City Council - Regular Meeting

I 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.

God, we admire and adore you. We bless you for what you have created, for all you have given us. Your gifts to us can be seen in the relationships that train us, the laws that defend us, the homes that shelter us, the food that sustains us, the comforts that bring us rest, the leaders that build this community. All wise God, be with us, guide us to be good stewards of these gifts, and may we use them to bring blessings to those around us. And may you be pleased with us as we reflect your love to this community. Amen.

Amen. Have you seen it? Thank you. Call to order. This regular Guthrie City Council meeting, Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, 6.30 p.m. here in the City Hall Chambers. Item number two is public comments, community announcements, and recognitions. We have one individual to sign up, Mr. Murphy, for public comments. You will have five minutes. Please state your name and if you're a resident here or not, and you'll have five minutes.

William Murphy, resident of Ward 3. I guess four people, four human beings. I just found out from the chief here a minute ago and solidified what I knew already, that speed was a matter of fact in that accident at Ritz-Hart Park. That speed was at a level. First thing I'm going to ask is. Where was law enforcement? I know it's 4 o'clock in the morning where we're supposed to have what three or four officers on duty. I'd like to know where they were. Absolutely would like to know where they were. That's first. The two other people out of Broadway. I've heard from everyone telling me. It's not in the city limits. We have 10 people, now 12 people, if you count the two the other day, dead because of that stretch of road. I've heard from council members that have told me that, well, they've got Highway 9 in Norman. They're having huge trouble out there. Well, folks, I've been watching the legislature shovel money south of Oklahoma City way too long. So have we. all of us but what we don't have here is a quorum a quorum that means four of you getting together maybe five how about all of you getting together and telling odot enough all of you because you're guilty i'm guilty because we haven't done enough And having phone calls on the Monday morning a week and a half prior telling me to be quiet, calm down, I'm screwing up million dollar deals. Give me a price on those two lives. Please, Councilman Williams, I would like you personally to give us a price on them human lives that we lost. Mr. Faulkner, you were on that phone call too, Mr. Mayor. It's enough. I'm not screaming. I'm not yelling at you anymore. I want a quorum. I want you, county commissioners, the chief of police that can't even stand in here with us, the sheriff, all of us to sit down and tell Oklahoma City no more. We have lost lives this time. What I've been saying was going to happen, happened. The perfect collision of everything. Two inattentive drivers, a speeding semi come over the hill, not paying attention. And now I'm hearing they've made plans for that part of it out there because it's outside the city. We're not even getting the light out there. The stop signs didn't work. If we'd have had light, we'd have had a 50% chance of them lives maybe being here today. And we're all guilty, every one of us. Thank you.

Thank you. There are no more public comments. Agenda item number three is the consent agenda. Items A through J. Move approval of the consent agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. Further comments or questions of the consent agenda, please cast your votes.

Let's start.

Announce approval for the consent agenda items A through J. Item number four were items removed from the consent agenda. There were none. Item number five is the renewal of Rodeo Arena lease agreement with Mr. Bobby Kane. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council, this is a continuation of the item that was tabled at the last regular meeting. I believe some of you had some questions we were able to get to. I don't know that we got to all of them. It felt like we just had a meeting, you know, we can have two weeks ago, I guess, today. So, Bobby Kane is here. If you have any questions for him, I know that we've answered, I believe we've answered some of them. We did share the list of events that had come through. I believe Bobby has reached out to each of you. So, Happy to answer any questions. Justin's here as well, and Bobby, and be happy to do whatever we can on this item.

I'd like to make a motion we continue on with this for a while until we get all the answers in on everything. Table again. No time frame? No, no time frame.

I'd like to add something as I may. Sure. Just for, I guess all of you have received this spreadsheet of all the events that's been there since he started. Pretty extensive and I think that's what anything we have in this city we want is an event that draws people and people come to town and spend money. Just saying additionally, talking to Tenny, there's been no maintenance requirements in these since 23. There's been no repairs needed by the city. It's cost the city nothing. Want to make that a fact.

only thing that concerns me is i've asked this i asked today city manager just a few hours ago have you received your insurance verification yet that's enough they uh when i signed the contract last year she asked me and i told them that it would be emailed i was not aware that it was not ever emailed otherwise i would address that and got that taken care of i am getting new quotes as we speak just waiting on the new policy to come out.

