City Council - Special Meeting

Special City Council Meeting Budget Workshop Tuesday, August 4th, 2026, 6 o'clock right here in the City Hall Council Chambers. Consideration and possible action regarding the draft fiscal year 2027 general fund, GPWA fund, and miscellaneous fund budgets inclusive of but not limited to. You want me to read all these off, Eddie?

You don't have to, Mayor. Okay. We're going to go over them anyway. Yeah. There's a total of 21 miscellaneous funds. All right.

I'll turn it over to you.

All right. Mayor and Council, it's hard to believe that we're already at budget proposal number Seems like we just started. This is one of our most intense seasons, but also goes very quickly. So let's see if we can get our clicker. There we go. All right. So budget calendar, as you know, as you're well aware, the budget process doesn't start in August for the October 1 fiscal year. We started in May. So May 15th kicked off that budget season, that budget cycle with our annual city council retreat. There we had our budget introduction and preview where council set the priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, fiscal year 27. as well as heard out some concerns and some presentations from myself on behalf of the department heads. Myself and Kim worked through the month of June on preparing and reviewing the revenue estimates. July, we spent most of July working with our department heads, going through each of their requests against the revenue estimates and preparing for this meeting today. July 21st, we had our team budget meeting where the department heads met together prior to the last city council meeting. Went over the budget proposal as a team and looked at requests and expenditures collected. That brings us to today, which is our annual city council workshop. We do have two additional dates for workshops if needed. So if we leave tonight with something that needs to be amended, We have an opportunity for next Tuesday and the following Tuesday to have a workshop if needed. And then lastly, we will present for our public hearing on the budget September 1st. Following the public hearing, we will have the adoption that night. And then Kim will take it from there and get it filed with the state as is required by the Budget Act. Council priorities as determined this year, we come each year We say we can do anything, but we can't do everything. So give us a list of goals, priorities that you want us to build a budget around and bring to you, identifying how we can best accomplish that in the upcoming year. First, we've got evaluate and prepare long term water system availability and future infrastructure goals. Second, we've got prepare and maintain accurate GIS records to support infrastructure operations and capital improvement planning. This could be anything from 911 dispatch, GIS records and mapping. to water, sewer, streets, zoning, et cetera. I'll say that Dan Kasich, the planning director, has worked pretty hard over the last year to get the zoning and infrastructure on his GIS map updated, and that is now live on the city website. So public has access to that GIS map with those layers. Item number three, evaluate and explore sustainable revenue opportunities to support police and fire. services. Item number four, evaluate animal shelter staffing levels and facility options to meet the growing community needs. Item number five, evaluate the existing park support master plan and identify funding strategies to support future improvements. Item number six, enhance community entry points by updating our welcome to Guthrie signs at all three existing locations. Well overdue. Tenny's dealing with those. Yeah. Tenny did the one at the gazebo bar. It looks great. It did a fantastic job for us on the weekend. We were working on Justin and myself and Tenny and Dan. We need to replace this sign. Tenny said, well, I'll just take it home and do it over the weekend. Perfect. It works great. I've got three more for you. Yeah. Rolling right into the budget, just kind of some annual reminders. The budget is a living, breathing dollar, okay? This should be considered, thank you, Shonda. This should be considered your maximum in everything that we're going to do, unless you amend it and tell us otherwise, okay? So we may not use it all, but we're definitely not gonna go past without your direction and or authorization. As I mentioned previously, we can do anything, but we cannot do everything. This community, as it continues to grow, has many needs that exist outside of what is going to be presented to you tonight. I have no other way to put it to you other than to say the expenses and the needs just far exceed the resources that we have available. From day one, as a council, as a community, we've said we're going to eat this elephant one bite at a time. We've made tremendous progress on that elephant, and we'll continue to do so. Actual revenue collections may vary. We continue to forecast conservatively. Remember, the last two years, we've kept sales tax projections flat. This year, we do have a conservative increase budgeted, and I'll go into that here in just a little bit. Fund balance numbers may vary as well. So your fund balance number is going to be what you start the year with in cash at the beginning of the fiscal year. This case, October 1. This is largely because we estimate the last quarter of the year. So we're working from a six month time period. We get to July. We take our last three months. We estimate based on the prior nine months. We encourage large expenditures, one time capital expenditures. to take place at the end of the year. Once we have a true view of how the budget has gone year round, your department heads, I applaud them for being very conservative and following this council's lead. We end each year, in most cases, better than we started it. And that's a testament to this council's leadership and your department heads carrying out the priority that you've set. Diving straight into the funds, as I mentioned a little bit ago, we've got 21 total funds. We've got two main funds, which is what I'll primarily dive into today. If there are any specific questions on any of the 19 other miscellaneous funds, I'd be happy to take a look at those and either get back to you or I can pivot to Kim, and if we have an answer for you, we'll provide it. If not, we'll get you one, okay? So starting with, we've got the airport fund, the airport grants fund, capital equipment fund, capital project fund, cemetery care fund, CMOM fund, fire and EMS fund, GEDA fund, general fund, general stabilization fund, GPWA fund, GPWA stabilization fund, the grants fund, the hotel motel tax sports bill portion, the hotel motel tax fund, Opioid Settlement Fund, the Sinking Fund, the USDA Rural Development Fund, the Utility Deposit Fund, and the debt service on both the wastewater and the water treatment plant funds. Okay, so there's a lot, and there's a lot that goes into each of those funds. So what we'll focus primarily on is the General Fund and the GPWA. The General Fund is comprised of General Government, which is a municipal judge and attorney, the city manager's office, which is myself, assistant city manager and executive assistant, human resources, building maintenance, finance, IT services, planning, the library, the entirety of the police department, admin, operations, animal control, investigations, school resources, dispatch and communications, economic development, streets, fleet maintenance, parks, and the pool. So I've heard In years past, I've had people ask me, well, why did that go to the general fund? Well, the general fund is the mothership of the city. That's where all of these things that are non-restricted or no special funds, everything that you see on this list here is being paid for out of the general fund. So we get donations or special revenue items, one-time revenue items. One example, we had folks that had donated some funds to the animal shelters. And that was recorded, that revenue was recorded in the general fund. Animal control is paid for out of the general fund. So that's why that went there.

But they thought you just put it in the general fund.

Yeah. Anywhere you wanted. It's just a general location. All of these departments are funded by the general fund. GPWA fund, again, that's our second main fund. General government, administration, water treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant, convenience center, and line maintenance. So we'll go straight into revenues. It's no secret in Oklahoma, we are restricted, municipalities are restricted to sales tax. We do not have other opportunities like our neighboring states to look at ad valorem taxes, and or other means of tax opportunities to support our general operations. So inside city limits, the sales tax amount is 9% and that breaks down as follows. 4.5% to the state, three quarters of one penny to the county, three and three quarters to the city, which breaks down as 2% to GPWA, 1% to the general fund, and three quarters of a penny, which is restricted for the capital improvement projects. Okay, so think about everything that we've done, water towers, fire station, downtown intersections, Owen Field, the pool, all of those things are restricted by that revenue fund. Which teeing this up for council priority number three, which is diversifying and finding, but studying rather long-term solutions for police and fire support services. Just taking a look at some of our surrounding communities and what they have in sales tax rates and their populations, okay? I am not, I wanna be clear, I am not advocating for any tax increases. That's not what I'm advocating for. However, when you take a look at the communities who have similar populations together, we are at less than 4% in a municipal sales tax rate. You look at Blanchard, Glenville, Piedmont, Drumright, even Choctaw, all of those are over that 4% rate. And then the next question I get is, well, what's their total sales tax rate? Well, Lucky for everybody watching, I've got that ready for them. In Blanchard, that's 10%. And Glenville is just shy of 10% at 9.967. Piedmont, that's 9.85%. Drumright, 10.17%. Of course, Choctaw is below that 9% threshold. Maybe not for long. Oklahoma County is considering a county sales tax. So I think you'll see those numbers change. One thing I will point out to you and to the community is when you see a community with a lesser population, the sales tax rate is higher. Why is that? Well, your consumer base is small. So something I hear frequently is I can drive south of Waterloo and pay 8.25% sales tax. Well, there's 100,000 people south of Waterloo that are paying that 8.25% sales tax rate that's supporting the core services of that community. We have 12 to 15,000 people at any given time who are supporting the sales tax base in terms of population, not accounting for any tourism, but in terms of population, that's what's contributing to our tax base. Taking a look at those communities, I think at some point, it's just nice to have that information and know that we are one of the lower sales tax communities in central Oklahoma. That's great to know.

Because of the county tax in the total. Because the county tax hits the total, their base is going to drop by the county tax rate.

Yeah, so our municipal sales tax rate is still lower than all of these cities I've got listed. Granted, the first three, we're talking about a quarter of a penny. That's really what keeps us lower. Now, getting us to that 9%, which I think is where you were going, that three-quarters of the penny the county sells tax, which does a lot of good, I will say. A quarter, and I'll just give you that, a quarter to the jail, a quarter to roads, and a quarter to the volunteer fire departments. That does a lot of good in this community. I'm certainly not advocating one way or the other, but just... having that information and knowing that with our neighbors, we are still one of the lower total sales tax percentage communities in the metro. Rolling right along into sales tax. So fiscal year 26 sales tax, we kept it flat year over year. These collections are approximately, and this is an estimate, we estimate that we will be approximately 6% higher than we budgeted at year end, okay? For fiscal year 27, we have forecasted a 3% increase, which is half of that, which equates to $206,400. I did not include in that rate, did not include the restricted CIP sales tax because it's a restricted fund, okay? Use tax, we've done the same. We've forecasted it at 3%. The use tax is the online sales tax. So when you're purchasing goods via Amazon, any of those online merchants, you see that sales tax percentage. That is what is being remitted under the use tax category. That is a much lesser number. So looking at 3% increase, which equates to $36,655.65. over fiscal year 26 budget or less than 5% of the actuals. So that total number is approximately 1.22 million. Currently, we've estimated 1.27 million. So when you say, why is 3% sales tax 200,000 but 3% use tax is 36,000? Because we're comparing $9 million versus a million. Wages and benefits for non-unit, I'll go into a little more here after a bit, but no cost of living budgeted for non-unit employees. 2.75% merit raises for non-unit employees if requested by the supervisor and approved by Human Resources and or the city manager. Every year, we estimate a 20% increase in health insurance premium. We are currently in negotiations with our broker, probably going to be going out to market We had a high loss ratio year. So claims to premium, we were about 108%. There's several factors in there that have driven that. Unfortunately, I'm very limited in what I can share because I'm only given very limited information given the nature of that category. So we're estimating a 20% increase. Initial numbers came in a little high. we're going to go out to market and get the best value. So that number, you will see that number in the budget, will change between now and adoption. It will go down, will not go up. Trucking right along into fund balance. So this is one of the largest budgets that we've presented in terms of things that we are accomplishing. We've known for years that the grants that we continue to apply for have grant matches. We've known for years that we had a youth sports complex coming. We've known that we had road projects, waterline improvements, all of these things are all going to be completed in fiscal year 27. So that's great for progress. It doesn't look great on the budget because there's going to be a lot of money going out to meet these obligations that we've been working towards for many years at the direction of this council. Your department has been working on that. So one thing I'll point out, I've got fiscal year 24 actual numbers, fiscal year 25 actual numbers, fiscal year 26 budget. That's what we budgeted. The fiscal year 26 estimate is where we estimate we will end the year. And then the 27 proposed is what we propose we will end next year cash in the bank, okay? I want to point out that we budgeted to end fiscal year 26 at $2.4 million in the general fund, and we're estimating to end at $3.5 million. So again, a testament to the leadership of this council and your department heads for their conservative spending nature, even though we're plugging in a large fund balance number for expenditures, we're staying on top of those expenditures and making sure that we're not spending every dollar frivolously and not spending it just because it's there. Your team works really hard to make sure that that is not the case. Year over year, we show down a little over $1.1 million. That's going to fluctuate. Again, this is a living, breathing document. This is our first draft of that presentation. Between now and September, we have firmed up contract negotiations, health insurance premiums, all of those variables that are not yet completed. These numbers will fluctuate. Any questions on the fund balance numbers?

