During Tuesday’s meeting, the Brownwood City Council met in executive session to discuss the acquisition of real property located at 305 Booker, what was formerly the site of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, from Texas State Technical College. The hope is former the site will become the new home of the Brownwood/Brown County Health Department.

Brownwood City Manager Emily Crawford said after the meeting, “TSTC is no longer using that facility and through multiple meetings and conversations they have agreed to return that property back to the City as it was given to them from the City. The ideal use would be for the Brownwood/Brown County Health Department to move into the facility. There are still agreements that need to be made between the City and the County to formalize that, but this is the first step in receiving that property back.”

Crawford added the TSTC board will meet in February where the transaction will be addressed, and following a decision the City of Brownwood and Brown County officials will then begin working toward formalizing an agreement on the move for the health department.

No action was taken on executive session item regarding selling City property located at Walnut Street.

Also Tuesday, the Council rejected a bid of $180,000 from Sullivan Contracting for the Coggin Park fence replacement at the tennis and pickleball courts and authorized the City Manager to sign an agreement with Belfor Property Restoration for $139,150.

The Parks & Recreation Staff put out a request for proposals to complete replacing the fencing for both tennis and pickleball courts as part of the budgeted Coggin Park Project. At the bid opening on Jan. 5, staff had received one bid totaling $180,000 from Sullivan Contracting.

This bid was higher than original quotes received prior to opening the project for bid. Staff had previously received quotes from Heat of Texas Fence Company, Encore Fencing, and Belfor Property Restoration. Belfor Property Restoration provided a quote through a qualified purchasing cooperative and can begin work at the first of February.

“They will begin construction early this spring, and our hope is to have the project complete by early summer,” Crawford said.

Also Tuesday, Council awarded a bid for the replacement of the remaining 29 windows at the Service Center at a cost of $26,200 utilizing Early Glass and Brownwood Door of Early, which provided the lowest bid.

The windows at the Service Center are original to the building since the City’s ownership began in approximately 1993-1994. Earlier last year several of the windows at the Service Center were replaced by Early Glass and Brownwood Door, primarily the windows in the front of the building which are employee offices. This project was completed to help with maintaining temperatures in the offices which should reduce the workload of the new air conditioner/heater, as well as an attempt to help improve the overall appearance of the front of the building.

The remaining 29 windows are primarily on the north and south sides of the building. Once complete, all windows will have been replaced. The City has been auctioning off equipment over the last several months and has accumulated enough money in the Service Center account to go forward with this project.

The Council on Tuesday also awarded a proposal to Found Texas for a marketing service contract to manage the Visit Brownwood campaign to be paid through Hotel Occupancy Tax funds.

Found Texas is a full-service creative marketing agency based in Austin that develops individualized marketing campaigns and strategies that tell stories of communities, curates marketing content, and amplifies the unique stories of Texas’ cities, towns, and local businesses.

Found Texas will provide services to include graphic design, social media, multimedia, public relations, pay-per-click campaigns, and influencer management and procurement. Found Texas has been contracted for these services since 2018 working directly with City staff to execute the Visit Brownwood campaign.

The Council also ratified the Brownwood Municipal Development District Board’s approval of a Building Improvement Incentive Program (BIIP) grant to Rebecca Morelock for a building located at 305 Fisk Street in an amount not to exceed $15,125. BMDD Executive Director Ray Tipton stated the plan was for Baked Artisan Goods to expand into the portion of the building occupied by Security Finance, which is moving out at the end of January.

The total estimated cost of this project is $30,250. This project qualifies for a 50% match not to exceed $15,125 under the program rules.

Also Tuesday, the Council ordered a General Election for May 6, 2023 to elect Council positions for Wards 2, 3, and 5. Those positions are currently held by Ed McMillian, Melody Nowowiejski, and Walker Willey, respectively. All three incumbents have already filled for re-election.

The last date to file to run for City Council is Feb. 17.