Council - Regular Meeting

Again, we're going to call to order. Who do we have for our invocation? Gilmore, would you please? We'll pray. Father, in in Jesus name, we honor you for this day, God. We ask you to have your way in this chamber, God, tonight. We ask you to um shine your light so that all things could be done decently and in order. Lord, continue to grow us and give us prosperity in in good health in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Attention, salute, and pledge. 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. Call the role. Council Gilmore here. Woodley here. Stone here. Roden here. Boatright here. Batty here. Mayor

here. And we have a quorum. On to citizens comments on non-aggenda items. Residents may address the council regarding an item that is not listed on the agenda. Residents must provide their name and address. Council requests comments be limited to five minutes. Uh I've got several signed up tonight. Mr. Belchure.

We got a digital clock now. I see that. Tell me. Can you give me a warning whenever? Yeah, we'll give you a one minute warning. 15 seconds at least.

All right. Stephen Belchure, Box 16001, Mallister home. I want to address an issue with you tonight. Back on June 27th when y'all had a special meeting. and I came up here to discuss during the citizen comments about our flags that are on display here in the city of Macallister. There was no public comment system comment that day and I visited with the city manager about the condition of the fire uh the fire station flag in Northtown about it being ripped and and and tore and also the one at the police department. He took notes of it. I I gave y'all till the first meeting in July thinking that okay, you need a little time to get it forwarded and get it in. Second meeting in July, I had my son's birthday in Broken Arrow to go to, so I wasn't able to address it. So tonight, I want to address that issue with you. Every day I pass the Northtown Fire Station flag. It's ripped up. It looks pitiful. The Oklahoma flag is so faded out, can't even tell what it is. Those guys take it down every evening. Most evenings I'll say, they know it's in the condition it's in. So if they haven't reported it or the fire chief hasn't done something about it, I I don't understand. You know, I go down Carl Albert, it's a a main street that goes through our state highway that goes through that visitors are liable to see the condition that that flags in. And uh the veterans, I don't know. I I mean, I have veteran friends that are upset about it, but they're just not the type of people that would come up here and speak out. Um, they would just hope that the condition is going to get fixed. Well, I'm speaking out for them, too. And we not did something about getting our flags in better shape than they are. I I sent four councilmen up here pictures of of the conditions of the flags. uh the one in Northtown. The wind

wasn't blowing very good on the way up here this evening, so I didn't get a very good shot of it. So, uh u hopefully y'all received those and see what kind of condition it's in. And I'll remind you too that North Main is supposed to be the Jefferson Highway. So, if we have visitors that come through to for the Jefferson Highway, we should have at least the flags represent the city very good. Very well. Um, and another issue is the uh executive order 2025-15 by the governor flying the flags at half staff for governor George NY's uh passing away. As far as I know, he hasn't been buried yet. That's supposed to go through until the time he's buried. Um, I don't know why. I know a few days it was at half staff and then all of a sudden they were back up. So, I don't know what the deal was that, but should I give up? Is trying to show any pride for the American flag in the city of Mallister.

Should I just give up or or or can we do a little bit better than what we're doing? All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Mr. Suski.

Good evening. It's actually my wife and I and uh Eric Suski, Janie Suski, 1118 South 14th Street, Mallister, Oklahoma. Uh Mr. Mayor, David, the rest of the city council. Uh we begged you about four months ago to uh take care of some drainage in our house and we are happy to report that uh the drainage ditch is completed. Well, it's fixed. It's almost complete. almost complete and we are so excited and thank you very much each and every one of you for the expedient. It's taken a year but hey that's great and just thank you. We greatly appreciate it.

Yeah. And uh that was me who asked for the rain last night to ops check it. Works great. Thank you again so much. So many times we're so often we complain so fast and we're not very quick to say thank you. Thank you to each one of you. Thank you. It's amazing. Thanks for sharing Morton.

Hello, my name is Stephanie Ward. I'm here with my husband, Joe Ward, and we live at 402 Edgewood Drive. Good evening, council members, mayor, and fellow members of the Mallister community. My name is Stephanie Ward. I have been sober since September 29th, 2023, and I'm a recent proud graduate of the Pittsburgh County District 18 specialty courts drug and mental health court program. That program in this community gave me a second chance at life. Today, I'm here to share a movement born from that second chance. Sober October. Sober October is a month-long challenge that blends the fun and spirit of Halloween with the power of personal change. It invites all of the ages to take 31 days to step away from alcohol or any habit that no longer serves them and embrace health, connection, and purpose. It's not about restriction. It's about choosing something better. Better health, better relationships, and a better future. It's a celebration of possibility and a reminder that positive change is worth talking about, worth sharing, and worth living out loud. This year, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Kevin Stit has officially proclaimed October a sober October, recognizing as a campaign to inspire recovery, encourage prevention, and strengthen communities across our state. At the heart of this year's campaign is the Sober October pledge wall, a bold public installation where people can sign their commitment to go alcohol-free for the month, to support a loved one, or to let go of a personal habit that's holding them back. Why Mallister deserves a pledge wall. Visibility and awareness in a hightraic location. It becomes a daily reminder that change is possible and that our city stands together. Community unity. This is for everyone, not just people in recovery. Families, youth, and community members can all take part. Support and prevention. It sends a message to our youth that a sober lifestyle is something to be proud of. And it shows that those who are struggling that they are not alone. City pride. Mallister can lead by example, showing other communities how to turn awareness into action. Sober October is already gaining momentum. On October 1st, I'll be