Perfect.

I'll go into detail about general fund and GPWA changes a little bit later. Projected revenues, I talked a little bit about the 3% sales tax, 3% use tax. Well, what does that actually mean? Well, fiscal year 26 budget, we planned $6.8 million in sales tax, unrestricted, CIP $1.7 million. We estimate we're going to end the year just a little high in CIP, about $80,000 higher. And then we've got a little bit of an increase there in our fiscal year 26 estimate, which is about 6%. And we cut that right in half and said, okay, fiscal year 27, we're going to continue our conservative budgeting method, proposing $7,086,400. CIP sales tax, again, that's a restricted fund, so we've got that increase the same at 3%. Use tax revenue, again, 3%. Notice that 1.221 number, that $36,000 only gets us to $1,258. Other transfers, think of things like building permits, permit applications, etc., everything within the general fund that is a non-tax revenue item and or a transfer from another fund to supplement the general fund. That's where those numbers come from. Going into the GPWA, we've got total revenues 9.378, and that is based on utility collections. So it's water, sewer, trash, or any combination of the three, or sometimes just one of the three. We do have residents who are not on our water system who might be on our sewer and trash. So that's what we've got estimated there, which brings total revenues between those two main funds, not the 19 other funds, just those two funds, $23 million and is an increase of a little over 1.4 or 6.6%. Any questions? Moving right along. Expenses. Again, you'll notice general fund we have a little bit higher in our expenses versus comparison to the budget for a number of reasons. One, we've had some mid-year adjustments to staff salaries and positions that we haven't filled. For example, animal control. Just because we haven't filled those positions doesn't mean that we haven't budgeted for those numbers, and that's what you're seeing there. So every one of those things that we've brought to you in a budget amendment, whether it's a fire truck purchase or a pool car or a piece of equipment, all of those things have been approved by you in slightly higher than what the budgeted amount was. But think back to your revenues, which are still higher than what we had planned on. Preparing for fiscal year 27, we've cut that from the fiscal year 26 budget. So we've got a decrease there in the general fund of about 7%. Some of that is a transfer between the general fund and GPWA. Some of that are expenditures that we've trimmed up to keep us in line with that council priority of being conservative. GPWA, we've got, again, some more expenses where we've purchased equipment, we've had emergency water line repairs, sewer line repairs, things that remove that needle for us. Again, you'll notice 27 proposed versus 26 pledged. We've cut that by about $600,000. Which brings our total expenditures for those two funds to $37,932,130, or cut it by 7%, 2.8 million. So any questions there? Grant match projects, I listed the ones that are We know are a for sure thing that we will be either executing or beginning, hoping to complete in fiscal year 27. Okay. Olin Field, we know that's under construction. Total amount there, $4.7 million. College Avenue Bridge, Congresswoman Bice had some CDS, congressionally directed spending funds that helped us apply for and receive a grant to replace that bridge on College crossing the Cottonwood Creek. Our total match at this point is estimated at a million dollars. I think it will be substantially less than that, but that is funded via the street CIP fund. That brings the total project cost to 2.750. Airport terminal. Again, this is another project that we've known has been coming for many years. Open bids on it. A little over, we're just shy of that $7 million number in federal funds. We've got some match between the two cities. So our match, $250,000, Dedman's match, $250,000, gets us to that $7 million figure. And you probably saw my press release come out a couple weeks back. Actually, I think Jessica sent it out. A couple weeks back, the state had approved the state grant portion of that funding. So really appreciate our partners at the state and federal level for helping us get these projects across the finish line. Police and Fire Training Facility. Meridian has accepted the bids and has awarded the bids for that facility located on the Meridian South Campus here, which will be a joint interlocal between us and Meridian. to have police and fire training, as well as a secondary off-site secure communications center, EOC. And we hope we're pursuing additional grant dollars. We hope to receive additional grant dollars that will help us build a fire burn tower, which will then, Meridian will be a one-stop shop. When you can do the burn tower training, extraction training, land a helicopter, classroom space, EOC, communications, the whole bit, Meridian will truly be a one-stop shop for the training that we need to accommodate. And our guys have gone without this for a very long time. They've been using, police department's been using the armory as best as they can, working around storage of equipment and other things. So this is long overdue and well needed. So my appreciation goes out to Dr. Major with Meridian Tech. If you see him, please shake his hand, give him a thank you because I called him and I said, hey, we've got a project that we need to do together. And he was not quite ready to do it. In fact, it was on his five-year plan. And I said, well, here's what we're kicking him. And Dr. Major said, okay, we can move it forward if it happens. And then lastly, we've got a $1.4 million grant. Again, thank you to Congresswoman Bice and that CDS process, which will allow us to upgrade the dispatch equipment as well as handheld and in-car radios for not only our folks, but the agencies that we dispatch for it. Okay, so the volunteer fire departments, Crescent, Langston, et cetera, will not replace all of the radios for each of those departments. But we we hope to do chief stepped out. We hope to do, you know, three to six radios per department, which is a substantial improvement and investment from where they are today. That brings our total grant amount to $17.5 million in grant projects that will be under construction or complete next fiscal year. There's not another city our size doing this. That's awesome. I applaud your team and the leadership of this council for pointing us in these directions. Now to get into the summary of changes. Any questions about what I've shared so far?

Perfect. Keep tracking right along.

Fiscal year 27 non-union changes. You've got a pay plan before you tonight, which will create a new animal control supervisor position, tying back to that council priority, transitioning a part-time utility clerk to a full-time deputy court clerk slash utility clerk, combining the tourism and economic development director positions to create a community development director position, creating the assistant city manager of operations position, Transitioning one current parks position to a facilities manager, which will be in charge of the youth sports complex and the parks. And then we plan to add an additional position in fiscal year 28. So Timmy's got some vacancies in his parks department already. So I've asked him for fiscal year 27. Let's transition one of those positions to a facilities manager fiscal year 28 after Owen Fields up and running and we're collecting some revenue from that. Then we will plan to backfill that position and create an additional position to give him back the position we're utilizing. So. Fiscal year 26-7 collective bargaining agreements are ongoing. We've been including that process. We continue to explore succession planning in all of our departments, as well as solutions for that. We're much closer today than we've been in my tenure. So thank you for that. That's super important. I can't tell you, just for continuity of government, having somebody as a backup in each of these critical roles is a game changer. So general fund major expenditures. So when you saw that fund balance number coming down, why is that? Let me tell you. Three new welcome signs budgeted at a total of $100,000. That's a high number, okay? That's a high number. Justin's working on that currently. We'll be back with you once we have some options. I think it will be half of that. But we've also got some pretty grand designs, which should be considered for the entryway. I mean, for folks visiting us for the first time, that's their first impression. That's what they see. So long overdue. The multi-agency training facility, police fire dispatch, which I just mentioned, the funding gap for that is $322,000, which we'll be making up from the general fund budget. Two police units are budgeted in the amount of $160,000. That is the purchase and the upfit. Storm siren upgrades are budgeted approximately $25,000. That's if we have a storm siren that goes down or has to be replaced. With the advancement in technology today, I'm sure many of you, like myself, woke up at three o'clock in the morning to your phone blaring. Not too long ago, I think it was in mid-May, actually during the high school radio, right? Your phone was blaring due to the tornado-like weather, extreme winds, et cetera. As that technology continues to upgrade, we wanna make sure that we're not, We're not doing things that are counterintuitive to the future. So substantial airport improvements for grant match. Of course, the terminal that matches $250,000. Continuing with the general fund, we've got the College Avenue Bridge, which I've already mentioned, approximately a million bucks. Excuse me. That is a 20% grant match. 80% of that is funded, again, via Congresswoman Weiss, that CDS process, and ODOT. We do have playground equipment, again, tying back to the council priority. We do have playground equipment budgeted, have a total amount of $60,000 for Highland and Mitchell Park. So Tenney has... Already started with that council priority with the parks for insurer and reevaluating that long-term comprehensive plan and finding those funding solutions for these upgrades. We know the playground equipment is long overdue in those two parks. And again, it just goes back to, we can't do everything. We can do anything, but we can't do everything. So possible contract mowing, parks and services, I'm sorry, parks and entrances in the amount of 167,000. We've got a little bit about that tonight. We can talk about proposed tourism economic development. Councilwoman Gibbs and I were speaking just a little bit ago about some of the desires she would like to see in terms of marketing in the community. I think we've got some opportunities there through the Department of Commerce that we can expand upon. We were successful this year in writing a 50-50 matching grant for the Datify software. I have no reason to believe we wouldn't be successful in looking towards a marketing campaign 50-50 match. So we will explore that and see what we can do there. Year three retail strategies contract funded. at $45,000, and then the lazy e-sponsorship, which this council agreed to in the amount of $10,000 annually through the high school rodeo promotion and retention. Summary of changes. Again, I've talked to you about all of these things. Just to break down the exact numbers. If we are not doing a contract mowing, we've got frozen positions that we will need to unfreeze so that Tenney can backfill those positions. Some large drivers, insurance. Insurance, insurance, insurance. Property, auto, you name it. If it has any tie to insurance, whether it's health, property, or auto, it seems like it just continues to increase. Fiscal year 27, this is hard to estimate because we get our renewal in November. So it's a January 1. November is when we get that number. I'm sorry. I told you wrong. It's a November renewal. We don't have the number until after the budget's approved. We have seen substantial increases due to claims, and we've got some older facilities on the list which are more expensive to insure. So we're going from an annual premium of $335,000, I'm estimating $450,000 next year. That's large. We can't do that every year. I've already initiated conversations through our risk manager with OMAG to see what we can do about exploring, you know, maybe some different deductible plans, things of that nature to bring that number down. We can't accommodate that every year. Emergency management agreement, got that renewal in the budget. Police, there are several police items which are one-time purchases that will not be in fiscal year 28. For example, vehicle computers, all of the computers in our in-car units have reached the end of their life and they're no longer covered by Windows security or updates. So, excuse me. We've got $41,000 budgeted there to replace the in-car computers, which are $3,000 apiece, by the way, with $1,000 iPads and mounts and the whole package. I said, well, maybe we don't need the tough books. Let's do an iPad in the field. And if you need to write a really long report, go ahead and come on back to the station and do it here. So took that number from six figures down to $41,000. We've got some SRT SWAT vests that have to be upgraded. We've got 17,000 there. That's just one bite of that elephant. If we replaced all of them, it'd be a six-figure number. So our plan is to do a few each year until we meet that expiration date. Washer and dryer out of animal control needs to be replaced. These are heavy duty machines, not your normal residential units. Body camera subscriptions. Chief Swagger is really good at writing grants. The grant that covered the body cam software subscription expires the end of this fiscal year. So for next year, our cost has gone from $34,500 to $60,000. We continue to explore funding opportunities and or programs to make sure that that's the most cost efficient and effective option out there. Chief Swigert already has a meeting on the place with a couple of different vendors to explore and make sure that, you know, 60 grand is in line with the market rate. Excuse me. Vehicle maintenance. Again, this is another item that we've seen a substantial increase in from needing to replace engines and vehicles in the police department to software that we simply cannot do out of GMS. So we've got an increase there from $110,000 to $150,000. Of course, I've already mentioned the two Tahoes, the training facility. I guess I've mentioned everything else on that list. Go straight into the police department. You've got 24 sworn officers, four vacancies. If you'd like to come work for the City of Guthrie, please go to cityofguthrie.com slash jobs. Take a look at those open applications. The chief, that makes 25. In the dispatch communications, we've got eight positions, one vacant. Again, that job is posted. With your... Assuming that the council is on board with the pay plan and or the organization charter that has been presented for your next meeting, you'll have three full-time animal control officers, one part-time kennel tech, two of those positions vacant, one of the part-time vacant, although I believe we have an application today. Chief is still outside. Capital requests provided. We've already gone over those and collective bargaining agreements continue. Pulling right into the police, there's a year-over-year in each department. It brings a total difference from current to $4.2 million to $4.6 million, which is a 10% increase. Trucking run-along continues to the Fire and EMS Fund. You've got one ambulance, Medic 3, that remount is budgeted at $294,000. We ordered that ambulance last year. We hope we'll have it in December. So it's been a delay. I know Chief is ready to get that. I believe Tinney's ready to get that. His guys have been working on Medic 3, which has 290-something thousand miles on it. It's time for that unit to be replaced. Again, one bite at a time, that elephant's doing the best we can. Give us a shout out to Chief Lawson and his work, not only in being conservative, but his EMS billable collection turnaround time when he took over as chief was 29 days. Today, that is 2.2 days.

