The Odessa City Council has a particularly busy agenda Tuesday. They’ll discuss buying land for an inland port, a bathroom ordinance, the controversial TGAA contract, salaries, the sports complex and the future of Equipment Services Director Chris Adams.
During the council’s regular 6 p.m. meeting, the city council will be asked to bless an Oct. 16 agreement the Odessa Development Corporation made to purchase property at 3215 W. Murphy Street for an inland port that will be operated by Permian Basin Inland Port.
The agreement calls for the city to purchase the land for nearly $8.3 million and to put almost $1 million into escrow as a refundable earnest money deposit.
The deal has been a couple of years in the making.
In July 2022, Mayor Javier Joven spent a couple of days south of New Orleans visiting with people at the Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District and businessmen who hoped to one day create a direct transportation line between the port and Odessa.
Joven said at the time two of the principals had ties to Odessa and they were in talks about building a rail facility and connecting up with existing Union Pacific railways.
The principals liked that Odessa is already familiar with oil, gas and chemicals, Joven said.
“It would be like ‘Oh my God, we can bring in all these costs, get chemicals. They’re already here.’ There’s not a lot of re-education. There’s not a lot of danger to the community. There’s no more than we already are dealing with on a daily basis,” Joven said at the time.
On March 28, 2023, council members heard a presentation from Taylor Rich of Sitelogx, a company that works with industrial rail shippers and commercial developers to design, build and operate rail-served industrial parks and ports.
Rich and one of his clients, Roger King from Pipeline Innovation, spoke about the lack of rail service in the Permian Basin and the need for an inland port.
King said smaller companies have a demand for rail service and an inland port would be an opportunity to level the playing field for smaller companies.
On June 13, the ODC signed a memorandum of understanding with Permian Basin Inland Port to assist and provide support for the development of the port.
Texas Secretary of State records show a Roger King is the registered agent for Permian Basin Inland Port and campaign finance records show a Roger King donated $1,500 to Joven’s re-election campaign.
Joven is facing Odessa attorney Cal Hendrick. Early voting started Monday.
TGAA
The council is also scheduled to discuss City Manager John Beckmeyer’s signing of an interlocal governmental agreement with the Texas Government Accountability Association, a nonprofit group that has promised to help the city in its efforts to be transparent and ethical by creating policies and procedures.
The open-ended agreement is $24,000 a year for years two through five and can increase at that time. In addition, it can only be ended if it’s placed on a ballot and residents vote to do so.
City councilman Steve Thompson asked for the agreement to be placed on the agenda because he has questions as to when the contract was negotiated and the legality of the agreement because TGAA isn’t a governmental agency.
Thompson and Councilman Gilbert Vasquez have also expressed concerns that Beckmeyer’s long-time friend, Matt Armstrong, brought the group to the council and Armstrong is running Joven and council member Denise Swanner and Mark Matta’s re-election campaigns.
Beckmeyer, Swanner, Joven and Matta did not sign conflict of interest forms.
TGAA insists Armstrong doesn’t work for them and the city indicated there are no records showing Armstrong has a contract or employee agreement with Beckmeyer or the city.
The council is also scheduled to discuss amending the city’s 1989 ordinance regarding the entering of city-owned restrooms by members of the opposite sex.
According to the city agenda, “it is deemed to be in the best interests” of city residents to amend the code “to limit the use of these additional facilities in city owned buildings based on an individual’s birth sex” in order to maintain privacy and safety in public restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms.
Adams
According to the council’s agenda, city council members are also scheduled to go into executive session to discuss “the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal” of Adams, who was hired by the city in June 2023.
Since he was hired, Adams convinced the city council to create its own tire shop and to purchase fuel equipment so city employees can fuel city-owned vehicles. Both measures, he said, would save the city money.
Adams has also been named in a lawsuit filed in Ector County District Court against the city by Southern Tire Mart, which alleges Adams has hostile feelings toward the company and as a result the city has intentionally violated Texas law by purchasing tires from a competitor for the last year.
The lawsuit alleges Adams falsely claimed STM double billed the city by more than $180,000 and did not retract that statement despite being shown documents disproving it.
Ector County Commissioner Don Stringer also emailed Beckmeyer back in August that Adams was using a city-owned vehicle to drive back and forth to his home in Lubbock, thus violating a city policy.
Emails obtained by the Odessa American under the Texas Public Information Act, show Beckmeyer told Adams to stop using the vehicle to commute.
Water
Also, during Tuesday’s regular session, Interim Utilities Director Alex Rowlett is scheduled to ask the council if he can submit an application for a state-funded loan program through the Texas Water Development Board. The funds would be for the construction and design of a proposed water tower on the northeast side of the city.
He also plans to ask if he can move $350,000 from the Pioneer fund (which is comprised of mineral right sales money) to the Derrington Wastewater Treatment Plant to “help improve day-to-day functions so that the plant will be able to continuously operate.
Finance Director Kaylie Banda is also on Tuesday’s agenda. She’ll be asking for $3 million for various positions not included in next year’s budget. The positions are in various departments throughout the city, including equipment services, the city manager’s office, IT, solid waste, Odessa Fire Rescue, Odessa Police Department, community development, solid waste, waste water and billing and collections.
During the city’s 3 p.m., work session meeting the city council will discuss going out for bids on waste and water projects because Edgardo Madrid and Associates has opted not to extend its contract with the city for the second time.
According to materials provided to the council the company was awarded a three-year $3.8 million contract in November 2020 with the option to extend it twice.
Since January 2021, the company has worked on water and wastewater line replacements, fire hydrant replacements and emergency water line breaks under the supervision of the city’s utility department.
According to Rowlett, their contract is ending Dec. 31 and they don’t want to extend it. As a result, they need to find another company to take on their jobs.
”This RFP is important and crucial to the day-to-day function of our water and wastewater infrastructure as we currently do not have enough personnel to perform these services,” Rowlett wrote.
The council will also hear some more from Gallagher Human Resources, which was hired to determine how the city compares to other cities, make recommendations on salaries and how to implement any changes.
According to materials provided to the council, Gallagher has determined the city’s base salaries are below the market at the 50th percentile and “possibly misaligned with the market at the 75th percentile.
The materials show Gallagher has offered two options to the city, one that would cost $3.4 million and another that would cost roughly $6.8 million. The latter would mean the city would be among the top quarter of comparable employers.
Beckmeyer is also expected to update the council on the pre-development agreement with Sports Med Properties for the new sports complex.
