Amarillo City Council is set to consider spending over $5 million during their upcoming regular meeting. The spending totals are nearly evenly split between consent and nonconsent items.

The largest spending item on the consent portion of the agenda is item 8V, a $532,276 replacement of the Dasher Wall System for the Amarillo Civic Center Complex. According to a memo provided by the city, the last replacement of the system “was in the mid 1990s.” The contract is set to be awarded to Becker Arena Products Inc. and will be funded with revenues from the Amarillo-Potter Events Venue District and Hotel Occupancy Taxes. Work is planned to be done this summer.

The next largest spending item on the consent portion of the agenda is item 8R, a $498,615 3-year landscape maintenance contract for the Greenways PID. The contract, which is set to go to Ramirez Lawn & Sprinkler, will be funded with revenues from PID assessments. The agenda also includes a similar 3-year landscape maintenance contract for the Pinnacle PID, though that contract, worth $126,870.24, is set to go to Green Plains Design. Like the contract for the Greenways, the Pinnacle PID is also set to be funded via PID revenues.

The third largest spending item on the consent portion of the agenda is item 8K, a $328,440 mobile device plan for the Amarillo Police Department. The contract is set to be awarded to T-Mobile. According to a memo provided by the city, the devices will not only replace most existing phones for the department but will also replace field cameras for photographs and may eventually replace e-citation devices.

These items, along with another $1,218,032.11 in spending items, are all on the consent agenda, meaning that they may all be passed with a single vote without separate discussion.

Only two spending items are included on the non-consent portion of the agenda. Item 9D is a payment of up to $50,000 to the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce to reimburse the organization for promotion of city’s initiatives.

The largest spending item by far is item 9G, a $2,494,025 contract for improvements to the Service Center Complex at 2100 Spruce Street. In a memo, the city provided the following summary of the item:

The project will consist of demolition of existing asphalt and concrete paving along with existing parking lot lights and service to them. New construction consists of approximately 70,000 SF of concrete paving, three 14' x 55' concrete access ramps into and out of the building as well as four new 14' x 14' four-fold doors. The new parking lot will have updated security lighting, security fencing, security cameras, badge access entry gates, and building automation for the gates and doors. Additionally, a new water line, gas line, and conduit for future fiber service will be placed underground to update the utilities for the existing structure. This project is part of updating the Service Center that was noted from a space study that was conducted several years ago. This project will allow the Water / Wastewater Dept. and Streets Dept. vehicles access into an enclosed and heated structure which will protect their vactor trucks and street sweepers from freezing in the winter time. This project is located at 2100 Spruce Street.

The contract is set to be awarded to Plains Builders, who was one of three bidders for the project. Tri State General Contracting proposed a $2,508,000 bid, while Panhandle Steel Buildings proposed a $2,476,378.80 bid. The memo provided by the city did not note why staff was recommending the Plains Builders bid despite the fact that the Panhandle Steel Buildings bid was slightly less expensive.

Several other important fiscal items are on the agenda.

Item 9F is a consideration of revised guidelines for AEDC incentives. New projects would require an average gross wage per job created of at least $50,000 and a minimum of 25 new full-time jobs created. A new sliding scale for abatements would also be used, with the amount of the abatements decreasing each year.

Item 9A is a set of amendments to the 2022-2023 budget. These amendments include an extra $15,000 to account for more being spent on police training than budgeted, an extra $800,000 spent on employment separations than budgeted, an extra $17,600 spent by the Colonies and Heritage Hills PIDs, and $5,000 less than expected in collections by the Vineyard PID.

Item 8X is a lease contract with Greyhound Bus Lines at the Multimodal Transfer Station. Under the agreement, Greyhound would pay $50,000 a year, with increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Before any of these items are taken up, the council will receive a presentation on the 2024/2025 Fiscal Year Budget Policy during item 7C.

The meeting is scheduled for 3:00 pm on Tuesday, February 13th. It will take place in the Council Chamber on the third floor of Amarillo City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packet can be found at this link. Those interested in speaking during the meeting are encouraged to sign up at this link.