Watonga City Government -- Part 1

Comments and questions made by the public at the Oct. 15 City Council meeting has prompted some research on the procedures set out under State law and in the Watonga City Code pertaining to the mayor's powers to hire and fire personnel.

STATE LAW - Forms of Government in Oklahoma

1.        Aldermanic Form of Government (form of government in the City of Watonga)

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government Section 9-104 - Mayor - Duties as President of Council.

The mayor shall preside at meetings of the council, and shall certify to the correct enrollment of all ordinances and resolutions passed by it. The mayor is not considered a member of the council for quorum or voting purposes; except that he may vote on questions under consideration by the council only when the council is equally divided.

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government Section 9-105 - Mayor - Duties as Chief Executive Officer.

The mayor shall be chief executive officer of the administrative branch of the government of the city. The mayor shall be recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes and by the Governor for purposes of military law. The mayor shall:

1. appoint, subject to confirmation by the city council, a city attorney and all heads or directors of administrative departments including members of boards and commissions and shall appoint all other administrative officers and employees of the city; and

2. sign the commissions and appointments of all officers, elected or appointed; and

3. remove or suspend city officers or employees against whom charges of incompetency, neglect, or violation of duty are made, until such time as the council shall take action on the charges; and

4. supervise and control all administrative departments, agencies, officers, and employees, act promptly on a charge of neglect or violation of duty of any officer or employee, and require any officer to account for and report to the council in writing on any subject pertaining to the duties, powers, or functions of the officer when the mayor deems necessary; and

5. prepare a budget annually and submit it to the council. The mayor shall be responsible for the administration of the budget after it goes into effect; and

6. keep the council advised of the financial condition and future needs of the city. The mayor shall submit to the council a report after the end of the fiscal year on the finances and administrative activities of the city for the preceding year; and

7. make recommendations to the council of measures for the well-being of the city; and

8. enforce the city ordinances; and

9. grant pardons for violation of city ordinances, including the remission of fines and costs, subject to the approval of the council. Said approval may only be given at a meeting of the council after the reasons and order of remission or pardon have been entered on the journal; and

10. have such other powers, duties, and functions as may be prescribed by law or by ordinance.

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government

Section 9-106 - Mayor - Signing Ordinances - Veto Power

The mayor may sign or veto any city ordinance or resolution passed by the city council.

Any ordinance or resolution vetoed by the mayor may be passed over his veto by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of all the members of the council. If the mayor neglects or refuses to sign any ordinance or return it with his objections in writing at the next regular meeting of the council, the ordinance shall become law without his signature.

[Emphasis added.]


CITY CODE 
Chapter 2 - MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
2-201  Mayor, Duties.
          The Mayor shall preside at meetings of the council and certify to the correct enrollment of all ordinances and resolutions passed by it.  The mayor is not considered a member of the council for quorum or voting purposes, except that he may vote on questions under consideration by the council only when the council is equally divided.  The mayor may sign or veto any city ordinance or resolution passed by the city council.  The mayor shall be chief executive officer and head of the administrative branch of the city government.  He is also recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes and by the governor for purposes of military law. He shall have such powers and duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
State law reference:  Powers of mayor and duties, 11 O.S. sec. 9-104 through 9-106

***
2-408  Suspension and Termination Procedure.
         Specific procedures for suspension or termination of a city employee shall be as follows [emphasis added]:
         1.  The city through the mayor hasthe proper authority and power to suspend with or without pay or to terminate employment of any city employee and the mayor hereby delegates the authority to suspend to each appointed department head, who is a regularly elected city official or who has been appointed, as required by law, to fulfill an unexpired term of office of any regularly elected city official;
        2.  The department head, after taking suspension action, shall within three (3) working days thereafter submit to the mayor in writing a detailed and specific report outlining the suspension and recommend to the mayor and council  a course of action.  Failure to take the aforesaid action by the department head shall result in automatic reinstatement of suspended employee;
        3.  Any employee so suspended, or terminated under the provision of Paragraph A of this section  shall retain the right to request in writing review of the decision at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the council, or at any special meeting of the council which may be called for this purpose.  After reviewing the decision the council may make a formal recommendation to the mayor;
         4.  In the event of suspension, it is the ultimate and final decision of the mayor, whether to retain or terminate the employee, after previous suspension.  The mayor shall within a reasonable time, give notice of his decision by letter to the department head affected and to the employee involved; and
          5.  In the event of termination under the provisions of Paragraph A of this section, the mayor may, after review and recommendation as provided in Subparagraph C above, either affirm or reverse the order of termination. 
State law reference:  11 O.S. sec. 9-105 states the mayor may remove or suspend only until council can take action on the charges. 