Awesome change.

That's huge. Good job. And you'll see the changes that we have in this department are supported by the EMS collections that Chief Lawson, Chief Braden, and the team are going out and making sure that come through. So currently staffed at 11 per shift, five part-time paramedics and the deputy chief, and of course the chief. Collective bargaining agreements ongoing. There is an increase in staffing requested. Just like with the police department, anything that we bring you is going to have a corresponding revenue or it's not going to be brought to you. So if it is brought to you, that will be funded by EMS collections. Taking a look at this suppression, administration, EMS and operations total year over year. My goodness, I didn't didn't copy. I'm sorry. We've gone from $4.6 million to $5.2 million. So again, that's a testament to Chief Lawson, his EMS billables, those 522 districts, turning those revenues around and literally carrying the fire department. Go straight into GEPWA. Again, another large driver is the property and auto insurance premium, which we have estimated to increase by $50,000. Electricity. So the new wastewater treatment plant has a new system in comparison to the old one. The electricity to run the new wastewater treatment plant is running about $85,000 a year more than what we were previously experiencing. That's a huge driver. Postage. You'll see At some point, we've got some policy recommendations as the cost of mailing utility bills, second notices, et cetera, as the cost of that continues to grow, our cost for postage continues to grow. So not only is it postage, but it's also the stationary. It's also the staff time. At some point, we'll be bringing you a policy recommendation tying back to your priority and being conservative in our budgeting and expenditure efforts, of an option to opt out of a mailed statement. Or if you would like a mailed statement, there's a monthly service fee that directly offsets the cost. We can't continue to absorb that cost. We've also got a future policy recommendation for credit card fees. We're going to spend $80,000 in credit card fees next year that we're absorbing. The credit card convenience fee is something that almost every utility company passes on to the consumer. Even in the community, there are several places, businesses that pass that charge on. If you'll look on your receipt, there are several restaurants, I paid close attention to that, that will pass on that percentage to you. $80,000 in credit card fees goes a long ways. So that's, again, maybe a portion of that or all of it. We will be bringing you some sort of policy to take a look at that. Waste Connections contract, that contract continues to grow as the number of residents grow and the folks who are using that service grows. Luckily, we have that expenditure tied to a revenue chart that increases each year for the next year, and then we'll be renegotiating that contract. Sludge removal contracts, again, another gift from the new wastewater treatment plant, excuse me, is a sludge that has to be removed. We're estimating that next year we'll spend $150,000. Myself, Tenny, Kim, and Superintendent Chris Nielsen, we're proposing the purchase of a Bellapress, which is a $280,000 capital expenditure, but it will eliminate the need for that sludge removal contract year over year. What does it do? I could go into... I'm sorry? I said, what does it do? It makes something with it. Yeah, so it takes that sludge and disperses it. I'm not an expert in the wastewater treatment plant process. I won't even begin to even act like it, but that belt press will eliminate the need for those containers that we're paying Waste Connections to come and get. Let's see, convenience center, again, here's another policy item. We've got folks who... come out to the convenience center with a dump trailer loaded, flown full, and dump it into our containers, and we're a low-cost option for getting rid of your disposal. Well, at some point, it's very clear that that is not a residential use. The whole purpose of the convenience center is so that citizen number A can come out and get rid of some bulk items or some trash that they no longer need, not so that Jack who remodels houses can show up with his utility bill because he happens to live here and he's got a dump trailer full and he says, well, hey, this is from my house. I've got a utility bill. Well, kind of taking advantage of the system. And in that, we're paying by the ton. We're seeing those costs continue to increase. Okay, also we've got I-35, State Highway 33 utility relocation that is a 100% ODOT reimbursement. So in that fund balance number, there's a $500,000 deduct, but it's a wash. So once we spend the money, we'll have that reimbursed back to the city. And then lastly, we've got this BNNSF water line. You may recall when we had the water line that was crossing the cottonwood that had to be repaired, the railroad's contingency on approving our permit, our fast track permit, which took 90 days, fast track. Yeah. Their contingency approval was that we would relocate that water line. Tinny and I are working on some creative funding opportunities. Again, that is in the budget that I've presented to you, and that fund balance number is reflective of that project. However, we're still going to see what we can do about seeking some additional grant dollars to make that project happen. Capital projects, ongoing, just to keep them top of mind for you. Of course, own field. Second, fire and EMS station. We opened the bids on that last week. That'll be coming to you across all that my city manager report. That'll be coming to you probably your first meeting in September if we don't have an additional workshop meeting. Police and fire training facility. The 911 Center, Logan County Rehabilitation for the radios, the pool. We do have some funds designated for the ADA upgrades to Highland Hall. We've just not had a staff capacity to get that project done. When you look at over $20 million in capital projects that we're managing, in addition to all of the other daily operations that are occurring at the city, we're really at capacity on what we can handle right now. And I want to ensure that we're delivering the best quality to you and to the community. So for now, we're going to keep that project on hold until we get some of these others off our plate. Of course, the Chuck Hall and Colin Duell funded OWRB water line replacement project, College Street Bridge, and then the water and sewer relocation. Just to name a few We're not lacking for anything to do. Just in summary and in recap, this budget is one of our largest budget proposals in history, and that's because we're doing more than we've ever done. This council has set some pretty aggressive goals for myself and your team, and I applaud it. They work day in and day out, not only to meet those goals and complete those projects, but also to find funding opportunities where the city's not on the hood for implementing those projects. And that's not something that happens everywhere, folks. That is special to this community and your leadership. Fiscal year 27 grant match requirements make up a large portion of the fund balance, as you saw. Insurance premiums continue to rise. We're already working on that. Postage credit card processing fees just becoming unsustainable. Convenience center, we've got to evaluate that. I'm sure we're not operating at a loss. And then lastly, our operating costs, fuel, electricity, gas, utility, et cetera, all of those continue to be a cost stroke. When you think about all of the diesel trucks that we're running and the amount of diesel that we buy, not even talking about unleaded fuel, with that cost per gallon, knock it on $5, it's not like we're saving any money on operating costs. This budget, lastly, it's a living, breathing document. It's our financial plan for fiscal year 27. You set those priorities, it's our job to implement them. I call that the rudder. You know what the rudder is? It keeps the ship straight. That's what your priorities do for your staff. We can do anything, but we can't do everything. The many needs of our community simply exceed the resources. And there's gonna be things that come up mid-year. And we have to be diligent stewards of your dollars, of our dollars and say, that's not a council priority. They gave us their priorities in that. If it doesn't tie back to this priority, we can't meet it because the priorities are what's in the budget. So then those projects, unless they're an emergency, right? Then those projects come back to you and we look at those for future fiscal years. because that's sustainable. That's the way we plan. That's the way we implement the budget conservatively and be good stewards of your dollars. Appreciate both the council and staff as we work diligently together to prepare and present this budget. Give a shout out to Kim Biggs, City Clerk Treasurer, who put most of my PowerPoint together for me last week while I was gone. Thank you for that, Kim. She's also been working very diligently on the budget. Myself, Justin, Courtney, Jesse, Brian, and Kim, we spent many hours around the third floor conference room table and had a lot of hard conversations. And I need you to know that we take this process very serious because it's one of the most important things that we do. It's our rudder. It's our guiding document. With that, Mayor and Council, that's all I've got for you. Good job, Eddie.

Thank you for preparing this. It's not just the presentation, but all the time that you guys put in day in and day out throughout the entire year to get here. So thank you very much, staff. Eddie, like you said, we don't have time for questions. Okay. Here's what we'll do to gather more public comments, which I know we have more outside, and to let people flow in and flow out. Let's just do a five-minute break. So I will adjourn this. See everybody in five minutes. Please rise. We'll join Councilman Laughlin to pledge the flag.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please remain standing for our prayer.

