There was a good showing of citizens at this week's City Council meeting. Although the Agenda was not very long, the meeting lasted until 9:00 p.m. with a lengthy discussion of City Code Enforcement.
I present here my notes recorded during the meeting -- just the facts, m'am. My personal comments are in brackets and bold.
Present at the meeting were Mayor Clay Loosen and all City Councilpersons except for Bobby Spencer. Also present were Arlen Newman from the Ambulance Service, Harriette Nitzel, Dan Webber; Dacia
Phillips from RS Meachum CPA firm, Doreen Flaming, Head Librarian Terry Crawford, Robert
Daugherty, Marvin Schweigert, Noelle
Denucci, Neisha Newsom from Light & Water office, Police Chief John Massey,
Bobby Stitt and Robbie Pearson from Mercy Hospital, Jaime
Pearson, Linda Barrett, Mary Larsen, Tony Almaguer, Gene Pflughoft from CORD,
and Andy Barrett.
Minutes of the last regular City
Council meeting and monthly reports from the Light & Water office, Treasurer, Golf,
Police, Fire, Airport, Library, and Ambulance were approved without comment. [copies of the agendas were available for the public, but not the department reports.] Clay Loosen asked Arlen Newman if he wanted
to go over the Ambulance report and Mr. Newman said “no”, he likes to “stay at arm’s length away” and leave the numbers to the CPA firm that prepared the report. He told the Council that they could contact the CPA firm with any questions they might have. The City received and Clay Loosen opened one bid from Thompson Educational Furnishings in Edmond, OK, for construction of a Circulation Counter at the Library, in the amount of $16,075.00 including delivery and installation in accordance with specifications published by the City Clerk. Head Librarian Terry Crawford said she didn’t know if it included carpet and teardown. Doyle Province suggested that the Library Committee review the bid in light of questions about what it covers. A meeting of the Library Committee with Brenda Curry, Kendra Baker, and Edna Justice was scheduled for Tuesday, July 30 at 7:00 p.m.at the Library. That committee’s recommendation for approval of the bid can then be put on the agenda of the City Council for the August 6 meeting.
Insurance premiums of approximately $2,500.00 for coverage of equipment at the airport was presented for approval. The equipment is not insured at this time. [see the Agenda for a list of the equipment to be covered.] The proposal for coverage presented was from OMAG, who carries the City’s other insurance. The expenditure was approved.
The Council discussed the Finance Committee’s recommendations for Police Department salary raises and then voted to approve the following: 5% raises for Chief Massey, Troy Magers and Tony Almaguer; a raise to $14.50 per hour for CLEET certified officers; $888.00 every two weeks for the dispatcher; $13.00/hr for the animal control officer Doug Jackson. Dacia Phillips from the CPA firm stated that the money for these raises had been included in the recently-approved budget, with a limit on number of officers to be 7. The council also approved an additional payment of $200.00 for every year of police experience to new officers over and above base salary. [it wasn’t clear if this was a one-time “bonus” or to be included in regular salary].
An agenda item to hire Manuel Hernandez as a police officer was withdrawn by Chief Massey. Chief Massey said Mr. Hernandez withdrew his application.
The City council then approved a donation of the Hospital’s old “Emergency” sign to Rt 66 Museum, as Mercy Hospital has installed a new sign. Harriette Nitzel stated that the sign had already been delivered to the museum.
Gene Pflughoft presented a request from Central Oklahoma Regional Development (CORD) for payment of annual contract dues in the amount of $3,650.00. The City’s dues for last year was $5,400.00 but the request has been reduced due to loss of population (loss of the prison) at the request of Andy Barrett, the city’s representative on the CORD board. Mr. Pflughoft gave a summary of economic development activities he has worked on over the past year here in Watonga with the Watonga Action Committee and the Chamber of Commerce. He has brought two prospective buyers for the property that was a nursing home on Clarence Nash Blvd., but both offers were turned down by the owner. Projects currently being addressed through CORD are efforts to reopen the prison; coordinating with the State Park on promoting events and activities to bring people to Watonga; working with school Superintendent Seitter on youth leadership programs; and working with Youth & Family Services with youth programs at the SPOT. He is looking at programs to motivate property owners to revitalize, use, or sell the empty buildings on Main Street. Gary Olsen asked “why can’t we bring in new retail businesses” to Watonga. Mr. Pflughoft indicated that it is tough to bring in new businesses and that he will continue working through CORD to locate and encourage businesses to come to Watonga. Payment of the new contract amount was approved by the council. [see my comments below under "Code Enforcement"]
The City Council approved a request from Librarian Terry Crawford to declare as surplus and sell two 60-drawer solid wood card catalogs, 2 desktop computers, and 1 AV cart. There was no discussion of advertising for bids to sell the property.
Under new business, Dacia Phillips from RS Meachum CPA firm was asked to present the CPA firm’s financial report for fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. City expenditures were [significantly more] than budgeted expenditures for the General Fund and the Light & Water fund. [I don't have the exact figures in my notes so I don't want to put anything incorrect here, but the expenses were several thousand dollars higher than budget. No detail was given as to why expenditures exceeded budget. Each City Council person has a copy of the financial report and can answer questions if you want to know.] There was no further discussion or action taken concerning the financial information provided [because Dacia's report was not put on the Agenda for consideration or action.]
