The Odessa City Council discussed various agenda items during a two-hour work session on Tuesday.
Those agenda ranged from updates about downtown projects to litigation to roads to discussion about the Gertrude Bruce Building located at 1020 East Murphy St.
Odessa College President Greg Williams and Odessa College Vice President of Administrative Services Ken Zartner spoke about the Odessa College Downtown Project, which will be located at 222 E. Fourth St., the former Odessa American building.
Zartner said about 75% of the construction documents are finished and he expects in four to six weeks to be on to the next steps of the project.
Odessa City Manager Michael Marrero said the hotel-motel tax from the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Convention Center could reach more than $1.5 million by the end of September.
“The city agreed to retain 100% of the hotel-motel tax, both the state and local tax, from the operations of the Marriott Hotel for up to three years,” Marrero said. “These funds were intended to provide additional funding to discharge for any loss arising from the operations of the hotel and convention center for any particular year within that three-year period. If in the event that a loss didn’t exist within that particular year, then those funds were to be used by the city for a downtown revitalization project.”
Marrero said the city is in the final year of that three-year period with more than $1 million already collected. He said he estimates the third-year number could range anywhere from $550K to $700K.
Williams said that he has been in talks with Odessa investor Toby Eoff about the hotel-motel tax accrued by the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Convention Center to be used for the Odessa College Downtown Project.
“In my conversations with Toby, he has supported these funds for the first two years to go to (Odessa College) to become part of this project,” Williams said during the meeting. “We are excited about that and we are thankful for that.”
City of Odessa’s assistant city manager Phillip Urrutia gave a brief update on the Downtown Odessa Master Plan. He explained that Kimley Horn, who was selected by the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, will give a formal presentation to the city council.
For about the first 30 minutes of the work session, the city council spoke about the litigation between the City of Odessa and the Odessa American.
On Friday, visiting District Court Judge Rodney Satterwhite Friday dismissed the Odessa American’s lawsuit against the City of Odessa. Keith Stretcher, an attorney for the City of Odessa, called the dismissal a “win” and an “absolute victory.”
One of the longest discussions happened over the Gertrude Bruce Building located at 1020 East Murphy Street. The Black Cultural Council of Odessa wants to take ownership of the building but would also be open to entering a long lease agreement with the city.
The city council also heard from City Engineer Yervand Hmayakyan about a sealcoat project that would cover 16.5 miles of roads. The lowest bid came from Ronald R Wagner & Co. for $1,770,582.78, which was 11% less than the engineer’s estimate of $2 million.