Thank you. Holy God. We give you thanks for this meeting and for your presence with us tonight guide our conversations and decisions and guard the hearts and minds of each person here as they seek to do your work in the community. We ask for your protection over our citizens and all who must work travel or spend time outdoors during the season of extreme heat grant them safety strength and refreshment and watch over those who are especially vulnerable to these high temperatures. As another school year begins, open our eyes to those who are using crosswalks and fill our hearts with compassion and encouragement for students, teachers, staff, and families as they navigate this season of transition. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

All right, you may be seated. I'm going to call to open our Guthrie Regular City Council meeting. Again, Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. It is 7.02 p.m. right here in the City Hall Council Chambers. Item number two is public comments, community announcements and recognition. We have a few, but some of them deal with an item on the agenda, so we'll wait for those. And we will call up Mr. William Murphy. Please come to the podium. Just state your name and whether or not you're a resident, please, sir. And just to remind everybody in the gallery and watching at home, it's state law that we are not allowed to respond to public comments. So we will be silent when he speaks. And you will have five minutes, sir.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. First thing I'd like to say is, Ms. Biggs, from the many people on Facebook that did not appreciate the post today that was made about you and being the wronged person. That man over there should put his face up about any policy changes to City Hall. He should be followed by that man there. From my heart, I apologize for everyone for all the comments that's been made. Now on to Owen Field. Over the last week, I've sat in my shop doing work, supporting myself, paying taxes. I have made not less than five calls, one every morning. to our chief's department, telling them that we have slow moving trucks. It's actually been over the last two weeks, slow moving trucks. I just told Councilman Williams, go out there and count the skid marks. That is one bad thing to have happen. From the beginning of Owen Field and where they're talking about building it, I have done nothing but complain to this council, the chief of police, And our city manager over here about getting it fixed, doing something right, signage. There was never an orange sign or nothing to warn any of them people that were west but eastbound. They're slamming on the brakes for a truck moving five miles an hour. And what's going to happen when we get 50 families up in that ball field? Huh? What are we going to do here? Do you have a plan, Chief? Really, I've given you seven years of complaining about it. I'm not going to complain about the other deal they've got going on because that's just ignorance on their part. But they wouldn't send patrol out there. This man's managing our money, our steward. I want to know how we had to have 12,000 tons of dirt moved off that field this time. How come they had to move 12,000 tons of dirt? That's what the contractor claimed on his post. I thought we leveled them fields two years ago when we screwed up building the driveway. And that brings us to the last truck of the deal, the water truck. We have a water truck up there spraying the ground down. It's right. It's what they're supposed to be doing.

Where's the water line that goes into the park?

You forgot to get it. It should have been put in first. They call that infrastructure, Mr. Faulkner. Everything on that ball field has been mishandled. I've watched it. This is the problem we have. There's a lot of mismanagement. This man's been our city manager, what? How many years now, Mr. Faulkner? Have you ever given us a plan to fix the water lines? That's your job. We're never gonna attract anybody into this city until we fix that very problem. Hence the joke where I was on Facebook selling the damn lake. This is the problem we have. This city is never going to grow until you fix that water problem. I've seen that lake flip over 10 times since I've been back here, since I've moved back here. It still stinks. We need water lines. Somebody needs to stand up and tell them, we need to have this much money set in a bond. Hire the people to do it and get it done. All of our builders are doing a fine job. building this community. They expect you to get up and do your job and get us water to drink. That's your job. Chief, smaller cars, less gas, less money, more officers.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. We have no more public comments. Like I said, The other people that signed up to speak is for an agenda item. So we'll move on to agenda item number three, which is the consent agenda, items A through H. Motion to approve as written. Okay. Motion. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Further comments or questions, please cast your votes.

All votes are in.

All right. Unanimous approval from all those present for the consent agenda items A through H. Item number four were items removed from the consent agenda. There were none. Item number five is Guthrie Housing Authority Board appointments, discussions, consideration, possible action to confirm the mayor's appointment of Brianna Gilder and reappointment of Robert Bob Kinworthy. The Guthrie Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, each for a three-year term expiring in August of 2029. I spoke with the Guthrie Housing Authority director for about an hour on the phone about both of these individuals, and they come both highly recommended. So I will... So moved. There we are. Second. Motion and a second. Any questions, comments from anyone? If there are none, please cast your votes.

I'll vote Saran.

Unanimous approval for the reappointment of Robert Bob Kinworthy and the appointment of Brianna Gilder to the Guthrie Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. Item number six is workers' compensation renewal premium credit. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council. When we received our 2627 workers' comp insurance renewal, we do have an escrow credit in the amount of $59,690.53. Staff is recommending that this Council approve utilizing that escrow credit towards the premium. Happy to answer any questions.

So moved. Second.

Second.

Motion and second. No questions, comments from Mr. Faulkner? If there are none, please cast your votes.

All votes are in.

Okay, unanimous approval for the Workers' Compensation Renewal Premium Credit. Item number seven is Resolution Number 2026-20, Revised City GPWA Organization Chart. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council. As we discussed during the budget and as is authorized in Section 3.12 of the Charter of the City of Guthrie, which allows the city manager to appoint and, when necessary, at the time for the good of the service, remove, demote, lay off, or suspend all heads or administrative departments and or administrative officers of the city. We present to you this organization chart as we have discussed. Staff recommends approval, and I am happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for our city manager? So moved. Second. Motion and a tie for second. All right. Motion to second. No further comments or questions. Please cast your votes.

All votes are in.

All right. Unanimous approval for Resolution Number 2026-20, Revised City GPWA Organization Chart. Item number eight is Resolution Number 2026-19, Fiscal Year 2027, Non-Bargaining Employee Pay Plan. Boy, that's a tongue twister. Mr. Faulkner again.

Yes, Mayor and Council. As you'll recall, the Policy manual requires me annually to review and present a pay plan on behalf of non-union, non-bargaining employees. As we discussed during the budget process, all of those changes are presented to you inside this pay plan. Staff would recommend approval. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

So moved. No questions? Second. Further comments or questions for Mr. Faulkner, please cast your votes.

I'll vote straight.

Unanimous approval for the fiscal year 2027 school resource officer agreement. Item number... My tab came down. Unanimous approval for resolution number 2026-19 fiscal year 2027 non-bargaining employee pay plan. There we are. Now, agenda number... nine fiscal year 2027 school resource officer agreement. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council, this agreement directly mirrors what we have in place and have had in place for a number of years between the City of Guthrie and Guthrie Public Schools, which essentially in exchange for two school resource officers, we receive a reserve officer, which is employed by the school for the summer, vacations, winter breaks, etc., The total cost of this agreement is $8,484 and no change. Staff recommends approval. Happy to answer any questions, or Chief Swigert can answer any questions.

So moved. Second. Motion to second. Are there any questions for Mr. Faulkner or the Chief?

Wasn't last year, wasn't a grant, didn't a grant pay for this?

So the only thing we're paying for in this SRO agreement is the offset of this employee's health insurance. So previously the city was, we had three employees that were all there and this has been prior to me even that this current format has been in place. Prior to me on the old version of the agreement we had three SROs and the school paid the city a portion of their salary based on the nine months of the school year that they would be working at the school, and then the city paid the remainder of their salary and benefits.

Thank you. Any more questions, comments? There are none. We have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes.

I'll vote to write.

Unanimous approval for the fiscal year 2027 school resource officer agreement. Item number 10, award of bid number 2026-06, Airport Terminal Building Construction. Caden Young, Airport Director.

Yes, Mayor and Council. We published a public notice in the Guthrie News Leader on June 17th and the 24th to solicit bids for this project. We received nine sealed bids on July 8th, and Landmark Construction Group was the lowest apparent bidder. Our engineer, Park Hill, is recommending this, and staff is recommending as well.

So moved. Second. Any questions for our airport director? Okay. If there are none, please cast your votes.

Public strength.

The unanimous approval from all those present, the award of bid number 2026-06, Airport Terminal Building Construction. Item number 11 is award of bid number 2026-07, the airport terminal apron construction. Mr. Young.

These bids were posted and opened at the same time. This is for the terminal apron. Contech Broken Arrow was the lowest apparent bidder and recommended by our engineer as well. You may recall that Contech did the taxiway project that was recently completed, both under budget and on time. So staff is definitely excited. recommending them as well.

So moved.

Second.

Okay. Motion to second. No further comments or questions. Let's cast our votes.

I'll vote start ahead.

Unanimous approval for the award of bit number 2026-07, Airport Terminal and Apron Construction. Item number 12, Amendment number 3 to Task Order number 153, Bowen Field Improvements. Mr. Maker.

Yes, Mayor and Council. Amendment number 3 provides additional compensation to Myers Engineering for the Expanded construction, administration, the coordination, the federal compliance services associated with the Owens Field Softball Complex Improvement Phase 1A project. The additional services include review of the contractor submittals, shop drawings, review of the response to request for information, review of contractor payment, applications, participation in construction, coordination meetings, contract closeout assistance, Review of the certified payroll and Davis-Bacon compliance documentation. Coordination with the construction manager, contractors, suppliers, funding agencies, and the city and other construction administration services responsible required for the project. Compensation will be based on an hourly, on an actual hours worked using Meyers Engineering current hourly rate schedule. with a not to exceed amount of $37,908 based on an estimated 253 hours. The amendment also removes $2,604 that was previously authorized for testing services resulting in a net increase of $35,304. Is that it? Yes. Okay.

It felt like we had an ending there.

Staff recommends approval. Yeah, that's usually the landing.

Okay, so this is a one-time fee during construction or what they have accrued to now? That's what I have.

This is moving forward, isn't it? This is an additional fee to the existing task order, if that's what you're asking.

I mean, because there's already an engineering during construction of the $75,250. So this is...

additional fee to the end are they going to come back with another amendment by the time we get to the end of this is what I mean we hope not we hope not we hope that the project goes smoothly and there's no additional fees needed and part of what drove this amendment is again we talked about how great the grants are in the federal dollars what we don't see on the back end is the regulation that comes with that so I One of the key things that Meyers will be doing as a part of this amendment and their engineering during construction is the Davis-Bacon Wage Act, which requires a prevailing wage be paid to the contractors and all of their subs. So the federal requirements that go along with that require somebody on our team to go out and interview after we've received certified payroll, actually to go out and interview employees ask them what their title is, what their hourly wage is, cross-check that to their certified payroll, and then we've already had an instance where a contractor was underpaying. They weren't paying the prevailing wage. Well, we've got about 20 subcontracts, 22 subcontracts on that job. And Meijer's project manager has substantial experience, not just in that, but in also handling the federal paperwork that must be submitted along with it. So that's not something that staff really has an expertise in. We have done a very small amount of it in the past. I say we, Tenney's team, has had to do some of that in the past, but it wasn't 22 subcontractors with all of their employees on top of that.

So how many hours are we looking at? 250?

Yes, 253, I believe it was.

Between now and completion, right?

Yes, between now and completion.

And how many people are making up those 237,000? One?

No, there's approximately, Bill has a few hours included in there of his hourly rate. Kirby He has some, he attends most of all of our progress meetings, which are weekly as of right or bi-weekly right now. Jennifer is reviewing all of the Davis-Bacon and paperwork and documents on that side, making sure all the Davis-Bacon wage rates is all met on all the pay apps. I'm really not sure at this point who is, there's a slew of them that is reviewing all of the submittals. meaning all of your pipe, all of your bolts, all of your products that's coming into this project to make sure they reach the right submittal level.

