City council approves $19,000 for Ward redistricting

December 14, 2021 at 12:13 pm Derrick Stuckly

Local News

Division Director of Public Works Henry Wied addresses the Brownwood City Council regarding the landfill during Tuesday morning’s meeting. [Photo by Derrick Stuckly]

During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the Brownwood City Council unanimously approved to authorize the expenditure of funds from reserves with a budget amendment at the end of the year, for the cost of Ward redistricting to The Knight Law Firm in the amount of $19,000.

On Dec. 28, a public hearing will be held and an ordinance will be considered on first reading making a selection of a Ward map. Three maps will be presented for review before the meeting. On Jan. 11 consider approval of the ordinance on second and third/final reading adopting the Ward map. This meets the deadline for the Election filing period that will begin Jan. 19 through Feb. 18, 2022.

The City received a letter stating that redistricting is necessary based on the 2020 Census numbers as there is an imbalance of more than the allowable 10% population between the smallest and largest Wards. On Nov. 23, the council approved two resolutions adopting the criteria for redistricting. The initial cost for hiring The Knight Law Firm was $3,000. Since redistricting is required, the cost will be $19,000 and will be charged to Council Services.

Also Tuesday the City Council:

Unanimously approved authorizing eHT to complete the design work for City landfill cell 14-16 at an approximate cost of $100,000, with $50,000 to be paid this fiscal year and $50,000 during the 2022-23 fiscal year. The cost of the entire project has been estimated at $6-$8 million.
Unanimously authorized the reallocation of capital budget funds from a brush truck chassis to equipment for the new rescue engine. To accomplish this, the City would not purchase a brush track chassis and keep the reserve rescue engine. Thus, the ladder truck would not be used as a reserve engine when either of the two front-line engines are out of service, , drastically reducing the wear on the ladder truck and extending its service life.
Unanimously approved a resolution declaring a 2006 Mack CV713, 2000 Volvo WG64, 1995 Caterpillar 120G and 1997 John Deere 670C as surplus property to sell and use the proceeds to offset the purchase of new capital equipment.
Unanimously approved the purchase of a new roll-off truck for $212,944. Capital Budget is $172,000 for the purchase of a new roll-off truck for the Sanitation department. The 2006 Mack CV713 has an anticipated auction value $30,000 and the 2000 Volvo WG64 has anticipated auction value $20,000, thus lowering the cost by $50,000.
Unanimously approved an amendment to the lease between the City of Brownwood and FedEx. The lease will extend the term of the lease for an additional five years; set out the new rent for the next 5-year term, which also will be increased each year by increases in the CPI (this is a slight increase in rent as the previous base rent was $2,251 per month); and will provide that FedEx will pay the City for CPI increases that they did not pay for in the previous 5-year term.
Unanimously approved the City Manager to sign an agreement with TxDOT concerning the Airport Rescue Grant (ARG) for reimbursement of expenses due to COVID-19. The U.S Treasury’s General Fund has allotted the Brownwood Regional Airport the amount of $32,000 to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The FAA’s Office of Airports will administer these grant funds to airport sponsors through the TxDOT Aviation Division. These funds will be used for reimbursement of employee salaries.