No vote on ODC board

Odessa Mayor Larry Melton was prepared to call Tuesday’s city council meeting into closed session, but was tapped on the shoulder to be told there wouldn’t be a discussion of a spot on the Odessa Development Corp. board this evening.

Councilman Benjamin Velasquez said he was taking the nomination of optometrist Dr. Russell Subia off the agenda because Subia was still grieving over Thursday’s death of his father, Francisco Subia.

After the meeting, Velasquez said he wasn’t sure if Subia’s appointment would be on the agenda for council’s next meeting, scheduled for July 28.

“It’s going to be up to Dr. Subia,” he said. “Right now he’s emotionally under.

“He’s going to take some time to think about it and see if he still wants to be on the board.”

Subia was to be Velasquez’s second nominee to the board. His first, banker and community organizer Art Leal, withdrew his name less than two weeks after council rejected his nomination at its June 23 meeting.

The position is currently held by Jim Breaux, owner of Pemco, a well service unit manufacture and repair company. Breaux, who filled the unexpired term of Bob Glast, has continued to serve after the expiration of his term May 31.

Even without the extra discussion, the meeting’s hour-and-a-half running time was more than an hour longer than usual. That was largely due to requests for up to $5.7 million in hotel-motel tax funds from outside agencies to use in tourism-related events. Representatives from each of 21 agencies had up to three minutes each to make their pitch.

In the end, council awarded $2,233,400 out of a requested $2,397,000.

The most money went to the Odessa Convention and Visitors Bureau, which got every one of the $865,232 it requested.

The smallest request could actually bring the most visitors. Diamond Lanes general manager John Burns said the 2011 women’s state bowling tournament he’s bidding on could bring in between 35,000 and 40,000 people to Odessa and Midland over three months.

Burns requested and received $6,000.

While three requests from the Odessa Parks Department all ended up getting all their requested money — for a total of over $300,000 — one ended up being the most controversial request of the night.

Velasquez, along with councilmen Bill Cleaver and Royce Bodiford, voted to give the new Fall Fun Festival, which will be held around Halloween in McKinney Park, a total of $122,301. But councilmen Dean Combs and James Goates proposed giving it nothing, the only time during the evening anyone proposed no funding for an event.

Combs said after the meeting that the event was too close to the Starbright Village Christmas event, also in McKinney Park. He and Goates both voted to give that event the full $121,991 it requested.

“I feel like (Halloween has) been a tradition for the churches and other groups,” he said. “I also feel it overworks our parks department.”

But parks director Steve Patton said he works to have some lights put up for both events at the same time and that the Halloween display wouldn’t be as elaborate or expansive as Starbright Village.

The parks department also received $100,000 toward marketing at Ratliff Ranch Golf Links. Patton said the money would allow the city to advertise the course all over West Texas and Southeast New Mexico.

In other action, council approved:

>> Naming a new $350,000 skateboard park in Sherwood Park the Ruben Pier Memorial Skate Park.

>> An interlocal agreement to apply for Justice Assistance Grant funds with Ector County.

>> Matching $13,225 toward a bulletproof vest grant program.

>> Annual maintenance for Tiburon public safety software for $95,319.

>> Second and final approval to change speed limits due to recent annexations and remove parking restrictions on Van Street at Blackstone. It would also add two new EZ Rider bus stops in the downtown area.

>> Separate lease agreements to allow State Rep. Tryon Lewis and the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to lease office space at Municipal Plaza.

>> An application for $1.5 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds.

>> Purchasing solid waste side-load refuse containers for $194,925.

>> A public hearing on zoning for planned development housing for 17.5 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection of East Loop 338 and Grandview Avenue.

>> A public hearing on a zoning change to light industrial for an area east of the intersection of Interstate 20 and West County Road to allow for expansion of Love’s Truck Stop.

>> The board of survey’s order to remove a structure at 700 E. 36th St.

>> The removal of a traffic signal at Fifth Street and Washington Avenue because Medical Center Hospital is buying the adjacent street and it no longer meets the necessary warrants for signalization. The city plans to convert it to an all-way stop.

>> An oil and gas lease between the city and Devon Energy Production Co.

>> A memorandum of understanding between the city of Odessa and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to provide city water to residents in a state superfund area near the intersection of 48th Street and Andrews Highway.

Hotel-motel tax fund requests        Requested amount          Approved amount

>> Black Cultural Council              $50,000                         $30,000

>> Colores Productions (Fiesta West Texas) $50,000          $20,000

>> Commemorative Air Force (Airsho)  $100,000                 $50,000

>> Odessa Convention and Visitors Bureau $865,232           $865,232

>> Diamond Lanes                         $6,000                           $6,000

>> Friends of Ector Theatre            $30,000                         $30,000

>> Heritage Holiday                        $50,000                         $40,000

>> Main Street Odessa                    $78,600                         $75,000

>> Odessa Council for the Arts & Humanities  $419,919       $419,919

>> Odessa Jackalopes hockey        $100,000                       $50,000

>> Odessa Parks Dept.

      >> Fall Fun Festival:                  $122,301                       $122,301

      >> Ratliff Ranch Golf Course    $100,000                       $100,000

      >> Starbright Village                  $121,991                      $121,991

>> Odessa Roughnecks football       $40,000                        $40,000

>> Permian Basin Fair and Exposition  $75,000                    $75,000

>> Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo  $68,000                     $68,000

>> Southwest Shakespeare Festival     $24,000                     $24,000

>> Texas Association for Local Housing Finance Agencies $10,000        $10,000

>> West Texas Track Club                $20,000                       $20,000

>> Ector County Coliseum               $50,000                       $50,000

>> Administrative costs/ audit fees    $15,957                       $15,957