NOTE: There is NO Paragraph A or Subparagraph C as referred to in the above sections of the City Code. 

The City also has an Employee Handbook that sets out the procedure for reprimands, suspensions, and termination, which the City Clerk does not follow.
 

City Council meeting Oct. 15

Oct.15, 2013
The City Council meeting this evening was, in spite of Mayor Loosen's tactics to keep it from being, a circus. It was attended by over 60 people and was held in the City Hall auditorium.  All City Council persons were present except for Richard Hightower. 

The Mayor started the meeting by saying he would not listen to any comments from the public until after the meeting, until after all matters had been voted on.  That  kind of defeats the purpose of a "public meeting", and there were several objections from the audience to that mandate. But the Mayor ignored those who tried to speak up.  The Mayor did not repeat his warning to the public to not record anything during the meeting.

The subject in contention was the appointment of Chris Teply as new Police Chief.  Evidently, not many of the Watonga Police Officers are in favor of hiring Chris Teply and two officers tried to express their dissatisfaction, but the Mayor would hear none of it.  Mayor Loosen stated that, in spite of the Police Committee being unable to make a recommendation for police chief, he was going to name Chris Teply as new Chief.  (The Police Committee is comprised of three City Council persons, and the vote at the committee meeting was 1 vote for Teply, 1 vote for Almaguer, and 1 vote for a candidate named Cancemi.)  Then he called for a vote of the City Council and Teply was approved by one vote.

The question that several people tried to raise was whether or not Mayor Loosen followed the proper procedure in dismissing/firing John Massey from his position as police chief.  And in fact, he did not follow proper procedure (according to the City's employee manual and, some say, the City Code) but it is Clay's opinion that he does not have to follow procedure -- he says he has the power, as Mayor, to hire and fire without city council approval. Though he brought Teply's appointment to the Council for approval, he did not ask for a vote of city council to approve his firing of John Massey.  Mayor Loosen said he didn't need to get a vote -- he told the meeting last night that he had talked about his reasons for firing John Massey in executive session and that's all he needed to do.  Both Kendra Baker and Edna Justice commented that there had not been a "vote" to approve his action in that executive session.

Most of the other discussion of items on the agenda were inaudible except for some discussion about hiring a new financial director.  Doyle Province is against hiring a new person, in spite of the variances in monthly charges billed by RS Meachum, the current CPA firm that the City employs.  This was not an action item on the agenda, so there was nothing to be voted on by the Council this evening. 

The Mayor then called out Andy Barrett, and complained that the Liberty theatre windows had been "defaced" without the City's permission.   Mr. Barrett replied that he had been commissioned by the Watonga Theatre Board to do that art work, and he asked Mr. Mayor if  he didn't like it. The Mayor replied that whether or not he liked it didn't matter; that Mr. Barrett should have asked permission from the City to do the etching.  Mr. Barrett again referred him to Patt Curtin and the Watonga Theatre Board if Clay has any questions about the work done at the Theatre.  A NOTE:  Clay Loosen was not the Mayor when the Watonga Theatre Board asked for permission of the City Council to renovate the front of the theatre building -- and in fact the City even voted to expend funds for the renovation!   Now, at the urging of some unknown malcontent (though we all know who is whispering in the Mayor's ear), Clay Loosen wants to complain about the artwork because HE wasn't asked for permission or for approval of the design. The Theatre Board and Mr. Barrett have been working on the theatre renovations for over two years and this is the first time anyone from the City has had anything to say about it!  [Ed.note - this is merely an attempt at more retribution by the Mayor and Ms.Nitzel against me for standing up to the City for their illegal and unethical actions, and only serves to bring their wrong actions more vividly into the public eye. /Linda]

Throughout the meeting there were calls from the audience for a "recall" of the Mayor, and at the end a contingent was asking for an investigation of our City government by the Oklahoma Attorney General.

Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival -- Update #1

The 37th annual Watonga Cheese Festival (now known as the WATONGA CHEESE & WINE FESTIVAL, is now over and reports are coming in from the chairpersons of the various events, with very positive results. 

Unfortunately, Saturday morning was marred by an incident involving an elderly man who ran through a rope barricade with his truck and hit a pedestrian, causing severe injury to her.  The incident could have been avoided had the local police not been "too busy" to put up the more substantial wooden "sawhorse" barricades as they have done in past years. It is not yet known if the driver of the truck was incapacitated, or if he was arrested.  The city police department is closed on Monday for Columbus Day, so we'll have to wait until later in the week to see a report of the incident.

Fortunately, that seemed to be the only cloud over the Festival. The weather was cool in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoons. The Oklahoma wind wasn't strong enough to disrupt the activities.  On Thursday afternoon the town was bustling with vendors setting up their booths and food trucks. Set-up time can be disruptive to some of the merchants on Main Street, but until the City closes off the entire street there is plenty of commerce that goes on, and plenty of parking for merchants and their customers.  Most Watongans understand that this disruption is only for one weekend out of the year, and the benefits to the town far outweigh the inconvenience of someone having to move their car from their regular parking space in order to allow a vendor to set up.   

This festival has been going on for thirty-seven years (though not always on Main Street), and the visitors here on Friday was reminiscent of the days before the 2007 hurricane.  Conspicuously absent  from participation and helping was the Main Street Association board and members, though many of the merchants on Main Street benefitted from the influx of visitors to the town. The City itself (and its residents) will benefit from the extra sales tax dollars the Festival brings in.  The Mayor was unavailable to appear during the opening ceremonies to welcome visitors but he was seen helping with the ticket booths later that day. The new pastor at the 1st United Methodist Church was on hand to give a prayer at the opening ceremony, which was followed by the entire audience participating in the Pledge of Allegiance.  As is tradition, an ensemble from the Watonga High School band performed before the opening ceremony and then played the Star Stangled Banner after the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Andy Barrett thanked all of the people involved in putting together the Festival and all of the Sponsors, businesses, and local citizens who donated money to support the Festival.  Unless you've been involved in organizing the festival, you may not know how much money it takes to it put on.  The Chamber of Commerce relies on ticket sales (wristbands) to pay for the bulk of the expense, but without the cash Sponsors and support of local businessmen and citizens, the Festival wouldn't have as many activities and entertainment to attract people to Watonga.  The Festival can no longer rely solely on Watonga and Blaine County residents to bring in the dollars needed to sustain the Festival.  It is for that reason that the Festival organizers have taken action to market and publicize the Cheese Festival to Oklahoma City and its suburbs.  And this year's marketing efforts seem to have paid off.  We'll have more figures on a later post, but judging from the crowds that were present on the streets and the feedback of the vendors, we had a lot of new visitors to Watonga this weekend!!

Watch here for more news about the Festival!  /Linda

No news is good news?

A couple of things were accomplished at the October 1 City Council meeting.

On the recommendation of the Building Committee, which met on Monday evening, the council unanimously voted to  approve Land Run properties to be given for "investment" (rental) property, including multi-family buildings,  subject to approval of re-zoning as applicable.  There was much discussion of the subject and it is hoped that it doesn't have to be revised again other than for zoning decisions.  That is where the public has a chance to have its say -- at Zoning Committee meetings -- so watch for postings of the meetings.  Even though it is the policy of City officials to discourage the public's attendance at Committee meetings, and they don't feel the need to publish minutes or notes from those meetings (their answer to complaints about that is "we aren't legally required to do so," it is the citizens' right to attend and give input BEFORE DECISIONS ARE MADE FINAL. 

In executive session, which was closed off to the press and to the public, Mayor Clay Loosen explained to the City Council his reasons for

firing Police Chief John Massey. Pretty much what was in Wednesday's newspaper article. Though there have been calls of support for Massey, the bottom line is, he hasn't been doing a good job as police chief.  We'll have to wait until the next issue of the Republican to see if Mayor Loosen gives a comment following the executive session, as he said he would. 

