City Council Meeting of Aug. 20, 2013

Following are my notes of the City Council meeting on Aug. 20 for the time I was present. I've been told by a number of residents that they appreciate knowing what is going on in city council meetings.

[Mayor Clay Loosen has reposted a notice on the door of the City Council room that all telephones and recording equipment must be turned off during the meeting.  A similar notice was posted last year following some questions about what had been said at a meeting and Harriette Nitzel said her recording of the meeting "had not worked", but a recording from another person was produced to prove the statement.  The new notice was professionally printed and looked  more "official".  Mayor Loosen commented that he had posted the new notice because a telephone went off (rang) during a previous city council meeting.  I didn’t take offense to the comment because my cell phone has been kept off during council meetings after I was personally chastised by Mayor Loosen several months ago. FOR THE RECORD, the only cell phone that rang during any recent meeting that I have attended was Dr. Spencer's.  The City Clerk tape-records every meeting, so this can be verified anytime if anyone wants to listen to the recordings.
 
Oklahoma Open Meeting Act states:    "It is the public policy of the State of Oklahoma to encourage and facilitate an informed citizenry’s understanding of the governmental processes and governmental problems."

"All meetings of public bodies, as defined hereinafter, shall be held at specified times and places which are convenient to the public and shall be open to the public, except as hereinafter specifically provided. All meetings of such public bodies shall be preceded by advance public notice specifying the time and place of each such meeting to be convened as well as the subject matter or matters to be considered at such meeting, as hereinafter provided."

“Cameras and tape recorders may not be barred from meetings of public bodies.”

“Any person attending a public meeting may record the proceedings of said meeting by videotape, audiotape or by any other method; providing, however, such recording shall not interfere with the conduct of the meeting.”

 “Any person or persons willfully violating any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding one (1) year or by both such fine and imprisonment.” ]


Present in the meeting were Eric Warsinskey , new editor of the Watonga Republican; Mayor Clay Loosen, Harriette Nitzel, Debbie Annette  from Dan Webber’s office, Dacia Phillips from CPA office, Noelle Danucio, city council members: Richard Hightower, Kendra Baker, Bobby Spencer, Edna Justice, Brent Wilkinson, Gary Olsen, and Brenda Curry; Linda Barrett, Andy Barrett, Robbie Pearce from Mercy Hospital, Robert Daugherty, and Verlin Bills.

Prior to the meeting there was discussion among the city council persons about activities at the Light & Water office that were inappropriate – Kendra Baker said we needed to do something about the “horrible attitudes”. 

Clay Loosen introduced Eric Warsinskey, new editor at the Watonga Republican.  Mr. Loosen  also mentioned that he was asking everyone to turn off their cell phones and any recording devices, because at the last meeting someone’s phone went off and it was disruptive.  He exempted Bobby Spencer (whose phone rang at the last meeting); and the Fire Chief Verlin Bills.

The City Council proceeded with approval of the Consent Agenda:  reports from each department in the councilpersons' packets were approved (Kendra Baker abstained). 

Dacia Phillips from the CPA firm RS Meachum & Assoc. gave her report on the city’s financials, which each City Council member had on hand.  She indicated that the report covered the month of July, the first month of the City’s new fiscal year.  She said that the City General budget was 24% when it should have been 8%, but that overage was because of adjustments made  in Blue Cross/Blue Shield premiums and because those expenditures had not been allocated to each department.  She indicated that she would have “better figures” next month.  Overall, the City operated at a loss of $99,192.00 for July. 

She then presented the financial report for Light and Water and indicated that revenues were not as high as last year because consumption was down this summer as compared to last summer.  The figures presented to the  Council also included some capital expenditures. No transfer of monies was made from L&W to General Fund in June, so these issues skewed the July numbers.  She reported a loss of $143,734 due to bookkeeping not being current. 

Dacia Phillips also reported on the Grant Fund, PWA, Sales Tax, and Street & Allen funds.  She indicated that use tax has stayed high compared to the prior fiscal year.  Financial reports were approved by the City Council. 

Motion was made to change the regular September City Council meeting from September 16 to September 17 because both Clay Loosen and Doyle Province will be out of town that day.  The motion was approved.  Hospital bids that were published to be due on September 17 will still be due but will not be acted on at the September 17 meeting.

Next on the agenda was a request to enter into a contract with American Municipal Services to collect past due court fines.  Harriette Nitzel said “we have a lot of them.”  Several city councilpersons questioned why these fines had not been collected or “why aren’t they in jail?”  Ms. Nitzel said that her office issues warrants and files for driver’s license suspension with DPS, but that there are still a lot of uncollected fines.  She said they would be collected by AMS at no cost to the City.  When questioned further, Ms. Nitzel indicated that information on the service and their fees  was in each councilperson’s packet; however, none of the councilmen had it.  She then passed a copy of information from AMS to Richard Hightower.  Ms. Nitzel  said that AMS’s fee is 35% of the fine, but that AMS adds that fee to the fine they collect so that it doesn’t come out of the City’s portion.  “We get the entire fine they collect” she said.  The council voted to approve entering into a contract with AMS (with no details of the contract being in the Motion).  Richard Hightower stated that his affirmative vote was in spite of not having the full information in front of the council, and asked that “this not happen again.”

Next on the agenda was a request by Verlin Bills for authority to apply for a grant in the amount of $150,000.00 to pay for a full-time firefighter for three years.  In the meeting, Mr. Bills said that the information given to the council “may not be correct” and that the grant would probably be for $100,000 for two years.  He said he wanted to have someone in place in the department by the time he retires in about two and a half years.  He indicated that the grant application is due by August 30.  Kendra Baker asked how much it will cost the City, but Mr. Bills said he did not know.  Gary Olsen said that it was possible that it may not cost the City anything.  Another council member stated that grants generally require about 10% of the grant amount to be paid by the City but he didn’t know what the details were for this particular grant.  On motion made by Gary Olsen and seconded by Brenda Curry,  Verlin Bills was authorized to proceed with the grant application. 

The council then voted to move into Executive session to discuss the lawsuit filed by Linda Barrett, and all persons other than council members, the City Clerk, and Debra Annette left the room.  Shortly thereafter, Dr. Spencer also left the council chamber.

[I did not return to the meeting after the Executive Session was completed.   Anyone can make a comment on my FB page (Linda Barrett) or by private message there.]