featured on ABC's 8 Tulsa to share this movement statewide. On October 11th, I'll host a live spooky six mocktail demonstration at the Pittsburgh County Fall Festival from 11:00 to 4:00, inviting people to enjoy festive alcohol-free drinks that prove that fun doesn't need a buzz. The Mallister Pledge Wall will be handcrafted by my husband, Joe Ward, whose skills will bring their vision to life. It will be funded entirely by local sponsorships at no cost to the city. This wall will not just be beautiful. It will be a living symbol of hope, courage, and community spirit. In October, alongside the wall, we'll host community events, spooky sips, tastings, and a part and partner with local recovery groups and treatment centers to spread encouragement and resources. Tonight, I'm asking for your support in approving a high visibility location for the Mallister pledge wall for the month of October and your help in encouraging our residents to take the pledge. This wall is more than wood and paint. It's a statement that Mallister believes in health, hope, and second chances because I am living proof of what happens when a community stands behind someone's comeback story. Thank you for listening and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

But with our citizen comments, we can't have a back and forth because it's not on the agenda. Who would be the best department?

Ken, can you take it out? Yeah, Ken will get your name and number. We can get towards Great. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Swing. I'd just like to say thank you for the uh quick tree removal from my uh several yards that I know you guys uh took a beating on some of that stuff and uh they come by and got my stuff out of there pretty quick. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Is there anybody that wasn't on the signup sheet? All right. If not, we'll move on to the consent agenda. All matters listed on the consent agenda considered to be routine by the city council and be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion on these items if discussion is desired. That item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately. Anybody like anything removed? G. Anything else? All right. I'll take a motion to approve A through F and H through J. Motion council boat. Second councelor Woodley forward color.

Councelor Boight. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Stone. Yes. Roden. Yes. Batty. Yes. Mayor. Yes. And motion carries. All right. Councelor Batty. Item G. It just says supplement, but if you look at the municipal code that uh under G, it's just it's like glossery. It didn't tell us anything. So, can you tell us about that?

So, every year around this time, we have to do a supplement to the mun to the municipal code. Um, all of the ordinances that we have gone through this year have to be codified with uh with Munich. um there are codification service. This is the action that takes to direct that to happen. So it's basically we are taking all of the uh all of the ordinances that have not been yet codified in. They all have to be codified in with fair enough. Motion approved. Motion councelor Batty second. Councelor Gilmore.

Vice Mayor Batty. Yes. Councelor Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes. Rhden. Yes. Boatright. Yes. Mayor. Yes. The motion carries.

All right. Move on to a public hearing. All persons interested in an ordinance listed under the schedule business have an opportunity to be heard in accordance with article 2 section 212B of the city charter. Uh tonight we have an ordinance for our fiscal year. Do I have a motion to go into public hearing? Motion councelor Gilmore. Second councelor for call.

Councelor Gilmore. Yes. Vight. Yes. Stone. Yes. Rhoden. Yes. Batty. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Mayor. Yes. The motion carries. We have anybody that would like to speak on the budget for fiscal year 2425? This is just an amendment. Not seeing anyone. Take that motion to close the public hearing. Motion. Councelor Batty. Second. Councelor Stone. Would you call the roll? Vice Mayor Batty. Yes. Counselor Stone. Yes. Rhoden. Yes. Beltright. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Mayor.

Yes. And the motion carries. On the scheduled business, item number one is discussion on possible action to authorize the city manager negotiate to negotiate terms of sale of raw water to Black Mountain Energy Storage. For the record, sir, uh the agenda did say Blue Mountain. I don't know how Blue Mountain got on to it, but uh of course, Belcheck isn't going to check that. So,

no, they're close. My apologies for that. Uh my apologies to to Black Mountain who is in that room tonight. Uh I don't know how that happened because if you look down in the discussion of the agenda report, it does say Black Mountain. So everything else is is correct. Um the essence of this is uh we were approached by u by Black Mountain Energy uh for the purchase of approximately 6 million gallons a day of raw water. Um we don't have a a term for that. We don't have a a raw water purchase agreement that big. So, we're going to have to negotiate this and and for that purpose, I'm requesting that council authorize me to negotiate that with my team uh with Black Mountain. So, uh Black Mountain is here to kind of discuss a little bit about what their plans are for that. Um and they can answer questions. I don't want them to get too deep into this until uh we get into the u to the discussion of of an agreement uh which will have to come later. So all you are authorizing to do tonight is just to authorize me to negotiate with them um on some kind of purchase agreement for that water. So

and echo the manager's comments. No matter what agreement is reached, it will come back it will come back to this body for final approval. So yes, really tonight we're just looking for the head nod to proceed and whatever the results of those discussions are, we'll come back to this body. Ken, do you have anything you want to throw in? I do not. This is what what's gotten us this far and I know my name and address.

