REDISTRICTING ON BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL AGENDA THURSDAY

  

The Brenham City Council will begin discussions on redistricting when it meets today (Thursday).

The council will meet with representatives of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta, LLP in work session to go over the initial redistricting assessment.  It will then vote on adopting criteria to use in the redistricting process and setting guidelines to follow when submitting redistricting proposals.

The assessment indicates that Brenham’s population increased by 10.5 percent in 10 years, from 15,716 on April 1, 2010 to 17,369 on April 1, 2020.

With the new population figures, the ideal population size for each of the city’s four council wards is 4,342.  Currently, Ward 2, represented by Albert Wright, has the smallest population of 3,950, which is 9.03 percent below the ideal ward population.  Ward 3, under Atwood Kenjura, possesses the largest population at 4,708, which is 8.42 percent above the mark.

The total maximum deviation between the city’s four wards is 17.46 percent, exceeding the standard of 10 percent.  That being the case, the city must redistrict to bring its wards within the 10 percent range allowed by law.

Also at today’s meeting, councilmembers will potentially amend city code to disallow commercial cryptocurrency mining and server farms as a residential occupation or hobby.  Brenham Planning and Zoning Commissioners unanimously recommended the amendments at their meeting on March 28^th.

In other items today, the council will:

• Receive a presentation from Brenham ISD Superintendent Dr. Tylor Chaplin on the upcoming Brenham ISD bond election.
• Discuss a request from BVR Waste and Recycling to reduce Saturday’s operating hours at the Brenham Collection Station from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  BVR says traffic at the Collection Station is greatly diminished after 1 p.m., and that the change would be beneficial for operational efficiency.
• Consider the purchase of a Kubota M6-111 tractor and a 15-foot Bush Hog Shredder from WC Tractor for the city’s street department for $102,988.
• Act upon a change order and final payment to Brazos Paving, Inc. for improvements to Old Chappell Hill Road.
• Consider renewing the Microsoft Enterprise agreement with Microsoft Corporation affiliate SHI Government Solutions.
• Meet in executive session to discuss utility competitive matters regarding the city’s electric utility system, power supply and associated competitive matters. The council will also hold executive session discussion with legal counsel regarding the city’s redistricting obligations.

The council will meet at 1 p.m. at Brenham City Hall.

Click here to view the agenda packet for today's meeting.