Well, under that, I certainly agree we should table it for the time being.

Okay. So, I mean, I don't have a problem. We get the contracts squared away, you know, show that it's time to sign the contract. So, that's not an issue whatsoever. With it being tabled, do I cease activities down there? Do I continue on as normal?

Well, if you don't verify you have insurance, you should cease.

Okay. What are we looking at time frame wise?

Why can't you approve the agreement to be effective upon proof of insurance? The effective date will be on proof of valid insurance. That way this doesn't have to come back again.

I think there's more than just the insurance that several of us wanted a chance to look over the current contract and see if there's anything to add or delete or change. And we haven't had a chance to do that because we only gave ourselves two weeks to do it. And we've had several other things come up that took priority away from that. So I think just having a little more time for you to solidify the insurance issue, we can look at the contract, see if there's any additions or changes until we put it back out there for discussion. Yeah.

I mean, can he continue while we're going through this process or no?

Well, he needs to have his insurance updated.

Well, there's no question about that.

I think as long as the insurance is updated, then we can gather the information. My hesitation at this moment is he needs to have a current insurance on file. We require that in any event that takes place, anything that's inside city limits on city property. So if he can take care of that, then, of course, this is the direction of the council. Whatever you'd like to see until we can... come to terms on the agreement or give any clarity, staff can work within that with us.

So did we request a proof of insurance after the last meeting?

We requested a proof of insurance prior to the last meeting.

And so that was over two weeks ago?

We have not received one to date.

No, you haven't received one because I don't know where things are going, and I'm not going to put out $1,000 on an insurance policy and not know how long I'm going to have the arena.

Were you insured up to this point?

Yes. Do you have proof of that, dates? I'd have to find it. It's in my file cabinet somewhere, but yes. Well, that's a little bit concerning.

That's very concerning.

So under those circumstances, I would motion second the motion statement.

Do you want to amend that, Jeff, to put 30 days on it?

Yeah, let's just do 30 days.

Okay, so say it all again, please. 30 days is two council meetings from now, basically.

Right. We'll do it in 30 days. We'll make an insurance verification if you've got that, and then we can just ask other questions and get those answered, and we'll go from there.

I emailed each and every one of you guys.

Yes, thank you for that.

And give everybody the opportunity to reach back and respond back to me. There was only a couple of you that responded to me. that didn't bode real well. That didn't sit real well. I feel like there's some nefarious activities that are taking place during this deal, and I don't feel like it's right. Had you told me, somebody would have told me to bring the insurance, I would have brought it with me tonight. But this is... No, wait a minute.

Back up. We already said that it was fast food.

It was sent in an email, recommended it. I didn't take it as a request. It was a recommendation. And at that time... Well, and I understand it. And I didn't know that there was not a copy on hand. Because when I signed the contract last year, I told her, I said, I'll have them email it to you. And that was the last I'd heard about it. So, but if we can... I'll get that to you and we'll get that taken care of. And then whatever we need to do, whatever questions you have, you have every opportunity to reach out to me and get answers. So if we need to have a meeting somewhere, if we need to come in here and sit down, I'll answer anybody's questions that you've got. So.

So this also make you aware that in the meantime of all this going on, there's been other interest in it and we will entertain other interests.

That's part of the nefarious side of it that I'm foreseeing. And with a two-year contract, two years left in a five-year contract, if something happens that it does work out in my favor and making long-term agreements on this deal, it's not going to be good because if you're just going to come in and jerk it out from underneath my feet just because somebody said something, then none of y'all would have positions because everybody's talking crap about all of you.

Again, you violated your lease by not providing the insurance one requested. Unknowingly. Unknowingly. Facts are the facts.

