Businessman Alex Fairly is the new Chairman of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors.

Fairly was selected as chairman during the first meeting of the newly-appointed temporary board, which was put together by Amarillo City Council following mass board resignations in the wake of the RANGE Foundation controversy.

Fairly has become a major force in local politics in recent years. In 2022, he successfully sued the City of Amarillo over attempts to use tax anticipation notes to fund renovations to the Amarillo Civic Center, claiming that the city was attempting to circumvent the failure of the 2020 Proposition A debt issuance. Fairly then backed a slate of candidates in the 2023 Amarillo City Council election, with each of his picks winning election. More recently, Fairly’s daughter Caroline Fairly, a medical claims negotiator, was elected to the Texas State House of Representatives, where she will be taking over from retiring incumbent Four Price.

Dipak Patel, the only member of the board who remained following the resignations, was selected by the new temporary board as the vice chair. Joining Fairly and Patel on the board are Councilman Josh Craft, Councilman Don Tipps, and former councilman Howard Smith.

Following the appointment of Fairly as the new board chair, Fairly led a discussion regarding the publication of the agenda for the meeting. The agendas for the meetings are usually found on the Amarillo EDC website under the “public data” option at the top of the page. However, only the “public data” link at the bottom of the page actually contained a link to the December meeting.

“We can’t have problems like that,” said Fairly. “The standards for noticing, we’re going to live by the highest standard. I don't even care if it’s not even illegal.”

Though concerns regarding the publication of the agenda were discussed, the meeting went ahead. The board convened a closed-door executive session to consult with their attorney, discuss several projects, and discuss a land sale.

Following the executive session, the board was set to approve the minutes of several recent meetings of the board. However, at the request of board member Howard Smith, given the recent turnover in the board composition, the board elected to table the item to give the new members time to review the audio recordings of the previous meetings.

The board then approved a $900,000 incentive agreement with AAA Cooper, the sale of 3.61 acres of land to Pacific Cheese for $162,450, and the organization’s investment report.

During the meeting, Councilman Craft discussed the possibility of publishing an agenda packet, similar to what is published ahead of City Council meetings, for the public. Howard Smith also suggested that the board have a special meeting to discuss the proposed changes to the AEDC’s Articles of Incorporation which are being drafted by Amarillo City Council’s outside counsel George Hyde. However, no firm decision on a special meeting was made.

Unless a special meeting is scheduled, the next meeting of the board is set to be January 21st, 2025 at 11:00 am.

Once the council approves the changes to the Articles of Incorporation, they are expected to replace the temporary board with a board with regular terms. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, December 4th.