Alva Police Chief Ben Orcutt (left) tells the Alva City Council about a $10,000 grant that paid for ten new body-worn cameras like the one worn by the seated officer.
The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector's Office recently conducted an audit of the City of Alva. It was conducted in response to a citizen petition. The cost of the audit comes out of the city's budget. Monday night, Councilmember Brandon Sherman reported the cost was $5,093.75.
Sherman, reporting on the council's Finance Committee meeting, listed several other large claims that were among those approved. Garnett Oil was paid $6,841.31 for bulk fuel. Ascent Aviation Group, Inc. was paid $18,230.42 from the airport fund for aviation fuel. The cost of sanitation (trash) transfer fees at Red Carpet Landfill was $10,688.81.
The city paid out $264,771.56 in total payroll expenses for the month of March. Phone and internet serves were $5,051.90. Electricity cost $11,938.74 and natural gas was $3,197.43.
Construction at Alva High School required removal of a fire hydrant. That will need to be replaced with two fire hydrants to have sufficient water pressure. Sherman said the committee discussed the cost and possibly splitting some of the cost with the school.
The finance committee also discussed the Suddenlink franchise renewal agreement, which was brought before the council later in the meeting.
New Ward 3 Councilmember Taylor Dowling asked what was discussed about the Suddenlink renewal.
"We changed line two of Section 3.5 that talks about the citizen possibly being on the hook for limb removal and things like that. We just took the line completely out," said Sherman. "I will say it was nice to work with a company that was willing to change the franchise agreement at the table instead of going back to lawyers remote." Dowling asked if cost was discussed and if there was any difference from the previous agreement. Sherman said there was no difference in cost.
Mayor's Report
"Last week we welcomed the Lt. Gov. Turkey Hunt back to town. I'd say for having missed a year, it was great to have that event back in our community," reported Mayor Kelly Parker Monday night. "We had representatives from entities from across the state and other parts of the world here to look at Alva and Woods County for possible locations for operating some or all of their business."
The mayor said he talked with a couple of business owners wishing to expand within Alva who brought some building code issues to his attention. "Fire Chief (Bryan) Miller has brought some of those issues to the council in the past, and I'd like to go ahead and assign a review of our building code to the Planning Commission so that we are making sure our community is not only safe but also business friendly," he said.
Parker has been working with Northwest Technology Center (NWTC) to set up a city council retreat. "I've asked them to provide training and education on effective communication in an open meeting, open record environment as well as unity despite diversity of opinions," he said. NWTC can schedule it on any Saturday in the near future and provide the training. Parker asked council members to let the city business manager know when they would be available.
"The Chamber of Commerce Gala is May 5, and I would anticipate that some of you are going to be there," Parker said. "I have agreed to emcee that event again this year."
During the turkey hunt, the mayor was assigned a guest from the Oklahoma Municipal League. He learned about some opportunities in dealing with dilapidated structures. Parker said he's assigned the Planning Commission and possibly the ordinance review committee to look at existing codes to see if some changes could make the process easier.
"I also had some conversations that I think I want to move on to the Parks and Buildings Committee regarding the addition of disc golf to our community. A guy with ties to Alva that is a professional disc golfer is willing to offer up his expertise and assistance to help us bring disc golf to Alva," said Parker. According to online sources, disc golf is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. It is usually played on a course with 9 or 18 holes. Players complete a hole by throwing a disc from a tee pad or area toward a target, throwing again from where the previous throw landed, until the target is reached. Usually, the number of throws a player uses to reach each target is tallied (often in relation to par), and players seek to complete each hole in the lowest number of total throws.
Parker talked about current state legislation involving towns and cities that is being tracked by the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML). He is a member of the OML board.
Police Department Grant
The mayor asked Alva Police Chief Ben Orcutt to tell about receiving a grant. Orcutt said Assistant Police Chief Patrick Hawley applied for a grant, and the police department received $10,000 which was used to purchase ten new body-worn cameras.
The cameras being used by the department were getting old and outdated. Orcutt brought along a uniformed officer to show how the cameras are being worn.
Business Manager's Report
City Business Manager Angelica Brady told the city council Monday that she and department heads attended True Colors Training at Northwest Technology Center. They were trained in how to plan for effective communications.
Now that the engineering report has been received, the Swimming Pool Task Force has planned three public meetings on April 29, April 30 and May 1 at 7 p.m. as well as an afternoon meeting at 3 p.m. The engineering report will be available and people can tour the swimming pool to look at problems referred to in the report.
Brady told new council members she had a handout for them from the Oklahoma Municipal League about training for new city officials.
The water department has finished installing 365 new water meter heads. Brady said it took about three months. They still have a few meters that are not working properly, requiring manual reading of the meters. She is investigating the possibility of obtaining more water meter heads at the same reduced price.
Work is also being done in the water wellfield replacing electrical boxes. So far, ten new electrical boxes have been installed.
The preconstruction conference was held with the company installing the waterline south of town. The project is to begin May 17, and they will have 90 days to complete it.
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