NewsWest 9
LAMESA - Last week, councilman Robert Moreno attempted to remove another member by saying it put too much pressure on the Economic Development Committee (EDC) to have a councilman on the board, and after Tuesday night, they are now starting fresh.
The Lamesa City Council voted six-to-one to remove the entire EDC and the Lamesa Economic Alliance Project (LEAP) to get things moving at a faster pace.
"It was a tough decision. Those decisions need to be made by us, we have to agree as a whole, and it's the decision we came to," Lamesa Councilman, Chance Britt, said.
"It was not taken lightly. It was a lot of discussion but the council overall felt it was time to go in a different direction," Lamesa Mayor, Dave Nix, said.
The entire room was packed with Lamesa locals and EDC board members. Some were arguing to keep things as they are, others were fighting for a change.
Sam Kirkland, the owner of Sky-Vue Drive-In, has been trying to get the EDC to process an application so he can upgrade his theater from analog to digital movies, but he feels the EDC has been ignoring him since last October.
"It was kind of a combination of things, but I don't think it was any individual person," Kirkland said.
Many are pushing for the EDC to help local businesses first, while not falling behind in the oil boom.
"There are those of us that want transparency, want to aggressively bring businesses into this town, and there are those of us that really want to work towards that and grow this town so that this oil boom does not pass us by," EDC Member, Dr. Mark Key, said.
"I do think that new businesses need to come in, but I also think that we cannot forget the mom and pop shops that are here," Resident, Laura Rubio, said.