No, I I've been involved with the preliminary discussions and I think Where we're at now is trying to define the terms that are amical to both parties. We will come back as was stated with final terms for approval. Do you do you want to come up and just kind of give a a 60,000 foot overview? I can if you'd like. Just a very brief like high level. Yes, please. Do I need to give my address?

No, not your address, but at least let them know your name. Uh Carolyn O'Brien. I'm with Black Mountain Energy Storage. Uh thanks for having us today. Um as Dave was saying, we are um looking at obtaining 6 million gallons day of raw water from you guys um for a proposed data center that we have south of Kyoa. Um so quite a long ways away. Um but uh we're very excited with the project. We about the project. I'm really resisting getting into more details. Um, but we're working with the county and with Ketto and with the town of Kaa and you guys. Um, so everybody's sort of involved. Um, and we're really excited about working with y'all further and um, getting the agreement in place. If y'all have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. I was just trying not to get into the weeds.

I'm foggy on all of it. What are you selling? So, we're doing a proposed data center and the water is for cooling purposes. Okay. Just kind of like Bitcoin or something. No, not Bitcoin. Um, bit Bitcoin can be data centers, but this is not a not proposed to be a Bitcoin facility. It'll be like an AI data center. It's a large computers. Yeah, it basically just looks like a big office industrial. You've seen the industrial ones with the offices in the front. It it basically looks like that. So, nice clean lines. Nothing really to look at.

I will say for council's purposes also, um, our team has vetted our volumes and we good there. Is this something to do with the toa down there? Are they doing it? Same thing. Okay. Different different projects. Different projects. Thank you. Of course. Any other questions? Will it being being water cooled? Will it be quieter? Yes. Yes. I mean, I've seen, you know, the Texas Bitcoin mines down there are terrifying the neighbors and running off the livestock and all that stuff.

Yeah. So, there's a difference between Bitcoin and data center in terms of the noise, but then also air cooled and water cooled. Um, and we're not we don't want to do air cooled, which is why we need to bring water from so far away. Um, there's a lot of reasons why we don't want to do air cooled, but that is one of them is that the noise can be louder. Any other questions? Have a motion. Councelor Gilmore and second council Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Boight. Yes. Batty. Yes. Stone.

Yes. Roden, yes. Mayor, yes. And the motion carries. Item number two, discussion possible action to approve ordinance amending ordinance number 2812 with established for the budget uh for fiscal year 202425 appealing all conflicting ordinances providing for severability clause and declaring an emergency.

Good evening, mayor and council. Um tonight I bring to you uh three different budget amendments um in this um as you know our our fiscal year ended on June 30th. Um but um we do take our time uh Karen and I to go through um our budget what is left and have to make adjustments um to make things you know correct and or in in line with everything. Um there was a couple of things that um were left off the large group of um budget amendments that you approved last u meeting. Um, so I've got three more that um are here tonight to get your approval on. Um, the first one is with MPWA and what we're doing here is taking $52,342 uh from fund balance um from MPWA and transferring into dedicated sales tax um fund. And what that is is that's our bond payment. And for just to kind of give you a little bit of a history, the last couple years we've actually um not had to sub supplement our bone payments because our sales tax has been um covering that um that cost and those payments each month each uh year. Um, so this is um usually um in the past at three three years ago it was up to them to 300 and something thousand dollars that we've had to use from WWA to make those payments. But this one we just after the year completed, we're only going to have to supplement um the 52,000. So um exhibit one is taking that from the PWA. Exhibit two is um taking that fund um

the dedicated sales tax into that fund and allocating it to that particular line item to make to offset that shortfall in the sales tax. Um then the third one that I have is with um is with ARPA. We have a couple of projects that are still going with DWSRF um conjunction. Um anyway, we had um There's no cost associated. It's just taking one one amount to cover another line of line. Um so it's really a zero dollar on revenues and um expenditure. It's just a clean wash.

Any questions? And and I believe it's a little off topic, but uh you were out a couple months ago and was there a certification or something that we didn't get to publicly acknowledge? Oh, yeah. But what was the name of that?

Uh it's actually certified um certified public financial um administration. Karen and I both completed that um those requirements and was recently certified. And when I got to go to Chicago, that was one of the things as a a board president of my um Oklahoma Association, you know, public treasures. Um I was also recognized in Chicago a couple weeks ago. So belated congratulations and and appreciate you both for working so hard and and keeping up with those things and making our city look good. Thank you very much.

