Tag Archives: Amarillo City Hall

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Councilman puts on his booster hat … and it fits!

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Elisha Demerson spoke today about how “great it is to be in Amarillo” these days.

He mentioned a couple of things that deserve attention.

One thing the freshman Amarillo City Council member told the Rotary Club of Amarillo is that downtown Amarillo is progressing nicely. He took particular note of the convention hotel and parking garage that are under construction.

Downtown is being reshaped, reconfigured and revitalized.

The other thing Demerson said is quite instructive. He said the city has the “second-lowest tax rate” of any city in Texas. It’s less than 40 cents per $100 in property valuation.

What does that mean?

It means to me that the city’s intense push toward public-private partnerships is paying off.

I’ve noted before how so much of downtown’s progress in recent years has come with the help of private investment. Banks have spent their own capital to expand operations downtown; the historic Fisk Building was converted into a hotel, again with private money. Storefronts that once were dark now are full of life.

Is there more work to do? Certainly. That’s why the progress we’ve seen shouldn’t be derailed.

It makes me wonder yet again: What was all that anger during the 2015 municipal election campaign all about?

The city retains a ridiculously low municipal tax rate while its downtown business district is showing palpable, tangible, observable signs of progress.

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City begins search for new manager … good!

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Amarillo is about to commence its search for a permanent city manager to take the reins of a government that has been beset with a few hiccups and headaches of late.

We’ve got an interim manager on the job. Terry Childers came aboard a few months after Jarrett Atkinson quit. The initial word about Childers was that he is a take-charge guy, a thorough administrator and a hands-on sort of chief executive.

Then he made that fateful 911 call after misplacing his briefcase, threw the emergency call center into an uproar and became the object of considerable, um, discussion — and perhaps some derision — throughout the community.

OK. What now?

Mayor Paul Harpole said the search will be national.

Allow me a brief hand-clap here. That’s a good call.

“We think it’s time and I think Mr. Childers thinks it’s time too.” said Harpole. Yes, it certainly is, Mr. Mayor.

The governing body doesn’t have much institutional knowledge in conducting that kind of search. John Stiff served as city manager from 1963 until 1983. Then came John Ward, Alan Taylor and Atkinson, all of whom were promoted from within. The city limited its search.

A wide-ranging national search will serve the city well — if it’s done thoroughly and with proper vetting of all the applicants who want to relocate to the Texas Tundra.

The council — which has the sole authority in making this hiring decision — is going to get a lot of unsolicited advice from its bosses. That would be you and me. The folks who pay the bills with our tax money.

Here’s a suggestion: Consider following a model adopted by the Texas A&M University System and Amarillo College when selecting campus presidents.

West Texas A&M University, for example, has done a good job of introducing campus president candidates to the community before they are hired. The A&M regents have selected finalists and then trotted them out one at a time to meet with campus faculty, student body officers and then the public. All interested parties are given the chance to size up the finalists before the regents make the call.

City Hall can go through the same process with the finalists selected by the council.

It’s not a radical approach. It merely infuses the process with the kind of transparency the public was told had been missing in earlier critical policy discussions. You’ll recall the campaign pledges by some of the newest members of the council, yes? We’re going to make city government more “open,” more “accountable,” more “transparent.”

Well, gentlemen, here’s your chance.

Now that the interim city manager has issued his apology for the clumsy manner he handled that 911 call in February and has pledged to behave himself for the rest of the time he’s on the job, the council can proceed with all deliberate speed in finding a permanent chief administrator.

It’s going to take a few months. Be careful, council members. Be diligent, too. Be open and be sure you keep us — your employers — in the loop.

 

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A reminder: City Council doesn’t meet in secret

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I happened to be scrolling through some of my earliest blog entries this evening when I came upon this item from April 2009.

It discusses the Amarillo municipal government’s work sessions, those public meetings that occur prior to the start of the “regular” meetings.

Here’s what I wrote then.

I think it’s worth mentioning once again that the City Council — which used to be called a City Commission — does a good job of ensuring that it doesn’t violate the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The state law spells out in careful language those issues that elected bodies can discuss outside of public earshot: personnel matters, pending litigation, sale or purchase of real estate.

