e
good evening good evening good evening hello
can can you hear me not a very big room so I hope you can um welcome to the
talaa city council special meeting it's Thursday April the 4th 2024 it's 5:30
p.m. and we call the meeting to order please councelor Perry yes councelor
Baker here councelor hirers here councelor Allen here we have a qu thank
you Ed Hayworth are you here Mr Hayworth if you'll join us for the invocation
please please bow your heads Lord I Thank you that that we have
a a group of men and women who care about each and every person that depends
on them Lord the city of talaa is is such a great place Lord and and and I
bless those people that have dedicated their lives to make to keeping it that
way or even making it better if that's possible Lord I I thank
you for the wisdom and and the the love and the care Lord I I I pray Lord for a
a lighter Spirit to sit down on this meeting uh not a heavy
doldrum Spirit but a light Spirit a fun spirit and bless everybody that cares
enough to come in Jesus's name I pray
amen
indice I do want to um just briefly mention my
apologies for cancelling the meeting on Monday and moving it to today but I
watched The Weather Channel and that was our um at 12:30 when the storm rolled in
I was a little disappointed that we had called the meeting off I was
disappointed at six o'clock we called the meeting off and there was nothing
but so my apologies for those that um may have come and were turned away but
thank you for being here
tonight public comments will be accepted from the general public concerning
topics that are not included in the meeting's agenda individuals will be
limited to 3 minutes each of speaking time and the cumulative total of all
comments from the public shall not exceed 15
minutes preference will be given to talaa Residents and in compliance with
the Oklahoma open meeting act no action or discussion is permitted by council
members on any issue or topic raised by a speaker during this public comment
time is there anyone in the audience who would like to give a public comment step
up and state your name and address please or Ward you don't have to give us
your address if you'll tell us what Ward you're in please uh good evening um
greetings mayor and Council my name is William Morgan uh and I live on elant
Rock uh on Highway 10 I'm a resident of tall and proud to call this my home the
older that has affected tall's business and residence is a concern for myself
and Community I appreciate the effort uh the city and tpwa are doing to rectify
the situation and as I mentioned I am a business owner and I may have options to
eradicate this problem in a quick manner while being coste effective I'll also
have options to mitigate the risk of this happening in the
future uh I'm aware of the magnitude of this event this takes big thinking and
that is a specialty of mine that I do believe I have so I'm looking for the
opportunity to speak with those individuals who are heading this up uh
this is not a sales call because I'm a voting member in our community and I
have personal investments in tall including the city of tall theal Area
Chamber of Commerce nor Eastern State University Cherokee Nation and numerous
other projects within our great nest of Northeast Oklahoma the success of our
community uh the success of our community in all aspects is my concern
as I do call it my home I will contribute accordingly I'm able willing
and eager to contribute to the answer which I know that we can come to an
answer that we can come to I'm readily available to any member to speak to at
your convenience I believe most of you know how to reach me want to thank you
mayor and Council for your time so
much do we have anyone
else and a lot of you know me I'm Jim jolof I live at 1505 Aspen Drive in
South Bridge we've got an issue out there for storm
water and I've I've spoken to Ray Hammond number of times
about this um Mr tanah
Hill has been out there in my house and looked at the situation you it's a
problem needs to be fixed uh Rick Patrick of
tpwa has been out there a couple of times and looked at it and he agreed
that soon as it dries up we're going to fix it
um the storm water manager came out uh young man first thing he told me
when he got there I've only got a week left in the job and I'm leaving so
whatever you need you need to wait till the next guy comes
along I said okay I'll I'll do that I called him I never have met him yet he
never returned to call and I don't I don't know who he is
so
um I've left a number of messages for the mayor and have not had any return
calls but um we've got a storm water at back there right behind my house I'm
right I can see the the hotel where I'm my back patio I'm fortunate enough I can
watch the Cherokee Nation fireworks display from my patio I like that that's
a that's a heck of a show they put on but um we've made numerous phone calls
and I I don't I don't think I'm in the right place uh the city council is just
just a new thing I've never done this before and uh we we've got an issue back
there it's in the city tal it's in the city limits it's an
niore the mosquitoes during the summer eat us up and it's not only me it's
everybody lives in that particular neighborhood right
there they call it storm water
drainage this water doesn't drain doesn't go anywhere it sits right where
it's at I keep being told by a lot of people a lot of people in this room
matter of fact soon as it dries up we're going to come in here and fix
that it's never going to dry up but you're safe because when it dries
up you can fix it but we'll all be dead and gone before that
happens but um if I can get any assistance from the city of
council city of T quad I really appreciate it it's it's an niore they
they sent a a a contractor in there to trim the lines for the high
lines they trimmed all the limbs off the trees and left them laying on the ground
just let went off and left them there I've been burning
them it's if you burn a brush pile in City Telo it's a $50 fine I didn't do
that I went to for fire department and talked to him about it Mr if you haul it
out to the street time's up okay but thank you very much
for your comments okay you can help me I appreciate it thank you so
much the end of the public comments or no no no are you ready to do you want to
do a public comment yeah got some issues here okay please
step up now I'm brand new in this town so um maybe just remind you you get
three minutes so and I'm not trying to won be long just letting you know you're
right I tried to contact your office too but they get no response and what's your
name please my name is Steve odland and I live at
3962 Rosewood Place here in alqua okay we moved in here two years
ago all right and I called your office initially you were going to have a
meeting with me I have some suggestions to
make uh we had a conflict and after that or meetings and after that I never heard
from you again so it'd be great if we could get together
sometime all right so um one of the issues that I
have is um there's the gas company here in town
not the twpa uh the other company whatever that
name is they don't even say the name on the on the bills
here I'm sure you know what company you I'm talking about uh this company has as
far as I can see and I looked at the bills uh set up a a
policy uh where people they make people pay more than what they're supposed to
okay um uh my wife had a hip surger in fville
and during that time before we left she forgot U she
forgot uh to put the bill in the mail and so as a result we came back
after her hip surgery for three days we came back on the
21st and uh we looked I looked in the mail picked up the mail and among the
mailes was a cut off notice okay and I looked at the bill and
