2023 Renewal Agreement/Graphic by The Amarillo Pioneer based on documents obtained from the City of Amarillo

During a regular meeting of Amarillo City Council held on August 1st, the council saw its first split vote since the May 6th election when Councilman Place 3 Tom Scherlen voted against a plan to purchase a concession trailer for use at the Santa Fe Depot Pavilion. Since then, The Amarillo Pioneer has obtained documents related to the issue.

During the discussion of the item, City Manager Jared Miller and Civic Center General Manager Bo Fowlkes discussed the fact that the city is currently in a contract with Corkscrew Foods for concession services for the Amarillo Civic Center and Amarillo Globe-News Center. The contract gives exclusive rights to the company to provide concession services to those properties. The agreement was originally approved in 2017 for a four-year term with two two-year renewal options. The contract appears to have been extended in 2021 and 2023.

As discussed during the August 1st meeting, during the most recent renewal, the contract was amended to include the new Santa Fe Depot Pavilion.

During the discussion, Scherlen asked Fowlkes if the city was currently in the contract and if the contract was approved by the council. Fowlkes noted that “it was just an extension of an existing contract.” Fowlkes later stated that the city is “in the last two years of that agreement.” Fowlkes’ claim came shortly after Miller noted he didn’t “recall exactly when it was approved.”

According to documents obtained by The Amarillo Pioneer, the second and final two-year renewal does not go into effect until September 1st, one month after the meeting was held. The document was signed by Kaleb Flanagan, owner of Corkscrew Foods, and City Manager Jared Miller. The portion of the agreement to input the date of execution was not filled out.

This afternoon, the council approved a separation agreement with City Manager Jared Miller. At time of writing, there is no evidence the separation agreement is related to the concession trailer issue.