Pampa ISD Board of Trustees Place 4
Question: What are your plans for hiring and retaining certified teachers within the district as well as offering competitive pay scale for certified staff?
Kaleb Snelgrooes: To address the certified staff and competitive pay-is competitive pay an issue in Pampa? Yes, it is. Can we compete with Amarillo? No, we can’t. But if you want to be in Pampa, then you’re going to be in Pampa. For that question to be asked as an independent board member, that’s more than an independent board member can answer. As far as pay goes, if the State says, ‘here is your minimum’, each ISD is going to make it what they can do and what is competitive for our size school. Everybody wants to compare us to Amarillo. We’re not Amarillo, we’re Pampa, and we are going to be as competitive as we can for the districts our size and the schools our size. The retention of certified teachers-we have a great opportunity in Pampa ISD where we have district innovation, which means we have a BF Goodrich-certified person at Culberson Stowers that says, ‘I want to go teach auto tech’, and we would love them to come teach auto tech because they are considered an expert in that field. So for that person to come here-what an opportunity for our kids to have that. To keep that person, they’re going to have to go and get that degree and get the certification, and they have a time frame. If that time frame is not met, then you have to get out and reapply. They have to be certified just like the rest of our teachers.”
Collin Rains: “I do know that Pampa ISD pays more than some smaller area schools, and I know that’s not comparable to Amarillo, but we tend to have teachers choose us over some smaller schools. I also know that Pampa ISD is working on a teacher retainer bonus award system, so if you are a certified teacher and you’ve been with us for five years, they will get so much-same at 10, 15 and 20. So we are already working to retain those teachers and to bring certified teachers in. But like Kaleb said, I’m just one of seven on the board, so I will do my best to pay our teachers what they deserve, but it’s not fully in my control.”
Question: Board members votes are more often than not unanimous: how comfortable are you being the dissenting voice, especially if something is unpopular?
Collin Rains: “I believe we have to stand up for what’s right no matter what. It is what it is. It’s hard to say for sure what that one thing could be, but I wouldn’t have a problem letting everyone know.”
Kaleb Snelgrooes: “As I sit here in this room, there are a lot of familiar faces and if you have ever seen me coach, I’ve had to make some decisions that weren’t the popular decision. I’ve had to have some conversations that weren’t popular conversations. It does not bother me at all to have those conversations. It does not bother me at all to go against the popular or the majority. As you know the great bubble that we live in here in Pampa, Texas is shrinking from outside sources and there are things that are coming in to our community and coming into our school systems that are quite frankly not okay. You know them and I know them, and we have to have a strong board that says, ‘you know what, we’re going to vote what’s best for our kids and what’s best for our community,’ and I feel like we have that board right now. If an issue was to come up that did not go with what our community is based on and biblically and what is right ethically, then I have no problem at all going against that, to bounce off that and those issues that I’m alluding to. I think our board right now is a strong board, but it’s not going to be an issue.”
Question: So rather than alluding to the issues, why don’t you tell us what improvements or changes you would make in the school district and whether or not you have the ability to make those changes?
Kaleb Snelgrooes: First of all, the purpose of the board is to make decisions on policies and we have an entire board that does that, so it’s not just one person. It’s not just a superintendent, it’s not just a principal-it’s the entire crew. The changes that could come up are of the political backing. I’ve had people come ask me, ‘what are your opinions on litter boxes?’ and stuff like that, and it’s just not who we are. That bubble is getting smaller and smaller-boys and girls restrooms and boys and girls dressing rooms-I’ve had people ask me those questions. I think we have a very strong board and that board is very conservative and very intelligent and very rooted in their beliefs. If there are changes to be made, it would be a board policy that changes and it won’t be something to take lightly, but would take the consideration of our community, our background and our tradition.”
Collin Rains: “I agree that our board is in a good spot and is moving our schools in a very good direction. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to come alongside. I have been a part of board meetings and committees over the last three years and have watched the district do what they say they are going to do. School board is in place to take care of the business of the school and we leave the professional educators to take care of the education. I am just but one person, but I am prepared to make tough decisions and say no to things that may be questionable for our community and stick to it.”
Question: What is your understanding of and what is your opinion on school vouchers?