And I respect that. You did. I respect that. I understand that. Had I known that, like I said, I would have addressed that immediately. So 30 days, are y'all going to get in touch with me and go over to do this or how are we going to do this? So, okay. Okay.

All right, so he's amended that to table this for 30 days. Tracy, are you good with a second? Yeah, I'll second that. Okay. Any other questions or comments from Mr. Payne?

I've got a question real quick. If y'all were aware that the church wasn't turned in, who was responsible for receiving them?

The clerk's office.

And I'd probably give all of that to asking why. and say, for example, there wasn't any insurance? Yeah.

Thank you for the question. We had a copy of the last policy on file, but it was expired. And so when we asked for that renewal, it was not produced. And I'm not feeling like we have a policy. So we had a copy on file, and when we asked for the renewal, we've not received that. Is that right or wrong, Bobby? Like I said, when I signed the contract, it was to be emailed in. And we have a copy. But what you're saying right now, you need to get a renewal then? Yes. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

But on his defense, I wouldn't get a renewal either if I didn't have a contract. Sure. I just wouldn't do it.

But how long was the other one expired?

I didn't have it. I'd have to look at that to confirm that. So I assume it was this year. That's my assumption.

I don't get a lot of being here.

But we have on file that he had insurance before though. That's correct. Okay. Well, it kind of sounded earlier like it didn't, but that's good. Yeah. Okay.

The insurance was there. Like I said, had I known it wasn't on file or in the office, I would have had it sent.

That was cleared up for everybody. If you're going to speak, you need to come up here. Yeah. We don't take suggestions from the people. It's who's standing up for you. Who is he? This is Jack Colby.

He's one of the announcers I work with. We won't have discussions or anything else.

Yeah, I don't care who you guys are. It doesn't matter to me. I'm here to support Bottom because I care about the rodeo industry and I care about Guthrie. Having one of the best rodeos I've ever been to produced by this man right here. Now, it was just presented the way that I understood it. There was no insurance. You guys didn't have insurance. He just said, and your manager as well said, that you had insurance on file. Am I correct? I don't know.

It was expired on Friday. It was expired.

Yeah, yeah. But the way that it was just presented was there was no insurance, like this gentleman said right here. Why is he going to go get a renewal if there's not going to be a contract? I mean, if you're entertaining somebody else, then why don't we?

I think the discrepancy is if the policy was expired, let's say February 15th, And we haven't had insurance, a copy of current insurance from February 15th till now. That's quite a length of time. If it was July 15th to now, that's not that big of a deal. It is still, you know.

Sure, I understand that, ma'am.

I understand that. We don't know exactly until we go back.

I just think it would have been important if we'd have thrown some dates out there. You know, for everybody, it's just kind of like this one thing.

And hence, that's why we're asking to table it for another, so we can gather all the proper information and not have to just keep rehashing things we don't really know yet tonight. It's not, we're not saying yes, no, never. We just need some extra time to make sure we get all the ducks in a row and that we do it correctly.

But there are events in the meantime, right? I do have some schedules, but I'll put them on hold until I bring you.

He has an option to renew, right?

It is an option to renew, yes, in the contract.

Yes, and since 2023, this has been renewed, the first meeting in September every year. So for the last three years, we've done this at the same time.

And it's never been an issue in the past. And then for it to come up, this is the confusing part for me, for it to come up like this all of a sudden for no reason. I didn't even know about the meeting until I was sent a message, you know, that, hey, the agreement's on the agenda. And Again, it seems like some various activities taking place.

All right. Well, we have a motion and a second. Anybody else have a question or comment that's different from what we've discussed? It's a 30-day open, right? It's 30 days.

We're going to wait 30 days or within the 30-day frame? Within the 30-day frame. Okay. Okay.

Ms. Castor votes. Okay. No, we are six to one to push the renewal of the Rodeo Arena lease agreement with Bobby Kane to 30 days. Thank you, sir. Thank you, guys.

Is there anyone else in the audience that wants to speak at this or do we need to move on to the next item? With interest in the Rodeo Arena? Okay, okay. Thank you.

