Pampa commission approves election order, public-safety grants, golf-cart lease and 6% manager raise

The Pampa City Commission approved a series of routine and public‑safety measures and finalized a salary increase for the city manager at its meeting.

The commission voted to enter a joint election agreement with the Pampa Independent School District to hold a joint May election and adopted Resolution R25‑005 formally calling the May 2025 general election to elect mayor and commissioners for Ward 1 and Ward 3, with early voting scheduled in April at the Pampa ISD administration building and Election Day at MK Brown. The commission approved the joint arrangement as a cost‑sharing measure.

The panel authorized submission of a grant application (Resolution R25‑006) for replacement rifle‑resistant vests and plate carriers. "The vests that we're looking at are about 70% lighter than what we currently have," Lieutenant Massey said, adding the current plates weigh about 24 pounds and the newer carriers would reduce that to about 6–8 pounds so officers could wear them on duty instead of having to don them from the patrol car. The resolution authorizes application for funding administered through the governor's office; Massey said there is no local match required for that grant and that the vests being replaced were purchased in 2018 and have a roughly five‑year service life.

The commission also authorized submission of an Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant project (Resolution R25‑007) to acquire an active‑attack training kit the department can use for recurring, shorter training sessions and to support the city’s school guardian training program. "Having our own kit will allow us to break these training units down into smaller couple‑hour sessions here and there throughout the year," Lieutenant Massey said, and he added the loaner kit from ALERT cannot be used to train the appointed school guardians. The total project cost was stated as $51,000, with a match requirement of $25,500 that will need to be addressed in later budget talks.

Separately, the commission approved Resolution R25‑008 to enter a five‑year lease‑purchase agreement with P and C Equipment Finance LLC to acquire 40 golf carts for the golf course. "This lease will cost about $60,000 a year to the course," Shane, a city staff member, said, noting the city previously moved to longer battery life by selecting lithium batteries and that replacing the fleet on a multi‑year schedule is the city’s practice.

On routine business the commission approved the minutes of the Jan. 27, 2025 regular meeting and excused the absence of Mayor de la Fevre from that meeting.

After convening into closed session in accordance with Texas Government Code Section 551.074 on personnel matters, the commission returned and approved a motion to increase the city manager’s salary by 6% effective immediately.

Votes at a glance: all formal motions on the published agenda carried by voice vote; specific roll‑call tallies were not specified in the meeting record.