the due date was the 15th of January and the cut off was was the 21st six days
later okay as far as I'm concerned that's ridiculous that's
outrageous all right um so they cut me off I got the people to come back out
and turn it back on all right and I talked to the guy that that uh turned me
back on and he told me it's happening all over the place is happening there
were the 21st of that that very day that they cut me off I received a letter in
the mail or cut off okay that gives you a good idea he told me that up to the
21st of January they had cut off 250 people just here in
tala okay and he said and they're operating in still well and they're
operating in in these other four districts and I'm thinking to myself
every time they cut somebody off they make
$75 okay now $75 5 time 250 just here in tar that that's a lot of lot of money
and that's just in tar every month right so my point is it would it
would be a privilege for that company to operate here in tala that should be
subjected to certain rules and this got to change it's got to change yes and I
do apologize but your three minutes are up but I do want to visit with you but I
also want to give you the phone number and the contact information for the gas
Authority because that's this particular issue I contacted the Energy company
okay incom Commission in in Tulsa and they said they have no jurisdiction on
this company right but let let's try to get together and if you have other
issues that aren't pertaining to gas company I would be happy to visit with
you schedule another time issues I have be happy to sir thank you very much
would I call you then or you call me I don't have your number but if I I don't
want you to scream it out across the audience I don't think I would love to
have your number do you want to write it down and give it to me okay okay if you
would that would be great thank you anyone else for a public
comment okay we'll move on to consent agenda item number four these items are
placed on the on the consent agenda so that members of the city council by
unanimous consent can designate routine items to be approved in one motion any
item proposed on the consent agenda not meeting with the approval of all council
members will be moved and heard in the regular session do I have a motion for
the consent agenda so move I'd I take off C
please are there any other items to be
removed
second any other items or is there
motion
V I didn't see who made the motion oh no it was Baker no I took off
he took off an item oh my God sorry you made to approve with C remove
yes councelor Allen yes councelor H highers yes councelor Baker yes counc
Perry
motion that's uh we we'll do a special Proclamation for National donate a life
month oh that's right
Mr Ray Hammond are you doing
it we need a dress rehearsal we do okay so Proclamation I do have a proclamation
then we have some guests with us this evening that we'd like to introduce to
everyone so the proclamation reads as follows whereas one of the most
meaningful gifts that a human being can bestow upon another is the gift of life
and whereas over 103,000 men women and children are currently on the national
waiting list for organ transplantation of which nearly 742
reside in Oklahoma and whereas 649 organ transplants occurred in Oklahoma in 2023
thanks to the selfless generosity donor Heroes of which 559 lives were saved
whereas more than 2.5 million people throughout the country and in Oklahoma
benefit annually from tissue transplant thanks to thousands of tissue donors and
whereas the need for organ eye and tissue donation remains critical as a
new patient is added to the wait National waiting list for an organ
transplant every nine minutes and eight each day roughly 17 people died due to
the lack of available organs and whereas about
1,956 th000 Oklahomans have already registered their decision to give the
gift of life through organ and tissue donation at lifeshare oklahoma. org or
on their driver's license and whereas lifeshare Oklahoma the nonprofit organ
procurement organization dedicated to the recovery of organs and tissue for
transplantation therapy in Oklahoma with a mission to honor donors and save lives
through o organ and tissue donation now I therefore Suzanne Myers with a power
vested in me as mayor of the city of talaa to hereby proclaim the month of
April 24th for donation life month in the city of talaa and encourage all
residents to consider giving life through Oregan donation and to sign up
on Oklahoma's organ and tissue donor registry by visiting lifeshare
registry.org or when renewing their driver's license or state
identification card in witness thereof I have unto here set my hand and caused
the Great Seal of the city of talaa to be fixed this first day of April 20 24
and I'm happy to do
that thank [Music]
you
thank you very much mayor my name is Susan earler I work at Life share
Oklahoma I have um the wonderful opportunity to be able to work for this
organization um they are an amazing organization and like you said mayor
there's so many things that we do every day to save lives um Donate Life month
is something that is a national celebration of life across the entire
country um Life share of Oklahoma were the ones that that celebrate it through
the entire State we want to first off say very uh huge thank you out to your
two Health Systems here in talaa because we work very very closely with Cherokee
Nation WW Hastings and Northeastern Health Systems who um absolutely support
everything that we do when it comes to organ and tissue donation and we have um
a large number of donors that come from this community and so we are very
thankful of that one of the things that I just want to touch on that you also
touched on is uh the need for more organ and tissue donors um we have quite a
number here in the state of Oklahoma but there's always room for I think a lot of
times there is a a miscommunication on what exactly donation means and we are
more than happy to sit down and talk to anybody about exactly what that's going
to look like but more than anything we would like to encourage you to take
control of your own decision making and make sure that you yourself are
registered um you can register like you said on your driver's license in the
state of Oklahoma you can also register on your hunting and fishing license you
can register on your real ID and then you can also register on the Life share
website uh the Life share website what's different about that is it allows you
the opportunity to say exactly what you want uh recovered and what you don't
want recovered so my mom who's 85 years old has decided that everything is okay
except for her corneas she's like take everything but my corneas she's good
with that she was not going to register because she was concerned about that so
on the live share website you can go on that and that's where you can designate
um I authorize any and all things recovered except for and you can um and
that way you have uh control over what it is that your decisions are um as
someone who's on the front line every single day it is heartbreaking to see
families literally go to fisticuffs when it comes to making this decision you'll
have a faction of the family that says absolutely they would want this and then
affection absolutely they would not and uh time is wasting when it comes to the
decisions being made in the time that we need to be able to recover these uh
these organs and this tissue and so if you can make that decision yourself make
it be known and also you can rest assured in knowing that because of first
person authorization if you have been the one that has designated that you
want to be a donor you're a registered donor nobody can ever take that away
from you and that's very very important for for people to know that if they've
