Alva Mayor Kelly Parker is recruiting for a couple of vacancies on city boards. During Monday’s city council meeting, he said Kenny Cark is resigning from the cemetery board. Also, Darlene Sanderson announced at Tuesday’s Alva Hospital Authority meeting that she does not plan to continue as a trustee when her term is up.
Parker reported that the cemetery board is seeking designation on the national historical registry. He said the cemetery is the resting place of a Mr. Lisk who was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and Terry Nix who was the first person to be placed on a heart-lung machine.
During his report to the council, the mayor expressed his appreciation for the city crews and staff for their efforts to help the Big Cruise and Car Show. He also reported on the Oklahoma Municipal League Conference he attended the preceding week. He said he was especially interested in learning that after a big storm, Guymon paid people by the ton to bring their tree limbs to the transfer station so city workers would not be pulled from their regular work. He plans to discuss the idea with the ordinance review committee and the sanitation committee.
Councilmember Bryce Benson, reporting on the finance committee meeting, listed some of the larger expenditures in claims paid. One was $62,000 for asphalt to be applied to city streets.
Council Action
The city council voted to approve adding Woods County as a co-beneficiary of the trust agreement of the Alva Arena Authority. Prior to that action, the City of Alva was the only beneficiary. This means if the arena authority ceases to exist, the two entities will share in ownership of any property or other assets involved.
Lynn Hatfield was approved as the authorized agent for the OMRF Retirement Plan. She will be the staff person communicating with OMRF and with employees about their retirement funds as well as sending in reports to OMRF.
Business Manager Joe Don Dunham spent considerable time going over the revision to the City Council/Board Handbook. The revision is part of the city’s plan to qualify for an Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG) grant. The OMAG recognition program will award a $6,000 grant to cities qualifying. Another part of the qualification is for all council members to watch an online PowerPoint course concerning their duties and responsibilities.
The council approved the revised handbook. Mainly the revisions were made to bring the 200-page handbook in line with OMAG wording. Each of the city boards and commissions will also be updated on the policy. Councilmember Bo Hannaford asked if the policy handbook could be made available on the city’s website for officials and the general public. Dunham said that was certainly feasible and it would be put on the council’s page.
During public comment time, Alva Fire Chief Kirk Trekell said he appreciated the work done by the street and water departments at the new fire department training facility. By using city labor, the department was able to stretch their grant funds further.
Councilmember Bryce Benson said he’d like to commend the street department on how nice the city streets are looking. He also thanked all the departments for their work on the Big Cruise and Car Show. He asked if anyone knew how many registered for the show. Dunham said he heard around 350 to 400. Councilmember Dan Winters said he’d heard it was over 500.
Councilmember Mary Hamilton said she’s had a couple of ladies ask her if Flynn Street downtown is going to be striped. They said they weren’t sure where to drive. Dunham assured her that would be done. He explained the asphalt plant where Alva obtains their supply is open only a limited number of days so the street department is concentrating on asphalt application while they can still get it. Other street work will be scheduled when that plant shuts down for the cooler weather.
Claims Paid
The city council approved paying claims totaling $74,376.65 and payroll expenses of $261,574.30. The Alva Utility Authority approved claims of $160,000.64 and payroll expenses of $66,031.71.
The Alva Economic Development Authority voted to pay claims of $30,951.33 and payroll expenses of $13,358.32.
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