There was more discussion about Code Enforcement -- there was no item on the agenda but under new/old business, Councilman Richard Hightower continues to ask the Mayor "what's being done about code enforcement".  The answer is: not much other than notice letters mailed and yards being mowed. No citations are being issued under any of the three Chapters of code violations [yards with weeds and trash; abandoned and junk vehicles; and health and safety hazards/dilapidated buildings].  The Fire Marshall is not taking action on dilapidated buildings that are fire and safety hazards.  A proposal presented at a prior council meeting to hire a private contractor to do code enforcement has evidently been put on a back burner.  After the upcoming cheese festival, I will publish the Codes and remedies it provides.  

 

Speaking of cheese festival, city employees have been busy around town painting new stripes on the streets in preparation for the annual Festival.

 

Bids for painting jobs at Mercy Hospital, of approx. $60,000 for inside and outside, were accepted at the Public Works Authority meeting.   

 

/Linda

OGIC Wine Competition

Saturday was a busy day for a group of Watongans working on the upcoming Cheese & Wine Festival.  Andy and Linda, proprietors of the Chaparral Retreat & Guesthouse, hosted the first (hopefully annual) official Oklahoma Grape Industry Council wine competition at their quiet and peaceful place just outside of Watonga.  Brad Stinson, owner of the Whirlwind Winery, and Andy worked with Dr. William McGlynn from OSU to put  the contest together.  Dr. McGlynn along with Amie Hendrickson and Clayton Bahr  acted as judges.  They tasted and critiqued sixty-five different Oklahoma wines and graded them on a number scale.  It was a blind taste test, with the Judges not knowing what wines were from what winery. Entries came in from all across the state of Oklahoma. Local attorney Vicki Williams acted as wine steward, while Tanya Stinson and Maria Laubach helped with rotating wine glasses for the numerous wines. Lunch was served and it was a perfect day to sit outside on the patio and eat.
 The number grades for each wine were entered into a program and scores tabulated, and then forwarded to OGIC. The Best of Show and medal winners will be announced soon by the OGIC. 

The winning wineries will be represented at the Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival on Oct. 11 and Oct 12, and the public will have an opportunity to taste the wines and choose a "People's Choice" by popular vote.  Watonga is getting lots of publicity for  the Cheese Festival this year, so if the weather holds out it may bring record crowds to Watonga. The Chamber of Commerce wants to thank the advertising agency StapleGun for all of their help and guidance in promoting our festival  [in addition to the article in the Tulsa World, I even heard the guys on 96.9 FM radio talking about the Festival! -- that's a first for Watonga!!]   Andy Barrett and Brad Stinson will be appearing on Channel 43 on the morning show (Rise & Shine) on October 8 at 8:15 a.m. to promote the festival.
  /Linda

Sept. 16 City Council meeting

After hearing a last night’s city council meeting and talking to a couple of people who were present,  it is frustrating to see that some of our city leaders are simply against doing anything to bring people and money into this community.  It was also good to hear from those city council persons who understand what it is going to take to better our community.    

[by way of background: Some time ago, the Chamber of Commerce worked with the Watonga Action Committee (WAC) to come up with a program called the “Watonga Land Run”.   Blaine County has many properties on their rolls that are abandoned or had been deeded to the County for unpaid taxes.   These vacant lots have a negative impact on our city and county.  The County was willing to transfer title to some of those properties to the City under the “Land Run” program, which would in turn give the real estate to anyone willing to build a residence.  Changing the character of empty lots into homesites would provide not only water and sewer and electricity income to the City, but would also provide property taxes to the County, not to mention other economic benefits to the community.  After several months of getting the details of the Land Run worked out between the City Attorney and the Mayor’s office, a list of properties available from the County was approved by the City Council to be transferred to the City.   The meetings where those matters were approved were on or about May 2012. ]  

On the Agenda of last night's meeting were three items in connection  with the Land Run.
Approval to transfer six specific Lots to the City for the Land Run was once again on the agenda.  Although a list of lots was approved by City Council back in 2012, a recent review of the records at the County Treasurer’s office revealed that only a few of the lots approved for the Land Run were actually legally transferred to the City of Watonga. Now the matter has to be revisited by the City Council.  The Watonga Action Committee reviewed the list of lots presented to the City Council in 2012 and weeded out lots that might not be appropriate for building for one reason or another, like being in a flood zone.  Six lots were listed on this week’s agenda to be transferred from the County to the City.   However, the property at 516 N. Montgomery was said to be in a flood zone.  Harriette Nitzel stated that the property at 1015 N. Leach St. had already been transferred to the City, but the City Clerk could not produce a copy of the deed at this meeting.  Additional research will be done by WAC committee members to determine the status of the Leach St. property.  