Where were we? Item number six, the appointment to the Guthrie Parks and Urban Forestry Board. Mr. Maker, Public Works Director.

Yes, Mayor and Council. Our current Guthrie Parks and Urban Forestry Board currently has two vacant appointments. Joe Chappell has submitted an application to serve on the board. The mayor is recommending the appointment of Joe Chappell to the board. Staff would recommend approval.

So moved. Second. Second. Motion and two seconds. Further comments or questions, please cast your votes.

That's right.

Okay, unanimous approval to approve Joe Chappell to the Guthrie Parks and Urban Forestry Board.

Thank you, Jenny. Glad to see that.

Item number seven, the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority Funding Agreement, Fire Station number two. Mr. Faulkner.

Yes, Mayor and Council. At the last meeting, I referenced $750,000 in grant funding that we had applied and received and presented to the Department of Commerce and the Oklahoma Development Finance Authorities Board all within about a 10-day period. Again, I applaud our staff and our partners at both Department of Commerce and the ODFA, specifically Jeremy Stoner and his help, as well as Oklahoma Home Center's Bill Van Zant and Dr. Mike Simpson with Guthrie Public Schools as our community partners in getting this grant funded. Staff would recommend approval. It is a zero match to receive $750,000 towards the construction of fire station number two. Happy to answer any questions. So moved. When are we going to have our ribbon cutting and all that? The groundbreaking is scheduled for September 29th at 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock or 10.30? 10.30. Okay.

Motion or second? Further questions, comments? If not, please cast your votes. unanimous approval for the oklahoma development finance authority funding agreement with fire station number two item number eight resolution number 2026-25 possible censure of councilwoman maneka gibbs discussion consideration and possible action to approve disapprove with conditions amend or deny resolution number 2026-25 formerly censuring councilwoman maneka gibbs for materially misrepresenting that the city council discussed a tort claim by Scotty Smith during an executive session. Vice Mayor Taylor.

I don't want to start this out and I don't want us yelling at each other tonight, guys. Let's see if we can't keep this civil. As we all know, whether it was our attorney now or the one we had before, we've always been told never, ever, ever discuss anything Out of executive session with the general public, period. I've served on the fair board, school board. I've been on hospital board, and now I'm up here. And that's the one thing they always told us. OMEG, same way. They always told us don't discuss anything because you can get yourself in a lawsuit or you can get somebody coming after you doing something you just shouldn't do. What I want to know is why would you have even said anything to him anyway? I'm just asking this. I'd like to know. I'm just curious as to why you would say something to this gentleman.

I think, if I may, before we go into that, I think Councilwoman Gibbs would have a statement.

Yes, and that's fine.

Is that the procedure?

I don't know.

Is that the procedure? As long as every council person has it.

I think it would be wise to let her. explain ourselves first and then if we have any questions or comments.

Okay so it's kind of lengthy but I'm going to read it. So before I chose to run for the seat I decided I'd be a council member for the community. That meant addressing their questions and concerns head on. What the community wants and needs is my focus. What was and still is a top priority for me. Returning phone calls messages and emails and answering those questions and concerns as best I could with the knowledge I have on hand. And with a time or free hand, I have and maybe turn them into action if needed. Everyone up here has a career, family, passions, or hobbies. They invest their time outside of this room. I do as well. Every time I step into another role, I call it a change in my hat. When I'm in an official capacity as a council member, I wear that hat. wearing so many hats and often answering emails while making school snack or messaging back while in the pickup line. I usually try to rely on my memory while working from hat to hat. While I receive a few emails a month from different concerned citizens, I frequently reserve continued questions from a certain citizen who has been very outspoken about their opinions about city employees, the clerk, council, on social media, et cetera. While I'm not a veteran member up here, These comments and statements are hard to read and not defend. Against my better and informed judgment by the city attorney not to engage in this particular citizen, that day I was juggling my daily life, filling my office, my kitchen, and my backseat with all the different hats that I wear throughout the day. I thought I could quickly answer their question as best I could and my recollection be with me on that day. But while engaging in conversation, with a citizen, my memory escaped me. I should have consulted my paperwork, my emails, my notes beforehand. Working from memory from a year ago, I made a statement that a tort issue had been discussed during an executive session, and I was so even sure of it by memory, I instructed the citizen to come out and find the appropriate agenda for his records. But after reviewing my agendas later that evening and records in an effort to back up my own memory, with no avail, it was already too late. I couldn't retract it and remedy my comment at all. The citizen has already taken it straight to social media, the attorney general's office, OMAG, city council members, the mayor, city attorney and manager to insinuate intentional wrongdoing by myself and members of this council because I stated it was an executive session. I assure you none of that is true. I wasn't trying definitely. to hurt anyone or be malicious in any way. I made a very human mistake in my memory recollection. The mayor, the rest of the city council members up here, myself, were only up here for the prosperity of the city of Guthrie. We worked tirelessly with City Hall to make our community one that thrives. I do apologize for my relapse in my memory and for making the statement at all I shouldn't have engaged in this citizen. It is definitely my fault that I did and I should not have. I've learned from this mistake and assure everyone up here, I'm here to serve the community at my best capacity. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Councilwoman Gibbs. Okay, Vice Mayor Taylor, would you like to? Does anybody else want to have anything to say?

