City staff told the Odessa City Council at a Nov. 25 workshop that the Odessa Development Corporation will present two separate items for council consideration: a facade and infrastructure grant for Tiny Footprints LLC and a performance agreement to support a new civil‑engineering program at the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB).

David (city staff) said Dr. Hector Garcia Garcia, operating as Tiny Footprints, plans to open a pediatric clinic at 310 Dotsie (the former Evans Pharmacy). "He’s going to spend over $225,000 for facade and infrastructure improvements," David said, and that the applicant qualifies for a $25,000 facade grant and $66,312.50 in infrastructure assistance, a package of roughly $91,312.50. David said the final agreement will be presented for council approval at the next regular meeting.

On a separate agenda item, David described a proposed Odessa Development Corporation performance agreement to support UTPB’s new civil‑engineering baccalaureate program. He said UTPB has asked the development corporations for a $2,000,000 contribution while planning to spend more than $6,000,000 to launch the program. "They’ll start out with 10 students to graduate and ultimately that number ratchets up to 60 over 5 years," David said, and staff expects Midland Development Corporation to contribute a like amount.

UTPB representative Doctor Woodley answered council questions about internships and program scale. Woodley said UTPB already runs internship programs and will "actively make sure as our civil engineering students make their way through that we prioritize the city engineering internship program." She said the civil program is a four‑year baccalaureate; UTPB currently has about 10 students in the early pipeline and is targeting growth to roughly 50 graduates per year over time.

Why it matters: city staff framed both items as economic and workforce investments. The facade grant aims to improve a vacant downtown storefront and support a local physician’s private clinic; the UTPB funding request is positioned as a multi‑year workforce pipeline intended to retain engineering graduates in the region.

Next steps: staff said the Tiny Footprints agreement will be brought back for approval at the council’s next meeting; the proposed ODC–UTPB performance agreement will also return for formal council action and any required intergovernmental or budget approvals.