As the City of Levelland closes out the calendar year, City Manager James Fisher touched on various aspects the municipality has handled and what the future could possibly hold for the city.
Turnover has become a topic of discussion from the public in regard to administration and recently city staff in various departments.
Fisher explained that in any organization once new leadership is in place turnover can be a result.
“I think this happens in any organization when you get new leadership. Throughout the organization, Levelland has had a lot of turnover regarding administration and leadership,” said Fisher. “When I came on board, the Council asked me to provide stability, provide some leadership and get us where we are at.”
Fisher added that his previous comments have not changed in terms of the goal for the city, making the City of Levelland the preferred city of the South Plains.
“With working to obtain that goal, expectations and accountability rises,” said Fisher. “We have great employees here, but we also hold our employees to a higher standard because we are asking them to exceed the expectations of our citizens.”
Even with everyone involved working toward that goal every day, Fisher says turnover can be inevitable sometimes. At times that may be an employee finding a better opportunity elsewhere or an individual being encouraged to move on.
“Our employees are our greatest resource, we invest heavily in them but when you invest heavily in them you also have greater expectations of them,” said Fisher.”
Another item of discussion amongst the public has been the current state of the animal shelter. Frustrations have been shared on social media from community members and during public comment during Council meetings.
“I know people are frustrated,” said Fisher. “I am frustrated and staff within the animal shelter are frustrated.”
The plan moving forward is animal services will remain under the police department but will have a separate budget. Once a police chief is brought in, Fisher hopes to start soliciting proposals in November for a feasibility study for animal services.
“The feasibility study for animal services will look at our existing shelter operations, see how we are doing it and what we need to do better,” explained Fisher. “In terms of looking at building a new facility, I think most of us are in agreement we do need to build one.”
The study will take a deeper look into size, location and necessary staff to appropriately handle animal service responsibilities.
“I have been dealing with the animal services since I got here,” said Fisher. I have visited with folks that have been dealing with this for a number of years and I know they’re frustrated. Animal services is one of the most challenging operations in every city.”
Fisher added that a better job needs to be done in terms of rescuing and adopting.
“We have stubbed our toe more than once in that area, but we have to keep getting better,” added Fisher. “I know in some people’s minds we are not trying hard enough, but we are honestly trying. There’s probably not a day that goes by that I’m not asking what we are doing and how we are doing it.”
In the same conversation, Fisher hopes to announce a new police chief in the coming week or so depending on final meetings. The finalist has been determined. However, the candidate still has to accept the position, and the individual could be in place by the first part of December if there are no issues.
Additionally, the search for a fire chief is expected to be underway soon.
Moving forward, the municipality will continue investing in the community in several different aspects to improve the future of Levelland “Lubbock is growing, the South Plains area is growing and for us to do the same we need to invest into our city,” said Fisher. “If we want to bring more people here to establish roots, we have to be willing to invest. We are looking at what we can be doing better.”
On the other side of the coin, Fisher explained that growth for the city does not mean leaving its current citizens behind. While investing in the overall growth of the city, he added those projects or improvements will benefit those who already reside within the city.
“Those who may feel that way make a valid point. When you do economic development or you are looking at community development, we always talk about the new stuff but the other side of that is figuring out how we reinvest in what we have now,” explained Fisher. “We’re having those discussions regarding our current neighborhoods and what we can do to help them get even better.”
Hearing comments about the city spending money, Fisher stated he is one of the most conservative individuals. However, investing into the city is something that has to be done.
While understanding that community members may highlight property taxes being too high and should be the solution, Fisher explained that the city brings in roughly $3 million in property taxes, but that amount does not cover the general administration, police department, fire department and parks department.
We have to invest in our city,” said Fisher. “We have to take care of a multimillion-dollar water system, the wastewater system and streets. It costs money to take care of those things.”
Fisher’s answer revolves around strengthening the local economy and to get more sales tax to keep operations going as he feels the necessary mechanisms are in place such as sales tax to help keep property taxes in check.
“I know times are hard. We have all seen it over the last few years that the economy has gotten crazy, but that does not mean that we just ignore daily maintenance operations or even long-term operations,” said Fisher. “We have all seen what happens when you ignore maintenance, it gets more expensive. The little thing becomes a big thing and that is also why we are trying to plan.”
Fisher says he understands growth can be hard for many.
“I have managed high growth communities which included two of them having a 500% growth rate,” said Fisher. “The thing about growth is if you are not ready for it and if you’re not anticipating, it will run you over.”
While that growth may come down the road, losing the fundamentals that makeup the community of Levelland is not the goal.
“People are scared of growth because they do not want to lose our small-town feel,” explained Fisher. “The way you lose it is if you do not anticipate it. If you are prepared for it then you can balance that growth with the core fundamentals of your community and what makes your community special.”
To keep those qualities, Fisher emphasized proper planning before making. With an infrastructure plan already conducted for the city, the hope for staff is to have extensive talks about how each area that needs work can be addressed and how it can be completed.
“We are going to be meeting in our strategic retreat to look at that infrastructure plan to see how we get that implemented,” said Fisher. “We cannot do it all at one time, but we have got to do little things because the longer we hold off on things the worse the conditions get for streets, water lines and sewer. When things get to a poor condition then it costs even more to repair and replace items.”
With the City of Levelland quickly approaching its centennial celebration, the flip side of that coin is that a lot of the infrastructure is as old as the city. “Planning is essential. You have to look down the road and say what kind of city do we want to be,” explained Fisher. “The most important question that doesn’t get asked is what is it going to cost to maintain whatever project once it is completed.”
In planning and moving along in the pursuit of making the City of Levelland the preferred city of the South Plains, Fisher is eager to hear from the community. Beginning in December, Fisher plans to visit with community members regarding any concerns, issues or questions one might have.
At the same time, a small portion of that gathering will be used to provide more information about what the city is doing or might have plans for.
“There are so many opportunities for the City of Levelland and a majority of key things we need to grow are already here,” said Fisher. “We have a community that cares, a great community college in South Plains College, two industries in Oil and Agriculture and a great school district in Levelland ISD.”
Fisher hopes to bring all organizations and entities together for discussions on how all groups can move forward in a positive direction and establish positive relationships with one another in the future.
“There is no reason why we cannot all be moving forward together,” said Fisher. “If we can all sit down together and see where everyone is at and where they want to be, I think we can create a lot of opportunities for the community of Levelland.”
Looking at the back end of 2024, the City has worked to fill vacant administrative openings. Cynthia Sanchez has joined the staff as the new finance director while Margo Garcia has joined the staff as the new human resource director.
Projects completed included a seal coat of roughly 160,000 yards of city streets, the beginning of engineering work on the new wastewater treatment plant, approval by TxDOT Aviation for a $2 million dollar airport lighting project, the construction of a new landfill cell for $600,000 and the order of a new fire department brush truck per the TFS Grant acceptance.
With the animal services study and infrastructure planning, additional items planned for the future include a swimming pool feasibility study along with economic and development opportunities to assist investment opportunities with sales tax dollars.