Amarillo City Hall/Photo by Noah Dawson
Items on the agenda for Amarillo City Council’s upcoming Tuesday meeting include $3.8 million in spending, discussion of a resolution to prevent enforcement of vaccine mandates, updating the Municipal Code, passing an ordinance to require massage establishments to have a license, and making nominations to fill PRAD board vacancies.
The spending items on the agenda, which total $3,791,464.17, are all on the consent portion of the agenda, meaning they may all be passed by the council with a single vote. Much of the spending revolves around the city’s wastewater treatment and water reclamation plants, which have been experiencing increasing problems in recent months. Several transmittal memos included in the agenda packet specifically mention problems directly stemming from the flood disaster which impacted Amarillo earlier this year. A table summarizing all spending items is included at the end of this article.
The council is also expected to discuss a resolution passed by the City of Odessa which states the city “will not enforce any mandates, such as masks, vaccinations, or lockdowns, imposed nationally or by the State of Texas.” As this is only a discussion item, no final decision on this topic is expected to be made during the meeting. In addition to discussing that resolution, the council will discuss the process for recruiting a new City Manager.
The bulk of the items on the non-consent portion of the agenda relate to updating various portions of the city’s Municipal Code. These updates include adopting the 2021 edition of the International Building Code, International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, International Fire Code, International Mechanical Code, International Residential Code, International Fuel Gas Code, International Existing Building Code, and International Plumbing Code. The council will also consider adopting the 2020 edition of the National Electrical Code and amending the city’s implementation of the International Energy Conservation Code.
After making their way through updates to the Municipal Code, the council will consider an ordinance requiring that massage establishments have a license. According to the draft ordinance, the item is being considered in an attempt to crack down on commercial sex operations.
The council will then make nominations to fill upcoming vacancies on the Potter-Randall Appraisal District board. Once nominations are in, PRAD will distribute a ballot to governmental entities to vote to fill the positions.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at 3:00 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packets for the meeting can be found at this link. Those interested in speaking during the meeting may sign up at this link.
