Tuesday’s Amarillo City Council five-hour meeting came to an abrupt end with a surprisingly unanimous vote in favor of a budget amendment for the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation.

The budget amendment was the last item on the agenda for the meeting, was a $50,000 request from the AEDC to commission the design of “two gateway monument signs to be located on Intestate 40.”

The budget amendment is being asked for as the AEDC is currently operating under a constrained budget in the wake of the RANGE controversy.

Debate on the item quickly became heated. Though most of the members of the council expressed support for designing and constructing the monuments, some thought that it would be better to have the city pay directly and to do the item through a competitive bid.

Councilman Don Tipps, the most vocal supporter of the project on the council, pushed back. “The AEDC’s job is to market Amarillo.”

AEDC President and CEO also said that using a competitive bid could hinder the project, which is set to be awarded to Western Builders. “Western will not put in a bid to design the project if they do not get the project,” said Carter. “They’re doing this as kind of a favor for, you know, some of the things we’ve done in the past.”

Tipps and Carter also highlighted the fact that the proposal would be cost-plus, something that the two argued would be efficient.

Councilman Tom Scherlen, however, saw things differently. “I don’t like being pushed against a wall, saying I gotta do something.”

Councilman Les Simpson also expressed some concerns about the project. “I’m sure that we still have discretionary spending in our City Council budget that could pay for this easily,” Simpson said. “I’d rather leave that money in the EDC and then handle this with the city budget.”

Then, after nearly 15 minutes of debate, Scherlen surprised everyone by making a motion to pass the item.

“I’ll make a motion that we accept 12-10-24-3,” said Scherlen. A slightly bewildered Tipps responded by saying “I’ll second.” Scherlen then jokingly asked Tipps if he was really “going to second that,” to which Tipps said “you said accept it, yeah?”

“A motion and a second,” said Mayor Cole Stanley. “Any further discussion on 9L?” After nobody offered any more discussion, the council unanimously passed the item.

We reached out to Councilman Scherlen today to ask about his surprise reversal on the item.

“We could have continued to debate back and forth all night,” said Scherlen. “But, I realized the item was probably going to pass anyways.”

Scherlen also noted that he felt continuing the debate was distracting for more important concerns. “That was a five hour meeting. We had productive discussions about a lot of stuff, including the future of the AEDC.”

Indeed, a significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the AEDC. A presentation was given by newly-appointed AEDC Chairman Alex Fairly. “In the short term, I think the AEDC is just fine,” said Fairly. However, in the long run, he did state that there are “things that need a rethink and a reset.” Fairly and the Council discussed plans to have new Articles of Incorporation and bylaws ready to be passed early next year. After that, the council is expected to replace the current mostly temporary board with a more permanent board.