State of the City: Lubbock Mayor Tray Payne and city staff highlight year’s progress

As he winds down his first and final two-year term as mayor of Lubbock, Tray Payne reflected on this season of public service and touted Lubbock’s strength at Wednesday’s annual State of the City Address.

Following last year’s format, Payne opted to host a panel discussion with city leaders in lieu of a traditional speech. City Manager Jarrett Atkinson, Assistant City Manager Brooke Witcher, Parks Director Colby Van Gundy, Public Works Director Wood Franklin and Lubbock Power & Light Director Joel Ivey shared their departments’ achievements with the crowd gathered at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.

“We overall are a very healthy, thriving community,” Payne said. “As we continue to move forward, we will continue to improve services.”

The annual event is sponsored by the Lubbock Apartment Association, and proceeds benefit a charity of the mayor's choice — this year, Highpoint Village.

Lubbock Power & Light

Ivey recapped LP&L’s recent transition to the ERCOT grid and the competitive retail electric market, noting that even though there were roadblocks along the way — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took longer than expected to approve a settlement — the utility successfully made the switch with more than 67% of customers choosing a retail electric provider by the deadline.

“Y’all showed up like champs, and I’m very proud of everybody for that,” Ivey told the audience.

Ivey also updated the audience on changes to the ERCOT grid to make it more reliable. He said that while progress is being made to avoid weather-related outages, customers can still expect to be asked to conserve energy this summer.

“Legislation was passed that really had us do a better job of weatherizing our facilities, all of our generators and substations, everything that could fail and cause more-or-less catastrophic outages,” Ivey said. “The legislation is solid, and I think we’re on the right path to get where we need to be.

“You’re going to get pleas to conserve power all through the summer, and probably next summer too, because it takes time.”

Public Works

Franklin updated the crowd on several public works projects ongoing in the city, including street rehabilitations and sewer line replacements.

“These are fun and exciting times in public works,” Franklin said.

Franklin highlighted a project the city recently kicked off to rehabilitate all streets in the Dunbar-Manhattan Heights neighborhood. The project was approved as part of a $200 million road bond package in 2022.

“It’s about a two- to three-year project to get those streets rebuilt throughout the entire neighborhood. I’m excited that we have that going on and that’s making progress right now,” he said.

Franklin also noted the year’s budget allocated more funding for street maintenance compared to past years.

Franklin and Atkinson discussed Lubbock’s water future, notably the forthcoming Leprino mozzarella cheese factory which will produce about a million gallons of water for the city’s water supply each day. The water will be discharged in to Canyon Lake 6 and will later flow into future Canyon Lake 7.

“Obviously, to make cheese, it requires a lot of milk and requires a lot of water. One of the unique aspects of this business is their water output is larger than their water input,” Franklin said.

Atkinson emphasized other future water projects, like Lake 7, noting he expects Lubbock’s water supply to be secure for the next 100 years.

“Our region, especially our agricultural economy, has been so successful because of groundwater. The advent of high-production groundwater for irrigation, for cities and for industry is what drove us,” Atkinson said. “We may not realize that Lubbock’s future 100-year water supply is surface water, and Lake 7 is about as close to perpetual as you can make a lake to be.

Parks and Recreation

Van Gundy touted the city council's recent adoption of a parks master plan, which governs how the city will work to create, develop and maintain the more than 80 parks.

"That master plan is really going to guide us over the next 10 years about what decisions we make," Van Gundy said. "The implementation process is where we're at right now."

Several major projects are on the horizon, Van Gundy said, including three new splashpads to replace retired swimming pools, two walking trails in each council district, a multipurpose turf field at the Tom Martin soccer complex and a pickleball facility in southwest Lubbock.

The American Rescue Plan Act-funded pickleball facility will feature a number of courts, bathrooms and other amenities in McAlister Park.

"They actually started moving dirt last week, so (the pickleball courts) will hopefully in the late fall or early winter be up and running," Van Gundy said. "That's going to be used tremendously."

Arts and Culture

Witcher, who the mayor dubbed "the fun one," touched on the city's museums, libraries and cultural arts programs, including some major milestones this year.

The Buddy Holly Center, the city-owned museum celebrating the Lubbock native's life, is turning 25 in 2024.

"I'm very excited about that," Witcher said. "Look for the programs and special merchandise in May or June."

Another coming milestone: The Mahon Library is turning 50. Witcher said the library has seen success in recent years with new resources and the elimination of late fines.

"A couple of years ago, we actually got rid of late fees and we don't have late fees anymore," Witcher said. "Last year our circulation went up 33%, and those materials aren't just books anymore — I think that's something that's important to say.

"We have computer tablets and e-books. Our digital collection has grown 50% in the last few years."

Public Safety

Atkinson updated the crowd on the search for a new police chief to replace Chief Floyd Mitchell, who resigned last year.

"We are in the midst of a huge recruitment effort to bring our next police chief," Atkinson said. "We will do the next review of applicants next Monday. That's done internally, and I'll work my way through that with some of our team here.

"Ultimately, when we get down to those people that are the finalists, they're going to be presented to the community, to all of y'all, to have a chance to give us input and to ensure that we have that next leader that you need to take us forward."

Gregory Rushin is interim police chief and will remain in that role until a new chief is hired.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock Mayor Tray Payne and city staff highlight year’s progress