Council wants to prepare for development

The Clarendon City Council took no action on a draft ordinance calling for a moratorium on data centers and other large scale businesses last Thursday, June 11, but directed the city administrator to contact neighboring cities for suggestions to improve local zoning and codes.

There is no known data center planned for Donley County at this time, but residents showed up to voice their opposition to any future data centers being built.

Jerri Hinton, Linda Naylor, and Chris Topliff all signed in for public comment in opposition to the developments.

City Administrator Brian Barboza told council members the language they had before them that night was for discussion and had not been looked at by any attorney. Council members said they felt the city passing a moratorium would not do much more than “make us feel good” because any data center would be constructed outside of the city limits and therefore not subject to any city zoning or regulation.

“I think there are things we can do and should look at, like RV parks and setback limits,” Alderman Ashlee Estlack said.
Mayor Jacob Fangman agreed and said the city should focus on the things it can address.

Council members said things like large trucks driving on residential streets, bulk water sales, RV parks regulations, and building codes were things the city can consider to be ready if a data center was to try to come to Donley County.

Alderman Brittany Sanne said the city needs to hire a code enforcement officer and be ready if a development comes to Donley County.

In other city business, the council approved an interlocal agreement with the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission to lead the search for a new city administrator with Barboza leaving July 17 for another job.

Aldermen discussed salary range for the new administrator and other possible benefits, and a PRPC representative said the hiring process will likely take six to eight months. Aldermen will meet in called session next week to discuss hiring an interim administrator.

A 30-year street maintenance and improvement plan was on the agenda for last week, but the city engineers were still working on the plan. The council did, however, meet with a Government Capital representative to learn about ways to finance large scale street projects.

The council also met for over an hour in closed session to perform the annual evaluation of the city secretary, but no action was taken when the council returned to open session.