So the $149 an hour is dispersed between?

Approximately, probably, I would say five, safely five employees.

And that's an average based on the not to exceed amount. So to Councilwoman Gibbs' question, Myers had this amendment slated for earlier, and I said, wait, let's get through, see where we need to be. There should not be another amendment, to my knowledge. I see no reason for it. But had we not been in a position with the BABA compliance and the Davis-Bacon Wage Act, I don't know that we would be in the same spot today. But it is, I mean, it's his drawings and it's his project to manage. So this should take us all the way through. I feel confident it'll take us through completion.

Me too. And this wasn't something that they included in their original bid?

Well, if you'll recall, Amendment No. 2 actually removed... $88,000 that was included in the original bid because we took away the resident project representative, which would have been doing these services. So we saved approximately $50,000.

So essentially this is just a replacement for that.

At a lesser cost. Yes, ma'am.

Any more questions, Vaneca?

No. All right.

We have a motion to approve. Second. Motion to second. Any more? questions for either the City Manager or the Public Works Director. If there are none, please cast your votes.

I'll vote, sorry.

Okay, unanimous approval for Amendment Number 3, Task Order Number 153, Owen Field Improvements. Item Number 13, College Avenue Railroad Crossing Improvement Agreement. Mr. Maker.

The proposed agreement that you guys, you all have in front of you, is basically a cooperative agreement. If you recall, we brought back an agreement to you a while back. It was just ODOT and the city. This includes BNSF in that basically same agreement process provides the improvements to the BNSF railroad crossing at College Avenue where we'll be putting in the College Bridge. The project includes removing the existing 32-foot crossing on the West Main Track and the East siding track and installing new 40-foot concrete crossings. The east track will also be raised approximately 6 to 12 inches to match the roadway elevation. Two new railroad signal pedestals with gate arms will also be installed. BNSF will perform all railroad signal and crossing surfaces work at an estimate reimbursable cost of $633,394. The project will be funded through the federal and state project funds together with BNSF required participation. Upon completion, BNSF will continue to maintain the railroad facilities while the city will own and be responsible for maintaining the roadway approaches, grading drainage and signage associated with the crossing. Um, what basically this will do is where currently we have, um, a very rough crossing there. You've got three different elevations. Um, we started the, the engineer, uh, started design plans. We're at about 65% right now. Um, based off of the floodplain, that bridge will need to be elevated and bringing the elevation of the bridge up, leveling out the two crossing. Crossings, widening the crossings to match, to tie into the bridge with the new standards set by the state requires us to go all the way to the outside of BNSF easement, which is incorporating the whole intersection. So it's enlarged the size of the project substantially.

Where do we all start on the bridge?

Right now they're at about 65% design. Okay.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Motion or second?

This is very much needed over there.

Yes. What's that?

It's very much needed over there.

Oh, yeah. We're bad. Any more questions for Mr. Maker? Okay. We have a motion and a second. There are no more questions or comments. Thank you, Sandy. Any votes? All those for aye. Okay. And it's approval from all those present for College Avenue Railroad Crossing Improvement Agreement. Thank you, Mr. Maker. Item number 14, a special use permit medical facility at 1911 East Rectors Avenue. Mr. Kasich.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. As indicated, this is a special use permit. Within our zoning code, it allows a medical facility in any of the residential areas through a special use permit. Obviously, that's to ensure that it's properly located. This request is the Hope House, the just next door to it off of Rutgers, the other side of their property. They have a building there. It was last used as a daycare, and they want to utilize it as a medical facility for a lot of their residents. So with that, we're going through the special use permit. The Planning Commission had recommended 5.0 of the special use permit be approved as submitted. So with that, if the council has any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Case? Was there any objections?

Not on this one, no. No. And at the meeting, there wasn't anybody that showed up as well. Yeah.

I didn't see anyone. Yeah.

Yeah. It's actually a perfect property for what they want to do. Yeah.

So moved.

Second.

Motion is second. If there's no further comments or questions, please cast your votes.

Oh, that's random.

unanimous approval for the special use permit medical facility at 1911 East Rutgers Avenue. Item number 15, special use permit, accessory building location standards exemption. Mr. Kasich.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Again, another special use permit. This has come up a couple times before. We have a provision in the zoning code now that allows exceptions to size, location, that pertaining to accessory structures by code. The accessory structure has to be on the side or the rear. Otherwise, it's through a special use permit. The particular permit here is to allow it in the front. Planning Commission had recommended for one approval as submitted. There was two letters of objection that were part of your packet. They were also at the Planning Commission meeting, and I believe there's probably some that are here to speak tonight. But with that, I'll give it back to the council if you have any questions of me.

Dan.

Yes.

Quick question.

Yes.

Is this building put in before?

Yes. Why? The owner had stated he didn't realize he was within the city limits. It came to our attention when they were looking to have OG&E hook up the power. At that point, we obviously found out that, excuse me, there was a building there and that there was not a building permit, nor obviously an electrical permit. So that's when the conversations had started and they had talked to us or we had talked to them about possibly moving it to the side or rear. They said that really wasn't feasible. So obviously there is the ability to go through this process. So here we are.

I'm not here to argue with you, but I think it's wrong. I think you should check before you do any kind of building anywhere.

It's not your fault, but how big is this property?

It's about 0.86, a little under an acre, almost an acre, about 0.86 acres. As you can see, it was at one time parceled out of the larger parcel. Most everything around there is large agricultural acreage. On that side, this is the smallest parcel.

Do you know how long the resident has lived here?

I do not. They are here. You could speak with them, but I do not offhand, no.

Do I have any more questions for Dan? He can pop back and forth, but I do have two questions. comments on this item. Do you want to ask Dan some more stuff or do you want to have them speak?

No, not yet.

Okay. All right.

We'll take them in order of the way we received them. I have a Tom. I don't really know how to pronounce it. Sellbert? Sellert? Siebert. Siebert. There it is. Okay.

Where's the subject property on this?

Right here? Please just state your name and whether or not you're a resident.

Tom Siebert. And we are not residents. We're absentee landowners of the property around this property that's requesting the special use permit. I'll go ahead and read this so I don't ramble. Thank you. I'm Tom Siebert. My wife and I live 22 miles away in Oklahoma City. the property is an eastern red cedar infested tick haven that provides enough exercise to keep me out of the pool i pick up trash mow the right away along sooner road not one of my favorite tasks we work hard cutting chipping cedar trees mowing weeds trying to be good stewards of the land and good neighbors prior to the time that mr morgan moved into the neighborhood interested people driving by would ask is your property for sale my reply was no it is not but thank you for asking now the only offers come at least every other month from chinese-backed property investment companies that get their information from the assessor's office which does not include the neighborhood vista the quality of that Sis, these offers run from $2,000 to $4,000 an acre. Three or four years ago, relatives of ours sold 40 acres for over $15,000 an acre within a mile of this property or our property. Not within city limit, not a frontal to a paved road or access to public use. access to a public lake. Our property, total property with wife and I only, is 45 acres, located one mile from Interstate 35, Sooner Road on the front, and a no-wake lake, city lake on the west. With an $11,000, I'm going into a little math here, with an $11,000 difference in the acre value plus access to Logan County rural water, I have a potential incentive of over $450,000 to extend maximum effort to protect our family's investment. Ideally, my wife and I will stay the course to keep the property to be hers. I was advised that my wife and I need to carry absentee Liability insurance. We as owners are responsible for what happens on our property. For instance, if we lease pasture or allow hunting, we can be held at fault by court if something happens. The expected premium for this type of insurance annually is about $4,000. Thank you for the consideration of our objections to this special use commitment.

Where's your property located? Is it around that?

Yes, we're totally encircled.

You're both sides of it. You're actually all the way around it. It's in the corner of your property right there. Well, it's not your property, but I see it.

It fronts sooner right there. We do own the property completely around it.

Thank you, Mr. Siebert. We also have Jennifer Morgan.

So can I ask? Well, I wanted to ask Dan a question real quick. How do we go for a special use permit on a building that's already constructed? I mean, that kind of defeats the purpose of a special use permit.

Yes and no. I mean, it's obviously an avenue that is available and, you know, that's probably the best answer I could give. Ultimately, if it's not approved, then it's got to be moved. That's why all permitting or allowance of it stopped until we went through this process.

Is this an actual residence there? Or is it like just an outbuilding?

Yeah, it's going to be an accessory building, basically like a storage shed type.

So there's no restroom, none of that, and they're just...

Right, right. It's not going to be like an accessory dwelling.

So it got moved there on a truck, it looks like, right?

Yep, yep. Yeah, and as I indicated before, we were not aware of it until they needed power, and that's when we found out all the issues that we're dealing with.

That was my question. Okay.

Thank you. Okay. Now Jennifer Morgan.

Good evening Mayor and Council. Um, I am Jennifer Morgan. I'm a resident of Guthrie. I reside at the property in question. Um, we're requesting a special use permit. Um, the building's purpose is to be a recreational room. It'll has a pool table and some workout equipment. My husband runs a veteran nonprofit and, um, the he. basically teaches veterans how to build wooden flags with their branch of service on it. We have veterans in the home. So this is an extension of that building. It will allow us to move the pool table out of the shop building and into this accessory building. And it will be an extension of his workshop and it will also provide recreation for our family. The property itself is zoned A1, and that is one of the reasons why we weren't really thinking that we would need a permit. And our apologies for not thinking, it should have no matter. But we did not realize there was a permit required just due to the, it's not zoned R1, it's not zoned R2, it's zoned A1. And when we took possession of the building, initially it was expected to be put in the back, But when we didn't realize they weren't going to build it on site, it was a prefab building. Normally what they do with these buildings is they bring it in in pieces and just put it together. So we thought we would be able to get it behind the gate. The gates are only 12 feet wide. The building is 16 feet wide, so it will not fit. The electrical, we went ahead and had it placed in front, not realizing that the, being that the property size was under an acre, we didn't have the same, I guess we don't go by the same rules as normal agricultural properties. So it was kind of, we didn't realize that the zoning didn't apply to us because of the property size. The electrical was already completed when we realized that we need the permit. So when we went to go get the permit, We were told that we needed to file for a special use permit. It couldn't be there. Originally, like the building color is different. So what we plan on doing is painting the building to match the house. So it will still be aesthetically pleasing. We're building a deck between our existing deck and the property. So that, again, will kind of like have it flow better so it won't be an eyesore. And... One of the reasons why we couldn't really fully put together a building somehow to the back of the yard, we would have had to drop Mr. Siebert's fence for one. So that wasn't an option. But there's septic is in the back of the house. So we the truck. I mean, just if the building if it had been if the gate had been wide enough to allow the building through in its built form, it would have been too heavy to go across the septic and into the back where it needed to be placed. So those are the reasons why we made the mistake that we did. And we're just asking for your grace and approval of the accessory building. Do you have any other questions about this?