made that decision nobody in their family not a husband not a spouse I mean
not you know anybody else uh Mom Dad nobody can change your mind if you've
already made that decision and you've registered so you can also feel
comfortable in knowing that your decision is going to be um it's going to
be looked at and we are going to make sure that that happens so just wanted to
make sure everybody knows that this month is uh we said Donate Life month
we've chosen the paper crane uh origami crane to be sort of our theme this year
so mayor I have a T-shirt and a pen and I also have pins for everybody else if
you'd like to wear one just wear it proudly and when people ask you what
this means that'll be your opportunity to tell them that talaa supports uh
organ and tissue donation and that this is the month to do it and we need people
to be registering all year around but this is definitely the month that we
kind of focus on that so we genuinely appreciate you recognizing the work that
we do and recognizing um that it is such an important thing for everybody to take
a look at and make a decision than time thank you for what you do every day than
you that'd be fine yeah thank you so much goodies she's full of goodies right
yeah thank
you moving on announcements and presentations Item
B cpwa statement to the
public
good evening my name is Kim Dar I'm the assistant general manager at tala Public
Works um please forgive us Mr Curtis was unavailable this evening he was he could
have been here Monday but not tonight um I have David with me David Lindsay he
worked at the waste treatment plant for uh 15 years before being promoted to
special services director um he has our letter that Mr Curtis and the rest of us
put together that was posted on our Facebook page and I will let him read it
since you probably don't want to listen to me much
more thank
you good evening mayor and Council uh my name is David
Lindsay this statement to the public we are aware of the odor issues permeating
the city and we are aware we are actively working on correcting this
issue We Believe unknown substances were illegally dumped in our M holes at some
point this may seem trivial but it can seriously disrupt the wastewater
treatment process and leave the city smelling foul the wastewater treatment
system relies on bacteria to treat waste and keep odors at Bay when someone dumps
chemicals grease oil Etc in manhold it can kill the good bacteria used for
waste treatment and it can take months to remedy the situation like this the
source of ins sight of the contamination is currently unknown but we are actively
working with EQ to pinpoint this information the unknown substance
completely killed off all the good bacteria in our basins in my 18 years of
experience at wastewater treatment facility this has only happened one
other time we are working with DEQ and surrounding wastewater treatment
facilities oh and the surrounding wastewater treatment facilities to
restore the good bacteria in our reservoirs we are constantly bringing in
sludge process of reing feting our basins with good bacteria from another
facility and even looking into chemical treatment that may help Quicken the
process our laboratory numbers are currently trending in the right
direction but the process is lengthy as we get the correct balance back of good
bacteria the odor will begin to dissipate we understand the aspiration
this has caused our community we are doing everything in our power and
actively working with DQ to remedy the situation if you hear anyone or see any
dumping any if you hear of anyone or see anyone
dumping anything into the manhole report it to local authorities immediately we
appreciate your patience sincerely Daryl Curtis Waste Water treatment facility or
plant superintendent thank you very much and
we appreciate the comment made to the public
and the information that was shared hopefully that will answer a lot of
questions and it's nice to see that we're moving in a corrective manner to
get things back to normal so thank you very much for the work you've done thank
you item 6A discussion and possible action on items removed from the consent
agenda item C was removed acknowledge receipt of the February 2024 investment
schedule uh I'm going to address this to Marty if you don't mind sir um on page
13 of the uh for the I think it was the February 2024 investment schedule the I
noticed that there were several that were coming uh due or you know into
uh for lack of a better word maturity the when's the last time that
we uh checked on when's when when would we
start that specific program with that specific
company been at you're probably more generally asking
you
know it started a long time before I was on board and um they were a local
business I believe and um they were able to handle the amount of volume dollars
that that we had mhm and um they were able to uh keep all of it
in one place to help Minister it I don't know if that's the question I was just
basically I noticed that they were you know coming to maturity I just was
trying to you know at least inquire as to if we've already checked to see if we
can get better rates or a better opportunity for investment yeah um you
know there's always um there's always opportunity out there you know depending
on your work you know I'm a banker so we have we have them available at our bank
yes sir sometimes higher sometimes lower um but I'm I do Market comps and I stay
within the market on them in Market rates and so um you know there may be a
bank that runs a special for a short period of time but with the amount of
money and the amount of CDs we have it's quite frankly administering it um at one
place is I'm a whole lot more organized we have I think there's probably four
maturing um in 24 I might have had one mature last week uh you know I talked to
the broker I knew what I could get I see what's out in the market um I reinvested
it based on a ladder um based on a ladder positioning that way there's
always liquidity um if the city ever needs some
liquidity um there will always be a source of liquidity for that year and
you know versus if you put them all in once and then they all mature um at the
same date in the future you know if something happens in the city needed
money um we would have to you know pay penalties fees and penalties and
interest to get it them out and so um this way it keeps them fluid but we
haven't at least looked into other opportunities for for quite some time
uh I look all the time okay but I mean it's just that I'm keeping them at
Edward Jones right now
okay that was my question any other questions for Marty
or anyone else regarding that item do we have a motion for that
item so moved second councelor Allen yes councelor
Baker yes councelor hirers yes councelor Perry yes motion
carried thank
you item 6B discussion and possible action to authorize the mayor to sign
the grant notice of award from Eda to the talaka accessibility and parking
Improvement project and sign other necessary documents related to set grant
compliance coordinator Ray Hammond mayor and Council this is Eda
grant that we received uh in the tune of a little north of 1.8 million this is a
grant that Taylor had been working on for some time uh and and initiated it
came it goes from going snake roughly to Chickasaw uh where they will be uh
correcting the ADA Compliant uh plates and and ramps also the push button
crosswalks as well as Ada drives uh they will be submitting uh a plan uh as to uh
uh as to how they're going to implement this but the the grant funds are in we
were awarded that and uh we are requesting that the mayor be allowed to
accept those funds for that Grant purpose the money that matching fund has
