Brownsboro City Council discusses proposed budget
by Kelly Griffith

At Brownsboro's city council meeting Mayor Ronny Harris went over the proposed city budget with council members. The council decided for the first time in at least 26 years that a budget workshop would not be necessary.

"We are in very good financial condition," Harris said. "We are building a revenue account and taking care of our employees."

There are no major changes from last year's budget, except the police department will be investing in two new police cars.

"We are in need of new police cars," Harris said. "And we will be saving money on repairs once we get new vehicles."

City employees should be expecting a raise as well. Harris addressed the fact that the pay raise will not be a yearly thing and employees understand, but that now is the right time for such a raise.

The budget will be presented at a public hearing 5 p.m., July 12 at city hall.

Also on the agenda, Economic Development board members were appointed. Randal Clayton, Glen Vest, Carol Mayfield and Greg Wyatt were each appointed to another 2-year term. Dusty Wise, Jerry Alexander and Brenda Richardson were each appointed to serve 4-year terms.

In other business the council

* Denied the citizens request that the city remove a tree on Stuart Street, citing that the tree posed no real danger and the city is not equipped to remove such a tree.

* Approved the ordinance on the discharge of a firearm within the city limits. Pellet shot, slugs and bullets are no longer allowed to be fired within the city limits.

"It's a strict ordinance," Chief of Police Ron Shields said, "But it's also common sense."

Installation allowing Sleepy Hollow to tie into the sewer should be complete by the end of the week without any cost to the homeowners of the area because of the grant given by the state. A verbal agreement had also been made between the city and construction to extend water lines to the edition.

City planning and zoning is on hold for the moment and issues with newly installed "no parking" signs have come up.

"There are gaps between signs making it hard to enforce, " council member Glen Vest said. Shields agreed and said that he will contact TXDOT to fix the problem.