Levelland City Manager James Fisher recently spoke about the decision to use $15,426 to pay Penny Newman to remove almond hulls from their property this past Fall.
As the City of Levelland continues to address the Red Flour Beetle situation, questions and concerns have been made following a story recently published by the Lubbock news outlet KCBD regarding an email that was sent by the city manager to a community member detailing the payment made to the company to have the hulls removed.
On August 16, 2023, the city placed probe traps provided by Texas A&M AgriLife in three industrial facilities that had bulk stored agriculture commodities. The results from those traps indicated the Red Flour Beetles were present at all three facilities.
After giving each facility notice of the issue and an opportunity to mitigate the presence of the Red Flour Beetle, two of the facilities chose to completely remove the agriculture commodities from their facilities while the third facility attempted to treat the commodity on-site.
On September 5, 2023, it was determined from the probe trap results that the Red Flour Beetle is still present at the third facility owned by Penny Newman Grain Company. At the time, the city continued to work with Penny Newman and hoped that through voluntary cooperation the mitigation of the infestation.
On September 10, 2023, the public was informed that Penny Newman executives agreed to remove the almond hulls which have been believed to be the source of the infestation from the rail park. Penny Newman had been given citations every day since September 1, 2023, when it was revealed that the abatement process Penny Newman was undergoing was unsuccessful.
Fisher explained that when he was hired in August of 2023, City of Levelland Mayor Barbra Pinner asked Fisher if he could begin researching and looking into the infestation of the Red Flour Beetle before he would enter the position of city manager in the following October.
“I think the hardest thing regarding this issue has been the amount of conflicting information I have gotten when I talk to agricultural people and the commonality of the bug,” said Fisher.
Fisher added that it was the same issue the city inspector dealt with when looking into the beetle in the beginning. He explained that discussions would inform Fisher that the beetle is native to the state and other conversations would have the consensus that it was a unique situation.
“The first thing we were trying to do was identify the source,” said Fisher. “We cannot100% say where the source was, but we had a general idea. We had cotton seed that had been sitting at ADM for years and we had a new product that came in from Penny Newman in the almond hulls.”
Fisher feels that much of the frustration for the community was that the business was not entirely cooperative and protective.
“You have to understand that if you were a homeowner and the government came knocking on your door and wanted to inspect your house, you are going to be hesitant,” explained Fisher. “A business is not any different.”
Working with the companies located in the rail park, Fisher explained that the ADM did remove their product, but Penny Newman was more of a challenge.
In trying to navigate the situation in order to remove the bulk of the source, Fisher explained that getting stuck with a drawn out legal process was not ideal when the conditions for residents had gotten so bad.
“In a risk analysis, we looked at if we had solid footing in the situation,” said Fisher. “We really didn’t because our ordinance at the time was not that strong. The key thing with any ordinance is compliance whether it be a junk car, weedy lawn or beetle. We could not say for sure that Penny Newman was the root cause and writing citations was not moving the process at any reasonable speed and discussions were becoming more adversarial.”
With the potential for discussions to take a turn into a lengthy legal process to simply remove the hulls, Fisher explained that his thought process shifted toward possibly offering up to $15,000 in reimbursement to get the hulls which could be one of the sources out of the city.
“Penny Newman was hesitant at first, but through more conversations they decided they would move the hulls,” explained Fisher. It took time as well because they had invested in the product and had to find a means to move everything. Once it was done we paid them $15,426. We got the source out here.”
Fisher acknowledged that people were not happy with that decision, but felt it was the quickest way to get a potential source out of the area and move forward in trying to remedy the overall issue the community is dealing with.
“Through the process since I have been involved, we have tried to keep the council involved with every step as much as we can,” said Fisher. “I know we have briefed the council about what we were doing and recommending in an executive session to move forward with it.”
Fisher explained that the city manager position is allowed to spend any amount under $50,000 without council approval.
“I am somebody that if I am going to spend money that way I am going to inform the council. I am going to let them know what I am recommending to move forward,” explained Fisher. “That does not mean that everyone on the council agreed or thought it was a great idea. That was the whole deal from day one, how do we resolve this as quickly as possible because our residents are tired of dealing with these beetles.”
Fisher feels that the decision was needed to move forward to focus on the issue at hand, creating the ordinance and searching for ways to deal with the beetles that remain.
“I know that not everybody is happy with it, but that is why I am here,” said Fisher. “Sometimes I have to make decisions that are not popular, but it is my job to keep the council informed in those decisions. If they have concerns they share those with me and we work through those.”
Fisher also touched on the question of prohibiting a business from bringing in a certain commodity.
“We have had people ask if they can begin a petition that says the city prohibits almond hulls,” said Fisher. “I think the council would have to consider it if the petition meets all the requirements, but legally I think the city would be in treacherous water if we tried to prohibit almond hulls.”
Fisher highlighted the recent farm bill and those in the past that could bring potential issues.
“We are a agricultural area and our citizens matter,” said Fisher. Yes, almond hulls are a new product that have been brought here but I do not think anyone can say it was the main source with 100%. Especially when there is the state and other agricultural agencies saying it is a native pest to the state.”
With that, Fisher has been adamant on seeking information from agricultural agencies.
“During the last meeting we were asking the Texas Department of Agriculture to step in and help us understand where this issue came from and understand why we are here,” said Fisher. “The dilemma is the conflicting information.”
Council members such as Jim Myatt and others have also fielded questions from concerned citizens regarding the approval of the payment and overall decision. However, with the amount of payment being under $50,000, the city manager has the authority to use those funds without the decision of the council according to the Texas State Statute.