already been uh secured through uh means of arpa and the help of Michelle Collins
our finance director
and this will also include uh some parking lot improvements correct you
know I'm I'm not going to speak to that I I think there is but I think it's
going to help like the the demo of the building down at the old laundry mat and
then maybe possibly some parking up around Downing and uh maybe maybe
possibly a Bridgeway I don't
know we'll see how it goes we'll see what you guys want to do
motion to approve second councelor Allen yes councelor Perry yes councelor Baker
yes councelor hirers yes motion carried $1.9
million sort really close congratulations to everyone
that I would like to say that Michelle put a lot of effort in with the Auditors
making this thing happen correctly she really her and her crew did an
outstanding job making it
work item 6C second reading and possible action to approve approve with
modification or deny ordinance number 1376
d024 an ordinance of the city of Taqua Oklahoma amending the Taqua city code
part 18 stormwater management chapter 18-1 storm water management program
section 18-8 s fees providing for codification severability repealer and
declaring an emergency compliance coordinator Ray
Hammond uh yes this is a second reading as you've heard uh same as before uh
since the initial uh beginnings of our storm water
program we have not increased any fees uh and the projects uh as you know
materials has doubled since the roughly 2008 so uh sometimes in some cases
tripled but we do uh we're asking that the fees uh be increased from at
residential from $2 to $4 uh from commercial $4 to $8 and for uh other
larger complexes it which there's not very many would be from $8 to
$16 monthly sorry Mr the ordinance presented
is from $10 to 20 I apologize I apologize uh this will put us also
kind of almost caught up with most other cities as far as what they charge for
storm water
pce is there a
motion I make motion to
approve I'll second councelor hirers yes councelor
Baker yes councelor Perry yes councelor Allen yes motion
carried do we have a motion for
emergency before this starts I'll make the question it is there any safety
issues that that we need to look at or does this qualify for that
I I just think the the ordinance has an effective date of July one so even if
you pass an emergency still noted till July at last meeting we I think we were
all in accordance that we would just go ahead and and read it as the second not
do the emergency and a lap to take a p
July item 6C first reading and possible action to approve approv with
modifications or deny or ordinance number 1377 d224 an ordinance of the
city of tala Oklahom amending the tala city code part 17 utilities part 175
Solid Waste Department establishment and collection and disposal of solid waste
by adding section 17-5 intensive residential developments
providing
for lift your page yes providing for
codification separability repealer and declaring an
emergency Solid Waste superintendent Chris
Armstrong hello um the reason we're asking to uh
update this and add it is because a lot of of these um Family dwellings have
multiple H like have multiple houses there's you know 10 trailers or there's
six duplexes so if these places want carts there's going to be an
overabundance of carts like just there a lot of these places have high uh renters
they come in and out they come and go this will help protect those uh Property
Owners uh from getting their cart stolen because if their resident steals their
cart the um property owners responsible to replace that cart for the cost of $90
so if we have a centralized dumpster that they can go to like that will keep
you know some of these landlord U or Property Owners having to reach into
their book to uh pay for these dumpsters so a centralized locations for trailers
apartments and duplexes with a larger um housing of four so two two duplexes
which would be four units like we're not really about that is just the greater so
would these uh be required to have a fence around them like we have at other
establishments across the um city I would say so because that's still part
of the city code uh if it is tucked away because like a part of the code says
that if it's an I view or like in the public view then they have to have it
enclosed but if it is say you have like a like a a u yes and it's tucked off in
the back then you don't have to so it's like some of these businesses around
here that have it behind their building if our truck can swing it then they
don't have to have the enclosure it's just if it's out on the public view so
if you can see it from the road you're supposed to have an
enclosure questions as a cost effective measure
this you know you know not knowing whether or how
many people are going to be affected on building the fences or whatever uh you
think this is going to save not only time money yes uh for us and the
property owners because uh the more stop like the more trash canins you have the
more we have to stop and pick it up and dump it so if a hydraulic line breaks
it's all over the property um so if you have eight units and they all have two
that's 16 times we have to stop but if they have a three yard dumpster we back
in we dump it we leave we're not stopping and go and stopping and go
stopping and go so um if everything is paved correctly or Gra TR correctly
we're in and out and our traffic on our side for our vehicles and you know the
safety part of it if it snows or anything it's less likely we're going to
slide into somebody or hurt anybody or anything like that so um to me it sounds
like a a great idea to get in and out and not have to linger around their
houses or their cars or anything like that how many locations for these multi
families uh right now I haven't really took a headcount uh I I know on Corn
Street they have some development going uh this was just something I've been
working on just trying to figure out how this can help the community U so to give
you an exact number there there's not a lot like bumblebee trailer park over on
Allen uh Vance trailer park and some other ones have already bought into it
so we have dumpsters there uh it's just these newer housing developments with
these guys coming in building and all this stuff I like to have them plotted
in their layout and their blueprints before and I don't just jump on them and
say hey you got to build this now too so we put it in our ordinance it' be you
know up to date for them too did you find out how many locations yeah I mean
just kind of you know I just am curious on that yeah I can do that I bring some
numbers extra extra work but I'm actually kind of curious Oh no you're
good man like you know keep me keep my due diligence up I got take care of
it anything else
we have a motion first reading on that first
reading it does include an emergency so if you do wish to approve it as an
emergency you can't approve it's
not that's I was gonna ask is this I mean does this need to happen
tonight I can get you numbers and come back at second reading okay and then we
go there than you Chris thank you very much
let me just follow up on that mayor at at the last city council meeting our
city administrator uh directed me to include an emergency clause on all on
all ordinances because the management did not wish to decide for itself what
it was and was not an emergency we want to give the council that opportunity
each time thank
thank item 6E first reading and possible action to approve approve with
modification or deny ordinance number 1378 d224
an ordinance of the City of talaa Oklahoma to amend the city code tala
city code part 14 streets and Public Works chapter 14-2 use and obstruction
of streets and sidewalks by amending section 14- 217 excavation and streets
