Photo via Amarillo Pioneer Staff
Amarillo City Council postponed taking action on an item relating to taxpayer funded lobbying efforts during their regular meeting today. The item, listed on the agenda as item 3A, was related to a resolution setting out the city’s state and federal legislative priorities.
The vote to postpone taking action on the item was taken after it was pointed out that no copy of the priorities was made available to the public ahead of the meeting. Citing this, Councilman Cole Stanley moved to postpone the item for two weeks. Stanley signaled he was not opposed to passing the priorities, but stated that not providing the priorities to the public ahead of time was “the one thing that we missed here today.”
Councilman Howard Smith, who seconded the motion, stated that he feels that “it’s not right to go around the public.” Smith also noted that he “would approve this in two weeks, just like it is.”
City Manager Jared Miller claimed that the reason for the priorities not being made available ahead of time was that the city “had been making adjustments up until the last minute.”
During discussion, Mayor Nelson pushed back against some points made during the Public Address section of the meeting, though it appears her comments were related to another matter on the agenda. The council then voted unanimously to postpone the issue to the next regular meeting.