There are

continued text messages being sent, not from you, but from a family member.

That's beyond the scope. We can't talk about anything else. That's beyond the scope.

Okay. And Dan, I can address those with you later if you'd like. No, it's okay. Okay, that's okay.

No, I don't have any questions.

Grant? Do you have anything to say? Well, I have read the text message from Councilwoman Gibbs to this individual. And basically what the substance of the text message says is that I was told that we can't discuss things that were in the executive session with you. So basically, I think she was following the spirit of the law. She said the council said we shouldn't or our attorney said that we should not discuss matters that were in executive session with you. She thought it was discussed in executive session, but she didn't reveal any substance of it other than to say, I can't discuss that with you. So I don't know that there was a violation of the sanctity of the executive session.

Brian.

So I have a couple of questions, but in order for me to, ask them. I'd like Aaron to put up Billy's October 6 email on the board on the monitor, please. I can't read it. I'm blind halfway. You want to read it? I can.

Council members, please be advised that Scotty Smith has submitted a tort claim against the city. Accordingly, no comments or communication should be made to Mr. Smith regarding this matter. OMAD will review the claim and advise the city if any response or action is necessary.

Okay, so that was on October 6th. We were told do not comment on this tort claim from our acting city attorney at that point. Can you put up the emails from Moneka, please? And again, she's reading that. I can't read that. It's way too small.

Can you?

Not that one. The emails from Maneca. Text messages. I mean, the text messages.

Portions of text messages.

Portions of text messages. So where's the one that, Grant, you mentioned where she says it's executive session, but I can't discuss that.

All right. It starts here. I'd like to know who gave you or not to speak to me along with how I was getting to you.

Right. That's Scotty.

But you did say that she said, and again, this isn't a trial or anything, but you did say,

that she said that she's not allowed to talk about that, and that's not what that says. The point, let me finish here, and then you can do whatever you want to do. The point is, it's not about if it was said or not, it was, period. Okay, and it was said, it was said in writing, okay, semantics, okay, maybe, so you didn't mean his tort claim, you meant another one?

I don't know. I don't know how many tort claims we have. Okay.

Well, can you put that back up there? So on that particular one right there, you weren't talking to Scotty in that thread?

I'm talking to him.

Okay. Well, that was actually written. That's not something that's even in question. Okay. And if it did happen in executive session, it was stated so right there, which by the way, it didn't happen in executive session. Hence the October 6th email.

Which I did state in my statement that I recollected my memory incorrectly.

I understand. But what I'm saying is the only, the only reason I'm looking at this at all is because of that.

And I understand.

So can you go to the next email that I have?

I addressed that in my statement.

Okay, so this email right here is the tort, the only, can you scroll down a little bit? So this is the last tort claim that I can find from Scotty to the council, where, no, scroll up. I'm sorry, I didn't mean, keep going. This is the one where he's requesting the city pay him $200,000 and everything goes away. You remember that?

