City moves closer to management contract

The City of Clarendon took another step toward contracting with the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission for city administration services last week.

A committee composed of Mayor Tex Selvidge and Alderman Smiley Johnson will work with the (PRPC) to come up with a plan and schedule of completion for city improvements.

The formation of the committee follows a called session of the board last Monday, October 23, in which the aldermen held talks with PRPC representatives Gary Pitner, Jarrett Atkinson, and Colby Waters.

Atkinson said the commission has been offering city management services for about 1½ years. Bovina was the first city to contract with the PRPC, and they have found the service so useful they are now seeking a full time city manager, he said.

“We were initially hired in Bovina to develop personnel policies,” he said. “Now we’ve basically worked ourselves out of a job.”

Under the proposed agreement, the city would contract with the commission to have a PRPC employee serve as a part-time City Administrator for an estimated $32,539 per year. The Board of Aldermen would still set policy for the city and oversee the city administrator. The city administrator would oversee daily operations of the city including the areas of personnel and business and financial matters.

The administrator would be in Clarendon two days a week and would do a lot of work over the phone.

“Business still goes on when the [administrator] is not there,” Atkinson said.

The aldermen would also outline specific goals to be achieved by the administrator.

Colby Waters is the man most likely to serve that position. The Pampa native is currently serving Bovina and is familiar with Clarendon having gone to Greenbelt Lake many times growing up.

Waters said the city administrator position can take some of the work load off city employees and can benefit citizens also.

“This position gives the city one person to come to instead of going to all the [aldermen] individually,” Waters said.

Aldermen see several benefits to contracting with the PRPC. They say it gives the city the chance to see if an administrator is useful to Clarendon without getting involved in a hiring process or making a longterm commitment to someone. The contract is paid on a monthly basis, and the city can cancel the agreement at anytime.

“We just want to have the best for the people of Clarendon,” said Alderman Billy Jack Land.

Mayor Selvidge echoed Land’s comments and praised City Secretary Janice Barbee and City Superintendent Jim Roberts saying, “I don’t know what we would do without them.”

Aldermen Mac Stavenhagen agreed and said both Barbee and Roberts should be included in setting goals for the city administrator.

The money for an administrator is already in the current city budget.

In other city news, the board held its regular meeting on October 24. The 1999-2000 city audit was discussed, and the board voted to have Gordon Maddox conduct the audit. The aldermen also discussed the old TxDOT building and set up a time to look at the facility.