Collin Rains: “School vouchers, or what the governor is calling school choice, is his hot-button issue this legislative session. First let me say that we already have school choice, so please don’t let them fool you to think you don’t already have that. You are more than welcome at any time to take your child to another school within this community or another district. I have a lot of issues with vouchers. One is the governor is creating basically another entity to manage the whole entire voucher system. Also you can call it big government. We as conservatives tend to not like big government and we know what is best for our community. I really struggle with him wanting to give tax dollars out of the general fund to the private schools or possibly home schools even, without accountability-the same accountability that we have in the school district. Those kids would not be required to take tests, or they may or may not be accepted at private schools because of needs that are currently provided by the school district. I would say I am really against vouchers. Public schools create good communities and we know what’s right for our kids here in Pampa.”
Kaleb Snelgrooes: “I am against school vouchers. Just like anything else when it comes to education, when it comes from government, it comes from committees and leadership that is not here in rural America. With school vouchers, each kid is allotted let’s say, $10,000. That $10,000 is given to that kid and that kid gets to use that money and go to whatever school they want to go to. He could take his money and go to a private school, but another kid decides to stay in Pampa ISD. As a lot of educators and administrators know, truancy and kids going to school is a tough issue. If those kids don’t go to school, your $10,000 is not really going to be $10,000 anymore because if they don’t go, you don’t get that daily allottment. It’s not equal because the voucher kid will get $10,000 and it puts your daily rate for a public school at $6,000, so that’s $40, 50, 60 a day. Truancy court the other day was full because those were not coming to school, so that $10,000 is not 10,000, it’s $6,000 and it’s going down. The next thing I want to talk about is our special needs population. Those kids are going to miss out and not be able to go into a voucher program. They’re going to be in public school because the voucher program is going to pick and choose who they want, and I have a huge problem with that. I’m here for every Harvester K-12, special population, all populations.”
Question: If vouchers were to pass, what effect would it have on the school district and what would you propose to fix that problem?
Kaleb Snelgrooes: “The biggest issue is financial. Your tax dollar would be going to a school that is not Pampa ISD. It would be a whole other entity. Do I believe that each kid learns differently and is not all cookie-cut public education? Yes, just like every kid is not made for a four-year university or even a two-year university, or a trade school or the workforce. We cannot get to where we’re saying every kid is going this route and this system is made for everybody. What I would do individually? You can’t. There has to be a school district board decision, so for me to say that I would do this or do that, I would have to get with our board and make a decision about what’s best for Pampa ISD. If that’s what our state education system says we’re doing, then that’s what we’re going to have to do, we’re held to that standard. It would not go lightly, and I would personally say that I wouldn’t go without kicking, fighting and screaming.”
Collin Rains: “It’s very hard to say exactly what I would do without knowing what all is potentially be passed. The Texas Senate right now has a version of the bill and the Texas House has their version of the bill. This was on the agenda two years ago on the legislative session, and somebody dropped the poison pill in it and it did not pass. To say that I’m going to do this and that is not really possible right now while we have so many unknowns in front of us. But when you have a decrease in funding, I think we all know what happens with that, and it becomes a matter of what is best for our students, what is best for our schools, and how we can weather this storm that the governor has thrown at us.”
Question: As a school board member, what would you do to ensure that children and their parents choose Pampa Independent School District?
Collin Rains: “I would do my best to tell anyone and everyone about how great Pampa schools are and why. Part of the why is the community and the support they show for our schools. Marketing for schools is really a thing now. That is a whole department that is part of enticing people to bring their kids to Pampa ISD and so any support we can provide to showcase why we are the best is what I would do.”
Kaleb Snelgrooes: “To me, Pampa ISD sells itself. If you look across the board at the opportunities our kids have, there is not a district our size that has opportunities that our kids have. I’m going to focus on the high school-if you look at schools our size and the amount of activities our kids have, from CTE to athletics to choir to all the sports we have, we have so many opportunities that other districts don’t have. If you look across the board, not every district has a wrestling program, not every district has a swimming program-we have those. That sells itself in my opinion. Right now with the bond that our city has passed, that sells itself. You guys did that. We’re about to have something state of the art for our kids and CTE department. Our kids are going to get in-job training right there the other schools don’t have and will not have. You look at our association we have with Clarendon College and we have so many kids who are leaving Pampa High School with their Associate’s Degree because Clarendon College is right down the street. That is a lot of stuff that I don’t think the voucher program and voucher schools can compete with. They’re going to have the $10,000, but their not going to have the in-house job training and Associate’s Degree that our kids can have.”
