On Monday July 13, the city commissioners held their first meeting of the month, beginning with a public hearing regarding the 2025 Consumer Confidence Report for the Pampa Municipal Water System and the water system at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Jordan and Baten Units to which Public Works Director Gary Turley addressed the commission.
“Every year we have to present what was found in the water and whatever internal testing they do themselves. The primary and secondary standards and the condition of the facilities is all part of the grade they give, and we’re back to our superior water system.”
With no further discussion, a motion was made to close the public hearing.
Next was a report on the Pampa Hometown Independence Day Celebration by Assistant City Manager Dustin Miller.
“This was year five for the event. It kind of started randomly five years ago-Cortnie and I had a discussion and I think it was her first year at the Chamber and we had no idea what we were doing. That year we met maybe in May to get going, but this year we met in January and we had a full house to start talking about this. The main thing this year was because it was America’s 250th, we wanted to do something special. So we had meetings monthly up to the month of, and in June we had bi-monthly meetings. We spend time preparing, and I know that Cortnie and I have faced you here a lot, but there’s so many people behind the scenes who make this happen and I think we need to acknowledge them as well.”
“This year it fell on a Saturday so we really didn’t know what that meant for this event. A lot of people were off on Friday for the holiday, so we didn’t know if people were going to leave town for the long weekend, or if it would balance out with people coming to town for the weekend. We started the day with our 5K run that the recreation department puts on. We had 135-ish participants which is the most we’ve had sign up for a 5K. The parade was right after that at 10 o’clock, Cortnie said that it was equal to the Christmas parade which is annually our largest parade we have in town. I do know that me and my family personally handed out 2,500 flags to people along the streets. We had a few left, but we ran out of time, not people.
“Things kicked off at the park with the veteran’s tribute, then right into our events with the hot dog eating contest, karaoke, and all of the other things we do out there. Cortnie confirmed with me that we had the most vendors and food trucks this year. Everything went great up until 5 o’clock. Troy probably got tired of me calling him and asking what we were going to do. Thunderheads started building up and would never get to us. We wanted it to get to us and over with, but it just stood outside of Pampa and the wind blew to the point where at 7 o’clock I called Troy and asked what are we going to do. Is this going to happen or not because it was getting rough. He said he had just gotten off the phone with the National Weather Service and they told us that it was going to lay down in about an hour and a half. I didn’t believe it because it had just been sitting there. Tents were folding and we were just throwing people in cars, and we told our special guest Terry Davis and his family to just pack up and told them to just get out of this mess. Sure enough about 8 o’clock, it was like it never even happened. It was the most beautiful evening, and we decided we were going to get people out of their cars and into the grass and did some family games for about an hour, and people started flocking back and we probably had the largest crowd we’ve ever had at that time of night and we ended with the fireworks show.
“So the city budget is annually $15,000 for our fireworks. Hunting for the last few years has donated around $7,000, and this year we went to Shane and said, ‘hey, this is America’s 250th, can we try to do a little more,’ and he approved it and we went up to $30,000 for the fireworks show with the intent of finding a donor to cover that expense, and fortunately we had one step up to cover it and I’ll let Cortnie talk about that here in a second. I just want to recognize all the city crews that step in: our police, our fire, the parks department, pretty much every division within the city plays a role in this event. It wouldn’t happen without those people. The first thing we do in every meeting is safety because it’s scary times we live in, and we want to make sure with that many people at one event that we’re safe. Chief Massey told me that was one of the smoothest events we’ve had in many years. Everything just went great. The fire department was available and right there and Troy stayed in contact with me. All in all it was a great day, and I would be amiss not to recognize the City Commission participating in the parade and moving people at the park. It was noted and commented how grateful people were to see you guys out there, so thank you.”
“Mayor and commissioners, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, we personally want to say thank you,” Cortnie said. “Thank you for your partnership, your trust, and your support of the Pampa Hometown Independence Day Celebration. This event truly is a community effort, and it would not be possible without the City of Pampa working alongside us every step of the way. From planning logistics to park preparations and street closures, public works, police, fire, EMS and your clean up crew, your teams plays an essential role in making this event a success.”