permits providing for codification separability repealer and declaring an
emergency compliance coordinator Ray Hammond mayor and Council I'll I'll try
to mddle through this best I can this is going to be uh an ordinance that's going
to give us some authority of the use of the easements that we have throughout
our community uh as of recent we have had some experience with the different
contractors coming in using the easements uh you know uh putting in
things in the ground in the air uh so forth causes some disruption this gives
us some oversight gives us a little bit of whether we want to permit them to do
it or not uh I believe this will be a a good uh Avenue to go to try to correct
some of the problems uh even still today had to deal with quite a few for some uh
uh illegal digs across the streets and curb cuts and Street Cuts uh that uh
that happen so uh it'll save a lot of trouble for staff and uh for your
residents to for us to have some for uh warning and some oversight as to who
gets to use these easements and who does not I think tpwa will certainly
appreciate it as well
our recommendation staff recommendation is to pass I just I have one question um
so in the ordinance section 14-17 it talks about uh approval and it
says you have to first obtain a permit from the city clerk with the approval of
the street commissioner and the superintendent of the municipal Utility
Board so I guess I have two part questions one who is that is that
talking Mike doublehead that would be Mike doublehead kimor or their staff
that they appoint to to handle that so so we are talking ttwa yes sir and we're
only talking ttwa we're not talking not correct no sir they have the poles and
the water lines uh that are that are the bulk of the problem sewer lines that was
my assumption but I don't like to assume so I wanted to ask
um then to go along with that if you look up at the top the ne the the page
before the background in the description that I assume Taylor has written it says
this ordinance will develop a policy requiring businesses doing work within
the city's RightWay to get a permit that must be approved by the street
commissioner and planning director before beginning work so is his
intention to also include the P planning director and if so does that need to be
part of the ordinance because we've spelled out two people in the ordinance
that has to be approved which are not the same two people that Taylor has in
the
background certainly if that was Mr tanah Hill's intent we would need to
strike the superintendent of the municipal Utility Board and substitute
that with the planning director well I assume since it's not okay but I assume
since it's not underlined that the superintendent municipal
mici simple Utility Board is current ordinance that's
correct so I just don't I I guess my thought is or is he wanting to add the
Planning Commission or does he assume that the
planning the planning you that might be practice that you have to get those but
it's not obviously ordinate certainly right now the planning uh director has
no involvement official involvement in this
process
in my opinion it makes the most sense that the planning director is is is the
person I mean they're in my thought process are
the to say the person that runs the show in that area but I don't know I mean I I
want to do I I agree in theory of what's Happening Here but I want to make sure
that we're actually passing an ordinance
that is what he's expecting and so I don't I don't know um
an Andor to be honest with you an Andor and or PL
director in in the the concept of when they bring their ATT plans to the TAC
meeting the planning director and the street commissioner are the ones that
would be most involved they would jointly be most
involved uh and and I think that they would work jointly in this so I think uh
Andor would be appropriate but I also think that you know both of them have to
have some in some input on this so I mean I would it doesn't bother me to
have both there and uh I mean it doesn't mean it doesn't bother me to have all
three um but right now we've got two on one side and two on the other and I want
to make yeah I mean if you have if you have
tpwa they own the polls right and uh they're they belong to them and and and
we can't as a body give them permission to be used by other utilities without
their permission so you know
that's so I guess my suggestion maybe would be to just allow this to be the
first reading Mr T Mr tanah Hill will be back by next month
um and then at next month we can Amendment amend that
correct before we were to potentially pass it on a second
reading uh I am I am U visiting with Mr tanah Hill
here he is unable to join us on uh Zoom here
uh he says it should be tpw uh planning director could be included
but and I hope he's listening here U he he wants us to be the street
commissioner and tpwa appears to be uh indifferent on the planning
director I think it's imperative that you have the street commissioner and
tpwa just because of what I've had to deal with in the last 10 months
months but planning director would be awesome to have on that as well they're
going to she's going to be working with them
anyway but you're saying Taylor is different about whether or not he needs
to be there or not the planning director yes he's indiffer with the planning
director needs to have an official role in this would that would that slow down
the process for people that are jumping if they had to have all three people
there every time a decision had to be made about this um it well the decision
would be made and they would they would present a plan for the entire city so it
wouldn't slow them down because all three of them would be in on those plans
now uh if if they were coming in and just doing it by peac maill then yes but
they they don't do that they usually come with an entire plan of of the
entire city so uh I don't think it's going to slow them down uh but again I
think uh our street commissioner and our our Public Works is going to always uh
lean towards that Tac committee to make sure that they have input from them and
this permit has to go before that committee before yes before they start
digging before they start hanging
okay if Taylor Mr tanning Hill has has said you know that the intent is to
leave the ordinance as is only add public right away then I'm I'm
absolutely fine with that as well we've got a lot going on right now so
so Mo a motion to approve because it's got an emergency
clause on it correct if you were to approve we will need approve the
emergency clause for to take effect yes we do that we have to do that separately
or that's correct must be separate so I'll make the first motion to approve
I'll second okay I do have a question just to clarify with it being the first
reading just make sure that we can there's not problema does it necessary
qualify to have reading under the city Charter all
ordinances must have a second reading unless that ordinance is declared an
emergency so if you declare if you approve it tonight but don't for some
reason don't declare an emergency it is not approved it must come back at the
next
meeting councilor Allen yes councelor hirers yes councelor
Baker yes councelor Perry yes motion Carri motion to declare this an
emergency I'll second councelor Allen yes
councelor hirers yes councelor Baker yes councelor
Perry yes motion
carried item 6f discussion and possible action to approve approve with
modification or deny accepting the bid amount of $84,500 from Calin and sense
roofing for the senior citizens roof improvements compliance coordinator Ray
Hammond and City attorney JT Hammond
noted well we actually are we found out we're distant
cousins so there uh yes this is uh we went out for