Question: What do you believe has prepared you the most to serve on the Pampa Independent School District board?
Kaleb Snelgrooes: “Fifteen years in the profession, boots on the ground, have taught at all three levels-I taught at Lamar Elementary in Amarillo, taught at Pampa Middle School, home of the Patriots, and at the high school for 12 years teaching several different subjects. I have a wife who is an administrator and have two boys who have gone through the system. I hear, ‘what are we going to do about Pampa Middle School?’ and there are things we can change at every school, but we have a great junior high and I’ve had two boys go through there, one now that absolutely loves it. The things that I’ve learned being out of education the last four years is way more than I learned in the 15 years I had in education. Being a business owner in downtown Pampa and learning the business side of school that I didn’t know existed. I was just a coach that taught the kids, went home, tried to win a few ball games, tried to keep the parent-teacher conferences to a low, and enjoyed the job. But boots on the ground, 15 years in the education system, a wife in the education system, having a degree in education, having a Master’s in education, and just being invested in the system and being a part at all three levels.”
Collin Rains: “I mentioned in my speech I’m a parent of two Pampa ISD students currently and since they have been in school, I have served on numerous committees throughout the district, including the District Leadership, Student Health Advisory, and I worked very closely as the co-chairman on the bond committee with the school district, which got passed two years ago-thank you, city of Pampa. I’m just a parent and I care about my kids and I care about other kids’ education.”
City Commissioner Ward 1
Question: What are some goals you wish to achieve as city commissioner?
Wendi Miller Horst: “What I want to achieve is-basically I was taught if you don’t vote, you can’t drive. If you don’t figure out, learn, or dig into, there’s absolutely nothing you can say about anything that is going on. All I see is griping and I’m not going to say that nothing is being done, because on the back side of that, I have seen so much being done just in the few meetings that I’ve went to and the people that I’ve talked to. What I want to accomplish is to just dig down deep-I want to learn and I want to help make it go forward. I think Pampa is in a better place right now than it’s been in the last 10 years. It has gone up from what it was and I just want to make sure that I’m a part of that and I can dig deep and learn more in order to make it better.”
Phyllis Jeffers: “I would like to see more citizen participation. The city commission is taking action on your tax dollars and it’s hard to do that when you’re not hearing from the people you represent. I think more participation in the meetings would be wonderful, and I would like to see a big facelift for Pampa. We have a new opportunity that is on the horizon and it’s going to provide good paying jobs and we also need to invest in future companies that want to come. Pampa needs to look attractive. A person can come in as a CEO, look at Pampa, meet with the PEDC and really have an interest, and then they break their promise. Pampa doesn’t sell itself. I was a human resources director for the hospital, and the doctors were interested, but it was their wives that made the decision and said, ‘no, I don’t want to live there.’ I think we have come a long way from that, but we still have a long way to go. Pampa is a can-do community and has some of the best people that you could possibly want to be neighbors with, has hard work ethic, and is giving-to neighbors or people they don’t know, if there’s a need and they can help, they’re there for them. None of that needs to change, Pampa needs to stay the same, but the community has got to do a better job with presenting itself.”
Question: Any plans that you have specifically for beautification or fixing for a facelift around town or at the entrances?
Phyllis Jeffers: “I can tell you working for the City of Pampa for 23 years, at a time several years ago, on Sundays the fire department would wash down the sidewalks and the city street sweeper would sweep the streets so that Pampa on Monday morning was in pristine condition, which helps facilitate people to go downtown and helps create an atmosphere. We also had a main street manager, which is a program funded by the state where cities can hire somebody to go downtown and work with the businesses and give discounted, interest-rate loans for the owners of the buildings to bring the building back to its original facade. That brought a lot of interest and a lot of people to Pampa.”
Wendi Miller Horst: “Those sidewalks now are really nice-when you pull into a town, it’s nice to see some new concrete. I really think that the beautification side of it has got to come from the community, every single one of us. I’m able-bodied, but there are others that are not, and if you need help getting your yard mowed, I’ve got a 35-year old husband back there that can help. I have two kids that I trying to teach about voluteering and helping. We can all be at each other’s throats about wanting things to be clean and wanting things to be great, but until we start helping each other and cleaning our own stuff, and if you can’t, ask for help-I’m one person and the board is four people and one mayor, and we can say a lot of things and ask a lot of things and put a lot of things in place, but if we are all not going to do it and not step forward, then it’s never going to get better.”
