City of Breckenridge’s rescheduled Special Meeting slated for Tuesday, May 26
The City of Breckenridge has rescheduled a special meeting of the City Commission to discuss current budget shortfalls and options regarding several departments, including Aging Services, Animal Welfare, Cemetery and Aquatic Center. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, at the National Theatre, 116 E. Walker St.
Public Testimony
The first item on the agenda, after the Call to Order, is for Public Testimony, in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Anyone who wants to speak at the meeting must contact the City by 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, to have their name put on the Public Testimony List. According to the agenda, those who want to address the city commissioners may contact the City by the following methods:
- Phone – 254-559-8287
- Fax – 254-559-7322
- Email – hrobertson@breckenridgetx.gov
According to the City’s website, the Public Testimony Form also must be filled out and presented to City Secretary Heather Robertson-Caraway prior to the meeting. The form states that each speaker will be limited a maximum of three (3) minutes to make his/her remarks. Download the form here: Public Testimony Form
The Agenda
The meeting was originally scheduled for last Tuesday, but was rescheduled for a larger venue to allow more people to attend in-person while still complying with COVID-19-related social distancing recommendations.
The agenda for the rescheduled meeting has several changes in comparison to the agenda released for the original meeting. The new agenda can be downloaded by clicking the following link: 5-26-20 CC Agenda – Special It can also be viewed on the City’s website: https://breckenridgetx.gov/agendas-minutes
The updated agenda includes the City’s proposals for the departments — the senior citizens center, the animal shelter, the cemetery office and the swimming pool — that are being considered for major cuts, as well as the budgets, both actual and proposed, for those departments.
One difference in the two agendas is that the original agenda stated that the commissioners would “discuss and consider acting on” the current budget regarding on the departments, while the new agenda states that the commissioners will “…review shortfalls and consider departmental options to reduce expenditures to resolve 4th quarter deficit issues.”
Additionally, the new agenda does not include an item from the original agenda for the commissioners to go into executive session to “deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee,” as well as the corresponding action in public session.
Other items
The current agenda also includes the following:
- A request to change Seventh Street to a two-way and to change the one-way direction of Elm Street between North Hartford and North Graham streets. The request is from the Breckenridge Independent School District for the safety of the school children attending East Elementary.
- A request to amend Resolution 20-09, which declared a local state of disaster related to the COVID-19 pandemic, to follow the Governor’s Report to open Texas.
Previous articles
For more information on the topics to be discussed at the meeting, check out the previous Breckenrdige Texan articles:
Story by Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Cutline, top photo: The Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center has been used as a place for local senior citizens to gather for games, TV and other activities, as well as a place for affordable meals three days a week. Current budget shortfalls at the City of Breckenridge have led to a proposal to make severe cuts at the center, in addition to the animal shelter, cemetery office and swimming pool. (Breckenridge Texan file photo by Tony Pilkington)
