Brownwood City Council unanimously voted to appoint Lee Haney as Assistant Municipal Court Judge at the council meeting on Tuesday. The Oath of Office was administered by City Secretary Christi Wynn.
Haney’s appointment comes to fill a vacancy left in this position after Fred Franklin unexpectedly passed away in late November. Haney is a dually licensed attorney and currently serves as the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Early.
“The fact that Mr. Haney currently serves as Municipal Court Judge for the City of Early means he is certainly qualified,” stated Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree. “He already had the qualifications and training.”
Haney will only serve in the absence of Judge Clements, who has been absent a couple of times in the last 10 years. Mr. Haney’s hourly pay will be $150.00 per hour.
In other matters on the city council agenda:
*Council unanimously approved a resolution to re-adopt the City of Brownwood Investment Policy. No changes have been made since August 10, 2004, when it was last revised. Rountree explained that there were not many options, as City Accountant, Walter Middleton had shown the council recently.
“Do you remember the line graph that Walter showed us where the interest rates just fell off the table?” asked Rountree who explained that interest rate decreases in the last several months did not allow for many options to improve the investment policy structure.
*A resolution authorizing Hydrologist Ron Morrison to submit a final report of the Detailed Flood Study of the City of Brownwood to FEMA for updating the Flood Insurance Rate Map was unanimously approved.
*Council moved to authorize the City Manager’s signature on a non-binding letter agreement with the Federal Express Corporation to renew their lease for property located at the Brownwood Municipal Airport. The previous agreement with FedEx began on April 9, 2002 and will expire on May 31, 2011. FedEx has exercised their right to renew the lease according to the prior agreement, for another 5 year period. In order to get funding for the renewal the company asks the City to sign a non-binding letter agreement.
*Authorization was given by the council for the City Manager to sign a contractual agreement for Solid Waste Disposal with Mike Barker Construction Company, Inc. Kohler Company has contracted with Mike Barker Construction Company, Inc. to haul waste from their facilities to the City of Brownwood Regional Landfill. The City received 3,300 tons from Kohler for the period from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010 which qualifies the company for the preferred rate of $40/ton offered to customers who haul 2,000 or more tons annually. There are only 5 or 6 customers on this rate according to City officials, most of which are surrounding towns.