Question: Will you support spot-zoning, and if so, how will you protect homeowners values?
Wendi Miller Horst: “That has to do with everyone it’s going to affect, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I think if it’s not in my neighborhood. But I would go ask everybody how the would feel and how it affects them. My job as a commissioner would be to stand up for them and if that’s what they want, then I would vote for it.”
Phyllis Jeffers: “The City of Pampa has a planning and zoning commission where they look at special requests. The community is zoned so that we have the proper commercial businesses in the commercial district and residentials in the residential districts. Spot zoning means that if you have a nice house on Duncan and there’s an empty lot, if it was spot-zoned, then a commercial building can go up and it would have to have a special provision to allow that to happen. We have wonderful members on that commission and they take it very seriously and know what they’re doing, and they probably get near the recognition they deserve because sometimes they’re not popular. Sometimes when people want to do something, they’re going to do it and not care what anyone thinks, but the planning commission has the community’s best interst at heart.”
Question: What if you just absolutely disagreed with the planning and zoning commission? Could you be a dissenting voice as a commissioner?
Phyllis Jeffers: “There are state laws that also govern zoning in cities. One thing in my opinion that Pampa needs that we don’t have and hasn’t had since 1972 is a comprehensive plan. A comprehensive plan is a plan set out where if a new business comes into town, it is zoned where this is the area where they can put the business and keeps spot-zoning from taking place. But more importantly, it brings the community together and be able to plan for what’s needed. We have growth coming into town and there’s going to be housing developments, and the if we have a properly laid plan, you can then work that plan so nothing comes at you.”
Wendi Miller Horst: “Oh yeah. If I felt it was proper and that’s what everyone behind me wanted, yes I would disagree.”
Question: What qualifies you specifically for this position?
Wendi Miller Horst: “Absolutely nothing. I’m being honest, I don’t know anything about politics. I’m learning about budgets from some wonderful people at the Chamber board, but I think what makes the best part of me is I’m not somebody that has already done it and has the same ideas. I am 110% new and you can’t beat new. When things are not going the right way or in any way whatsoever, you have to try something new.”
Phyllis Jeffers: “I have a very strong background in public service. I worked for the City of Pampa for 23 years and after that I worked for a company called Texas First that was started by two retired city managers and they would provide other retired professionals to fill in for cities that were going through the hiring and selecting process so there would not be a lapse in service and there would be continuity for the city. I served as city secretary, I have served as city manager in five different cities. I don’t know everything, but I know how to find out the answers and I know how to research. I have a genuine passion for public service. We have city employees who do a tremendous job and don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We’ve all heard the joke it takes two to stand and watch while one shovels, but they all work very hard and are very dedicated. I would be able to bring in a lot of different ideas to the city because having served in several cities, I have seen a lot of new and different things and different ways to approach a problem.”
Mayor
Question: What do you see as the primary issue facing Pampa and what can you as a mayor do about it?
Paul Searl: “I think the primary issue in Pampa is the lack of pride in our city. We have a lot of parts of our city that need to be reworked and we need citizen education and citizen involvement. I’d like to see something come back like ‘clean up Pampa’.
Amy Petroski: “I think the biggest concern for Pampa right now is to get significant jobs here that have competitive wages and good health benefits. You have almost 18% of the population that lives below the poverty line, which is not right, and there is so much food insecurity here, and that’s not right. I just feel that we need to help get companies to come here to create these jobs and to help train those adults who want these jobs so they can provide for their families.”
Jimmy Chaney: “I think the biggest problem we have is our city’s infrastructure which was based on a town of 30,000 people. We have dwindled down to 17,000 and it has made the tax burden very heavy for each of us. At the top of my platform is growth. We have to have growth, and in order to encourage growth, we have to beautify the city and people need to do their part and have partnership between you and your neighbors to make this place beautiful and make it a place that people want to come to. That goes back to my idea of marketing and branding the city-to get people to come here, to use our golf course, to use the things that we have to spend money in our town so we can continue to grow. That’s the top priority.”
