Lubbock City Council Recap; Land Annexations Passed, Legislative Priorities Set

At their last regularly scheduled city council meeting of 2014, the Lubbock City Council finally voted on long-postponed land annexations and approved the city’s legislative agenda for 2015.

A divided council passed four individual second readings for land annexations all south of Lubbock, which means the new areas will now be incorporated into the municipality. The annexations in total encompass more than 774 acres and the land will be used largely for residential development. The items were postponed for many meetings because a full council was not present since the items reached their second reading. Council members Latrelle Joy and Floyd Price dissented on three annexation parcels situated south of 130th Street. Council man Victor Hernandez dissented to all four including one parcel situated east of Frankford Avenue and south of 114th Street.

Some concerns had been raised by council members in previous meetings about the annexations including the extension of services such as water and the risk of spreading emergency services too thin. Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson said he believed the vote made by himself and council members showed a confidence in the city’s ability to provide those services.

Council members also unanimously voted to change the scope of a recent budget amendment concerning the new police department facility allowing more work to be done to prepare the current City Hall and Citizens Tower for restructuring of city departments. The project still has the same amount of money allocated ($10.2 million) but the money can now be used in a broader context.

At the end of their meeting, council members discussed the city’s legislative priorities at the state level for the coming year. Lubbock has six basic legislative priorities which include: the opposition to any legislation that erodes the city’s decision making powers, inhibits the city’s ability to raise revenue to conduct business, and any mandates, state or federal, that do not provide for a commensurate level of compensation.

The city council will reconvene again in 2015.