All right. Uh do we have No, mayor said there was no questions. All right. Motion to approve. Motion. Councelor Bo. Second. Councelor Stone. Cor. Councelor Boight. Yes. Stone. Yes. Batty. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Rhoden. Yes. Mayor. Yes. The motion carries. This has an emergency. Motion for the emergency. Motion. Councelor Gilmore. Second. Councelor Batty. Cor. Would you call the councelor Gilmore? Yes. Batty. Yes. Woodley, yes. Stone, yes. Rhoden, yes. Boatright, yes. Mayor,

yes. The motion carries. On item number three, discussion of possible action on authorizing the mayor to sign a change order number one for Lone Hickory Cattle LLC in the amount of $40,000 for DWSRF project number 8A, Stonewall Railroad Railroad Crossing.

Council, uh, this is a project 8A of of the DWSRF project. Uh it is for the railroad crossing up on Stonewall. Uh while we were digging this the the water line, we ran into a couple of sewer issues in the project itself. And what this is going to do is add two mammoth manholes in 100 ft of line to correct those issues that that we have identified. Contractor is there. He's got the the ditches open and everything else. and the prices that he gave was was in line with what we see. So our recommendation is to approve the change order.

Any questions? Motion to approve. Councelor Boight. Councelor Woodley. Would you call the question? Councelor Boight. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Rhden. Batty. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Stone. Yes. Mayor. Yes. And motion carries. Item number four, discussion of possible action authorizing the mayor to sign change order number two for Lone Capital LLC in the amount of 91,228 for DWSRS. Project number 13B, main water system improvements.

Council, this is uh project 13B. Uh it is the water line. It's going all the way from Monroe, I believe, all the way down to Comanche. Okay. Uh it's a major pro project. is going right down Main Street. We're we're approaching the end of the project itself. We're trying to tie the existing lines in that comes in from the side and we're having issues with getting the water off because valves not working. And the majority of this change order is to put insert valves in so we don't have to kill half of the town to put put valves in. We're we're going to put the valves in live. Okay. And also in in here is a stop for the 20-in line that comes through to through to through the hospital. There's no way we can shut the water off at at at the hospital if we can keep drunk. And that's the 20inch valve.

Any discussion? So why wasn't when you looked at the prints when this project was put together, why wasn't that 20-in line stop anticipated? Why is it just now coming coming to light?

We we had a previous project that was going to put a 20-in in insertter valve in this line before this project bid. We had issues with that contractor and we cancelled his his contract. This valve never got put in. So now we're trying to get it put in. Well, it's not a valve now. We're trying to stop the line so we can cap the the the line off because we got got a new line going down Washington. Did I answer your question? You did, but uh my question is you got 90,000 $91,000. How much how many dollars in changeovers have we had on this project? Do you can you anticipate? I can.

Can you tell me?

Yep. We had a $120,000 change order to add 6 in line that was going going up up I think it was Jefferson and up first street had a major leak there and we replaced that line as a contractor was going through and and then we we we have this this change order. So So we've had to So my question is on the DWF star project in total was this loan lone hickory cattle company were they given the entire project?

Yes. So how much in changeovers have they given us from the time that the project began to now? I I know you probably don't have that number with you. Well it it was a 120,000 plus the 91. That's the entire DWSR project. Oh, you're talking about all of the projects because we just keep getting change order after change order, 40,000 here, 50,000 there. That adds up to a lot.

And Councilman, there are we we we're not putting the uh deductions in front of you. Those are now on consent. So, even in this one, we have deductions that we're we're we're not paying out. In fact, we're we're getting that money back and deducting it into back into the system. So we're the money that we're saving on some projects are getting moved over to other projects. So if you look in consent order so J was $35,49.31 and there was another $49,718 95

and that was just in this in this month. Um so there's about 85,000 in consent that were deductions. deductions. Yes. Versus a $91,000 change order. But I can get you that number. Would you please? Absolutely. What was the original value of project 13B? 13B was $2.8 million.

Councilman, to to kind of maybe uh lay some concerns, state law will allow a cumulative change order of 10%. So if this is a $2.8 million project, the most the change or can be will be 200 280,000. At $280,000 and a penny, that penny must be rebid. Okay. I was going to say a lot of these change orders that seem like they're coming across to are just like you said where they get in there, valve doesn't work, now we got to replace the valve. Uh or even saving us a little bit of money if they get in there and they go, "Hey, we've already got the ground open. we can tee off over here and fix this problem while we're