Mike Borger: “I have three points in my platform and there’s a reason why this one is number one: we need to bring higher paying jobs to Pampa. When our median income is $48,000 and the median income for Texas as a whole is $70,000, we’ve got some catching up to do. We have a opportunity to do that with some of the things that are in the works that will really boost the median income in Pampa. That will help our home values, help our real estate market, help our retail businesses, help our schools, and it would help get Pampa where it needs to be. We have so much potential and Pampa has everything in place to grow and that’s what I want to do-is bring those ideas to reality, connect the dots, and see it through.”
Question: What do people who are considering Pampa see that makes them choose to live elsewhere and what would you do to get those people to move here?
Mike Borger: “I think a lot of times it’s the things that you do when you’re not working. We can build to that when you start with people making more money to where they can afford those kinds of things. It’s not that far to go to Amarillo, but people could live here and find this a really fine community. That’s what my wife and I discovered. All of our friends are here and we love this town. In fact, when we go to Amarillo, we kind of can’t wait to get back to Pampa. I would present a bigger vision for Pampa. We’re not that far from something, it can be right across the street. It’s like the doctors’ wives thing, she wants shopping and entertainment and it’s not that far to go. You go to Amarillo and eat at nice restaurants, well we have nice restaurants here too. But we have to start with what we have here and bring in higher paying jobs so people can afford to do things here, and entreprenuers will rise up as people have the ability to do those things.”
Jimmy Chaney: “I think one of the main reasons is housing. We have a shortage of moderate housing and we have a lot of older houses and it takes a lot to remodel. I think many people want a newer house and of course more things to do. With growth, those things will come, but it will take a while to get there. Hopefully we will get those new things and new businesses will come and promote growth and things will change. The new housing project is a breath of fresh air, and I think it’s going to help with so many things.”
Amy Petroski: “I agree. If we can bring the potential jobs here, our economy is going to grow, our residents are going to spend more money here locally. If every person here spends $100 more here, that would bring $3 million back to our community. Could you imagine what we could do with $3 million? We could improve our school system where they could be more teachers and the student/teacher ratio wouldn’t be 16-1 and to where half of the students rely on the free or reduced lunch program, and a lot of your residents would be able to get off of public assistance. I think that would be fantastic and I think we could also provide a resource where Pampa residents that are low-income or are elderly that can’t fix up their houses to where it would be Pampa humanities services where they could apply for assistance for small repairs they could not afford to do. It would be almost like Habitat for Humanity, but Pampa for Humanity.”
Paul Searl: “I think number one right now is housing. We definitely need the housing here if we plan on growing like we’re anticipating. I think we need to work on just the appearance of our city to make it more presentable to where someone wants to come here and spend some time. With the growth will come the new businesses that we can all be proud of. But we need the enthusiasm from the citizens to start with.”
Question: What would you do to keep Pampa affordable and keep the cost of living down?
Amy Petroski: “The cost of living is going to affect all of us because the state of Texas is $66 million in debt, so Pampa needs to rely on itself and rely on its citizens and rely on its political leaders. And eventually with housing coming in, businesses coming in, job potential, and an improved health benefits program, it’s going to bring in more income. Taxes will start coming down instead of going up, because when you raise property taxes, it’s just a bandaid, a quick fix. We have to start from the ground floor and work your way up.”
Jimmy Chaney: “I don’t know that we have too much control on how to keep it affordable, but what we can do is promote growth and promote higher wages. The new things coming here are naturally going to do that in every aspect and bring money into our economy. Construction workers that will be eating at the restaurants are going to provide tips and bring money to the business. It’s kind of a triple effect and I think that growth is the only way and we need to fight for it. I hope that each of you will welcome it with open arms and support the growth we are going to get. It’s viable to the growth and it’s viable to keeping our taxes down.”
Paul Searl: “With the growth we are anticipating and the building that we are doing, that puts more people on the tax roll. This year we voted in the commission to drop the tax rate and I hope that we can keep doing that. With the new stuff coming in here, we certainly have the opportunity.”
Mike Borger: “What Paul just said, the tax rate dropped because the asset base was lifted. That’s what we’ve got to do is with these businesses coming here and new homes constructed, our overall tax base can be bigger and we drop the rate. What I would do is I would say, ‘here’s what we need to do what we’ve got to do to provide good services,’ and make sure we use the entire tax base and with the property values keep the rate aligned with what we need. Take the overall taxable property, here’s the money we need to operate the city and determine the rate. It doesn’t have to go up because the values go up. We need to control that. That’s how it’s designed. You look at the suburbs around Dallas are growing and their tax rates are low because of the assets and that’s what’s going to happen in Pampa. As your valuation goes up, your rate should go down or stay the same.”