I do remember, sorry. Okay.

January. So if we knew that, why would we want to talk about it? That's my point. Why do we even want to talk about it? If we knew that he wanted $200,000 from us for all this to go away, and we were notified October 6th not to talk about it, why would we? Why would we even think about it?

Well, if we look at the, if we go back to the email, he basically says, if we go back. That's all I got. He basically says, and I would like to know who gave you the order not to speak. So she apparently had told him that she had been told not to speak. In executive session.

In executive session. Okay. As well as the, yes.

Before then. That's why you are only seeing this one little strand. But I told him multiple times that I cannot speak to you.

I cannot.

I told him that for a month. That was January, October of last year. January was that last email. It was August.

That's not what we're seeing. Then show that. Show it then.

I have given it all over to your attorney.

So you have all that where she's saying that on every time on outside of this thread right here.

Brian, keep in mind, too, that this individual has made public claims about eight or nine different ones. I'm just saying eight or nine different ones. So if Councilwoman Gibbs is speaking to him a year later after that, it's not in regards to the tort claim. He's making all kinds of requests. He's in her ward. She represents him. I don't know where he is. He's in Ward 1.

Okay.

I'm just saying. he reaches out to her with other issues. And so she's responding to him, not just about this tort claim, but she's responding to him about numerous different things. Just saying, I'm just putting that out there.

Okay, but that's what we're doing here. Okay, this was brought to my attention and it was brought to others' attention by City Hall. And our attorney, who, by the way, was requested by Grant to go seek outside counsel And after they looked at everything, it wasn't even a question that what had to be done was a censure, period. That was from the outside counsel that Grant requested. So now what are we gonna do? We say, okay, we want outside counsel and they're gonna go with the censure. And now all of a sudden we're gonna say, well, I'm sorry, I don't agree with the outside counsel. Is that what we're saying? Who's saying that? What do you think? The motion on the table would be to enact the censure.

I'm going to tell you, I don't agree with outside counsel. Okay. If you look at the city charter, it tells you what the officers and the duties and the powers are, and it tells you what the duties and powers of mayor and council and the governing bodies and all of that. And then when it comes to disciplining of a council member, that falls under disciplining the section of the charter, section 2-17, which is recall and removal. And the only recourse for a council person acting inappropriately is for the citizens to recall that person. And that is reiterated by the clause in the charter that says that basically anything that is ultra-various of the charter is not acceptable. So I don't know where it says in here under any of these powers, that you have the power to censure her. That is a matter for the people of her ward to decide.

So I'll defer to our city attorney on that, because he is the city attorney. And there you go.

The council is a self-policing entity, and we only have the power to, or you only have the power to censure her, which is what we're here for, and that's it. That's as far as any type of remedy can go. Can't do anymore. If there is some public outcry that wants to do what you're talking about to trigger that part of the charter.

Now, do you understand that a censor is just putting it on record, right?

Which absolves the rest of us of liability.

We weren't in an executive session having these conversations.

I feel like there's arguments going on with nobody arguing with you. No one said, other than Councilman Aguirre, maybe, that he's not going to go for it.

No, it's not that he's not going to go for it. I had an issue with our city attorney having to go get outside counsel in the first place. Okay, but he did. Okay, and this is what came. Now, random might want to read this, or somebody might want to read it too. I don't think we need to. I don't. My point was, it was written. Okay, it was said. And it was said based on a tort claim that $200,000 was asked of us as the city. Okay, therefore, And obviously, we didn't do it. Our acting city attorney would be involved in all that, okay? And we were told on October 6th not to have communication, period. Yeah, a year ago.