But when I when I used to bid piping projects, we used to pad our bids just in case that did happen. That's why I'm wondering why we're having change orders. Are they, you know, I know they pad their bid, they have to because they don't anticipate, you know, just like getting to find a valet that doesn't work. They is this over and above that? I'm just going to make sure we're not too much. The first change order that we received was that was discretionary. That was what we requested. We wanted that done because of the water leak that was going down First Street from Adams down to Jefferson. If you if you've driven that and remember that

between the between the medians and and it was flooding out uh Jefferson going towards towards Maine. So the first instance on this DWSRF project that was discretionary discretionary was on us. We wanted that done because we needed to fix that leak. Our teams were out there looking for that leak for months and we couldn't find it. Um and and their team came in there and they had it fixed within two weeks I think. So that it was it was a good project. It needed to get done. It was discretionary on our part. Um, we did approve that at this level. Um, so I just I I want to just point out, you know, that was a discretionary one. This one we we're doing this because if we don't, we're going to have to shut the hospital off. We don't want to do that. And and so I know it sounds like we get a lot of these these change orders. Um, and we do. Um, and I would say in the last two years, um, 40% of them have been coming back to us as we start closing these things out. So, uh, I just I don't want to, you know, throw throw salt at at a a contractor that has been doing hard and working hard for us. Um, but I also understand it's frustrating. It is. and and the the amount of time that we've been on this project. Um it's incredibly frustrating for the for the the residents and for the uh the merchants that have been affected by it. We understand that. Dale understands that. Dale understands it because I I bash his head over with it many times. U he hears it from me every other week. So, but uh I just want to make sure change order one was was discretionary. It was us. We requested it. That was not something that was a part of the

original deal deal. How does that affect the 10% matters not?

Well, to be clear, discretionary or mandatory, 10% is the limit at 10% and one penny must reb the the the other thing that I like like to point out is all of these uh or most of of these these items that we bid out are unit price. Okay. At the end of the project, we we measure every foot we put in. If I change anything by 10 feet, it goes on a chain change order plus or or minus. So yes, you'll see a lot of change orders. If it was a lump sum bid, we probably wouldn't see a whole lot of change orders. But every time, I mean, if we think we're doing doing a 6x6 connection and we we could get out there and it's actually a 4 inch pipe, change order. Okay. And that's plus and and and minus. And we also put contingency money into bids to take care of those things that have already bid. Uh the the the the project that the city manager was talking about, that was actually an extension on already a bid item. So it wasn't like the contractor came in and gave us another price. It was a price that he had bid on the original project. We just extended the the the quantity. Okay. And and and that's that's that's the reason we do that. We really don't know what we're going to find when we start digging things up.

Sure. Okay. The 20inch line was supposed to been a 16inch line for an exact. But at the end of the day, one of one of the things is we're supposed to be good stewards of the city's money. So appreciate you asking that question.

Absolutely. Absolutely. problem. I have I have a problem with Lone Hickory Cattle LLC about what they do around businesses and stuff like that. I got a real text from Cully Stevens on his property out at George and I about how they dumped gravel on his property and told him not to do it. He showed them another place they could do it. They've damaged his retaining wall and stuff and all the quarters down on South Main and stuff. They do what they want to. And actually over there on the railroad track down there in Northtown, there's a business down there and they just come in, put up put up barriers and everything, then say one word to them about it and block their business off. They can get to it, but it's hard. But it's not courteous to do something like that and put gravel in front of your operating business where people can't get into it. Like down on South Main, they're having pro problem about how they're putting concrete in because they're having to break it out. Several places around town. I don't know if they're using substandard concrete or what. What's up with that

down on South Main?

This is the first I've heard of of these issues. I I'll address with them. Uh, I've never had had an issue with them. If I approach them with an issue that needs to be corrected, okay, it usually does get corrected, but I'll I'll talk to them and we'll and we'll see what we can do. So, the the the issue with that you're seeing with the uh with the concrete now is when they when they poured that back, they only poured back a slim coat on top because they knew they had to come back in and do the tie-ins. They didn't want to leave it open for the months that they was going to take them to come back. So, they put in a a small slim coat in. They've already pulled some of that out. so that they could do their tie-ins and then they're going to go back in at full depth. So, those were temporary concrete fixes that did spider. They they they look like um it looked bad, but it was purposefully done. They didn't they didn't go to full depth.

That long length there right on Cherokee and in front of the old bus station. Yeah, that was just temporary. It's a temporary fix. That's probably something that we need to address in the future. We have temporaries notification just kind of put it out the public so so they know so we don't get confusion on that. Well the point is we were trying to get the traffic back open yeah open up you know that's a main main main street. Can you tell me how how are the private citizens or business owners notified that work is going to be done on their property because I've had a couple of reachouts too that they were

we put it out on we we we put it out on social media. Um, it goes out on the connect app. It goes out on every every means who doesn't have any responsibility.