Question: What is your plan or ideas for abandoned buildings and homes and street problems?
Jimmy Chaney: “Let’s start with the streets. It’s a huge problem. In 2017-2018, it was estimated $38 million for the streets and the worst part is you see these patches all over town and that’s because of what’s under the streets. You can’t fix the streets without fixing the water and sewer lines that are several years old. I think the best answer for that is growth-we have to have the growth. We have a 30,000 people town infrastructure and 17,000 supporting it. The burden is heavy, so growth is vital for every single problem we have here. As far as abandoned houses, it’s another huge problem and we have to create partnerships with the community to help us with that, get people to take care of their own property and that’s a hard thing to do. I have an idea for a little non-profit planned and hope to get some community members involved and help people who can’t do it and hopefully tear down some of these houses if given permission. It’s going to be a big feat, but it has to happen if we’re going to grow.”
Paul Searl: “The city streets are an ongoing process. It’s going to take growth for us to fix things like that. As for the houses, for the last four years since I’ve been on the commission, we have approved the demolition of several houses and put a dent into what we’ve been presented. But it’s all a process where we have to find the owner and a lot of those owners don’t live here. But we have made a good dent in it over the last four years.”
Amy Petroski: “For the abandoned houses, I realized that the person who owns the home has to acquire a permit and some people can’t afford that permit to demolish the house. So maybe if there was a way to help defer that cost to that person and if that is house going to be demolished and there’s anything in there that can be recyclable, like the windows or anything that can be used on someone else’s house that needs a pick-me-up, they can recycle that or refurbish it before it goes to the landfill. I think that would help quite a bit with the abandoned houses. When it comes to the streets and the roads, it’s going to take money to do that. So when our economy improves, we can improve the roads. But right now we just have to treat them with care and try to drive down them the best we can until we can fix them properly.”
Mike Borger: “I talked to Jay Weeden today, who is in charge of our streets, and we talked about potholes and he said the main reason we have potholes is because of water from when we water our yards and the water isn’t flowing down the gutters the way it should because of dirt and leaves. So he’s got a plan that I think is a good plan and I know a street sweeper was mentioned to take care of that, so that’s the main thing. We can fix the potholes but they’ll come right back if we don’t fix the roads. We talked today about one of the sweeping machines is about $400,000 which is a huge thing for the city to pay for, but there is a leasing option that is a good deal, and so we could lease the machine, and as the city grows, we can take care of the drainage problem and keep the roads clean so that water is not creating potholes. That would be my first suggestion. On the dilapidating housing, when we came here 10 years ago, we saw it so it’s been an ongoing problem. But I say this about it: most cities have that, but the difference with Pampa is it’s just a percentage of the total. I was in Amarillo not too long ago and we went to see the beautiful new ballpark and new buildings and as I was stopped at the light right there, I just happened to look at my right and looked just like the worst house you would see in Pampa, but I hadn’t even noticed it before. You know why? Because of all that growth and new beautiful stuff. So we’ve got to continue to grow and just drown that stuff and take care of it as we go.”
Question: There are rumors about the closing of the water park, the closing of the golf course, and maybe the closing M.K. Brown. Hypothetically, if those did close, what is your plan?
Paul Searl: “Open them back up! I don’t know where the rumor came from, but being on the commission, that’s just a vicious rumor. The water park and the golf course, we subsidize both and its all dependent on the weather. I know there were several times last year when the water park was closed due to weather, but we subsidized it. For the most part the water park does break even when we do subsidize the initial debt from construction every year. The same for the golf course-we subsidize it each year, it just depends on the traffic. We have people from all over the Panhandle that comes to those two entities. I wouldn’t want to see this community without them. M.K. Brown has been here since I was a kid and is still going strong and I think we have a lot better of a facility than a lot of other places our size and it’s a good thing we have.”
Mike Borger: “The idea of closing those quality of life assets that we have here would be going in the wrong direction. I think we all sense that. Those are the kind of the things that gives Pampa the potential that I see, and they are the kind of things that when a guest comes here, they see our beautiful parks, this facility, and the water park-we’ve had people come from Lubbock to our water park because that’s how cool it is. But the idea of closing those-I don’t think we designed them to make money, but they’re quality of life things that make Pampa a good place to live, and so I would never want to do that. I would want to keep them going, refurbish them and keep them super nice because that’s the things that attract new people and it’s not a good way to save money. We don’t want to close those and raise taxes.”