That’s it, man.

The City Council has revamped its regular meeting procedure in recent months. It now meets in the early evenings every Tuesday, enabling working residents to attend after they get off their jobs during the day.

There have been calls to get rid of the work sessions, or at least to move them into the council chambers, where there’s plenty of seating to enable large crowds to attend. I even joined that call a year ago in an earlier blog post. However, it’s not because I feared the council was violating open meetings laws.

Even in the old days, when the council met in that tiny meeting room away from the regular meeting chambers, the elected body took pains to avoid breaking state law.

Yes, the mayor would declare an executive session was about to occur, sending media representatives and other members of the public scurrying from the room. The only serious loophole in the state law had been the lack of recordings of those secret meetings to ensure that the body wasn’t talking about things it should be discussing.

Still, the complainers keep carping on what they allege is some sort of secret cabal doing business illegally. They found their voice during the campaign in 2015 for the multipurpose event venue, suggesting that the MPEV was crafted and cobbled together in secret … illegally!

It turned out to be a red herring and voters saw through it by approving the MPEV.

It reminds of the many conspiracy theories throughout history that simply never die.

 

business news, local news, political news

A suggestion for Eades replacement

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No … I don’t have anyone particular in mind.

Indeed, the Amarillo City Council has some time to ponder who should succeed Brian Eades, who’s leaving the council in July as he moves to western Colorado.

Eades is a grownup member of the council. He serves as one of two stalwart votes in favor of the momentum that the city is building toward its downtown revival process. The other sure-fire voice on the council is Mayor Paul Harpole.

Yes, the council has done well so far with its new three guys joining the team to move the city forward on its downtown rejuvenation. Crews have broken ground on the planned parking garage and on the Embassy Suites hotel across Buchanan Street from the Civic Center.

Work still needs to commence on the multipurpose event venue.

I don’t have serious concern about whether the MPEV will be built. I hope it is built and I hope the city welcomes an affiliated baseball team to play its home games at the shiny new ballpark.

My hope for the new council member runs along two tracks.

One is that he or she has a keen interest in moving the downtown effort forward. The projects have been discussed, debated and examined every which way from here to Kingdom Come. Amarillo voters made their decision known in a November referendum that they support a ballpark venue.

Second, I hope the next council member commits to running for election in the spring of 2017 when the city conducts its election for the council.

The most recent appointee, Ron Boyd, served as a place holder when he took the seat vacated by the death of Councilman Jim Simms. The next one, I hope, will take the seat with the understanding that he or she will seek a full two-year term.

The next council member will have plenty of time between taking office and the next election to earn either the voters’ approval or rejection next spring.

So, council members, proceed with all deliberate care.

The city is moving forward. It needs a governing council committed to maintaining that momentum.

 

local news

Eades to quit … and toss the city into a tizzy

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Brian Eades has dropped a bombshell.

The good doctor and senior member of the Amarillo City Council is quitting his post this summer and will continue his medical practice in rural western Colorado.

What are the potential consequences of this event? Well, to borrow a phrase: They’re yuuuuuuge, man.

Think of it as a microcosm of the current battle within the national Republican Party: insurgents vs. the establishment.

Eades is one of two City Council members who come from the city’s so-called “establishment.” The other is Mayor Paul Harpole. The three remaining council members — Elisha Demerson, Randy Burkett and Mark Nair — could be called “insurgents.” They vowed to bring radical change to city government when they campaigned for the council in 2015.

What happens now?

The rest of the council gets to appoint Eades’ successor.

Who gets the job? Will the new person come from the establishment sector or will he or she come from the ranks of the rebels who want to continue the change?

The city charter grants limits the mayor’s actual power, so that means Harpole cannot really orchestrate the selection process. He no doubt wants someone who agrees with Eades’ municipal view.

He has only one vote, though. The other three are in the catbird seat.

Or so one might think.

The mayor does have what Teddy Roosevelt called “the bully pulpit.” Does he use his office as a place from which he can preach the municipal gospel to those with whom he works? Does he reach out to the community to persuade rank-and-file residents — folks like you and me — of the need to find someone who can join him in resisting the occasional impulses of his colleagues who might want to move quickly toward some unknown policy destination.