bid for replacement of the roof of senior citizen is much needed uh
application on that building uh we got I believe six bids back in uh six or seven
U anyhow we had uh the low bid uh which was
64,000 67 67,000 and then the second bid was
84,500 and uh after review uh and I'll I'll let Esquire take over at this point
but uh he can do the verbiage better than I but we we did choose a bidder
City staff is recommending you go with the second low bidder as we've done
before whenever you're going with the non- low bidder you must give a reason
in the record for that uh this is the statement staff would ask city council
to adopt as the lowest bid is significantly under staff's estimate of
the project cost the city finds the lowest bid to not be the BET lowest
responsible
bid to
approve councelor
Baker were you did you make the motion I'm sorry I did not make the motion I
councelor Alan can I have a question to your motion if you don't mind yes um
responsible that kind of terminology is very
vague is it can we what I'm having a problem with is is
understanding you know qualifiable I think is
a when talking about a bit is it qualifiable I mean do we understand it
do we actually see where I'm just trying to you know clarify the words
responsible so as using the state's competitive bidding uh laws U the goal
of the competitive bidding acts are twofold and only twofold it's to ensure
the taxpayer one is to ensure the Integrity of the of the bidding process
itself so for example uh I'll pick on my long lost cousin here uh he could not
submit a bid for a city project because there's a fear of nepotism we have to
protect so we just have if he were to bid we have a genuine concern about the
the fairness of the process so we would reject a bid from Mr Hammond on the
grounds that the bidding process may be susceptible to
nepotism the second prong is to Ure the taxpayer the taxpayers actually receive
the project at the lowest possible price price if the city staff is concerned
that given the disparity between our internal estimates of what this project
should cost and the bids actually received by the low bidder we don't feel
that it will actually be done for that cost that change order after change
order will become forward and the project will ultimately cost
more so we are going the staff recommends that we go with the second
low bid as the lowest responsible bidder
Allen yes councelor
hirers yes councelor Baker yes councelor Perry
yes motion
carried item 6G discussion and possible action to approve or deny granting the
mayor the authority authority to request from okoma Department of Transportation
the closure of the intersection at mimosa and Highway 51 bypass compliance
coordinator Ray Hammond R Council this is the intersection across from uh where
RibCrib uh Citra 21 goes on across to McDonald's and uh reers on the back side
uh we've had uh over the years many many accidents there uh there's certainly a
Hotpot for the police department and the fire department and
EMS uh we have done some re research on it the the state is uh going to
permanently close that in the future uh and due to our road construction that we
have going on now in the city uh it is a concern that a lot of people are going
to be cutting through and trying to dodge some of that road construction and
use that as an Avenue increasing uh accidents in that area spoke with uh
Chris Wallace with ODOT he is uh amicable and saying he would like to
come over here if we wished if the council uh is of mind to go ahead and
close that temporary as a cross street until uh it is permanently made that way
which hopefully when we start the new Road between mimosa and Park Hill that's
they're going to work jointly with us at the same time on that project so uh this
is something that I brought up with the 911 board uh police Fire
EMS uh and uh they've all and Sheriff's Department and they've all agreed that
it is the the right thing to do uh I haven't rely talked to anybody that's
opposed to it so it is Staff recommendation and those others
recommendation that we go ahead and temporarily close the cross uh Avenue of
uh mimosa and the bypass until it is permanently fixed that
way um I have one question as to the road trying to divert traffic and so
forth we do plan on the oncoming future at least to my understanding of going
from Osa to Park Hill with a through road that sir that
road if you're if you're headed uh North on Mimosa or coming off of mimosa the
head north uh north and west there you can turn right uh you will be able to
turn right and go through that dead end across the backside of uh the real
estate company there uh Banker cwell there'll be a new road put in there
where you can access Park Hill Road and hit the light and then you can go left
or right we are giving them giving them a safer opport giving them another
opportunity to be able to go through there and go left and right at a
stoplight that's controlled and not high speed of mechanism of injury only have
block or two away yes sir so they can still so people going to talico Drug
Company McDonald's they can still use mahany there's just not going to be that
jut off of mosa you won't be able to turn right there yes so that's what cor
down so there's that that awkward that awkward kind of a why that goes that way
that you're going to take out so that you don't have merging traffic and
people waiting back no no no no this will be in the center median between of
the bypass that goes from the the Northwest side of mimosa okay to the
southeast side of mimosa you won't be able to Jet across four lanes of traffic
come out to Mimosa and then you could turn right but you couldn't go straight
across the straight across will be close correct right or
correct correct not right correct because you couldn't go straight across
because that intersection yes but you can go the talic
lumber the light go left or right I'm just making sure I really
understand and because that's just a nightmare that area over there
yeah and I think that is there any way that we could uh inform the public you
know that this is coming uh well through this meeting through uh our website our
Facebook uh we will be able to let the public know that it's coming ODOT would
I'm sure would be glad to share it on theirs as well uh it be much like uh a
lot of other things we we will notify the public as well as we can uh we can
do we have our newspaper with us here tonight I'm sure she will probably uh
mention it as well and I want to make a statement real
quick um there's been if I'm correct 46 or is
it 47 Rex in the last six years we had two this last week so there's probably
48 48 um I can say when that by pass was
created in 1985 that intersection alone we had a wreck uh and I was a part of
that and it was just basically CA of someone Crossing that road and I I do
think this is a real a large safety problem as well as it will hopefully
deviate traffic to other avenues that's causing some of the problems uh in the
neighborhoods as well uh that uh are part of the
that intersection so I would make the motion
to it was your to approve motion to approve
closure I believe it's a request for the mayor to be able to make that contact
with the OD do I've got to ask the question have
have we communicated with Taco drug company or McDonald's or any of the of
those because the only issue that I have and I agree I agree that it's that's a
really dangerous area but the only issue that I have is is you know
now people that are using going to McDonald's and and that area they're
it's G to be kind of difficult to get there if you're coming from you know and
I know you can't have everything but I just wanted to know like is this going
to be just like a a huge issue for them have they been
contacted they been consulted at all those those those you
