The stars are aligning!
We have competitive races for mayor and two council positions that should produce a new city council that hopefully will get the city back on track.
We will be getting a new school superintendent while upgrading and building new facilities that will build on current successes but still have a ways to go. Odessa College is planning a bond issue to upgrade their facilities. UTPB is renovating their main campus and will be building a new mental health facility.
The Texas Legislature will be meeting in January with our very capable representative Brooks Landgraf to promote our needs especially in education and infrastructure. All this will help to educate and get ready for the workforce we will need to have for Ray Perryman’s prediction of needing 190,000 new workers in the near future, but this means that we need to have a plan in place to handle that influx of people that incorporates all the components of a well-run community.
Our infrastructure needs will be huge! I hope that in the near future our community leadership will step up to create a master plan that incorporates all the players involved: city, county, UTPB, Odessa College, Texas Tech, ECISD, ODC, Permian Strategic Partnership, Hospital District, Chamber of Commerce, and other community leaders. I am sure there are several I have missed.
The point is that we can no longer afford to have separate plans that step on each other’s toes, but have a grand model that can be reviewed and updated as needed. We can no longer afford the petty feuds that seem to go on continually. The Permian Basin with Odessa as a model can show how things should and can be done. Let’s make it happen!
Charles Cotten