Is there even a need to make such an effort?

Dr. Eades has served the city well during his time on the council. I wish him well as he prepares to leave the region where he grew up and where he has earned a nice living.

I’m betting that Paul Harpole isn’t too happy to learn of this departure. The other three guys are rubbing their hands together.

 

 

local news

Childers finally says he’s sorry for 911 misstep

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Amarillo interim City Manager Terry Childers has re-thought what he said earlier this week.

He said initially in public that he regrets the manner in which a 911 call turned out.

Now he says he’s “sorry.” He’s issued an apology. In public. Out loud. To the city he administers.

There. Now, can we put this matter to rest?

This story needs to quiet down.

Amarillo has been through too much turmoil in the past year.

A new City Council majority promised “change.” It brought it. City Manager Jarrett Atkinson quit, as did other senior city staff.

The council brought in Childers, the former Oklahoma City manager, to steady the city’s administrative ship.

Then came the 911 call to the Amarillo Emergency Communication Center. He got agitated over the way the dispatcher responded to his report of a missing briefcase.

There’s been plenty of criticism being tossed around the city at the interim manager. I’ve heard rumblings that some of it has been quite ugly, although I have not seen or read any of it with my own eyes.

OK. He’s now said he’s sorry, which I guess lies near the heart of what concerned some residents.

Let’s hope this matter can be put to rest, that the interim manager can continue his work running the city and that the council can proceed with its search for a permanent chief administrator.

 

local news

Issue of race creeps into 911 discussion

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An ugly element might be seeping into the Amarillo community discussion over the interim city manager’s handling of a 911 telephone call.

I pray it doesn’t go any further. I also hope the community is prepared to deal with it head-on if it reaches a full boil.

The element is race.

Terry Childers’ phone call on Feb. 14 to the city’s 911 dispatch center has become the source of plenty of talk around town. He didn’t handle himself well when he called the center after misplacing his briefcase at a local hotel. He became agitated with the dispatcher. He wanted to shut down the hotel to search for the missing item.

In short, Childers seemed to blow a fuse. Over a briefcase!

He has apologized to the call center staff. He’s expressed “regret” in a public statement at a City Council meeting. He has vowed it won’t happen again.

Some of the social media chatter — and criticism — about the incident has included some derogatory language.

Childers is African-American.

The potentially troubling element might have revealed itself this week when two city councilmen — one white and one black — offered differing perspectives on whether race has become a talking point.

Councilman Elisha Demerson told Panhandle PBS’s Karen Welch that some of the comments have been racial in nature. Demerson is African-American. He said he’s heard of critics using the “n-word” when referring to Childers.

Watch the “Live Here” segment here.

http://www.panhandlepbs.org/panhandle-local/live-here/

Councilman Brian Eades, who’s white, said he hasn’t heard it. He hasn’t heard about it, either.

Who’s hearing it correctly?

It’s quite clear that people of different racial backgrounds hear things differently. I am not going to presume to know whether one man is correct and the other is wrong.

I’ll offer this personal note: I had heard about the alleged racist remarks, although I personally haven’t heard them directly with my own ears or read them with my own eyes.

Does that mean the racially tinged comments are not out there? Hardly.

The community discussion about the interim city manager’s conduct regarding a botched telephone exchange with emergency dispatchers is worthwhile and should be constructive.

But oh, man, it must not become poisoned by what one elected city official has said he has heard.

However, if it does …

 

local news

Expression of ‘regret’ is good enough, Mr. Manager

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Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole said it quite well last night.

Interim City Manager Terry Childers’ expression of “regret” over the way he handled a 911 call is sufficient. It’s time to “move on,” Harpole said.

Public weighs in

For those who might not know what happened, here it is:

Childers called the Amarillo emergency call center to report a “stolen” briefcase. He became agitated when the dispatcher — acting in accordance with established protocol — began asking a series of questions. Childers wanted the cops to arrive at the hotel. He threatened to “shut down” the hotel and search for the briefcase.