And I would like to say, too, you know, I guess Mr. Scottie Smith is in Ward 1, which is also my ward. I had no idea, but okay. Yes. I also received numerous e-mails saying, from Mr. Smith, as we all do. He CCs almost everybody on every email, sometimes five, six, seven times a day. But when you are told not to respond because of X, Y, Z, you don't respond. And you sure don't respond because you just forgot or you weren't sure, but yet you go ahead and respond about something you think was said just to answer a constituent. about something that even though at the time you now looking back on it you don't think you know it wasn't said an executive session but at the time that you took the time to type that you thought it was said an executive session so here we are resolution number 26 2026-25 is there a motion

I was going to say, too, like I agree with the spirit of what you're saying. Keep in mind that was a year ago. So how long do you not stop when you're told not to talk to someone?

Does he still send emails to you today, yesterday, the day before?

Multiple times a day.

So we don't respond.

Well, what I'm saying is that she was told not to respond October of 2025. How long does that last is what I'm saying.

And the substance of her response was obviously I was told not to respond to you.

But she did.

She did, correct.

She did, correct. That's the issue. But I'm just asking, how long does that last?

I don't know.

Right. And I don't either. You just don't respond? I don't do it at all.

I think forever, as far as I'm concerned, because you just don't respond to people like that. This is why we hire a city manager, is to take care of these things like this. This is what Eddie does. This is his job. We're not supposed to meddle in his job. We're supposed to help him by saying this is what we want to see done, and then he comes back and says, I want to see it. This is what I want to see done.

I agree with you, but again, please keep in mind there's eight or nine different things with this individual, and they're all in a various amount of different topics. Some of them are purely for city staff. Some are purely for Kim Biggs. Some are purely for nobody. Some are purely for the city. And some are for us as representatives of the citizens that live in our district. So some do. I'm not saying we should respond. I'm just saying it's not as black and white as she was told not to respond and just didn't care and didn't do it. It was a year ago. He's asking questions about different topics that have nothing to do with the tort claim, and she was responding to that. There's a little bit of a nuance there is all I'm trying to say. I will be voting with everyone as well for this resolution. However, I want to go on the record as saying that I requested that the word censure be removed and that it be changed to correction, that I'm here to correct the record. But unfortunately, that's not the case. This is the resolution. So I still will be voting for it because I'd like to go on the record that that did not happen. What she expressed in that text message did not occur. We did not speak about this individual in executive session, but I just want to go on the record that I'm not condemning anyone because that is the definition of censure.

So is there a motion over there? I don't know if anybody's even made a motion yet.

I'll make the motion on censure from Monica Gibbs.

Second.

Okay. There's a motion and a second for resolution number 2026-25. Anybody else have any comments? Councilwoman Gibbs, is there anything else you'd like to say before we vote?

No, I read my statement. I'm fine. Thank you.

Councilman Williams? Yeah, I don't consider condemnation. I'm following outside council's advice as to separate myself from what was an infraction. That's it.

Yeah, same with me. You just said it more eloquently and shorter. Thank you. Vice Mayor Taylor? I'm third.

Councilwoman Denning?

No.

Okay. And Councilman Aguirre? Councilman Bothroyd? No. Okay. Please cast your votes.

I'm going to abstain from voting on that item.

I don't know that it's appropriate for me to vote. I will also abstain. I would like to correct the rhetoric, but I...

Unanimous. Well, actually it's not unanimous. That would be five to two. for the resolution to pass on number 2026-25, the possible censure of Councilwoman Moneka Gibbs. Item number nine, we've already received electronically. So item number 10, request comments from members of City Council. Councilman Williams. No comment. Councilwoman Denning.

No comment.

Vice Mayor Taylor. Staff. especially the fire department guys. I know y'all been putting in overtime, working hard, fighting fires, that's not good. Also the things we had on the west side of the accidents, it's not good either, but I appreciate y'all's hard work on this. I know that Kenny's hoping we get some good rain, I do too, for hay, for the cattlemen. You know, state fair's coming up, so I know we're gonna get some rain sooner or later, but that's a couple more days, 100 degree heat, hoping this will be over with.

Other than that, that's it. Nobody on this side is going to talk about homecoming coming up. All right.

All right.

Councilman McGeary. Nothing. Thank you. Councilman Botherick.

Hopefully, you know, we can get past what tonight was. And as Councilman Williams said, it's more of a separation on the whole incident. And hopefully we can just continue to work together. That's the goal. That's it.

