On Monday, May 12, Wendi Miller Horst and Jimmy Keough were sworn in as City Commissioner Ward 1 and City Commissioner Ward 3, respectively, with Wendi sitting in as Mayor Pro Tem on her first day on the job.
The meeting began with a public forum where a Pampa resident, Ms. Miller, expressed her frustration and concern with the busted water lines and flooding that has occurred on her street.
“We have an issue going on down there (Wilcox Street)-when my water lines broke two months ago when everything froze up, we had the City come out and they said that the middle of the street had broken lines,” she said. “They said the street down on Fields had broken lines. Well I repaired my broken lines, but I still can’t get out into the street. My mail has been stopped, I’m unable to take care of the street by myself. I have put six loads of dirt and three tons of rock-I had a man from transportation come by my house the other day and I was telling him about the problem. He said, ‘that’s not my problem, that’s the city’s problem.’ We need help down there because we still have water and because it’s nice and warm out there, we now have a lake. When someone takes a bulldozer down Fields, he leaves those big grooves of mud up and down, but nothing is getting repaired down there. I can’t get in and out of my property most of the time. I’m 73 and on disability-I can’t keep fixing the street. We need help down there.”
After the public forum, Paul Searl passed the torch with the passing of the Resolution No. R25-013, canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the May 3, 2025 election.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City of Pampa for its trust in me in the last four years and for this commission that I’ve been on,” Paul said. “We’ve worked well together and they are genuine, stand up guys. I want to thank Shane, Barbara, and Theresa for all your help with the process of the budget. I’ve learned a lot in my last four years here, and the job is an honorable job and I appreciate all the help I’ve gotten from the staff. Who knows, you may see me again in four years!”
Next on the agenda was to consider approving the minutes of the April 28, 2025 Public Hearing and Regular Commission Meeting and excusing the absence of Mayor Lance DeFever from that meeting; both were approved.
Next was to consider adopting on the second and final reading Ordinance No. 1820, amending the revenues and appropriations for the support of the City of Pampa for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2024 and ending September 30, 2025, which was approved.
Next was to consider authorizing the City Manager to enter into a Lease Agreement with Gray County 4H for the Hereford Breeder’s Barn, for which a few attendees spoke on the importance of the agreement.
“This is my daughter Makenzie Cambern and I’m Zach Cambern, and there’s three of us out there-Mr. Zach Greer and Justin and we pretty much take care of what’s going on inside the barn and the upkeep and things like that. We just wanted to say we appreciate it and we are thankful. There’s a lot of kids that have an opportunity to do this and without that barn, they wouldn’t have this opportunity.”
“I’m just really thankful because it has given me a really great work ethic and I think it’s going to stay with me in my jobs to come. I’m just really thankful to have the opportunity to have a barn like that out there,” Makenzie said.
“This agreement started several years ago and there’s no fees or charges,” City Manager Shane Stokes said. “The agreement was if they took care of the place, there would be no fees, and they’ve done a great job of cleaning and taking care of the place. It’s really a great agreement.”
“I am the Administrative Assistant for Gray County 4-H and also the Swine Project Leader, and my daughter starting housing her pigs in Pampa in 2018,” said another attendee. “I also wanted to speak for these families who utilize this facility-if it weren’t for the facility, we wouldn’t have as many kids be able to participate in the interest they have with the animals. So thank you very much.”
Next items on the agenda were to adopt Resolution No. R25-014, calling a Runoff Election for Saturday, June 7, 2025 and to appoint Barbara Stucker as the Election Judge; both were approved.
“So as you know we had our general election on May 3, and we had four candidates for mayor and none of those received over 50% of the vote to be elected,” Barbara said. “So we will have a runoff that is set by the Secretary of State that will be on June 7 for the top two candidates that received the most votes, which is Jimmy Chaney and Mike Borger. Early voting will be here at City Hall May 27 through June 3 on weekdays 8 AM to 5 PM, and the election will also take place here at City Hall on June 7 from 7 AM to 7 PM. Voting will be in Room 202.”
“In order to save on the City budget, we are going to staff the election with City staff, so that’s going to take a big chunk of the cost down for us.”
Next item was to adopt Resolution No. R25-015, authorizing an Advanced Funding Agreement with Texas Department of Transportation for maintenance of railroad crossing approaches, which was approved.
“TxDOT is going to come in and put new signs up, but then we will be responsible for maintaining the painting and the signs moving forward,” said Public Works Director, Gary Turley.
Next items were to award the bid by Parsley’s Roofing for the Retrofit Roof Project and the bid by Carter Sand and Gravel for the Brick Valley Project; both were approved.
“Last week on Thursday we received five bids for replacing and retrofitting three of our roofs here in the city-City Hall, M.K. Brown Auditorium, and the armory building we use for activities,” Luke said. “This isn’t a complete replacement, but what they do now is retrofitting where we clear stuff off, put down new TPO and seal it back up again. Out of the five bidders, Parsley’s was the low bidder which thankfully is under our budget which is where we like to be, so we request Parsley’s to take on that project.”
“Last week on the same day, we received two bids for the placing of four brick valleys here in downtown. There’s a lot of deteriorating and water isn’t draining very well. We received a grant to do four of those, and we recommend Carter Sand and Gravel who was the lowest bidder out of the two.”
Next on the agenda was to authorize the City Manager to enter into a Professional Services Agreement with Jacob’s Engineering for Intersect Data Center Water Supply and Wastewater Conveyance Feasibility Study, which was approved.
“So Intersect has approached us to just do a feasibility water study for their location east of town to see if it even has the capability to provide the water and the sewer they would need for their domestic use out there,” Gary said.
“I would also add that this says data center on there, but we don’t actually know what their intentions are at this point,” Shane said. “This is just a 5,000 foot view of the feasibility study to see if there’s adequate water to get to them.”
Next item was to approve the Interlocal Cooperative Agreement with Gray County for subdivision regulations within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Pampa and authorize the Mayor Pro Tem to execute, which was approved.
“In 2022, Gray County implemented a set of subdivision rules for the county and with anticipated growth, they’re starting to realize that they don’t have the resources to enforce that,” Shane said. “They don’t have an engineer, they don’t have a code official, they don’t have plan review, so they approached the city about enforcing its subdivision rules for the ETJ which is one mile outside of the city limits. We have come to this agreement and it’s a three-year agreement and after the first year, we would evaluate the cost and basically record all costs during that first year and see what that is-up to a max of $35,000 and the county will directly reimburse us for those costs. After one year, we will look how the ‘pilot’ year went and then we will discuss the fee going forward. Obviously the city as invested in the ETJ because that is property that would be annexed during annexation, so we want our subdivision rules to be enforced and we want people to do things the right way. The county is the same way-the want things to be done the right way in the unincorporated areas of the county so you don’t have substandard construction and not meeting code, etc. We’re supporting this agreement. I want to thank Bryan and Josh, they did the lion’s share of the work on this and got it through the finish line. I think this is a good agreement for the city and the county.”
The commission then went into an executive meeting, and returned to cover the last item on the agenda, which was to authorize the City Manager to enter a Release Agreement with BNSF Railway Company, which was approved and the meeting was concluded.