No, that's all us. And we we have a a a gentleman that works for us that that project manages all of that. And he notifies Adrian. Adrian puts it out on every every platform we have to notify when tie-ins are occurring and when whenever we're going to have an outage. I think councelor Harrison a few years ago had suggested at a meeting that the contractor have some type of door hanger or some type of card that identified who they were, who their contact person was, who the city's contact person was and two or three days beforehand that was placed at the they made a visit to the place of business or the residence or just put it on their door because sometimes people aren't on social media or you don't have the newspaper. So I can't imagine that it would be that unwieldy in a block just for someone to come by and to leave that that way they know who they can contact right away or if gravel is coming or something. So I think it's more our responsibility than the citizens to have to find that information out. I think it would be I think it was a good suggestion when she made it a couple years ago. There had been some residents that couldn't get out of their driveway because some city trucks were blocking the driveway and there was some work being done. So just a courtesy but I think it's it's an easy thing to do. Good

suggestion. We're starting to get a little bit in the gray though. of our agenda item. I appreciate that. When I come back, that's what you do. That makes me happy. I knew you were about to get on to me. Any further questions? Motion to approve. Motion, councelor Gilmore. Second, councelor Batty. Forward. Would you call the roll? Councelor Gilmore. Yes. Batty, yes. Woodley, yes. Stone, yes. Roden, yes. Boatright, yes. Mayor, yes. The motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Item number five, discussion possible action approving a purchase of a SCADA and process automation system for work from uh worth Hydro Kim of Oklahoma in amount of $178,000 for the water treatment plant improvements. Mr. H. All right. How's everybody doing tonight? Can you hear me? Good. Tough crowd.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are all warmed up on him now. That's why I let him get up here and do his thing. So, my mama didn't raise no fool. Anyway, uh yes, the skater system upgrades. Um recently, uh I had brought up to everyone that we had been discussing bringing that plant into the 21st century. Um bringing the capabilities of that plant up and making sure it's going to run optimally. That is what this is for. It's an upgraded SCADA system. Right now, um that plant basically runs in manual. Uh the operators have to do just about everything in manual from timing their pumps. Uh and I don't know how many times you people have been out there, but it is a large area. Very large. So, anytime there's an interruption or a disruption to anything, they're all over the place.

We're waiting till February when it's about 20°. Right. We're we're going to skip.

So, long story short, u it it's a process to get anything done out there. And this is what's going to save us time. It's what's going to save us money. Uh it's going to flow all the chemicals. It's going to make everything centrally ran from one computer. Um basically the layout of it uh is going to be all new programming. It's going to put the filters to where they run back in auto as it is now. If an operator has to backwash a filter, they turn that filter off, they drain it, and then they have to run back and forth to the other four filters and adjust their flows up, down, however they need to to maintain their levels. When optimal running conditions means you flip this one and you're going to backwash it, these other three take up the slack automatically. We have the capabilities to do that. the backbone of it is there which is why this price is not more than what it is. The backbone's already there. Uh they have the capabilities of of running everything. They just need new wiring uh and a new updated program, a centralized computer, uh chemicals put on flow pacing, which is going to drastically save money on chemicals. And I've said it and I've preached it a million times. You save money in three different places at a treatment facility. That's chemicals, people, and power. This is going to save money in all three spots. Uh definitely in chemicals, we're going to be using way less chemicals. Uh, and if anybody has noticed from from the budget from last year to the last couple years, just implementing jar testing saved us so much money last year on chemicals. So now having the plant to where it can run uh at a a set point that the operator sets it at the

computer, it's going to save a whole lot of money. So, uh, it it's an easy sell for me, but if you guys have any questions whatsoever, I'm here willing to answer them. So, so part of your discussion was automation, but I assume alarms and emergencies are the the other portion of this.

Yes, it's going to have a callout system. Uh, it's also means it's going to be on several platforms. There will be uh an iPad that can be carried around with the operator. So whenever they're doing duties uh out in the facility, they can be alarmed. Uh this is also probably going to change the way scheduling is done too. Uh we will be able to better optimize our operators and and use their time a lot more wisely to get maintenance issues done, things that need taken care of. with our plant maintenance operator uh who is just one by himself. So this will free up some people to help him deal with issues too.

Any questions? Motion to approve. Motion councelor Stone. Second councelor Gilmore forward. Councelor Stone. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Rhoden. Yes. Boight. Yes. Batty. Yes, mayor. Yes. And motion carries. Item number six, discussion of possible action to create a solution to the issues at Lake Mallister. Counc.

Okay. Mike, you want to come up? Uh Mike is interested in taking care of the lake property uh at no cost. He's going to maintain He's going to maintain mowing the grass in control of people that are coming out there that we're having problems with now. So, I'll let Mike Hey. Yeah. Name and address, please.

So, I've been up here a few more times than I Okay. So, anyway, my name is Mike Thomas. I live next to the lake. I have forever. I've I've not moved 69 year uh not moved 50 feet my whole life. I've been there 69 years. Uh my son is uh going to uh retire from the military. He's been he's 46. He'll retire in two years. Uh he has a house next to the park as well. Currently, right now he's u I got to get this right. He's chief master sergeant. He's over 1,400 men at McConnell Air Force Base. 42 airplanes and uh those ones that went to uh I uh where was it at where they bombed here a while back. My son takes care of the refueling tankers. So that's what he does. But hey, this is not new to me. So, what I'm going to show you here, if you mind, is these are pictures of the of the park right now. That was August. That's August 2020. Here we are. There's my son. I just mentioned there.