He also bullied the dispatcher, telling her she didn’t know who she was “dealing with.” Actually, she knew that Childers is the city manager, as he told her so when he placed the call.

Well, Childers ended up misplacing the briefcase. It was recovered. Childers said the tone he used with the dispatcher “was not consistent” with the standards he sets for himself and those who work at City Hall.

The recording of at least three phone calls, though, went viral through the city, prompting a lot of questions about the way Childers treats other public employees.

This has been an embarrassment for the city.

I have commented on this matter in this forum, but I am more than willing now to move on, as the mayor has suggested.

The city made some changes effective immediately at the call center as a result of the call. I am not going to comment on whether the changes are justified. I only wish that the city emergency services hierarchy had let it be known before now about alleged problems with the call center operation.

As for the interim manager and his relationship with the folks who hired him — the five men who serve on the City Council — let’s hope they work this out among themselves. They do, after all, work for the rest of us.

Let us also hope that the city proceeds with all deliberate speed in finding a permanent manager.

Now, Mr. Manager, get back to work.

 

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Trump doesn’t know …

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A Texas Panhandle political leader and I were having lunch today at an Amarillo restaurant.

We talked about a lot of things: loyal pets, the state of affairs in the county where he works, Amarillo City Hall turmoil related to the interim city manager. Then we talked briefly about the presidential campaign.

My good friend is as loyal a Republican as you’ll find.

I asked him, “Is your party going to nominate Donald Trump as its candidate for president of the United States?”

“It’s not the party” that’ll nominate Trump, if it comes pass, he said.

People are angry, he said. They want things done. Trump needs to do three things, my friend said: secure the border, bolster our military and get rid of Obamacare and send health insurance back to the states.

Fine. I said. Will he get it done?

My friend doesn’t know. But if he does, he said he’d vote for him for a second term as president — presuming, of course, that he gets elected this November. My friend didn’t vote for him in today’s Super Tuesday primary; he didn’t tell me who got his vote, and I didn’t ask him.

My pal believes the nation is on a course to “implode.” He wants something done. Now. Suffice to say I do not share his gloomy vision of the future. I chose not to engage him on that, as we both had to be other places.

As we walked out the door, my friend said, “I’ll tell you this much: Donald Trump doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”

He meant that Trump has never worked in government. Never been exposed to its inertia, or lack thereof. He doesn’t know what he’s getting into if lightning strikes (that’s my description) and he gets elected.

That could be a curse or a blessing, depending on what you want, my friend indicated.

I came away from my meeting with my pal getting what he meant. My own sense is that Trump’s utter ignorance of government has made itself quite evident with every proclamation and brash promise he’s made.

I sincerely hope we don’t have to pay for his ignorance come next January … and I will hold on to the belief that we won’t.

 

local news

Amarillo City Hall intrigue ought to end

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Amarillo City Hall has become a source of melodrama and intrigue.

This isn’t how government is supposed to work.

Three men got elected in 2015 to the Amarillo City Council. They promised “change.” It came, all right.

The city attorney quit. The assistant city manager retired. Then the city manager quit. All the while other key positions remained unfilled.

Then the city hired an interim city manager. He shuffled duties around. He reorganized the City Hall bureaucracy, getting high praise from those who report to the manager.

The City Council yanked economic development duties from a non-profit agency and handed them to City Hall operators, again at the recommendation of the new interim manager.

Now the new guy has gotten entangled in a controversy over how the city 911 emergency call center works. His briefcase got misplaced and he placed a call to the center and made some stern demands of the dispatcher who answered his call.

Then more change came about, this time at the call center.

I’m watching this drama — right along with the rest of the city’s residents — from the proverbial peanut gallery. I get that change often can be a good thing. I also get that change isn’t necessarily achieved for the better. Sometimes change for the sake of it takes over and confusion reigns.

To be candid, City Hall ought to be a place that runs with cool efficiency. That’s what the governing council — the folks who are responsible ultimately for how the city works — keeps promising for us.

They vowed to bring about change. They didn’t tell us about the chaos.

Or the intrigue.

How about getting a grip on things at City Hall?