Lubbock City Council Members Discuss Purchase of Omni Building and Changes to Stormwater Rates in Executive Session

During their executive session, Lubbock City Council Members discussed changes to stormwater rates and the purchase of the Omni Building.

The Thursday, August 14 meeting continued discussions for the city to acquire the defunct unoccupied Omni Building located in downtown Lubbock. Councilman Victor Hernandez had placed a resolution on the regular public agenda to execute a contract to remove outer features of the building but removed it due to progress with the purchase during the executive session.

Council Members also discussed potential changes to stormwater rates including the impact on the budget for the 2014-2015 Fiscal Year. If the changes are enacted they will be instated at the beginning of 2015, said Mayor Glen Robertson. Under the proposed changes, smaller households would pay a monthly rate of around $8.80. Larger homes could be charged up to $25 per month and businesses would start at $25 a month per 5,700 square feet.

Recently KFYO has reported about a number of water issues including the listing of certain minnows as endangered in waters in the South Plains area, a Texas Tech researcher announcing findings that there is potentially only 15 years of usable water from the Ogallala Aquifer, and the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District recently updated their rules and management plan.

Mayor Glen Robertson commented that Lubbock does not currently source from any waters containing the endangered species, but that the city has previously looked into using those sources far in the future. Robertson also commented on the usage of water from the Ogallala Aquifer.

“We do know the Ogallala is declining and unless we change our usage and unless rain patterns change, it will continue to decline,” Said Robertson.“The majority of Lubbock’s water supply does not come from the Ogallala, which is good news, but the bad news is that, all of our surrounding area does – agriculture and small communities – so it will have a giant impact on all of West Texas.”

Although the city is facing many water issues, the July Monthly Water Use report indicated that Lubbock is currently consuming much less water than in the past five years.