ODESSA, Texas — The City of Odessa has released a statement regarding the removal of Odessa Development Corporation Board President Kris Crow and Board Vice President Jeff Russell.
According to a release from Crow and Russell, they claim the decision made by the city was an effort specifically from the City Manager John Beckmeyer, Mayor Javier Joven, and the City Council to clear obstacles to the "illegal reallocation of $90 million in ODC-controlled taxpayer funds toward development projects in Midland County."
The removals of both Crow and Russell happened during the last two City Council meetings. Crow and Russell say their removals are based on "unsubstantiated accusations intended to damage their reputations and remove any potential opposition to the Council’s agenda." Mayor Javier Joven previously told NewWest 9 there had been a lack of communication between the City Council and the ODC to fix the city's aging infrastructure.
“We believed our efforts to find legal ways to allocate the surplus from the $90 million ODC account for critical infrastructure repairs would be welcomed. Clearly, we were wrong,” said Russell.
The release from Crow and Russell said the City Council is considering issuing revenue bonds backed by future ODC sales tax receipts. As part of their statement, they wrote: "Despite their removal, Crow and Russell remain committed to fighting for 'the rest of Odessa.' While it’s frustrating to be unjustly attacked, we will continue to advocate for Odessa taxpayers. We stand against using public funds to subsidize wealthy developers while ignoring the critical needs of our city’s residents, especially those in underserved areas."
Mayor Javier Joven responded to Crow and Russell's statement, citing: "In their statement, the Odessa City Council and staff are being attacked for rejecting the proposal from Kris Crow and Jeff Russell, the former president and vice president of the Odessa Development Corporation. This proposal can only be seen as, at best, an attempt to circumvent the current laws regulating the operation of an economic development corporation and, at worst, nothing less than a scheme that would defraud the taxpayers of the City of Odessa by allocating collected sales tax revenue to a project that doesn’t qualify for support and away from projects that are required or suitable for infrastructure necessary to promote or develop new or expanded business enterprises as is outlined in the Local Government Code."