know those businesses that are right there with you know I I have not
personally spoke with Tel drug in that area uh I could just
say just the public outc for this thing has been for years okay Mr hmon you and
I spoke or before the meeting it's my understanding that ODOT has already
approved the permanent closure absolutely this is going to happen by
temporarily closing it gives the public frankly more time to get to get used to
the new reality and just to be clear that is OD
Do's perview that's their area that's they have authority there so this is
going to be closed and they've already deemed that to happen we're just uh uh
moving it forward a little quicker because we continue to have damage
injury and accident in that area okay perfect I just I have
to I I agree with this in theory but I
really have been trying to wrap my head around this in practice because I think
that that intersection at well the Walmart
intersection I mean that's what everybody calls it is if not the most
dangerous but it's the most frustrating intersection in talaa for a plethora of
reasons but it even becomes more frustrating if now now people are
waiting in line to do nothing but uturn because what they've done is they've
come out the right and they needed U-turn to go
left and I are are we just putting I mean I so again in theory I think I
totally agree with what's happening but in practice are we putting the cart
before the horse a little bit by not having the other outlets the other
outlet that they can get to the light at tallet ball Lumber and then and connect
up I mean do we need shouldn't we be building that road
I mean if we're building that road we bought the land now it's ready to build
the load the road to connect from Park Hill
[Music] to Mimosa rainy not Mimosa it's rain
manahy or Mimosa actually just on that side and I think you're also creating
before we close the the outlet I mean because then all you're going to do
because you're still going to have people that are going they're now
turning right they're getting to the intersection they're u-turning to come
back in to go to research or go to yeah and I think you're going to have
a lot of people now funneling through the research parking lot yeah and I and
I think I think we really need a I think we need a really good solution
to get to I don't know if there is one but we really need to to think about I
mean I I agree that that's really dangerous but to create more problems s
by stopping one problem I think saving a life is more I agree I just I just
Council if if I can try this um that don't I don't think this should be a
straw man issue by saying if we vote against it we're like voting to have
people pass away on the intersection from car wreckage but I think that it's
got to be in theory you've got to have a theory you've got to have a a plan in
place I councilman if I can um because these are
roads under the jurisdiction of ODOT um no matter what we do tonight uh it's
purely advisory to ODOT ODOT if we said no don't do this ODOT could could put a
temporary close sign in the morning uh given that ODOT has already indicated
this is going to happen uh it's certainly best for us to start putting
together a plan of what that looks like on the other side I mean this is going
to happen do you do we know when OD going to close it down yes they're going
to work in conjunction with us uh whenever we start the road uh and I
don't have a date but whenever we start the road to go over to Park Hill they're
going to do it all together so it's going to cause uh you know it's
construction so it's going to cause some confusion uh no matter what so there's
if we do it now it's just going to get people I think prepared more for what
they're fixing to have and and if they don't need to be in that area they'll
stay away from it till it's complete and if they do then uh they they'll know how
to navigate that's just my my
thoughts I I don't I don't have a I don't have a wish one way or the other
but I do know that it is a very very crazy hot spot for EMS police and fire
they have to work a lot of accidents
there and I think you have somebody at the
podium thank you why can't they put in light just like down at for Street
Lumber it does not meet the requirements because it's too close together to the
next light and that's odot's official statement and we've asked that we cried
for like years and years ago uh Street Department did council did people did
ODOT said they're too close together between Mogi and uh Park Hill if we put
another one there we they violate their own rules so they said No Light have
more accident to's parking lot well and and and yes and
that on reers I'm just asking I don't know I'm
not an engineer uh but I do know that reers in theory has always been said
that's actually a street that goes through there anyway because we do keep
it striped and we do the parking lot there reers is actually a street on the
outside of so go ahead uh so just coming from the guy that works the street like
every day um brain is like that's the road that goes straight across from
Walmart to Burger King and it goes all the way behind research so it is legal
to drive through a parking lot to get to another location unless you're going to
set store so this would also help them like maneuver like behind I use it and
it's not closing down the access to Mosa you can actually turn right and it's not
illegal to make a u-turn at tall Lumber so right now uh yes it would be an
inconvenience but I mean like we're going to put you know safety first or we
going to put convenience first which I know the research parking lot you know
that aspect you know we may have to put a patrol car there you know might have
to enforce that cut through but just throwing that out there there are roads
back there that are supposed to be traveled that aren't because even if you
go to McDonald's from the resers parking lot you're going against the grain and
you can't turn to go through the drive-thru again and even if you go
straight through the parking lot the parking spots are slided to the east so
if you're coming in in you're still not able to parkk does that make sense so
it's a lot of grain they're going against but there are roads there so and
I and I agree I just think like what Stephen was saying I just think we need
to really just sit down and get a plan and um into place for this area because
I think we've all since we've been in tala for so long um that whole South End
you know we all have experienced that you know maybe we could do things
have grown a little bit differently but we just are where we're at and you know
the the traffic there is just horrendous so I think a plan really and I'm sure
that you guys probably have a lot of thoughts on that but just to just to
inform everybody and to make sure we're all on the same page I know that we're
rambling on make one final comment and I know we have a speaker but I I'll I'll
say this um the gentleman that probably would be a good person to contact is a
gentleman by the name of Bob Coburn c o b RN uh Mr Cobrin is the former mayor of
the city of Mogi he has since been appointed this area of Oklahoma as
representative to the ODOT Transportation Commission uh he would be
very interested in hearing what tal has to say about this so he can Advocate our
community's views to the to the agency what was that name one time Bob cobr C O
B RN yes um I actually had a son who had a
record that intersection and told the vehicle and it is dangerous part of the
problem though is the speed limit from Park Hill down to the intersection the
Walmart intersection by Chili's and everything
I think that when they're closing that they need to study the speed limit