Agenda item #9 was also miss-stated in the posted agenda.   [Who asked for  item #9 to be put on the agenda -- the WAC committee did not.  The Land Run documents already approved by Dan Webber and City Council allow for land to be used as an investment-- the program allows for a house to be constructed and used as rental property.]  The Land Run documents DO NOT allow for multi-family housing, which City Attorney Dan Webber pointed this in the meeting though not stated on the Agenda as the issue before the Council. 

A request from Gene Pfughoft (from CORD) to acquire the property known as Block 4, Lots 1-4, under the Land Run, was tabled on the grounds that he wants to build “investment property”.

Doyle Province voiced his objection to  property being “given” to an investor.  [Disregard the fact that these lots are costing the City money to maintain while not being used -- and could generate hundreds of dollars in revenues if given away to be built on.]  This item was tabled for further research as to what amount could be charged for empty lots in the City of Watonga.  The figure of $500 was thrown out.  Discussion and hopefully action will be put on a future agenda. Doyle Province wants to see what prices have been obtained for other empty lots auctioned off by the County.   A compromise was proposed by a WAC member:  that the City approve the building of multi-family housing on Land Run properties for a period of one year, and then reevaluate if such a program will benefit the City.  That idea was dismissed. 

 [Auctioning off property for unpaid taxes is one thing, but when the property also has multiple  unpaid liens from the City, the sales price generally does not cover both.  For example, one particular property we looked at has unpaid property taxes from  2010, 2011, 2012  totalling approximately $1,000.00,  but also has additional City liens of $300+ for mowing the property over three years.  The building itself is abandoned, unoccupied, and open to the elements --a health and safety hazard to our community.   NO ONE is going to pay $1,300.00 plus for  a lot that will require an additional investment of over $2500.00  just to tear down and clear off the existing structure to get the lot ready to build on!   This is a perfect example of a lot that should  go into the Land Run program and given to someone willing to put money into it by building a house on it.  Right now that property is costing the City money and generating nothing in the way of utilities or taxes.  Allowing someone to build on it would not only remove an expense from the City and County but would also generate actual income for the County and the City in utility services and property taxes, not to mention sales taxes and income to local businesses!   How hard is this to understand?]  
 The Agenda for both the zoning committee and the City Council meeting on Sept. 16 indicated that the owners of 616-618-620 N. Montgomery wanted to put a modular home on the lot(s).  That was an incorrect posting by the City Clerk.   In fact, the property owners requested that they be allowed to put a mobile home on the lot(s).    In the past, an error in posting required that the matter be re-posted correctly and re-published in the newspaper and then placed on the next agenda for action.  However, at last night’s City Council meeting, the Council voted to allow one mobile home to be put on the property. [ There is a difference between a mobile home and a modular home, and even the City Council has, in the past, indicated where they won’t allow a mobile home but would allow a modular home in some locations.   Where a neighbor might not appear to object to a modular home, one might appear to object to a mobile home -- but hey, the public wasn't given the correct information in legal postings put out by the City Clerk.]
A lease of the city-owned property at 203 N. Weigle, previously leased to Phoenix Circle Foundation for use by Dr. Robert Spencer as the Watonga Medical Clinic, has expired.   Mercy Hospital has asked to lease the property and use it as “Mercy Clinic”.  The terms of the lease were discussed.  Richard Hightower raised the question of responsibility for maintenance of the building.  A motion as made and approved to lease the property for the sum of $350.00 per month, using the same lease that was used for Phoenix Circle Foundation.  A copy of the proposed lease was not made available to the meeting.

Consideration and discussion to address the sub-leasing of office space by Opportunities to other parties was deferred to item #7 on the agenda, which was consideration to renew the contract with Opportunities Inc. for use of property (the old police station) for $200.00 per month.    The Council voted to renew the contract with the proviso that any sublease must be approved by City Council.  No written contract was provided for councilmembers to review.

