Mayor Cory Spieker opened a public hearing Monday, Nov. 6th, at 7 p.m. in City Hall, just prior to the regular commission meeting, concerning proposal of closing streets as described on the agenda. According to City Manager, Tom Ivester, the road is a section of Peace Street between 5th and 7th Streets, close to where the former Fairview School was located and a local day care. They are proposing vacating the road behind the daycare in an effort to expand.
City Attorney, Ryan Meacham, stated AT&T has utilities in the area, therefore, the most that can be done with the closing is that it would not be reopened as a street or an alley because there are existing utilities there.
Another public hearing was heard concerning 400 W. Broadway. This is where the fire station will be going. The hearing was to rezone the area from R-3, Multi-Family Residential District to C-3, General Commercial District. Tom Johnson was present to speak on behalf of the zoning commission, saying that it was rezoned for multifamily residential district in the past, but it is not going to be used for that anymore. Meacham spoke up to say that the location of the present fire station is zoned C-3, and it would be better to join the three within the same zone.
Spieker closed the public hearing to open the commission meeting. He gave the invocation, while Rocky Andresen led the flag salute. In the first order of business the commissioners approved the minutes from the Oct. 18th meeting, and then there was an introduction of Ordinance No 1260: An Ordinance changing the Zoning classification of a tract of land changing the zone from R-3 to C-3, which was heard in the public hearing. No action was taken because it was an introduction to the ordinance.
The next item on the agenda was the approval of the final Plat of “Elk City Foam Wash.” This is located next to Burger King in Elk City. The commissioners then approved adding Administration fees of $25 for asbestos testing to be included in the property owner’s billing. City Inspector Jackie Addington spoke on the issue, saying that they presently are not charging anything for the service. He said it takes time and materials to send a specimen off to be tested. Ivester noted that they are not making the fee as much as it actually costs the city for the service. The commissioners approved the fee.
The commissioners approved a bid received from Sandy Creek Millworks, Inc., for carousel horse restoration, including removal and reinstallation with total repaint within the original color scheme in the amount of $32,400. Ivester said they will begin the project after Christmas in the Park and begin with six horses, then three at a time afterward to complete the project. City Treasurer Jennifer Rainey informed the commissioners that there is a carousel maintenance fund that will be able to pay for the renovations. This is left over funds from the original fundraiser for the purchase of the carousel in 2000. The fund has around $100,000 in it.
The bid for a Wheeled Coach Type 1 Ambulance Remount from Banner Fire Equipment in the amount of $244,983, a budgeted item, was approved. They also approved payment to WDB Engineering, PLLC, for engineering of the Airport Utility Improvements in the amount of $25,680. This item was to engineer utilities to go to the new airport terminal and hangar.
Another payment to Lochner for invoices for FAA Grant 3-40-0027-04-2023 in the amount of $57,300, a budgeted item, was approved. Then the commissioners approved Purchase Orders FY 23-24 & recurring invoices for Nov. 6th. They then turned their attention to the dilapidated building list.
The first structure, located at 114 Merritt Dr., was brought before the commissioners previously, but they needed to try to contact the mortgage company. Addington told them that he had tried to make contact, but he has had no response. Communication was returned unopened. The commissioners approved the motion to declare the structure dilapidated.
The next building is located at 1016 W. 8th. The owner was present to ask the commissioners for more time because the house is structurally sound, but he needs time to buy the siding to make it have better curb appeal. The commissioners tabled the residents until the Feb. 5th commission meeting.
The final structure that the commissioners considered was located at 516 N. Madison. Addington told commissioners that it is a dilapidated trailer home and nothing has been done to it. He presented them with an email from Carolyn Padron, saying the owners want to move forward with removing the structure. The commissioners approved the motion and will proceed with removing it.
Ivester then gave the City Manager’s Report. He talked about the city discussion with the Department of Transportation concerning the access road on BJ Hughes Access Road. This is where Thru Tubing has asked that the road be widened because there will be large truck traffic on the road. Ivester said that he has talked to DOT, and they will put it on the Dec. Board meeting. This project will be funded by DOT, if approved.
He also talked about the downtown project. It will be voted on by the DOT, at the Jan. meeting. The bids for the project should go out at the last of Jan. Another project Ivester spoke about was the air terminal/hanger project. He said that bids should go out Jan. 10th. The last thing that Ivester discussed was the Western Oklahoma Bulls games that were played Sat. and Sun. He said that they brought in $3,005. This amount was what he expected.
Ivester asked Meacham to talk about two current lawsuits with the City of Elk City. The first case is concerning a marijuana grow facility that is next to the city. He asked the courts for an injunction to prevent them from drilling water wells. Meacham was successful in obtaining a temporary injunction, then returned to court 30 days later. No one showed up on the second court date, therefore, the city was given a permanent injunction. This allows the city the ability to know if someone were to try to file a permit.
The second suit is an ongoing litigation. The opposing counsel was at the meeting on another issue with the city, but Meacham could not say much about the case. It concerns an alley in the Northgate addition. The city is trying to determine where things are located with respect to family structures. They have commissioned a survey that they anticipate being completed within the next 30 days. Meacham said he would keep the commissioners informed about the case.
Rainey did not have anything to report in the treasurer’s report. There were no public comments, and the meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. The next meeting will take place on Wed., Nov. 15th, at 2 p.m.
The commissioners went on to three other meetings, where commissioner Rick Shelton brought up new business that citizens had brought to him. The first was concerning the Boy Scouts using the abandoned Boy Scout hut at the park. It was brought to his attention that the location and use of the building would be beneficial to them during the Christmas in the Park, as well as local access to the park.
The second area of new business that Shelton brought up was concerning the local motorcycle shops wanting to use an area around the lake that used to be a motorcycle track. They came to him possibly wanting to lease the area, somewhat like the racetrack and motocross track is presently doing. They said that would be helpful to kids learning to ride motorcycles, as well as those test driving a bike.
No action was taken, but Shelton said he wanted to bring it to the commissioners’ attention. There was no discussion on either topic.