Yes. During the planning commission meeting, Mr. Morgan stated that he had dealt with this company before and that he fully expected this to be built on site. Correct. So you had a site picked out in your backyard for this building. Correct. And then they just suddenly showed up with it.

Right. We didn't ask enough questions. We just made assumptions that we absolutely should not have made.

But you wrote a check for it.

We did write a check for it. Correct.

But you didn't ask questions whether it was going to be built on site.

I was not in charge. That's correct.

That wasn't decided beforehand.

No, sir.

I'd like to state that in April of 24, a senior couple came to the planning commission and then counseled. two-tenths of a mile north of there on Lakewood and Schooner and requested that two double whites be put on that property, which their daughter already lived on. On the corner? Yes. Very nice renderings. The crowd that showed up and opposed it stated that it would be an eyesore to the gateway to our city and stated that it would bring down property values in the area. It was denied. And I could not in good conscience approve this, having denied that. Plus, back to Mr. Siebert's fence, he has graciously offered to let them take down his fence and move that building behind their house. So there's a solution.

Is there a reason why you can't move it to the back or you don't want to?

Well, we have already... we made a mistake and we already we've spent money for the electrical. We spent money for the delivery and placement of the building. It would be cost prohibitive for us to do that at this point. It would cost a couple thousand dollars, most likely to have, I haven't investigated it. So I don't want to speak out of turn. I'm not exactly sure what it costs to build or move a building, but to have it professionally moved to the back of the property would be costly. And we've, you know, We've got the concrete set. We've got the electrical done. And, I mean, obviously, if you do not approve the special use permit, that would be something we would have to consider.

There's concrete under this?

No. No, but we went ahead, like, where the electrical is being placed, where the box is. We had those placed. whatever they are, the things that hold it, we had them concreted so that they wouldn't move, so that electrical wouldn't pull away from the building or anything like that if there was wind. The electrical lines will be buried also.

Regarding the delivery date, when they arrived, they pretty much had Sooner Road shut down, and I panicked. I called 911. I said, non-emergency. Could we get some law enforcement out here to direct traffic while we figure out how to get this in there? They sent me to the city. The city said, no, you're in the county. So they sent me over to county. And then the county's like, no, you're in the city. So long story short, I went through four phone calls to get to who needed to be there. City of Guthrie showed up, they were there on site. When they arrived, I called Mr. Siebert to try to ask, is there any way we can drop your fence or anything regarding that? He would not answer his call or my call. So I attempted to do that. The reason now he's saying that we can

graciously move the fence because he knows where my septic is and he lost the vote previously four to one let me ask you on the septic can this be moved without hurting the lateral lines i think in order right i think in in order to move it um to avoid the lateral lines it's going to have to go all the way around the house and but it can be placed without I think so. It's going to be a little precarious because it's got to go between the shop. And I don't think there's enough room over there on that side. I guess if we drop the fence, we could swing it around wide. I'm not exactly sure what they do when they do those things. I don't know.

So how did the electrical get done without a permit? Looking at this, I don't think the electrical's done. You just have junction boxes.

No, we had the junction box put in and we had it concreted.

So there's no electrical in there?

No, it's wired. It has not been connected. We need a permit for that.

So how did it get wired with no permit?

Well, it came that way.

Oh, the box.

People ran there, but the electrician who drew a permit found out that it was in the city limits.

Okay. And OG&E came out and gave me the specifics of... what box needs to be there, how far it needs to be dug. So we did all that for OG&E's thing, and then all of a sudden we found out that we needed a permit through OG&E. How long have you guys lived there?

Mr. Morgan bought the house in September of last year. He lived there as a renter in a rent-to-own situation for five years prior.

So Dan, how big of a building can they put on 0.87 of an acre?

It's based on 52. It's still the 50% rule where it's 50% of the livable area. The size of it is allowable because I think, how big is the livable area?

I think it's like 16 by 32. And then we are in a double-wide main.

Yeah. So they they the size isn't the issue. It's it's the location because they're within the size limit they're allowed.

So a double wide was already approved on the site at one point or was that just put there?

It's been there for a long time. Yeah. I was going to say that predates me and probably way before that.

Yeah. 30 years.

Yeah.

How many outbuildings are there out there now?

Per the current code, if it's under one and a half acres, you get two. If it's one and a half acres or greater, you get three.

And how many acres?

It's not even an acre?

No. So they would be allowed two.

Per the code. This is a third.

This would be a third.

Okay. So that's on there. So if I'm reading this correctly from the plan, it says the subject property is the smallest property in the area, 0.88 acres, with one other 2.57-acre property to the north. All other properties are well over five acres in size. So any property five acres or larger is exempt from the accessory structure standard.

Correct. Meaning size and location in that. So, yeah, if you're at five acres, you know, you could have a standalone barn. Yeah, the number of outbuildings is still maintained. It's the location and size. So if you have a 1,200-square-foot house on 10 acres and you want to put a 1,500-square-foot building, you can. And then the same thing, if you have a house that's maybe in the back of the acreage and you want to put an accessory structure towards the front, you can. Those limitations go away at five acres or more.

So who put the mobile home in? Elliott's. Marvin Elliott. The owner of the property, who owned the property that put the mobile home in? Marvin Elliott and his daughter lived in it.

And you all leased it, Morgans, you leased it from the Elliotts?

No. No. No, the property went up for auction when Miss Elliot passed away. It was left to her grandchildren. They sold it in auction to a buddy of mine that came. He wanted to turn it into a used car lot. And, of course, you all denied it, thankfully, because now I live in it. But since you all denied it, he reached out to me and said, I can't put my car lot here. Do you want to lease to own it? And I said, absolutely. And when I got it, it was extremely rundown. It hadn't been lived in for approximately four years. And we just gutted it. I remodeled everything on the inside and then moved into it. And he said, you have five years to purchase the property on your own. And I waited until just before the five-year mark. And September, we just purchased it.

So question for Mr. Sieber. When you've owned this property for years, generational property here? Okay, so when the mobile home came in, was there an issue with that?

I mean, did you have an issue with the mobile home?

That's the question I have. When the mobile home was moved in, was there issues with the mobile home being put in there?

The mobile home came in with the big barn And Uncle Marvin sold land, moved to this parcel that was willed to him. He had 29.7 acres. And things came about. He passed away. His daughter and grandkids lived there until she passed away. We purchased it. We purchased the rest of the 17 acres at the time. 12 acres had already been sold. That left 17. And the lady that lived there, the cousin that lived there, was needing money. And we offered to purchase the land.

Where the mobile home was.

No. We left the 0.88 acres out. the buildings out because at that time, she was still living there. In the mobile home? In the mobile home. That's what I'm trying to find out.

Was there an issue with the mobile home being put in there?

No, no, no, not at the time. Nobody had an issue with the mobile home being put in there? Because there was 27 acres.

Okay. On all the property.

Yeah. And the shop was built at the same time.

So if there was not an issue with the mobile home being put in there, why, and this is increasing the value of that property, obviously. I'm trying to get my arms around why there's an issue now.

An issue now from?

With this other structure in there.

Oh, from my standpoint? Yes, sir. Well, that was my whole spiel.

No, I understand your spiel, but there was never an issue with the mobile home to start with is what I was saying. Which the mobile home already deterred the value of the property at that point when it was put in 30 years ago.

Well, yeah, I guess. But it really, at the point, it was a brand new double wide. And Uncle Marvin left his other place that he sold, moved over to the property he inherited of 27 acres. It had rural water. He was able to get rural water and moved in there until he's dead.

I have a question for Dan again, if we could, please. Just to clarify what Vice Mayor and Councilwoman Denning was talking about just a few minutes ago. Does this even allow on this property to have three structures?

Well, I'm glad you brought that up. Thank you, Mayor. I was going to clarify. What we're looking at is working with the property owner to take care of that issue if this were approved, because we've had conversations about that in the number. And so it was kind of like taking one thing at a time. If this doesn't get approved and then they decide they don't want it, the issue kind of takes care of itself. If it does get approved, then that's something we're going to have to address. I've had...

Sorry, can you clarify? Oh, the number. Yeah, the number.

Yeah, the number of allowable accessory structures. I've had this come up before with other properties where they're looking to put a new structure on there. And then once they got that done, they took another structure off to be co-compliant in that. So that's something that we're going to have to work with them on. And again, it's kind of taken one step at a time here.

So how many structures on it? I'm sorry. This is the same thing. Yeah, so there's two already. Right. That's what I'm trying to see. What's the one in the back?

This looks like an 18 by 18. I can't read it.

That one in the back is a 10 by 18, but what's the one right behind it?

There's like approximately a 10 by 12 in the very back. That holds my lawnmower, my riding lawnmower, all my... gear for outside. Then there's a little eight by 10 that's directly behind my shop that holds my wood for the nonprofit.

So, but then there's a shop, right?

And then there's the big shop.

So, so there's what we're doing with the new building buildings.

No, there's three.

Well, you got the new one.

Storage buildings are three.

Okay. Well, so there's one all the way in the back, 18 by 10, then there's a 10 by eight. Then there's a 20 by something shop. So that's three. And then there's the new one over here, which is four. And then the house is five structures on the property. And you're only allowed to have total. You're only allowed to have two.

Our plan with the new building, it's going to alleviate a lot of those things that are in the actual metal building and. Then I can get rid of that one building directly behind my shop where we're storing the wood. I can bring that wood in and store it in the in the building.

But here's the dilemma in that. And, you know, I'm sorry this all happened with you guys. But so if we approve that, then we're approving a special use permit on that building. I want to be real clear, just the new building, which does not mandate you do anything else with removing structures on that property. It doesn't. So you're going to have to go through another whole scenario there.

No, I mean, the code itself mandates the number in that.

Yeah, but how long have the buildings been in play? How long have they been there? Are you going to come back and change a code and you're going to make a code go back and tear out 20-year-old buildings?

Not yet. No, in general, no. Yeah, no, in general, no. This is different because they're looking to add or improve.

I know that. And what I'm saying is if we approve this building, then what happens is we have no control over taking those other buildings out whatsoever because they've been there for how long?

No, again, basically the new building takes away their legal nonconforming. Yeah. If they don't put this building in and this building is there, you're right. Those buildings can stay for as long as they want. But when you start to make improvements, those legal nonconforming go away. It's just like any other property.

So where is it in the documentation here on what I have that if we approve this building, everything else goes away?

That's not part of it, right? That's not part of it. No, right.

The point exactly is that that's not part of it. Right, we just kind of uncovered that. Right, so that's the point I'm trying to make, is that if we approve this, then there's no lever to go back in and remove these other buildings.