Those are the bathrooms at the dock.

Yeah. But you can see we're painting those. That's back in 2020. We've been doing this forever. So, before we do anything else, what I'd like for y'all, what I uh Mel Pretty asked me to take care of this years ago. And you know, if somebody's raising hell down there, I go down there and I say, "Hey, y'all mind knocking it off or I'm going to call police." Most of the time they do that. What I'd really like to have before we just before y'all before we get into the weeds on this is I would like to have something that's just like a volunteer for the city of Mallister. And then I would like for y'all to create a letter. So, and that's letter would say if you're getting one of these, call the Mallister Police Department because if you're getting one of them, you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing. That way I don't have to argue with them or threaten them of any kind. I say, "Hey guys, look, you know, you can't be drinking down here. Get rid of your pit bulls." You know, that kind of thing, right? So, if y'all would consider that, I'd much appreciate that. I live right next to it. There's a gate there when uh you know when they uh when individuals want to party all night, I go and I said, "Hey, listen. This park closes at 10:00." And I close the gate and open it back up the next morning. So, that's that's temporary right now. What I'd like for y'all to consider. The other thing I'd like to do is u that park is uh y'all know who the park's named after? Anybody? Tommy Smallwood. You know him, Randy? I didn't know him, but I know there is.

Okay. So, he was in the JC's and he got killed putting up lights for the city of Mallister and there's a huge monument out there for the guy. Okay. So, we're not taking care of that space out there. If y'all looked at the dock, anybody looked at the dock? Yeah. It's It's disaster and it's sitting way out there.

Uh I spoke with your guy over here. He's going to get me some reflectors and I'll go out there and put some lights on it so somebody don't crash in on it. But what I'd like to do is come back with a proposal and then uh I would like to I I'm going to retire and then my son's going to retire. So I'm 69. I figure I can do this another 10 years and then he's he said he would be willing to do it as well because we're going to live right here. What we'd like to do is we'll help you take care of the park. Um, we would like for you to lease it to us. I'll put some uh and in in addition to that, I will create some uh some camping sites up there to offset the cost because I'm going to take care of that uh large dock out there and probably move it around so it doesn't get washed away. So, if y'all would consider that, I'll put together something and and and for a lease, you know, hey, I've got three zeroturn mowers. I've got three uh tractors, a 60 horse, 40 horse, and uh 240 horses, several brush hogs. So, I've got the equipment to take care of it. But, you know, it's this is going to be a big uh undertaking on my my part if I choose to do this. And I have I've thought about it for a while. So I would I would man keep your place manicured. If you go out there and look at it now, there is there is concrete brick uh picnic tables that uh the prisoners used years ago they'd bring the prisoners from uh out here at the prison and they they built all them picnic tables and put them all up. They're just all turned over right now up upside down. I I ask any of y'all to go out there and look at I've got pictures here if you want to look. But I I will I will

take care of it. And um uh but for that, I want a 15-year lease with another 15 years. And uh you know, and if uh whatever I put into it, if y'all want it back, I'd like for you to buy me out. But I will uh it'll be open to the public. There'll be no no restrictions. they use it except you know maybe late at night or what have you. Most of the time when they're fishing late at night, I said, you know, I said, "Hey guys, you don't want to be bothered to shut the gate up here and then you can fish all night." You know, just sometimes it gets pretty rowdy out there. And if I had, and back to the the volunteer badge, if I had that, I wouldn't have to call your police wouldn't have to drive all the way out there. Most of the time, those individuals would uh you know, they would say, "Oh, okay. Sorry." you know, but it does help put a little bite into the request.

Something I would have imagined in that would be more I don't know is the term camp host when you go into the state park and they've got the Yeah, if you had park rangers and then maybe camp manager maybe a camp manager type situation with the lease we we'd have to put an RFP and all that for that. John, is that doable? I mean is I know cords of engineers lease those parts. Well, you can certainly do it. No doubt. Uh there is a process. We certainly could not agree to that tonight. Yeah. We can certainly begin that process tonight. If that was the direction council wish to go, we can begin that process.

So I would Hey, I would like whoever you appoint to help me work with and we create the details so we don't have to go back and forth and I'll bring y'all something up. I can live with it, something y'all can live with. Please do, Mike. Huh? Please do. Yeah, cuz you know, hey, look here. I've got pictures of the grass about this high. So, I know if I was in here town, I'd be getting a letter from y'all. I haven't called I called Billy Jack and I asked him. I said, "Billy Jack, if if I didn't mow my grass in town, what would happen here?" And so, he he called, had it mowed. But

it's in all in all honesty, they they keep it mowed. It's just it gets this year it rained a lot. So, What I would recommend if this is a a a direction, again, we can't commit to unforced anything with you tonight, but if this is the direction council would like to consider, um a vote to direct the city manager and myself to go down that route and we'll report back. I'm more curious about the legalities and insurance and you basically be privatizing the park. Yeah. I mean, and by leasing the park out, we lose control over what happens at it. in your privatizing department.

