultural and hunting lease of property at the Brownwood Regional Airport to Brad Simpson for $12,750/ year for 3 years including a 3 year option.
*A change order was approved regarding the current waterline project underway on 4th St and Indian Creek. This change will give B&L Construction Company an additional $125,833 for the installation of a 10″ waterline being installed on these streets. B&L Construction still came in over $28,000 under their original estimates and is 178 days ahead of schedule.
*Finance Director, Walter Middleton then gave his budgetary control & investment reports. Middleton said, “We are holding our own.” Revenue is at 78% of budget while spending is a 71% of budget after 3 fiscal quarters. Middleton said that everything looks good currently, but he is expecting that the city will not make budget due to sales tax revenue & water revenue both down and expected to continue down. Water consumption was at 160,000 units in July 09 while it was 190,000 units in July of ’08. This is due to recent summer rainfall. August is also expected to be down. Investments are currently earning less than half a percent to keep the investment money liquid due to budget concerns.
*Review of bid to replace light fixtures in City Hall by Grimsley Electric. Roof bids expected on August 6th.
Meeting Adjourned