Well, with the other buildings, those other buildings have been there, attached or detached or whatever, however it looks back there. I drove out there. To me, I'm just going to make a statement here. it's a very nice well manicured um property i didn't realize that was city limits either i don't you know i don't walk around a map of the city but i kept driving down student road and i was like good lord is this am i still in the city and yes you are um but it doesn't feel like that and the properties around it are very nice um you know are are concession then would be, okay, have people remove nice, well-painted outbuildings, and then you have all this crap that was maybe in the outbuilding just setting all over in the front yard, like some properties out that direction.

That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is this. When you allow five structures on a property that's supposed to have two, and then Deanna Dooning comes to council because she wants to do the same thing, how do you turn her down?

Because we've already allowed it over here. Correct me if I'm wrong. What this is akin to is when we have ADA. So we're a historic town. We do not – certain sidewalks are not ADA. You can't go in and say these are not ADA. We've got to redo them. But when we do construction and we break ground, we tear it open, now everything in that section has to be ADA compliant, which we are now. That's what this is similar to. You don't go around and start – looking at just random houses that have been grandfathered in, and we're going to take these structures down because there's over five. It's when they decide to do construction or when they decide to get more permits, that's what opens it up, that now you have to be up to code with the structure minimum. Am I correct, Dan?

Yes.

Thank you.

Well, there should be a certain amount of grace as well in something like this because Well, go ahead.

No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt Councilman.

Because the building's already there. It's not run down like Deanna mentioned. And that's not what I never implied it was. I actually drove out there. I live out near there. Right. And so but and that's why I'm trying to find out if there was issues ever with the mobile home going in.

Right.

Because now there's issues with this building, but there wasn't issues with the double wide going in. On 27 acres. Well, it was on .80. 20 years ago.

Yeah, but I believe at the time that this went in, all of that was owned by the city.

Here's the thing I want to ask. Okay. Hang on a second, guys. What happens if we approve this? What about the people that rode there that we told them, no, you can't have that? They're going to come back and sue the city. No, they could. They might come back and request.

That's right. And they're going to say, wait, you just approved them.

And that's their prerogative. But that was different. That's different in that that was mobile homes being put in. And we're not approving a mobile home here. It's already there. It's already there.

This is an old one. So, Dan, I think we've gotten pretty far from the agenda. Let's just kind of circle back for a moment. It sounds like we've got maybe two requests. or there needs to be a provision added here that something needs to be removed.

Am I understanding that correctly? Yeah, and this will hopefully answer Councilman Bothroids. In some cases, we have, because there's legal nonconforming, where we do a one-for-one. You bring in one new one, you take one away, we leave the rest of it alone type of thing. We can go that route because there are, as we discussed, some legal nonconforming, I hate to say rights, but that route. And so in a lot of cases, we can make it to where it's not making it worse in that. But as Eddie stated, you can make that a condition that one of them has to go away or they all have to be compliant or the property has to be compliant with the code and the number of structures, that type of thing, because that's an additional way to ensure that it gets taken care of.

So, but as of now, though, that's a separate issue. That's that is correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's been talked about.

Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, another quick question, and I'm done with my questions for Mr. Morgan, right? So, who did you call in the city out here when all this was happening? And who came out? You said the city came out finally.

Uh, Guthrie PD. So I called 911 non-emergency and it sent me to County. County said, no, you're, you're in city limits. So I need to transfer you over. So they transferred me over to the city, the city police department, and then the police department and Guthrie said, no, you're County. And I said, no, no, ma'am, I'm not. And she went and disconnected me and sent me to County and then County, we We have a family member that works for the county, and I reached out to him, and he said, this is a mess. You're not county. You're city limits. And I was like, well, I thought I was city limits, but county was saying I was city, and so that's how I learned it.

That's after the building was already there.

It was sitting in Sooner Road.

I'm talking about the buildings in Sooner Road. I want to know who from Guthrie came out there to manage this.

Guthrie Police Department.

The police department.

Yes.

To direct traffic.

To direct traffic to get that into the yard.

The city found out about it because an electrician turned in a permit. And our inspector, Bill, went out and saw it and said, you cannot do this.

Yeah.

Period. That's how we're.

I had an electrician come out and dig the lines per OG&E's request. When he got done doing that, he said, well, I need to go pull the permit. And I was like, okay, well, I didn't know you needed a permit. and he came up to pull the permit and this is where this all transpired, when he came to Dan.

Okay, so looking at the diagram of your property, it shows that you have a large asphalt drive and it kicks out towards that fence that's right in front of what Mr. Siebert called the barn. Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay. whether or not you meant for the building to go directly behind the mobile home or off to the side, the issue with even putting it on the asphalt drive was that you couldn't or couldn't get a hold of Mr. Sievert to remove the fence.

Correct.

Okay, because it does cut off the whole one side of the front of your home.

But so putting it in the back does because it goes again sooner as well. Well, you don't see the one in the back.

You don't see the ones in the back. Sooner is right here.

Okay, that's funny.

So, no, all the way around it is pasture.

Yeah.

So from there, you're blocking the entire front of your home with this out structure, which if you were looking at it from the road, it just looks like you did an add-on because nobody can tell the small path between the two, right? Yes, ma'am. So from the road, it looks like you have a really ugly add-on. essentially. Have you been out there to look at it? Yes. It's a nice building. I'm not saying that the building itself is not nice, but the front of it is not windows like the front of his home is. You know what I mean? It looks like you would have made an add-on to your home, but it doesn't look like the front of a home. It looks like... That's not against study code. I mean, you can't... That's not what I'm getting at. That's not what I'm getting at. The point is, aesthetically, Aesthetically, it is not pleasing other than it being an out structure, right? And you have a multitude of them. So have you first, you already said you haven't looked into moving it and what that cost would be. Is it feasible to move it onto your asphalt drive that is larger? It's too close to the fences.

It's my understanding, if I'm wrong, Dan, let me know, but doesn't it have to be five feet from the fence? And putting it on that side of the asphalt drive will put it too close to the fence line. Okay, but... Because it's 16 feet wide.

What is the... I don't have... I know how big the building is, but how large is that asphalt pad? 12 feet. Because it's larger. It's 12 feet. It shows that it is larger than your driveway. Yeah. And the rendering.

I'm not sure about that because it's not, we have a, we park cars in front of the, like in front of the barn building, the shop building. Yes. That's a driveway for car parking. And then there's like a little, there's a turnaround area that's also asphalt kind of like adjacent to the porch in front of the house. And then that, that area just to the, left of the carport is only, that piece of asphalt is only 12 feet. Like it's only, we would have to put it on the side. And if we put it on the side, then that's like, I don't think we have enough clearance there.

Dan, you're holding it.

Yes. Are you talking on the south part there? Yes. Yeah. Please talk about this area here. Yeah. Because this is the south part. She's talking about this area here. Yeah. That would be on the side of the house.

We wouldn't be able to get into the garage. We wouldn't be able to get into parking cars under the carport.

So that is a covered carport. That is.

I mean, it shows open on the rendering, but it's covered carport.

OK. So Dan, I just want to clarify. So this was before planning, obviously, before it came here. probably the same discussion I've watched three-fourths of the Planning Commission meetings a lot of the same discussion went on there so planning approved it four to one correct and I guess we've covered most of the positives and negatives that was also covered yes the planning meeting yes anybody

There's no further questions or comments. Does somebody like to make a motion? I'll make a motion to deny. Second. You have a motion to deny and a second.

Well, hold on one second before we go there. Is there any way that you're going to agree to move this to the back of the house?

I can with Tom's help. Yes. Financially, it's going to take us some time to do it. Because I have to buy, I have to have a company come out and move it. And if Tom gives me the okay, we will, yes. If he gives us the okay, we can, but I'm not sure when we can do that. Financially-wise.

Mr. Siebert, is that something that you would okay, taking the fence down so they can move it to the back of the house?

I sent him the email last week telling him that he bought the defense chief on it.

move it to the back of the house so I did so I would hold on there's a motion in a second already so the question I had a question okay go ahead so I understand that there is yeah but I

You all haven't done the research to find out financially how much it's going to cost you to move it.

We have not.

Okay.

We have not.

I would actually like for you to look into that.

Absolutely.

Make a decision.

Okay. And I do want to reiterate that our plan is to paint it to match the house. We're even willing to attach it to the house.

Here's what's getting ready to happen. Regardless of what we want, it's getting ready to be denied. Because there's already a motion and a second. And that's what's going to happen here. And my position was to eliminate the, pull the motion in the second and make a motion based on this thing, nothing more happening, no electrical, no nothing. And this thing being moved within a certain amount of timeframe, whether it's 30 days, 60 days or 90 days, whatever it is, and move to the back of the house. I don't even know that that would approve here, but that's the only way I'm willing to do it.

But I thought Ms. Morgan just said you, They can't get in their garage if it's moved to the back of the house. Is that what I heard?

No, we could get it to the back of the house, but we would have to drop his fence, drive it around, and then we're going to have to go around our garden and then into the west side of the property.

But he already said we could do that.

We could do that, but I've got to find a company. Financially, I mean, I already spent $3,700 on the electrical, concreted, in the front. So I'm going to be out that cost and the moving cost. And it is what it is. I mean, if that's what y'all want me to do, absolutely, I'll do it.

I don't even know that this council would approve that. All I'm saying is if it gets denied at this council, you got to tear it out of there. That's how that works.

If you all would approve it, I will have it moved in 60 days to the back of the property. If you'll give me 60 days. Financially, we can do that.

Well, we can't even make a motion on that unless they're willing to retract their motion. So you're saying you'll move it now?

If he's going to allow me to do so, and if it's going to be denied, absolutely. We've already bought the $16,000 unit.

That's what I was just going to say. We've already paid cash for this building. It's not being financed. It was $16,000. So it's not one of those ones where, oh, they can take it back and repo it or whatever. We paid cash for this. So we are out. Now we are out.

I don't know the difference between if this is denied, they're in the situation where they move it, why does it need to be changed to an approval under the guise that they have to move it? I mean, it It's the same outcome either way.

We could amend or approving it with conditions. If we amend it, approve it with a condition.

We approve it a condition for 60 days to be moved to the back of the house.

Or it's denied and asked to move to the back of the house.

Now, if it's denied, then it goes away because there's too many accessory buildings on the property.

That's the thing I'm asking is how many accessory buildings are you going to get rid of? You have five buildings out there now. That's... That's the sticking issue right now with me, more than anything else. And the building in the front was... Well, again, there's some legal non-conforming there.

What we would at the... Right. At the very least, we would ensure there's not going to be more than there currently is. And so if they did move it to the back, we would probably work with them to remove one of the other ones. So we stay... with what's there because there are some legal non-conforming. Now, also, if it is denied, given what the council has just stated, and which is typical with a lot of code enforcement cases, we would work with the property owner, whether it's 30 days, 60 days, 90 days to get it taken care of. That's kind of standard of what we do normally.

They can move it to the back.

Yeah, kind of like with the dilapidated structures when people are wanting to fix them up. As long as they're communicating and working with us, we work with them. Sometimes it could take eight, nine months. This won't take that long, but it's not something that we haven't already done for others.