Clay Loosen stated that the City Clerk had submitted to FEMA approximately $16,000. In expenses as a result of the snow storm in February 2013. The City received reimbursement of approximately $9,500.00 . Mayor Loosen complimented the City Department heads’ work in dealing with the snow storm. He also said that the city department heads need to do better to coordinate services and getting paperwork to the Clerk in order to get higher reimbursement from FEMA in the future.
Clay Loosen stated that Marvin needs a new trash truck. Dacia Phillips stated that there is money in the Sales Tax fund to cover this expense.
Kendra Baker asked how stray dog calls should be handled when our animal control officer is off duty. There is a stray dog that comes into her yard and has “almost bitten” her children. Richard Hightower stated that in the past, the police officer on duty at the time would handle the call. The council agreed that that would be appropriate, and that if the officer on duty cannot handle the situation, then Doug Jackson should be called. Dan Webber suggested that there should be a policy and procedures manual that addresses such matters. Clay suggested that Kendra talk to Chief Massey for his input on handling dog calls when the animal control officer is off duty.
Richard Hightower then asked for some clarification about the Hospital bond issue, specifically what repairs and capital improvements are to be covered by the bond money, and the procedure that needs to be followed to get repairs done. He indicated he had met with Bobby Stitt and Robbie Pearson from the hospital in an effort to figure out the procedure. Dan confirmed that prior to the bond vote, Mercy Hospital and representatives of the City met and had put together a list of repairs and capital improvements that needed to be done in order for Mercy to lease and operate the Hospital. Harriette Nitzel said she would get a copy of that list to Mr. Hightower. Richard Hightower suggested that Mercy representatives might want to go through the list and prioritize items to be done. Dan Webber said that competitive bidding rules apply. [We, the public, approved the bond to pay for repairs and improvements to the hospital, based on a report prepared jointly by tMercy and City representatives. The problem now seems to be getting the City to let go of the money to make those repairs and improvements. Yes, there is a process ...]
Robbie Pearson from the Hospital asked, “when are we getting the roof fixed?” Harriette then said they [the contractor] were waiting for work on the “hood” to be finished, and Robbie said that had been completed back in June and paperwork submitted to the City. Contradicting herself, Ms. Nitzel then said that all necessary paperwork on the part of the City has been completed and that Mercy needs to contact the contractor. Mr. Hightower suggested that both Harriette Nitzel and Robbie Pearson call the contractor and keep each other informed of progress. Mr. Hightower suggested that there needs to be better communication between Mercy and the City Clerk on these matters.
Mr. Hightower asked if City Council had approved a new heating and air conditioning system for the hospital, and no one seemed to know. Dan Webber said that a request needs to be brought before City Council for funds for such capital improvement. Richard Hightower said he would act to coordinate between the City and the Hospital in order to improve communication and help the process run smoother.
Doyle Province then wanted to review for the entire Council the Fire Committee meeting that was held on June 8 about Code Enforcement. He indicated that “we have the ordinances”, we just need to enforce them, and that Robert Daugherty was continuing to work on it. He said that he saw in the OKC news recently that Oklahoma City has 21,000 properties with code violations. Robert indicated he was not only responding to citizen complaints but also doing his own patrolling and finding properties in violation of City Code. Doyle stated that he had spoken to a woman at OML (Oklahoma Municipal League) to get more information on state requirements for Code Enforcement. Only a certified Code Enforcer can issue citations. He said that OML puts on a code enforcer class twice a year and the next one is in early September. The cost is $150 per person. Doyle suggested that the City might want to have “a couple more” city employees certified as Code Enforcer. Richard Hightower suggested that the City put an article in the local newspaper about what kinds of things are violations of City Code, and letting the public know that they need to “clean up or get a citation”, and asked Harriette Nitzel if she would prepare something. Edna Justice asked: Can a citizen, like myself, go up and knock on a neighbor’s door and tell them that their yard needs to be mowed {or other violation is present}? Dan Webber said “yes”. Doyle Province asked “who maintains the City’s website?” and Terry Crawford acknowledged that she did. Terry said she and Mary Larson were working on putting a Citizen’s Complaint form on the website. [As of this meeting, Clay still couldn't tell us how many property owners had actually received abatement letters; or how many, if any, citations had actually been issued. It has now been more than a month since our Code Enforcement officer began and we don't know where he is in his efforts. Driving around town, we can see that there are still many of the same properties that have tall grass and weeds and there are still dilapidated but abandoned buildings.
The process is supposed to be: (1) letter sent to owner (2) if returned unclaimed, letter posted on door of property for 10 days (3) citation issued if offense not corrected.
Edna Justice commented that she noticed there was no reporter from the newspaper present this evening but she hoped there would be something in the paper to let citizens know that they need to clean up their properties or they will be receiving citations for code violations. [The Watonga Republican had a good article in this week's issue about the City's intentions to enforce City Code. ]
/linda
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