Councilwoman Gibbs?

I agree, and I'm glad we had the record corrected. It doesn't matter necessarily how it happened, as long as it's correct for everyone. I am looking forward to and have been preparing for homecoming this week. Both the high school and we have youth homecoming on Saturday, so I have about 20 months to finish before Thursday. So looking forward to it. I love that the entire town comes together, and it's a great time. It's wonderful spirit, and I love to see it around the city of Guthrie. Thank you.

As for myself, again, I'll also be enjoying this Friday. It's going to be exciting. I hope it's not hot, but we're going to be there.

It's going to be hot.

It's going to be hot. My wife and I, we own the train station. Depot here in town. And we always love homecoming because we always get one of the classes, class reunions come down there. It's neat seeing all the legacies. So with me, that's all there is. So we are adjourned. Stay tuned. We'll call it over our regular Go3Public Works meeting again, Tuesday, September 15th, 2026. Item number two is the consent agenda items A through C. Chairman, I move approval of the consent agenda. Second. Second for items A through C on the consent agenda. Further comments or questions, please cast your votes.

All votes are in.

Unanimous approval for the consent agenda items A through C. Item number three were items from the consent agenda that were removed. There were none. Item number four is the purchase of a Ditch Witch HX30G. It's hard to say quickly, Tinney.

Sounds like a serious unit.

Yeah, it does. Vacuum excavation system and trailer. Tinney Baker, Public Works Director.

Yes, Mayor, Council. This unit is a vac unit that a lot of you have probably seen. It's real similar to a lot of the units that a lot of our fiber companies have been running around here utilizing. You might notice a lot of those units have been the Ditch Witch units. It's got the large tank. It's basically a vacuum unit with a pressure washer wand on it that allows them to do potholing. Excavation, you could say that it is a lot less extensive to yards as far as damage to yards, less risk on breaks to utility lines. You could say you're not actually physically digging, putting buckets in the ground. You're using water pressure and backing the soils up, the spoils. The specific unit that we are recommending this evening is a Ditch Witch unit. It is the second highest. If you noticed on the bid, we did get three bids. The HX30G machine is $64,000. We did get a quote for a Vermeer unit. It was $57,250. And one from Truvac through J&R Equipment, which was $111,835. The difference here and the staff's recommendation would be the second quote, the second highest quote. Justification behind that is the spoils that these units are picking up are extremely heavy, mostly liquid and mud substance spoils. The Ditchwich unit has a 12,000 GVWR trailer and frame where the Vermeer unit had a 9,995 pound unit or, gross GBWR trailer. With that, staff would recommend the Ditch Witch.

I move that we approve the purchase of a Ditch Witch HX30G vacuum excavation system and trailer in an amount not to exceed $64,000 fees by the line maintenance department.

Second. Was that 30G gallons? What is that?

Surely not. Sure not. It may just be the number.

It'll be a lot more than that. I mean, I think that's just kind of the model number.

Yeah, 30 would be ridiculous. So it's hydro excavation.

It's hydro excavation.

Yeah, when you get into tight spots.

Yes.

Put the bucket in it.

It's 500-gallon. Spoils, 200-gallon water.

Yeah.

It's a good machine.

With anything underneath the ground.

Yeah.

You've been needing that a long time.

We have, this unit also brings additional uses to our department as far as one, potholing, two, any of our valves. Pretty common for most all of our water valves when we're out there on main breaks, for example, you roll up and trying to find water valves all over and you pop the lid and that thing's pumped full. This unit, you can take your water nozzle, spray down in there, you're backing it out where we're down there for several minutes to, I've seen hours, honestly, trying to scoop little garden shovels with dirt out of these valves and stuff. It would help in that aspect as well. Well, good deal.

Thank you, Jenny. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any further comments, questions for Mr. Baker? Please cast your votes. Thank you, Jenny. Appreciate it. All right, unanimous approval for the purchase of this rich XX30G vacuum excavation system trailer. Item number five, we are...