So this is denied. They'll be able to move it to the back. His office will work with them on exceptional timeline to have that done.

Absolutely.

And that's the motion on the table is to deny the special use permit. We have a motion and a second.

For where it sits.

Okay. We're denying the permit, and we're agreeing to move it to the back of the house.

We're not agreeing to that.

He's going to be able to do that.

Right.

That's what we have been told.

Right. It would be to a co-compliant location.

Okay. I don't have a problem with that. Right. So we wouldn't even have to come back if we just eliminated your motion. And second, we just made a new one. and are done with it. They don't have to come back. It can be done. You can't do that.

It's not being torn down.

No, not torn down. I said moved. Once it's moved, it does not require the special use permit.

Yes. That's right. That is the only reason we are here today because of the location. If they originally had put it on the side or in the rear, we would just be going through the regular permitting process.

So we can still deny the special use and give you... That is correct. It just turns normal after that.

That is correct. Yes.

No, yeah, yeah.

Yes. Councilman Williams, yes. Again, with a lot of other cases, we will work. Yes. And we will work with them.

Okay. Motion and a second to deny while we have clarified that this will go through the normal process where they can have it moved to the back in a timely manner. Okay. So a motion and a second to deny the special use permit. Ask your votes, please.

I'm not sure what. I'm not sure what.

It's approval to deny the special use permit.

Thank you, Dan.

I don't think I've ever seen you get up and down so much.

All right.

Item number 16, deductive change orders and contract cancellation, bid number 2026-05, demolition services. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council, and Dan, don't go too far. You're probably going to be back at the podium. This item occurred last week while I was out of town. If you'll recall, every year in March, April timeframe, we have a dilapidated structures program. We put properties on the dilapidated structures list. Sometime between July 7th, the council awarding the demo contracts and actual demolition last week, there were a couple of properties that were removed from the demo list, which have resulted in a deduct change order for K&M Dirt Services. as well as a deduct from Dewey Martin Construction and then resulting in a cancellation of the contract with Harris Services. Dan would be happy to provide any more information given that it is his department and one of his staff members. Any questions for us on this? Oh, yeah.

Thank you. Just to go back, when we go to the council, we usually take the entire bid package. That way we have that on record. However, we do have a number of homes that we have agreements with verbally or have permits that have been submitted that we don't actually execute the actual demo. agreements. In this case, there was an oversight in which all of it was sent to Jesse and there was contracts that were signed that should not have been due to the fact that we had agreements for them to fix up the homes as well as permits already pulled. We were fortunate that we were able to get ahead of it. Nobody's home was torn down. And so, yeah, thank goodness. And so That's what's in front of you is the ones that we're basically pulling back. There could be a later date if the property owners do not follow through on their part. But right now, we need to have those canceled in that so there's no further action taken on the demo side.

So there were existing permits?

On one of them, yes.

On one of them?

Yes. The rest we've had.

There's a time limit, right?

Yep, 45 days. Yes. Right. And these were the ones that we had either a permit or an actual agreement with the property owner on, you know, a time frame in that. And like I said, they were unfortunately put forward when they should not happen due to those previous agreements. Thank you.

So moved. Second. Motion is second. Any comments or questions? Please cast your votes.

Oh, that's right.

Deanna's approval for the deductive change orders and contract cancellation, bid number 2026-05, demolition services.

So Deanna's going to take over the mowing.

That's what I've understood. That's what I've understood. That's a motion.

That's going to take over the mowing.

I heard all of it, the big hat and everything. Item number, I have to say it first.

Yes.

Item number 17, Board of RFP number 2026-08, Mowing and Grounds Maintenance Services. Mr. Maker.

Yes, Mayor, Council. Public notice was published in the Guthrie News Leader on July 8th and the 15th for mowing and grounds services for eight locations in the City of Guthrie. This contract will last until September 30th, 2026. The bid pricing is not to exceed the amount of the work required to have been performed before payment is approved. The bid packet was also shared with the vendor list and posted on our website. Pre-bid meeting was held July 21st, 2 p.m. in the council chambers. We had three vendors in attendance. Seal bids were opened and read aloud in the council chambers at 10 a.m., on the 29th. Two eligible bids were received. The eight locations were Banner Park, Guthrie Lake, Highland Park, including the trails, Highway 33 medians number two, Mineral Wells Park, Mitchell Park, Rittsop Park, and South Highway median number one. The two eligible bids were Sharp Cuts, Highland Park, including the trails for 13,600 and complete ground cares for the remaining properties. Funding for these contracts are included in our FY2,026 budget under the parks, mowing and grounds maintenance account. Staff would request approval for the sharps cut for 13,600 for Highland Park and the remaining item or remaining properties to be awarded to complete ground care.

Question.

Yes.

Maybe I didn't pay attention. I may not have. Who's going to mow the cemetery?

Our remaining, our staff, our parks department, our maintenance and ground staff.

And then same thing on Highway 77 or South Division. You guys going to still do that or not?

Yeah, we would still have, let's see, we'd have the cemetery, we'd have the armory, the Blue House, the West Highway, the North Highway, Okay. We'd still have all those grounds.

Okay. Yeah, the intent, Mayor and Council, was that we would get the parks and the two main entrances into the city, folks coming from I-35 or Highway 33, either direction. A couple things I want to point out. One, this comes as a direction from the Council to explore alternative options. Unfortunately, our guys just cannot keep up when it rains for five inches And one day overnight, and then we have a holiday in there where we're working out at the cemetery. We just can't keep up. Two, this is kind of a good trial run for us for two reasons. One, this contract will take us through September 30th, so it's the end of the fiscal year. Two, this is a not-to-exceed amount. So it's hot and dry out there right now. The grass is not growing. If they're not mowing, they're not getting paid. And that's a contingent piece of the contract where we're not just – carte blanche, here's the city checkbook, its services will be rendered before any payment is offered. So this gives us an opportunity, Tinney and JB, and the Parks Department to see how it goes when grass is not necessarily completely out of control. We get a hold on the management of it. see how it works in the season, reevaluate it for next season, whether that's something we're going to continue to try to do, or if we really hit the streets hard and try to go grow that staff and get additional staff members, which is truly the issue. We don't have enough staff members. We've got vacancies, and that's the issue.

Are you going to manage the said companies and say, okay, you got to mow, or why are you out here mowing when You know, the grass is burned up and there's nothing there?

Yes, we intend to manage the companies and stay on top of that. I mean, if the grass stays in dormant like we're seeing right now, I mean, we've got a pretty good handle on everything right now. If it stays that way, no mowing will be needed.

Once it rains, then there'll be on it.

We get a two-inch rain and grass gets a good drink, it's going to jump on us.

So we're talking about a two-and-a-half-month contract here. That's right. Nine weeks. Nine weeks, yes, sir. Nine weeks. And these amounts I see here are, every time it's mowed, this amount applies, for instance, $1,600 for banner bark. Does that fulfill the contract?

That fulfills the contract. No, that's the contract. That's the contract. That's the full amount for the contract.

And that's a maximum, because if they're not mowing, they're not getting any of it. Yes. Correct. So I make a motion to approve. Second. It's worth a check.

Yeah, that's what I'll take. I will unfortunately have to abstain on this vote.

Are you kidding?

I have to say that. I've hired one of the long-term care services before, so I have to abstain. So there is a motion in a second. No further comments or questions. Go ahead and cast your votes.

I'll vote strength.

OK. Unanimous approval from all those who got to vote. Thanks, Danny. 5-0. Thanks, Danny. All right. Where are we? Item number 18, city manager's report. What do we got going on, Eddie?

No report, Mayor. I shared that via email yesterday.

Read your email.

No, I won't read the email I sent you. I think you've heard enough from me today. I'm happy to answer any questions if you'd like.

Is this an hour city-long city manager's report? Yeah.

Thank you for the email.

We'll count that. All right. Item number 19 is request comments from members of city council. Councilman Williams.

No, let's roll, rock and roll. But I do thank everybody on the staff. You guys really did a lot of work, good work, good presentation.

Yes, I will just ditto that. Numbers are not my forte, and I will tell you the last 48 hours trying to thumb through all of this stuff. And Eddie's presentation, I was getting cross-eyed by the end, but it was wonderful. Thank you, staff, for all of your input and hard work on this, because I know the last couple of months have not been very fun for anybody. So thank you, Eddie, for the presentation. It's very, obviously, black and white and numberish. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Amanda. Thanks, Mary Taylor. Welcome back. Thank you. I'm glad you got to get away from here for a few days. Kim, thank you. I know you guys have been working, both of you guys have been working real hard on this Staff, I appreciate all y'all have done. Because I know you guys had to put everything together and kind of push it to those guys so they can figure out what needs to be done. So I really appreciate it. That's it. Councilman Bufferin?

Chief, appreciate everything you're doing. And congratulations to Shonda and Justin. And hopefully that's going to be good for everybody. That's it for me. Councilwoman Goods?

I'm just going to ditto all of their comments. because really everybody does a great job and got it all out, and I'm in the end. So I appreciate everybody in here always. So thank you very much for the good job.

As for myself, I will also – I'm going to say copy and paste what they said. Sounds cooler than ditto. Take what they said, copy and paste. Thank you, staff. Gosh, it's got to be really stressful putting all those numbers together, but it's necessary and needed, and we very much appreciate it. And that's all that I have as well. And will somebody like to make a motion? I'll make a motion to go into executive session.

Second.

I don't understand. No.

I've done that before. I'm not going back.

I have a motion and a second. Motion and a second for executive session. No further comments or questions, cast your votes. Unanimous approval for executive session. I've got to go rescue my dog, so. Okay. All right. Item number 21 is vote to come out of the executive session. So moved.

Second.

Okay. Motion and a second. Questions? Mr. Goetz, please.

Oh, that's right.

Okay. Announce approval from all those present. Return to council chambers. Item number 22 is the Fraternal Order of Police FOP Lodge number 105, fiscal year 2026 to 2027, collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Faulkner.

No action on item 22 or 23. Mayor. Okay. All right.

And then item number 23, same thing, International Associations of Firefighters, IAFF. We didn't come back in. Yeah, we did.

Did we?

Yes, we did. Sorry.

You need to go home, bud. You need to go tonight.

Local number 21-45, postmortem year 2026-2027, collective bargaining agreement. Again, Mr. Paul. No action tonight, Mayor. No action tonight. You vote. Number 24, as we are adjourned.

Can I vote for that? Yes.

We've got another meeting.

Now I call to order the Guthrie Public Works Regular Authority meeting.

Again, Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. So moved. I don't remember why. I haven't done the item yet. Item number two. Consent agenda items number A through D. Now I can get a second. Okay. Can I get a second? A second. Everybody's seconded that one. All right. We have a motion and a second. Consent agenda. If there's no further comments or questions, please cast your votes.

All votes are in.

Okay. Announce approval of consent agenda items A through D. Item number three were items from the consent agenda that were removed. There were none. Item number four is we are adjourned. Good.

Thank you.

Hallelujah.