City Council to consider spending $7.2 million – The Amarillo Pioneer

The Amarillo City Council is expected to consider spending totaling more than $7.2 million at its June 11 regular meeting, including renewal of insurance coverage, a change to the North Sanitary Sewer Intercept Project -est and several items initially listed on the agenda for their last meeting on May 28.

The largest expenditure item on the agenda is the renewal of several insurance lines for the city, amounting to $4,441,938. According to a memo published by the city, this includes inland navigation (rare books), professional liability (medical malpractice), cyber liability, public official liability, law enforcement liability, property, boilers and machinery, AFD’s fire fleet – physical damage to automobiles, and fiduciary liability. This amount should go to USI Southwest, Inc.

The second largest expense item is a modification to the Northeast Sanitary Sewer Interceptor project, which includes an additional $1,406,065.95 to be paid to SJ Louis Construction of Texas, LTD., bringing the total cost of the project at nearly $72.7 million. Additions to the contract, according to the city, are expected to include “an extension of the tunnel length of eight utility crossings along the sanitary sewer interceptor and adjustments to the alignment of the interceptor due to conditions unknown to the site. This amount is financed by water and sewer operating revenues and sewer bond revenues.

The first of these is a $113,747.35 renewal for maintenance of document and records management software with OpenText. According to Mayor Cole Stanley, the topic was not ready for a vote at the last council meeting, where it was pushed back to the June 11 meeting.

The second is a $156,000 contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to design an inclusive playground at Thompson Park. The bid evaluation sheet included in the May 28 meeting agenda contained only the evaluation of one employee participating in the evaluation process, and not the full summary of the evaluation. This item was deferred until the June 11 meeting at the request of Interim City Manager Floyd Hartman.

The final item pushed back from the May 28 meeting is a $118,036.01 change order to expand the scope of improvements being made to Hodgetown by Western Builders. At the May 28 meeting, the council requested more clarity on the nature of the additional items before voting on this item. Just under half of the cost of the change order will be paid by Elmore Sports Group. If approved, the overall cost of the upgrades will be more than $4.7 million.

The meeting will also likely see votes on several high-profile items. The council is expected to vote on the sanctuary city ordinance for the unborn. If the item fails, the council will likely then place it on the November general election ballot.

Additionally, the council could vote to approve an employment contract to officially hire Grayson Path as the new city manager, although that will depend on negotiations with Path concluding on time.

Other items on the agenda include approving the new comprehensive plan, setting a date for a public hearing on the annexation of 100 acres of land near Interstate 40 and Helium Road, and sale of property on Grant Street.

The council will also receive an update on the Ports-to-Plains Interstate 27 expansion project and discuss the “potential acquisition of outside legal consulting services for the City Council.”

The meeting will begin at 3 p.m. and will be held on the third floor of Amarillo City Hall. The full agenda and agenda file can be viewed at this link. A summary of all expense items is included below.