Lubbock City Council Approves Pay Increases, Power Plan Committee
At Thursday evening’s Lubbock City Council meeting, the Council approved raises for three City employees.
The Council approved raises for Lubbock City Manager James Loomis, Interim City Attorney Mitchell Satterwhite, and City Secretary Rebecca Garza.
The Council approved the pay increases retroactively, beginning from February 1st of this year.
They raised Loomis’ annual salary to $235,000, below the originally proposed $250,000. Only District Three Councilman Todd Klein voted against the increase. He was previously being paid an annual salary of $205,000.
Satterwhite’s salary has been increased by $3,597 per month during the period that he serves as interim city attorney in City Attorney Sam Medina’s absence. His current salary is $143,832.
Under the memorandum of understanding approved by the Council, when Satterwhite ceases to serve as interim city attorney, his salary will increase to $162,136 for the position which he held prior to Medina’s leave of absence.
City Secretary Becky Garza’s salary was increased to $135,000 from her previous $101,526. The increase was lower than the originally recommended $139,000. The Council approved the item 5-2, with Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson and Klein dissenting.
The Council also approved a settlement with the parents of an 18-year-old man killed in a crash with a City of Lubbock vehicle.
The $250,000 settlement was approved for the parents of Jared Samuel Trengrove, who collided with a City of Lubbock truck on September 6th at 81st Street and Indiana Avenue.
The Council also approved a resolution recommended by Robertson, which establishes a Power Plan Committee to analyze all potential sources of electrical power generation for the next 100 years, including alternative and renewable sources.
The committee would be created by City Manager James Loomis. It was approved 4-3, with District One Councilman Victor Hernandez, District Two Councilman Floyd Price, and District Six Councilwoman Latrelle Joy voting against the measure.
The Council also approved the creation of a Veterans Advisory Committee to study and make recommendations to the City Council regarding benefits, services, and assistance for Lubbock veterans. The measure passed with unanimous support.
Also approved by the Council is a resolution authorizing the publication of Notices of Intention to issue Tax and Waterworks system surplus revenue certificates of obligation and electric light and power system revenue bonds.
The Tax and Waterworks certificates of obligation will not exceed $80 million, and will include projects for airport runway construction, parks and recreation improvements, street maintenance, sign upgrades, wastewater and water system upgrades. The expected cost of all the projects is nearly $71,839,000.
The electric light and power system revenue bonds will not exceed $23 million, and will include projects for substation land acquisition, transmission loops, line reconductoring, and outage systems.
More information on Thursday’s City Council meeting can be found on the City’s website here.