Amarillo City Council is set to hold their final regular meeting of 2024 on December 10th. On the agenda is more than $34 million worth of spending items. Other items on the agenda include consideration of approval of several spending items by the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, as well as an update on the AEDC including a presentation from Chairman Alex Fairly.
The largest single spending item is a $9 million airport engineering services agreement with RS&H, Inc. The contract is for five years and is listed as item 8Q.
While 8Q is the largest individual spending item, items 8VV and 8WW total over $10 million, with the two contracts both set to go to Stolz Mechanical Contractors, LLC for projects at the Hollywood Road Wastewater Reclamation Facility.
Other multi-million dollar items include a $3.6 million medical supply contract with MMCAP, a $2.6 million contract for repair of hanger rails at the airport, and a $2.3 million contract for phase 1 for sedimentation basin repairs at the Osage Water Treatment Plant.
One other notable spending item is 9B, a half-million-dollar renewal of the city’s agreement with Dell for the city’s new digital human. The AI-driven digital assistant, named Emma, has recently been implemented on the city’s newly updated website. “I'm thrilled to be part of the City of Amarillo's commitment to enhancing customer service,” said the digital human when asked for comment on this article. “It's exciting to help our community thrive and support residents in meaningful ways. Looking forward to the journey ahead!”
The council will also consider a $100,000 budget amendment to spend money from their working budget. The proposed use will be to provide for cold weather emergency assistance through the Community Development fund.
In addition to spending items for the city, the council is also set to consider $724,994.63 in expenditure requests from the AEDC. Most of these expenses are for various marketing items, though the largest are $580,000 for the WT Enterprize Challenge and just over $47,000 for the payment of property taxes to Potter County.
The AEDC is also asking for a budget amendment of $50,0000 to construct two “gateway” signs along Interstate 40.
Ahead of the spending and budget items for the AEDC, the council has several AEDC related discussion items on the agenda. These include an update on the AEDC, a presentation expected to be given by recently appointed chairman Alex Fairly, a discussion of proposed amendments to the AEDC’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, and a discussion about the process for selecting a new regular AEDC board. The AEDC Board of Directors, which is expected to have a quorum at the meeting, has noticed the city council meeting as a work session of the board in a separate meeting agenda.
The meeting will begin at 3:00 pm and will be held on the third floor of Amarillo City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packet can be found here.