The Brownwood City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed a pair of ordinances on second and final reading that will have an impact on traffic.

First, the City established an ordinance prohibiting large commercial motor vehicles from traveling on 14th Street from Stephen F. Austin to Coggin Avenue and 15th Street from Coggin Avenue to U.S. Highway 377.

The City had complaints from residents located on 14th and 15th Streets about large commercial vehicles traveling down these roads which cause traffic issues, potential road damage and noise issues. The ordinances establishes no truck routes on those two streets and prohibits commercial motor vehicles (defined as motor vehicles that weigh 26,000 pounds or greater) from traveling on these two streets.

Also Tuesday, the City Council approved an to change Center Avenue to a one-way street heading southbound from Austin Avenue to Whaley Street and changing Whaley Street to a one-way street heading westbound to Clark Street to help traffic flow more efficiently for the new Welcome Center at Howard Payne.

Howard Payne University contacted the City to consider converting Center Avenue to a one-way street in front of the new Welcome Center to help traffic flow more efficiently. After reviewing, the Engineering staff concluded that converting Whaley to one-way would be beneficial so that motorists would not have to back up or make a U-turn at the intersection once they realized that Center Avenue was one-way.

The recommended signage plan is based on the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices guidelines. The angled parking stalls, along with the required handicap spaces and a loading zone were included in the design. Howard Payne University staff agreed to the conceptual design and staff was asked to move forward with the request. The cost for the signage and striping will be shared between the Brownwood Municipal Development District and Howard Payne University

During Tuesday’s meeting, passage to direct the publication of a notice of intention to issue Certificates of Obligation to finance the construction of Cells 14 and 16 at the Brownwood Landfill was approved.

Construction of Cells 14 and 16 at the landfill in late September. The projected cost is $15 million. The City will put off financing the construction until October so that debt service will not begin until the next fiscal year. However, the process of issuing that debt must begin now in order to get the funds on time for construction.

The City proposed to issue this debt through a Certificate of Obligation (C.O.). The new cells will last approximately 16 years. The City proposes to spread the debt service in the C.O. over 20 years. Annual payments are projected to be approximately $1,190,000.

The first step is notifying the public about our intention to issue a C.O. not to exceed $20 million. The reason the City recommend $20 million is it cannot barrow more than what the Council approves. The City does not know the exact cost until we receive proposals, which we are currently soliciting. The City will bring the C.O. ordinance to the City Council during its Sept. 13 meeting.

The City Council also approved ratifying BMDD board action to purchase a restroom trailer from Nordic Americas Group, LLC for $74,744 to be used for special events and activities in and around City Parks. More information from the BMDD meeting on the trailer can be found here:

Finally, the City Council approved nominating Mayor Stephen Haynes as representative for Region 6 on TML Health Benefits Pool, Board of Trustees.

Haynes’ current term on the Texas Municipal League Health Benefits Pool, Board of Trustees expires on Sept. 30 for the position representing Region 6, which is our region. TML requires that the Council take a vote during an official meeting of the City Council. The ballot must be certified and returned to TML.

All items that passed did so by a unanimous vote.