LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A Lubbock publisher has filed a petition accusing the company in charge of the Lubbock County Expo Center of refusing to honor two open records requests.
The petition says LCEC has violated the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) by ignoring two requests for public records submitted in October.
Lubbock Lights and its publisher, L. Scott Mann, have filed a petition for a writ of mandamus against the company, compelling them to provide the records.
“This isn’t about politics or personalities — it’s about the public’s right to know how taxpayer money is being spent,” Mann said in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon.
The petition asks the court to:
Compel LCEC to immediately release all requested records;Declare the withheld information public under the Texas Government Code;Prohibit further delay or obstruction of future requests; andAward attorney’s fees and court costs as permitted by law.
When asked for comment, LCEC Chairman Randy Jordan gave us this statement:
“Lubbock County Expo Center is a 501 C 3. Mr. Mann requested documents through a FOIA. LCEC legal council advised that they would not supply documents under 501 C 3 statute. Some of the documents he (Mann) was requesting are available via the IRS and Secretary of State website.”
LCEC blames delays on rising construction costs
Lubbock County voters approved a tax increase to fund construction of the Expo Center back in 2018.
Jordan has previously listed COVID, inflation and a sharp rise in construction costs for the delays. The project will be funded in part by hotel and occupancy taxes, but occupancy was capped at 25 percent during the pandemic.
Lubbock Expo Center Chairman Randy Jordan gave an update on the board’s latest plans for getting the project moving forward during a news conference Wednesday morning.
“We have a plan,” he said.
Jordan said that plan will be presented to the county Thursday in hopes the project will be discussed during this month’s commissioner’s court meeting.
Jordan said the project has an all-in budget of $67 million and that funds come from private donors, rental car taxes and the hotel occupancy tax, not from property taxes.
LCEC rejects alternate location
City and county leaders considered an alternate location for the project in October but announced that they still plan to build it out on North University, near the X-FAB facility.
Jordan says they now have enough money to begin phase one, but the latest proposal still needs to be approved in a bond election.
No exact timeline has been released, but LCEC expects to have the next steps approved by the end of the month.
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