Donnie Dunn, Park Department head, will be having shoulder surgery and unable to work for an extended period of time, including the remainder of the summer season.  TJ Douglas, who is a current part-time employee with the Park Dept., will exceed the 1,000 hours allowed for a part-time employee.  The City does not want to hire him as a full-time employee because it would cost additional monies to provide health insurance and other benefits to him as a full-time employee.  Instead, the City wants to enter into a contract with TJ Douglas for $760.00 bi-weekly (which is the regular starting salary for a full-time City employee), or $19,760 a year.   [This "contract" is merely a tactic to get around state and federal labor laws.I didn't hear if this action was reviewed by and recommended by the Personnel Committee. ]  The City Council approved the contract with TJ Douglas in spite of "no" votes from Richard Hightower and Brent Wilkinson.

Andrew Gering from American Community Contractors made a proposal to the Council to provide private Code Enforcement services for the City of Watonga.  Mr. Gering was unable to satisfactorily answer some questions from the City Council and he will return with more information on the contract at a future City Council meeting.  No action was taken on this item except to put it on a future agenda.

Edna Justice was approved as Watonga’s CORD representative. 

The Council had no information or specifications in order to approve advertising for bids for video camera equipment to be placed around town.  

There was also discussion about Code Enforcement and what Robert Daugherty has been doing, though no report was provided by him.  No citations have yet been given out to Code violators, even after months of the Council telling him that they want citations to be issued. 

[PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CITY COUNCILPERSON and/or attend City Council meetings to prevent actions being approved that may be detrimental to residents of Watonga.] 

   

 

Watonga Action Committee

Notes from WAC meeting on Sept. 9, 2013

A meeting of the Watonga Action Committee was held on Monday 9/9/2013 in City Council chambers. An agenda was posted on the door of the City Clerk’s office.  Dr. Bobby Spencer called the meeting to order, saying it was not an “official committee meeting”  and that anyone can speak.  This committee does not make decisions but makes recommendations to the City Council.

Dr. Spencer introduced Vance Laughlin as the new warden at Diamondback Correctional facility.  He has been warden at three CCA facilities. Mr. Laughlin confirmed that it is trying to fill approximately 400 positions, and that the prison staff will need approximately 75 rent houses.

Dr. Spencer then asked for nominations for a new CORD representative.  This committee cannot appoint a representative but can recommend someone to be appointed by the City Council.  Dr. Spencer nominated Edna Justice and no one objected.  This item will be added to the next City Council agenda on September 16.  The next CORD meeting is Sept. 19 at 2:00 at the Canadian Valley Technology Center. Edna said she will go to that meeting.   

Dr.Spencer asked Gene Pflughoft from CORD to introduce the representative  from American Community Contractors LLC,  Andrew Gering.  There was discussion about the City possibly contracting with ACC for Code Enforcement services. Mr. Gering handed out a printed power-point presentation.  Gene P. said that lots of towns are dealing with the problem of blight and code enforcement, except for Okarche.  At a recent CORD meeting, the Okarche representative said ”we just don’t put up with it.”  It was  noted that Okarche is a nice looking town.  The recent study that was done for Oklahoma City was referred to in these discussions.  That study says that property owners that aren’t motivated to do anything with their property don’t –they just hold on to it.  It doesn’t cost them anything except their annual property taxes to keep a dilapidated building and not make any effort to fix it up or sell it.  But it costs the City a lot --- to provide police and fire protection, may cause increased vandalism and other crimes, loss of income to the city for utility services, and reduced property values overall.  Clay said there are “definite advantages” to hiring an outside contractor to handle code enforcement.  ACC intends to contract with other towns also, and that experience will be valuable to Watonga in determining what ordinances work and which ones don’t.  Bobby said the City has a graduated fee scale for mowing but none present knew what exactly the fees were, for first time mowing and for repeat offenders. Edna Justice asked “what kind of fees are we talking about” for an outside code enforcement service.   And Gene P. said that Andrew Gering would make a presentation to the city council on the 16^th.  Clay said that matter is already on the agenda but Bobby Spencer suggested that Andrew call the City Clerk and fill out the appropriate paperwork to be on the agenda for the 16^th.

