During the Levelland City Council’s regular meeting Monday, the group approved an amendment for their planned airport project and also approved a resolution with SPCAA (South Plains Community Action Association).
Considering the amendment for the agreement between TxDOT Aviation and the City of Levelland, the City has been notified by TxDOT Aviation that the fees for the Levelland Airport Layout Project have been reduced, including our cost share. The city and county cost share are $19,930 or $9,965 each. The funds will come from the Airport Royalties Fund.
City Manager James Fisher noted that the Council approved a resolution last fall for the project. At that time, TxDOT Aviation informed the City they were eligible for a grant, 90-10 match, for the project. The last plan was conducted over 20 years ago.
The intent of the new plan will provide valuable information for the future development of the airport, demand, capacity, and facility requirements, a capital improvement plan, recommendations and an evaluation.
Fisher explained that the airport is very underutilized and could be a strong tool in the economic development efforts and a stronger asset to the community.
During Monday’s presentation, Fisher stated TxDOT Aviation notified the City this past week on the selection of the engineering and negotiation fees that actually went down a few thousands of dollars in addition to the amount of funds needed to meet the grant match.
“Somehow when the price went down and our match went down 50%,” said Fisher. “It was kind of bizarre, but we’ll take it. Any reduction is a good thing.”
Fisher added that the approval in the amendment is solely for a reduction in the fees. He also stated the match went from almost $40,000 down to roughly $20,000.
The Council approved the amendment with little discussion following the presentation of the item.
The Council was presented Resolution 2025-11 declaring support for the SPCAA.
SPCAA requested the City pass a resolution in support of the association, which has served the citizens of our area since 1965. As current Federal budget proposals seek to reduce or eliminate funding for many of their most important programs.
Presenting the item to the Council, City Secretary Andrea Corley added that their service to the community has included (but is not limited to) health care, transportation, education, employment and training, elderly services, children’s services, housing, utility assistance, veterans and weatherization assistance.
Corley added that the resolution lets legislators know how important continued funding for the programs administered by the SPCAA is to the community.
SPCAA Communications Director, Samantha Mendoza provided additional information to the Council and those in attendance.
The SPCAA is a non-profit organization that aids in over 100 counties across Texas. Throughout all their programs they are focused on enabling people to achieve self-sufficiency and escape poverty by providing them with the resources to achieve that goal. They aid job training, education and tuition assistance, childcare, transportation, health services and much more.
“Headquartered right here in Levelland, we offer a variety of different services as our motto is very simple, ‘helping people, changing lives’,” said Mendoza. Every single service that we offer aims to achieve that motto and achieve that goal.”
SPCAA has been working on a community impact report which compiles important data for what the non-profit calls their 14 core counties. While servicing over 100 counties, the 14 core counties are the rural counties surrounding the City of Lubbock.
“We consider those in the rural South Plains in those counties to be our specialty or our bread and butter,” explained Mendoza.
Mendoza referenced community impact reports which were made available to the Council. She also noted that the data provided is also available on the SPCAA website. Included information are the current programs available. Those include: energy/utility assistance, Head Start, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), Health Insurance Navigator Program, Transition Out of Poverty (TOP) Program, child care services, Workforce Solutions, weatherization assistance, Senior Companion Program, Project CHAMPS, SPARTAN Transportation, Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), income tax prep assistance, HOME Housing Program, Section 8 Housing and Multi-Family Housing Rental Program.
According to the SPCAA, the organization spent over $414,000 in utility assistance for families in Hockley County just in 2024. Additionally, the SCPAA spent over $127,000 on snacks and meals for Head Start students in Hockley County. In 2024, SPCAA spent nearly $400,000 in their Head Start partnership with Levelland ISD, this includes teacher salaries. In the same year, 177 children in Levelland relied on Head Start for early childhood education, health services and family support. The SPCAA is also part of the Magnificent Children Program, it is their largest program serving 24,000 people. This program is a USDA program in which the government subsidizes a lot of different foods.
Currently, there are 134 active SPCAA employees in Hockley County and in 2024 payroll paid over $3.7 million in wages. SPCAA also paid over $250,000 towards workforce participant support and assistance in Hockley County in 2024. Mendoza noted that the funding process is different for nonprofits as a majority of their funding comes from the federal and state level. The very first step in the process is the Congressional Budget. Every year Congress meets, and they go over the budget to allocate different dollars to different departments. It’s a very lengthy process; they go back-and-forth with different revisions and eventually the budget gets voted on then finalized. From there those dollars get allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services Department of Transportation then gets filtered down to the states. There’s a couple more stops along the way depending on the program, but eventually the money finds its way to SPCAA.
“I think it’s really important for those individuals who might not know what the funding process looks like for SPCAA to know what goes into it,” said Mendoza. “Looking at some of the important data here with the community impact report specific to Hockley County, we just want to make sure that we’re doing our due diligence and reaching out to our local elected officials. We want them to know what’s at stake, what’s at risk and the impact that we’ve had in your community.”
Circling back to the proposed resolution Mendoza stated, “the hope is that these resolutions and letters of support allow us to be a voice or a champion for rural South Plains, rural communities and cities like the City of Levelland.”
Following Mendoza’s comments, the Council unanimously approved the resolution.
The Council also approved the seventh payment request from Ameresco in the amount of $359,792.74 for the water meter project pursuant to the contract approved between the City and Ameresco in October 2024. This is approximately 91% complete.