between Park Hill Road and U Mogi Avenue because people come flying through there
which is what happened to my son um this woman was quite a ways away but she was
going 65 miles an hour eating burrito and um so I really do think if
you know if they're going to be doing this while they're at it they need to
consider slowing people down maybe even putting up flashing lights so that they
see you know the speed limit has changed and you know and they need to slow down
because people do come blind through there and I don't think closing that
cross intersection is going to stop that they're going to continue to just barrel
down through there I mean while they're doing the construction on the bridge
right now yes people are slower but when that opens back up it's a it's a freeway
and they just come flying down through there so I would suggest or ask if that
can be you know brought up in the plans we're closing that thank you thank you I
can speak to what uh ODOT has attested that they uh they have done a study on
the speed limit through there they agree with what the lady said uh people do
come around there too fast uh they but it's it's not unlike a lot of other
places in our town the difference is is that particular part has an intersection
where people Collide if they turn left and they take off like crazy going east
or west uh you don't have the Collision that you have like you do because
there's a stoplight there that assists it at Mimosa there's no stoplight
so if you turn if you're coming in South you're coming in from the south north
you turn left and you head out towards Phoenix Park or the airport you're still
going fast but there's a stoplight to regulate you there and there's not one
at mimosa and there's not going to be
one so I think I in theory I like what I think the
spirit of this is and so I would be for giving the mayor the authority to
start the conversation with ODOT about you know what can we do but I I do think
that there in my head it's not just as easy as let's close down this
intersection and then say that we've done our good deed and move forward
because I think then all we're going to do is we've now Kick the Can down
to other intersections to stop lights one that you can access easily one that
you can't to get anywhere else and then and I you're just gonna have people
turning you I mean it's going to be U-turn Central from 4:30 to 6
o'clock on in an already busy intersection that half the time people
you can't turn left if you're coming from the
West you can't turn I think it's West if you're coming
from like a car wash which
one whatever I I also would people are in the intersection we all know
everybody in this room is notd in their heads they know what I'm talking about
right and I I also understand I I get it if
they're going to close it down anyway but to me
it's going to be down the road I'm not comfortable making a decision without
communicating with the businesses that could be
impacted without I don't I don't want them to just feel like where did this
come from resar well you know all of these businesses that depend on traffic
and I don't want to create a I I just I don't want to jump I I would much rather
do this going in with everybody knowing what's happening and getting the
opportunity to give their input um that's that's what I feel I
mean I I just would I I know that we're talking about Public Safety but at the
same time if there something that we can make a decision on and get everybody's
opinion and then make make a more educated like like I don't want to I
don't want to I don't want to say something that everybody else is gonna
come and say I had no idea this was on the meeting I said tonight to to JT I
said uh you know we've never had anybody say no they don't want this everybody
wants until we do it and then somebody's going to say no they didn't want it uh
that's just the way things are I have talked to a few of the people around
there that are in business and they all say why isn't the city doing something
to close this intersection I've never heard anyone say oh no they need to
leave it open everybody's like they need to do something these are the businesses
that are right close by I won't name them out publicly but that that's that's
certainly what has been said to me well and I would think in my mind my answer
to that would be we are doing something which is why we bought the land behind
Coldwell to form the road between Park Hill to rain Mia Mahan and Mimosa to
give an outlet that way there's an outlet a safer place for people to come
from that area to Park Hill Road to now you're at a light that you can go right
or left from so in my head this whole time I've been thinking that is the
Avenue that we're trying to take to make this a safer
intersection and now we've just jumped in in my opinion that maybe we couldn't
we're on step you know C when we just skip step B but that's just me I mean
I'm just I did forget one one particular uh person that that uh was in on the
conversation and he did say that yes it was a very good idea to go ahead and
shut it down that was our street commissioner he was very much in
agreeance with that it need to be done so not that that's an influence it's
just that I did talk to all the players as far as emergency personnel and the uh
the street Personnel to find out where they stood and that's that's pretty much
all I have to say about that Chief Baker do you have anything that you would want
to add from a professional observation not to put you on the spot
but you showed up not to put you on the spot but come
to the microphone and tell us what you think zoom in on the camera I mean I
agree with Ray I mean it's it's a bad intersection it's been a bad
intersection for a long time it's I think when they develop the bypass you
know when you develop bypass and started having these roads you just tee into it
um is a bad is a bad recipe for disaster I mean my opinion which is today is a
bad day to say this because we had a bad wreck on that but to me a roundabout
would be a good solution for there in rainy um I've traveled on different
places that have them all over and I mean they seem to flow a lot easier slow
people down and you still have your outs but I would say it's a very bad
intersection
professional and it is inevitable inev I think the more frustrating part
is we've been debating an issue for 20 minutes that we really have no control
over because we're just saying can the mayor send a letter to OD do saying
please maybe if you deem it necessary oh grade funds
so but I think in my mind in spirit I I think that this is worth having the
conversation and so I will make a motion to
approve that motion well then I'll second it thank you
sir counc Baker yes counc h highers yes councelor Alan
no councelor per
yes car Carri it did when did you come
in oh good have a okay we are now gonna go into
executive session do I have a motion to
do
coun yes coun yes
e
name is 706 real come back into session honorable mayor members of the council
the council did meet an executive session as authorized by state law only
those items listed on the agenda were discussed no votes were taken no polls
cast however at this time I do believe a proper motion would be to approve the
2024 2025 contract with the fop Lodge 2011 second hang on kids I approve 22
2425 cont
okay motion we have first a second councel councelor hirers yes councelor
Allen yes councelor Baker yes councelor Perry yes motion carried on Item B no
action is required at this time on item C I believe appropriate motion would be
to authorize the City attorney to engage the law firm of crow dunlevy to
represent the city in case number cj2
24-6 councelor Allan yes councelor HS yes councelor Baker yes councelor Perry
yes motion carried we are adjourned at 7