Amarillo City Hall/Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo City Council is set to consider just over $7.6 million in spending items during their upcoming regular meeting.
The most expensive item on the agenda is a location incentive agreement with Plant Agricultural Systems. If passed, the company will be paid $3.75 million over 10 years for the creation of 750 new jobs. The agreement also includes the conveyance of 413.49 acres of property valued at $4,961,880. The council will also consider a tax abatement for the company. The agreement includes a 100% tax abatement for the first year. The abatement would then be reduced by 10% each year over 10 years.
A location incentive agreement with Affiliated Foods is also on the agenda. If passed, the city will pay $500,000 to the company over 5 years for the creation of 50 new jobs. The agreement is a part of the company’s planned expansion of its distribution facility.
All spending items other than the two location incentive agreements are on the consent portion of the agenda, meaning the council is expected to pass all items with a single vote. The largest of these items, item 7Q, is a $900,000 annual contract renewal with Advantage Asphalt Products, Ltd. for hot mix asphaltic concrete. A full list of spending items is featured at the end of this article.
The council is also set to receive a presentation on the city’s comprehensive plan update and make an appointment to the neighborhood planning oversight committee. The vacancy on the board is required to be filled by a councilmember.
The council has also made one more new change to the format of the meetings. While previous meetings have occasionally included closed-door executive sessions at the end of the agenda, the upcoming meeting will be preceded by a 2:00 pm closed-door executive session meeting to discuss the “sale of property located in the Downtown Central Business District.” That meeting will then be followed by the regular meeting at 3:00 pm.
The council will also meet earlier that morning at 8:00 am to kick off the city’s budget workshops. The workshops are then set to continue on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, beginning at 8:00 am each day.
Councilman Place 3 Tom Scherelen, who has begun to regularly meet with members of the public ahead of meetings, has announced that, due to budgeting workshops, he will be meeting with the public on Monday from 10:00 to 11:00 am on Monday.
The full agenda and agenda packet can be found at this link. To sign up to speak during public comment, click here.
