City receives audit, construction updates

The Breckenridge City Commissioners met Tuesday evening and held their regularly scheduled meeting. At the meeting, they heard a presentation from FEMA, discussed upcoming construction projects and received their yearly audit. They also approved the first reading of a resolution limiting where sexual offenders are allowed to live within city limits.

Also in attendance was Breckenridge Police Chief Larry Mahan, who advised on the new ordinance regarding sexual offenders, and a discussion on a potential curfew, which ended up not resulting in anything passed.

The ordinance for sexual offenders established restrictions to where sexual offenders were allowed to reside. The ordinance amended chapter 14 of the city code and defined a child as anyone under the age of 17. It gave out a list of places classified as “child safety zone,” some of which included public parks, schools, library, video arcades, day care, skating parks, movie theaters and bowling alleys, to name a few. A registered sex offender is not allowed to establish residency within 1,000 feet of such establishments. For a more detailed breakdown of the ordinance, check out next week’s edition of the Breckenridge American.

Mahan spoke on the ordinance. He said the city currently has 23 registered sexual offenders within the city. Those offenders are allowed to continue to reside where they currently are, as there was no ordinance like this in place to limit them from it. What it will restrict is them moving to another area that would be a violation of the ordinance.

It should be noted this ordinance did not go into effect Tuesday night, as something that imposes a potential fine must have two readings in front of the city. Tuesday consisted as its first reading. After it is introduced in the March meeting, it will be able to pass.

The commissioners also received their yearly audit report from Peter Morgan of George, Morgan and Sneed, PC. Morgan said the audit went fine and broke down various categories of the city’s finances. He said the bottomline of the audit was the finances looked clean.

The commissioners also heard an update regarding the U.S. Highway 183 North waterline project, which is currently out for bid. Commissioners received documents that detail the design and construction management, which was provided by Sage Diller. Diller added TxDOT was wanting the plan completed by mid-March. This plan will total $165,000, 90 percent of which is being covered by TxDOT.

Jay Hardaway gave a presentation from FEMA, regarding a hazard mitigation actin plan. His presentation was strictly informational and required no action. The information dealt with the West Central Texas Council of Governments partnering with H2O Partners to create hazard mitigation plans. The plans have been submitted to the city and they will move to approve it in the near future.

Potholes was discussed briefly in the city manager’s reports. There have been 10 work orders filed for pothole repairs, according to background material in the agenda. It detailed where some potholes have been filled in and where there are still potholes outstanding. For more information on the status of the city’s potholes, check out next week’s edition of the Breckenridge American.

The city also approved a resolution making the city election in May official. This year, Places 3 and 4 are up for reelection. City Secretary Heather Caraway said at this point, two people have filed for election. David Wimberley, currently Place 3 commissioner, has filed for re-election. The other, Tony Garcia, has applied for Place 4.

A curfew was also discussed. Introduced by Mayor Bob Sims, he said he has been approached by residents about concerns regarding people being out at night. Sims said he has told those residents there cannot be a curfew put in place for adults, only minors. Mahan echoed that sentiment. Nevertheless, Sims said he would bring it up in the meeting. No action was taken on it.

Other business addressed included the consent agenda, which included departmental records and a racial profiling statistical report. The Breckenridge Police Department made 1,633 total stops in 2018. Most of the stops, 1,025, were due to a moving traffic violation. In total, 103 arrests were made, a majority for an outstanding warrant. There was no stop that resulted in bodily injury from physical force.