BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL APPROVES TAX PHASE-IN AGREEMENT

  

The Brenham City Council approved a Tax Phase-In Agreement with D Bar B Sausage and Meats also known as Kountry Boys Sausage for their expanded manufacturing facility.  Kountry Boys is investing over $4 million in their expanded facility in the Southwest Industrial Park and plans to add 10 or more jobs there.  The Reinvestment Zone for the Tax Phase-In was approved by council April 5th.

City Council also approved submitting a Letter of Interest to the TxDOT Aviation Division for the funding of several projects at the Brenham Airport.  The Airport Advisory Board prioritized the list of improvements needed during their March meeting and the top two on the list were development of a Master Plan for the Airport and repair of the humps in the runway.  If accepted for funding, the projects would be covered by TxDOT in a 90/10 cost sharing with the city.  The Master Plan is expected to cost $225,000 to prepare and the runway hump repair is expected to cost $422,000.  It may take 1 to 2 years for the projects to be funded by TxDOT.

City Engineer Lori Lakatos did have some good news from the council members.  Lakatos said that FEMA has revised their judgment for the repair to damage to the city’s water intake structure at Lake Somerville.  The intake was damaged during the flooding in May of 2016 and FEMA had initially refused to consider funding any repairs because it was located on Federal land.  Lakatos said that after Congressman Michael McCaul’s office got involved in the matter, FEMA reversed their ruling.  She said that FEMA was also moving in a favorable direction on several other projects and that she would be bringing those to council in the coming weeks.  Council approved hiring Rostan Solutions at their April 5th meeting to assist in the tedious process of requesting reimbursements from FEMA.

The City Council went into Executive Session after their regular meeting to evaluate the performance of new City Manager James Fisher.  Fisher says he requested the 90 day review by the council to make sure they were on the same page and were moving in the same direction. Fisher took over as Brenham’s City Manager in January, replacing Terry Roberts, who retired after 17 years with the city.