Amy Petroski: “I have only lived here for eight years, but I have utilitized the M.K. Brown and attended 28 community concerts, but I can’t afford to go to the golf course. I’m sorry but I can’t, and I love to play golf, and I can’t afford to go to the water park. So maybe some businesses could sponsor the water park for days where more people can utilize it or have a family membership to where the pricing is reduced. It has to come from somewhere-if you want more people to come here, give them a reason to come and make it more affordable for them to come. I’m not sure if the high utilizes the golf course-do they have golf tournaments for the high school at that golf course? We need to ulitize it to maybe give golf lessons to children or older adults. Anything to try and make sure that it breaks even because it costs a lot to maintain the pool with all the chemicals and lifeguards that work there, just like the golf course. I’ve been out there several times for radio business and it takes a lot to keep that golf course nice and to keep the greens up, but the money has to come from somewhere.”
Jimmy Chaney: “I think those rumors were about me-it’s been a wild rumor and the truth is I ask those questions and I collect those things and they do lose a lot of money. I think that’s okay, I understand they’re quality of life, but in our business we track everything. I would like to know how many people are coming from out of town, how many people are coming in our town to spend money, and what benefit are we getting out that. I would just love to have some tracking in the amount of people that are coming here that creates growth and helps promote our businesses. Also I would like to market those things to get people from out of town so they know about it. I suspect that people in Amarillo forget we even have it or if they even know we have it. I want to spend some money to market for those people so we can get those costs down and hopefully we can’t get some more quality of life things because I feel like we definitely do need some more things here.”
Question: If any of you ever found any unethical facts that involve any other governmental entity, how would you feel about the government member personally receiving gain from a government project?
Mike Borger: “I’m pretty passionate about this. Before I decided to run, we asked the Lord what we should do, and if I was stepping in a hornet’s nest. I wanted to know how the city was doing and I wanted to know if there was anything going on that could drag me into that with the city commission or department heads or the EDC-I checked into all that, and listen, what I found out is we have the most ethical and finest people in those positions and it hurts my heart when they’re accused of things with no facts to back it up. The fact is that all of the stuff that the EDC does has to be under NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) because if they don’t, companies won’t talk to them-they’re protecting their own secrets and moves from their competitors. NDAs are essential, you can’t do a big transaction with one. So if you think someone is trying something because of that, you’re not informed on how those things work. There’s high integrity people there and I’m so proud of the things they’ve done and the things they’ve got coming to the table. What can mess that up? When you spread a rumor without facts to back it up. We have to stop. Let’s speak the truth. Lonnie referred to this verse when we prayed: Proverbs 11:11, “The blessing of the upright will bring the city to prosperity, evil talk brings it to ruin.” That’s evil talk, don’t participate in it. If you want to know something, just ask. Everyone is an open book, just ask one of those people. Nobody is hiding anything unless they’re under an NDA and that’s just the protection they need.”
Jimmy Chaney: “Whenever I started running, the EDC was a hot topic and there was all kinds of gossip and rumors about unethical people, but I’ve heard some recent things have happened and there’s a lot of things happening that look good and smell good, and I think other people recognize that too. But I think that we have a lot of good things going on right now and we need to move on from that and make sure that things will look good and smell good in the future, and if we don’t have a good explanation for it, then we should absolutely not do it, and I stand firmly by that.”
Amy Petroski: “I have managed to look at the budget that the city submitted, and there were two places on the budget where there was some extra money left and so I don’t see any shady business going on there. According to the EDC, I think they’re doing a good job, but like I said, it takes all of us to make this community the way we want it to be. I’m a firm believer that if I don’t see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears or I didn’t say it with my own mouth, I don’t believe it until the proof is in the pudding.”
Paul Searl: “Being on the commission for four years, I can tell you right now every one that I have been around and worked with at the EDC has been spot on with everything they’ve done to help us. We work closely with the EDC, in fact, the names are brought to us by the EDC where we vote them in. So they go through a pretty crucial vetting process and they go through a process to see if they’re qualified to be on the board. I have never seen anything done that was shady and I’ve been proud to be there with them in all of the projects we’ve got coming.”