It was noted that many property owners have started taking care of their yards since the article in the Watonga Republican about Code Enforcement.    Clay said another article will be in the newspaper “in the near future” to remind people that Watonga is enforcing codes.  Eric W. from the Watonga Republican suggested printing offenders names and addresses in the newspaper, or publishing a list of offenses and the fee and costs.

Clay said there was a difference in dealing with junk vehicles on public property (i.e., on the street) vs. on private property.  He didn’t elaborate other than to say that the police have to be involved for code violations on private property.  Mary Larson noted that inoperable vehicles on private property are a safety hazard to the public and to the City. Fire and police responders cannot get to the building if they are blocked by junk vehicles. 

Dr. Spencer brought up past discussions of a Retirement community project at 11^th and Laing.  Due to the economy, the investors who were interested in the past have “changed their focus”.  Gene said they are looking at possibly building housing for incoming CCA employees.  Four lots that are available through the Land Run would have to be rezoned for multi-family. 

The nursing home continues to sit vacant and is deteriorating.  The owner has no incentive to fix it or sell it.  It is a safety hazard and the question was asked as to whether or not it could be cited for violation of code enforcement.  Lawayne Flaming pointed out that there are many buildings in town that are unsecure and are fire and safety hazards.  Clay said there are 13 properties on the list to be torn down, but that Marvin Schweigert doesn’t have the time to tear them down.  Bobby Spencer suggested that we bid those jobs out.

Bobby Spencer has talked to Kaci Cronkhite about putting in a walking/bicycle trail between the town and Roman Nose State Park, possibly along the highway that goes past the prison.  Andy suggested a trail from the high school along the now-closed road to Hwy 8A and then along 8A where the  city owns an easement.  Clay said he’d like to see sidewalks in town, especially between the high school and the middle school.  Andy Barrett suggested sidewalks from the elementary school to the Library, as that route is used a lot by children to attend programs at the library.  There was discussion about where there might be an easement to put in a sidewalk and what area to start with. 

Mary Larson said she had signs prepared by the Chamber and paid for out of economic development monies to advertise which lots in town were available for the Land Run.

Andy Barrett told the meeting that he had met with the County Treasurer and discovered that all of the lots that we previously thought had been transferred to the City by the County for the Land Run had not, in fact, been transferred to the City.  Only 4 lots have been transferred to the City for the Land Run.  Donna Hoskins at the treasurer’s office said that the County is going to put the other lots up for sale by bid if the City isn’t going to take them for the Land Run.  Everyone was surprised to hear that title to the properties previously approved by City Council had not been signed over to the City and Clay Loosen was not able to answer "why not?"   Andy indicated that some of the lots on the list might not be appropriate as they are in a flood zone.  Bobby asked Andy to put together a list of the lots that might be best for the Land Run.  Clay said he would get this matter on the next city council agenda, to approve getting the paperwork done to sign over those lots to the City.

Bobby Spencer talked about properties along the highway that are tied up in probate.  He also brought up downtown properties that are beyond repair, eye sores, code enforcement problems that need to be dealt with.  Everyone agreed that the City needs to enforce Codes on Main Street properties especially, to motivate the property owners to do something with their property – either fix them up so that they can be rented, or sell them.  It was agreed by all that financial pain will get action by the property owners.  [Why doesn't the City of Watonga go forward with the remedies and penalties that the City Code provides for to deal with safety and health hazards?

Gene P. reported to the meeting that CORD is going strong, that the WAC committee in Watonga is the envy of other communities because they are actively trying to get things done.  Noble House and Eddie’s BBQ, Firestone has rented property,; Eagle Nest is being sold and will reopen on Sept. 20 under new ownership with special meals in the evenings.  Everyone is glad that there will be more places to eat dinner in Watonga.  Lawayne said that he’d heard that the Lodge is going to  be closed for meals in the near future because of needed work on their kitchen. 

Vance Laughlin from CCA said he needed the name of a caterer who could serve 150 people coming in for training at the prison.  Eddie Johnson’s name was given.   Eddie's BBQ & More will begin serving meals at the Noble House on Friday and Saturday evenings, beginning on Sept. 13. 

Next meeting will be Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m.

 [Does anyone know what number in the City Code says there is a $200.00 reward for information leading to a vandalism conviction?  I haven't found it and I can't get an answer from the City Clerk's office ... please comment or post on facebook if you know!  /Linda]