City streets in Brownwood will soon see improvement as certificates of obligation were recently sold for the street renovation program, and Phase I of the street capital improvement program was approved Tuesday by the Brownwood City Council.
Officials said that Phase I of the project includes approximately 12.5 miles of streets at a cost of $2 million, and that the majority of the streets that will see improvement are in high traffic areas such as around churches, parks, schools and roads adjacent to thoroughfares. Officials said that it will take about 2 years to complete repairs on a proposed list of streets presented to the city council. Some of the street repairs are already underway due to a few water line ruptures which occurred recently, according to Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree, and other streets may be included on the list as repairs become necessary.
“We will continue to develop a list for you,” Rountree said. “We certainly don’t want this to be all-inclusive. If something comes up, if we have a street we feel like is in a pretty bad situation or because of utility line replacement, we may come back to you with a list.”
Fisk Avenue in downtown Brownwood is also on the list for street repair according to Rountree and may include a nice upgrade.
“We are going to take a look at Fisk in regards to maybe trying to make it look a little nicer than a regular street,” Rountree said to council members. “We will come back to you with those plans and specifications.”
Officials said that the work on Fisk Avenue will be contracted out, but city employees will reconstruct the remainder of the streets, some of which will require an asphalt overlay by a contractor.
According to Rountree and Division Director of Public Works David Harris, a new asphalt recycler called a “zipper” recently purchased by the city is scheduled to arrive on July 10th and will allow the work to be completed much faster. The recycler is a modern upgraded piece of equipment which does the work about twice as fast as the current equipment, said Rountree.
All of the cost of the program will be funded by the sale of certificates of obligation which is replacing recently paid off city debt and no increases will be seen in citizens’ taxes according to Rountree.
Officials said that more street repairs will be addressed at a later date in Phase II of the project.
In other action taken by Brownwood City Council on Tuesday:
*After a public hearing on a request to change the zoning classification on Industrial First Addition, Block 10, Lots 7-14 located at 1305 Epley Street from multi-family residential to manufactured home district, council tabled the issue.
*Brownwood City Council approved the consent agenda adopting a revised plan to redistrict the City’s Council Member Wards, to authorize the mayor to sign contracts and amendment with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services for the Senior Citizen Program, and to extend a contract between Brown County and the city for Dr. James Blair Hays, M.D. to serve as the city’s public health authority.
*City Council ratified action taken by the BEDC to fund a welding program through TSTC.
*City Council approved a waiver of the ordinance granting use of the existing sign structure located in the 500 block of Austin Avenue as a billboard.
*Council approved a water contract with Brown County Water Improvement District for irrigation water for the Pecan Field Station and authorized the city manager to sign.
*City Council approved the cancellation of a contract with McCreary, Vaselka, Bragg & Allen PC for Municipal Court collections services.
