The Brownwood City Council was in session Tuesday, June 25, 2019.  All members were present.  Mayor Stephen Haynes gaveled the meeting to order at 9:00 am.

The City of Brownwood began buying and installing Automatic Meter Reading compatible meters in 2010.  The city has installed 2,000 meters with 308 connectors.  The antennas with connectors are being phased out of production by the vendor.  At the request of the City Utility Department, funds of $145,000, already within the current budget, were approved to be transferred in order to purchase water meter antennas for Automatic Meter Reading before the end of this fiscal year.  The City anticipates phasing in the Automatic Meter Reading over a 4 to 5-year period so that it does not require a bond to fund the project.  The City currently has two employees who read meters over a three-week period for the monthly billing.   The cities of Early and Bangs are already using the Automatic Meter Reading compatible meters.

In other business:

• A Public Hearing and 1^st reading of an Ordinance was held to close a 15 ft. wide undeveloped alley between Avenue B and the alley between First and Second Street.  Council approved the 1^st reading of the Ordinance.
• The Council approved an amendment to the Chapter 380 Agreement between the City of Brownwood and the Brownwood Municipal Development District (BMDD) to transfer $500,000 of old Brownwood Economic Development Company funds to the City for Economic Development purposes.  The City and BMDD originally entered into the Chapter 380 agreement in September 2016 where the City transferred $2.2 million to the BMDD, among other assets, received from the BEDC, after the dissolution of the BEDC following the May 7, 2016 election terminating the BEDC and creating the BMDD.  According to BMDD Director, Ray Tipton, the benefit of this agreement would allow flexibility for Brownwood to participate in economic development projects that have a positive economic impact to the City.

The Council went into closed executive session at 9:25 am to continue the annual evaluation of the City Manager.