“I want to take a moment to recognize all of our sponsors: Google and Hunting came in alongside the City of Pampa for the biggest fireworks show. Hunting did $7,500 and Google actually underwrote the entire event this year. Intersect sponsored our stage and entertainment, Ace Hardware, Hall’s Heating & Air, Cabot, Malcolm Hinkle, Parkway Ford, Arrington Dental, Insurica, The Hype Salon, Pampa Regional Medical Center, Flogistix, Pathways to Independent Living, Xcel Energy, ATS Tree Service who handed out 500 free hot dogs and hamburgers, Whitney Insurance, Bill Allison Auto Sales, our duck race sponsor was Lonestar Home & Land Realty-if you experience a duck race at all, that is the one thing that gets the most people into businesses in town during the 4th of July event-the Teacher’s Credit Union sponsored those 2,500 flags that Dustin and his family handed out, Robert Douglas is always so generous to give us his trailer for a stage for the Coney Island hot dog and pie eating contest, as well as B&G and Parsley’s for the giant flag that greets our guests as they enter. Their investment and yours in our community helped create and unforgettable celebration.”
“This year’s event exceeded every expectation-the largest 5K, the largest parade, the largest vendor participation, and even after the weather forced people to leave the park for several hours, they came back and the early numbers show we still had over 10,000 people celebrating in Pampa with us. The response we’ve received has been overwhelming. People shared how proud they are of our community, how impressed they are with the event, and how incredible it was to witness in what many are calling the best fireworks show Pampa has ever seen. So thank you guys for that. The success belongs to all of us-to every volunteer, to every sponsor, to every city employee, first responder, vendor, and person who chose to spend their 4th of July in Pampa. Thank you for believing in this event, believing in our community, and helping us create memories that families will cherish for years to come. We are proud of what we accomplished together and we already are looking forward to next year.”
The next item on the agenda was a budget discussion on the Enterprise Funds and Special Revenue that was presented by Finance Director Theresa Daniels.
Next was to consider the minutes of the June 22, 2026 regular commission meeting, which was approved.
Next was to consider adopting on second and final reading Resolution No. R26-006, approving a project of the Pampa Economic Development Corporation with Cornerstone Shopping Center, LLC, to which PEDC Executive Director Ryan Bradley addressed the commission.
“This is something we’re very excited about. This will allow the mall to get out, we’ll fill out all the spots in there. They’ve even agreed to work on some of the landscaping in the parking lot. They are very engaged and committed to our community, so we’re very excited about this opportunity.”
“Have they ever mentioned product start date?” asked commissioner Jimmy Keough.
“Effectively, after this goes through, it will take about eight months to get everything going and running.”
“How does our funding work on that?” Mayor Mike asked.
“So the way this is going to work is once it’s approved, we are going to go through and get the contract all ironed out and the key points have already been discussed. It will be 80% up front, and then with 20% upon construction and completion, then it will be split in half. I know the total is $900,000, but it’s two tenants, so it will be $450,000 each. As they secure the tenant contracts, they will be separately funded. So we are not going to fund anything that is not already established and contracted.”
“Do you have an employee clause like we’ve had on others we’ve done?” commissioner Wendi Horst asked.
“No because this funding is with the parent of the LLC of the ownership of the mall, and that would be with the tenant that has the hiring requirements, so our requirement is that a business of equivalent size and hiring is always going to be in those tenant locations.”
“And their investment in this is $4 million?” Mayor Mike asked.
“Just north of five.”
With no further discussion, the resolution was approved.
Next was to consider adopting on the second and final reading Ordinance No. 1838, amending Chapter 1, Article 1.10-Special Events of the Code of Ordinances, which was approved.
Next was to consider adopting on the second and final reading Ordinance No. 1839, establishing Film Production Guidelines and Permits, which was approved.
Next was to consider increasing Special Event Permit fees, which was approved to increase to $50.
Next was to consider approving on first reading Ordinance No. 1840, providing a crosswalk at Pampa Regional Medical Center, to which Luke Raber addressed the commission.
“The hospital has now started utilizing the buildings on the south side of 30th, which is good to see because those buildings have been vacant for a while. They would like to put in a crosswalk because they transport people back and forth there, and so we can start enforcing some stuff there-get an ordinance in place, paint it, and put up signs to make it a legitimate crosswalk. They’ve already put in the sidewalks and ramps that was not on us, they covered the costs on their own. So to make it official, this is the next step.”
“Do you think it’s going to impede traffic a lot right there?” Mayor Mike asked.
“I think it’s going to be pretty rare for people to cross that, but it’s still going to happen. It will take some time for people to get adjusted, hence the signs and warnings.”
“People are already traversing back and forth. Their security personnel has to do checks around the property every so often, so there’s already traffic. This is just to make it a little safer for them,” Chief Brian Massey said.
“Will it affect the speed limit there at all?”
“It’s still a 30 mile per hour zone, so it shouldn’t be affected.”
“So if you see somebody approaching the crosswalk, you need to stop?”
“Correct.”
With no further discussion, the ordinance was approved.
The commission then went into an executive session, and upon returning with no further items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.
