During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the Brownwood City Council approved accepting the audit report for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2024 as presented by Chris Pruitt of Pattillo, Brown & Hill, LLP.

Pruitt told the Council it received a clean opinion during his presentation, the highest that can be offered.

The Council also ratified a pair of Downtown Retail Opportunity (DRO) program grant not to exceed $25,000, which were approved by the Brownwood Municipal Development District last week, to Dippel 100 N. Center Ave. LLC for a building located at 100 N. Center Avenue and to Alisa Hinton for a building located at 307 Fisk Street.

Dippel 100 N. Center Ave LLC has recently purchased the building located at 100 N. Center Avenue. This will be a significant construction project downtown that will include multiple components once complete.

The initial construction phase will include asbestos abatement, new roof and new interior slab. The next phase will include complete reconstruction of the building interior on about 60% of the north side of the building. The remaining 40% will be addressed in the future. The total construction timeline will be about 18 months at a total project cost of $1.5 million.

Alisa Hinton recently purchased the building located at 307 Fisk Street – which is the former law office for Don Clements. This is a two-story building with approximately 2,500 square feet on each floor. Downstairs is currently configured as an outdated office space and upstairs is mostly an open unfinished space. The new owner intends to create an open retail/commercial space downstairs with two apartments on the second floor.

The project will include interior wall demolition, a new roof, new plumbing, new electrical, new HVAC, new flooring, interior and exterior paint along with front façade improvements. The total project costs are estimated to be $160,000 but looking at the project breakdown, about $50,000 is directly related to the development of the apartments on the second floor – which do not qualify for matching funds under the program. The estimated total costs for eligible improvements is $110,000.

The Downtown Retail Opportunity (DRO) program was established in 2022 by the BMDD board for projects that do not have a business connected to it but could spur on potential retail or business growth. The advantages of processing this through the DRO program is the visibility of the project and the potential impact of having a new rentable commercial space in downtown. Based on the eligible costs and program rules – the projects qualify for a 50% matching grant not to exceed $25,000.

Council also approved a resolution amending authorized representatives for the City of Brownwood to TexPool, a Texas Local Government Pool.

TexPool requires a resolution from the governing body of a municipality to change authorized representatives. With Marshal McIntosh being the new City Manager, the City needed to add him as an authorized representative, replacing former City Manager Emily Crawford.

Melanie Larose, Director of Finance for the City of Brownwood, presented the Budgetary Control Report and Investment Report through the first three quarters of the 2024-25 fiscal year.