The Brownwood City Council during Tuesday morning’s meeting awarded a bid for construction of Landfill Cells 14 and 16 to DelHur Industries, Inc.

The City received seven bids from Aug. 24-29, and DelHur’s bid of $6,297,987.18 was the lowest, received the highest score by City staff, and was recommended by the engineer. The timeline to finish the cells is one year, and construction will begin in October.

The total cost of cell construction comes out to $8,980,919.40, which also includes:

• Estimated eHT Phase 2 Contract: $657,350
• eHT rollover Design contract: $50,000
• Estimated 3rd party liner testing paid by City: $25,000
• Estimated Diesel fuel costs: $1,134,225
• 10% contingency: $816,447.22

Also Tuesday, the City Council approved the issuance of the Certificates of Obligation in the amount of $8,635,000 for the construction of Landfill Cells 14 and 16.

The Certificates of Obligation will be sold through a negotiated sale, with Frost as the underwriter. The issue will be structured to provide $8.635 million. Annual payments will be approximately $680,000.

Initial projections had estimated annual debt service ranging between $1.1 million and $1.5 million, so the City will be saving $420,000 per year over initial projections.

The new cells will last for approximately 15 years and the Certificates of Obligation will be repaid over 20 years.

The City Council also on Tuesday adopted the 2022-23 fiscal year tax rate of $.6864 per $100 valuation, which will increase total tax revenues from properties on the tax roll by 10.74%.

The No-New-Revenue tax rate is $.6280 per $100 valuation. The proposed tax rate is $.6864 per $100 valuation which exceeds the No-New-Revenue tax rate by 9.29%. The proposed tax rate is a reduction from last year of $.0453 or 6.19%.

The City stated this marks the third year for a decrease in the tax rate and the lowest tax rate since 1994.

The City Council also approved City Manager Emily Crawford to sign Solid Waste Disposal Contracts with the City of Early, City of San Saba, Waste Connections, and Brasher and Company.

Solid Waste Contracts are set up on a two-year term starting Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2024 and will automatically be renewed for successive one-year terms. The contracts will allow these commercial accounts to dispose of solid waste at 90% of the city scale rate of $46 per ton.

The Brownwood Municipal Development District’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget was also approved during Tuesday’s meeting.

The budgeted revenue is $2,066,424.50 while the budgeted expenses are $2,300,316, which includes $421,699 in debt service.

The City Manager was authorized by the City Council to sign a contract with Andy’s Pest Troopers for pest control services.

The City received one quote from Andy’s Pest Troopers in the amount of $14,146.44 per year which included monthly internal and external treatment of City owned buildings. Mosquito fogging/control would be performed on an as needed basis at a rate of $39 per spray mile. In addition, Andy’s Pest Troopers will provide treatment to problem areas and rodent control on an as needed basis as requested by the City of Brownwood at no additional cost.

Passed on the consent agenda were ordinances setting charges for fees, rentals, licenses, and permits for the City of Brownwood for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as setting charges, fees, rates, and deposits for customers on the Brownwood water, sewer, and sanitation system.

Regarding the permits, a new section for game room license and fees previously passed by council. The section for rental fees for the Lehnis Railroad Museum and Visitor Center has been amended to remove the rental of the entire museum and party packages have been restructured. The section for rental fees for the Coliseum Annex has been removed since we no longer rent this facility out. The only other fee increases included are for the health permit fees for food establishments and sanitation inspection fees.

The Utility Rate Ordinance sets rates for water, sewer, sanitation, and landfill services. The water consumption rate is being increased $.35 from $2.41 to $2.76 per 100 cubic feet. Outside city limits consumption rate is being increased from $3.12 to $3.58. There is a 4.5% increase applied to the rates from the FY 21/22 Utility Rate Ordinance. City of Brownwood residents will receive a discount at the landfill if proof of residency is provided. A Tap Investigation fee of $25 has been added which will be applied to the final tap payment. A fee of $50 has also been added for excessive brush or debris pickup.

Also Tuesday, items in which discussion was held but no action was taken included pavement of an alley and converting Clark Street from one-way to two-way traffic.

The alley serving the residents of Stonebridge Circle and Brownstone Court was not paved by the developer when constructed. Council Member Ed McMillian was opposed to the City footing the bill to pave an alley when all the streets in Brownwood are not paved. Brownwood Mayor Stephens suggested Council Member H.D. Jones approach the residents in regard to banding together to pay for a reputable contractor to pave the alley according to specification.

Regarding Clark Street, business owner Mike Hall asked the City Council to consider converting Clark Street to a two-way street between Austin Avenue and W. Depot Street. Hall said that once the TxDOT construction of the intersection improvement of Austin Avenue and Main St. begins, motorists will not be able to enter or exit his property from Austin Avenue. He suggested that making Clark Street a two-way street would allow motorists and residents to enter and exit the block from W. Depot Street.

Haynes supported signs being removed that would change the one-way street to a two-way street. If any expansion of the street or other work was required, Haynes was opposed as the street project is being spearheaded financially by TxDOT and not the City of Brownwood.