City Council votes for meeting time change. Again.

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A short agenda was worked by the Brownfield City Council on Thursday evening, which, because of a unanimous vote of the council, will be the last regular evening meeting of the Council. Councilman Eric Horton made the motion that the meeting time be changed back to the 7:30 a.m. time that had been the normal time until last December. The meeting time was changed due to the fact that various people had told the council they felt like the earlier meeting time made it harder for interested people to attend the meetings. The Council, wanting to work with the citizens, agreed to change the meeting time to see how it helped attendance of interested parties.

What the three months of evening meeting times showed was that there was actually much less attendance than when it was at the earlier time. When the meetings were at 7:30 a.m., the Council Chambers would usually be about half full of spectators in the audience. The 6:30 p.m. meeting time produced an average of about four additional people, aside from those who are required to attend. Michelle Cooper seconded the motion. Horton stated, “We have given this three months and I think we can all see that attendance is actually less than it was before, so I think going back to our morning meeting time will get the attendance back up for those interested in what goes on in Council.”

In other business of the Council, City Manager Jeff Davis gave a report on the revenue and expenditures for the first five months of the City of Brownfield 2019-2020 Budget. He stated that revenue and expenditures are both sitting at about 42% currently. “The Spring and Summer are our biggest revenue months, due to people working in their yards and cooling their homes, so that will pick up.” He also noted that the Solid Waste Department was picking up revenue from area communities and businesses using the City of Brownfield Landfill. He stated that these numbers are about average for the City. This was not an action item.

Davis also brought before the Council the option of helping the County and Brownfield ISD with the road work taking place around the new high school building site. Cub Drive will be widened 10 feet to accommodate school traffic in the future by providing a turning lane into the new school parking lot. Terry County Commissioners have agreed to provide equipment, labor and base work for the project. BISD will be building new curbs and is requesting participation from the City to provide the paving. Davis stated, “With all three entities working together on this, we can really keep the cost down on these projects.”

Also brought before the Council was the request for cooperation from the City with the other taxing entities in the extension of North Cub Drive from Stewart Street north to Cactus Lane to alleviate traffic congestion in the area. This project will provide a two lane roadway with turning lanes. The same cooperation will be provided in this roadwork as was mentioned above. Davis stated, “If we we approve these projects, we do not have money budgeted so we will have to make some adjustments. We will also have to issue Request For Proposals for the projects.” Both projects were approved unanimously.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The Council will next meet on Thursday, March 19 at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers.

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