Photo credit: Flock Safety

What to watch: Midland City Council will meet Tuesday, Oct. 13, to consider ending its contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras just eight months after approving it. City staff says the move would save $225,500.

Council will also consider a $13.1 million renovation of Hogan Park’s Roadrunner golf course, a $2.9 million drainage project at Jal Draw and changes that would require residential developers to pay more toward new arterial roads.

Key points:

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  • Ending Flock cameras: Council will consider ending the city’s contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras. The move would save $225,500 by eliminating the second year of the agreement. The contract covers 71 fixed solar-powered cameras and two portable units along with access to Flock’s cloud platform and search tools.

In February, council unanimously approved the agreement after extensive discussion about privacy, data retention and how the cameras operate. MPD Chief Greg Snow told council the cameras helped recover nearly $4 million in stolen property and 49 stolen vehicles while generating 111 arrests or warrants last year.

  • $13.1M Roadrunner renovation: Council will consider spending about $13.1 million to renovate the Roadrunner golf course at Hogan Park. The project includes an $11.7 million contract to replace the irrigation system, improve drainage, install new greens turf, and modify tee boxes, bunkers, and several holes.

Another $1.4 million would cover two new restrooms, a new entrance off Fairgrounds Road, and any unforeseen costs. Construction would begin the first week of November, with the course expected to reopen for play in November 2027. About $12.5 million would come from the city’s Parks Oil and Gas Fund and $636,000 from the Golf Bond Fund.

Council previously approved a $9.8 million renovation of Hogan Park’s Quail course in September 2025. The city is also moving the golf facility to a self-sustaining model funded by user fees rather than an annual $700,000 city subsidy.

  • $2.9M Jal Draw excavation: Council will consider a roughly $2.9 million project to excavate Jal Draw and build a shared-use trail along its southern edge. Funding would include $1.8 million from unspent Drainage Fund money, $1 million from an existing Jal Draw drainage project, and about $170,000 from the 2017 road bond for pedestrian improvements along Wadley Avenue.

The city’s drainage utility fee supports the Drainage Fund. Council raised that fee in January by about $2 to $5 per month for most homes.

  • Developers’ pay for roads: Council will hold a public hearing on changing how the city and residential developers split the cost of building arterial roads along new subdivisions. Under current rules, developers pay one-third of the cost while the city may cover up to two-thirds. The proposed change would require developers to pay half when the city agrees to participate.
  • Horse-grazing rezoning: Council will consider rezoning about nine acres near Breckenridge Drive and Woodland Park Avenue from single-family residential to agricultural estate, allowing the owners to use the vacant property for horse grazing and cultivation. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend approval.

During P&Z’s discussion, commissioners questioned whether the land should instead be developed into homes and what would happen if Mockingbird Drive were eventually extended nearby. But the owners said they have no plans to build houses, and city staff confirmed the city does not currently own right-of-way for the hypothetical road extension.

The proposal would instead turn an overgrown property where trash had been dumped into a fenced, maintained pasture for horses already kept at a nearby polo club.

  • Wadley-Barron Park pond: Council will consider an agreement allowing Permian Resources to pay for improvements to the pond at Wadley-Barron Park and donate the completed work to the city. The project would dredge and deepen the pond, repair erosion, install a pond liner, and upgrade the electrical and fountain systems.