If that's the direction that you want to go, we can we can certainly go into that and look at it. Um but understand that to every um every sunrise there's also a sunset that comes with it. So, uh we will try to do we would do our best to pull both sunrises and sunsets out of it. Um, I would very much like to have uh my parks uh director involved in that discussion. If there's there's a lot at play here and it's not just allowing uh you know the locals to take care of the park. There's liability issues. There's you know there's there's a lot there's a lot there. So, let me can I u the uh where the swing sets is and the park and where they're swim where they fish and all that. I don't see that. I don't see that me I would just help you take care of that. The property to the east of it is where I would spend some money and develop it and uh bring in the U dock. So, that would be y'alls. I would just keep it mowed and up for you. So, I don't You know,

and again, that's why I think I'd hate to negotiate any contracts live on on TV. I got you. So, if this is a direct that we are at least quasi interested in, tell us you want us to pursue it and we'll pursue it and maybe it's fruitful, maybe it's not. I would like for you to consider it. Do we take care of it now? Yes. Do you want to talk about that, Doug? I mean, we don't take care of it now, do we? You said the the uh

Well, you are turned over and it. The mowing out there is on a rotation just like all of our other parks. Every time we we do one rotation, we've gone out there and done that. I want everybody to understand there's different areas out there and Mr. Thomas just pointed that out a little bit. There is a park area that that he's talking about that's directly across from his house. The rest of that is the wershed for the lake and that includes two do two different boat ramps and then the area he's talking about to the east of that park is is what he's maybe talking about putting some primitive camping and some other stuff. So there are different areas out there. It's just not all one big. So I don't know if he's just talking about the the park itself. That would what be what the proposal needs to to show. But it is mowed just like every other park is once we get our rotation once we get around to that that won't

and with all the storm debris it has put everything else behind. Yeah, we didn't our our parks a lot of areas have suffered because of that.

Well, it's it's a trifecta. We've we've had massive amounts of rain that we couldn't mow through. We got done with the rain and then we got a tornado hit us. So, we've been focused on on debris pickup, not focused on going out there and having to mow it. Um, so now now we're done with that and and now they're trying to get caught up with all of the mowing. Um, it we're way behind this year. So, it's true. Not denying that at all, but it is on rotation and every time I've been out there, it does it is mode. So,

the other thing I would say, it would be great to have we have people that are out there that that look out for things. I don't know that I'd be as interested in leasing out the property, uh, but maybe a kind of a mix of a campost or something like that or having a formalized group of volunteers. This negotiation would have a range. So privatization would be at one extreme. Uh little extra volunteer help would be at the other. So the negotiation if again get if we were interested would be a part of that spectrum. Hey, let me say too, thank you.

You've got a dock out there right now that's out in the middle of the lake with no lights on it and it's out probably 70 80 feet out there. There's no reflectors and there's no lights on it. And there's a big old pipe sticking up in between the dock and the and the uh and the bank. So, you know, you get a call one night, somebody's out there on that lake and it's dark and they run into that thing. You know, that's what I I was going to move that as well. That'd be part of what you know, there's a huge expense there. Let let them let them decide whether we're going to negotiate this or not. And uh Yeah. Good.

Yeah. So, if council wants us to consider at least having these conversations, let's take a vote to that effect. If you don't, then we won't. And if we do, we'll bring back the fruits of those conversations. Okay. So, just to clarify, uh would be seeking a motion just to continue these discussions to see authoriz authorizing the city manager and the and the city attorney to uh negotiate with with the with the party on this is not final any final decision we brought back and you are not committing to any decision tonight beyond it's worth having a conversation. Do we have that motion? Motion council. Second. Councelor Ro, would you call the role?

Councelor Boight. Yes. Roden, yes. Stone, yes. Batty, yes. Gilmore, yes. Woodley, yes. Mayor, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Uh discussion of possible action to approve a resolution casting a vote for the trustee office of the OKMRF board to fill the expiring term for district 2 trustee.

This is um the we have an opening on the Oklahoma Municipal Retirement Fund board for um I've been approached by somebody that I know and trust very well. He's the uh town administrator of of Carlton Landing and uh he has interest of serving as that board member. I've not received any other interest or I don't know if Kora has or not, but typically those those interest letters come through us. Um that being said, I've I'll put my name in the or my my vote in the hat for Mr. Greg and I encourage you all to do the same

council just for a bit of personal tidbit. I I I know Mr. Buckley when I was the mayor of Muscoi he was the city manager of Muscoi. You would be well served. Any discussion? Motion to approve. Motion councelor Boight. Second councelor Batty for you call. Councelor Boight. Yes. Batty. Yes. Rhden. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes. Mayor. Yes. And motion carries. Thank you. Council, any new business? Uh, nothing from the city. Uh, remarks and inquired by the city council. Councelor Gilmore.

I do have a couple of things. I would like to get an update on I've got a reoccurring issue with a piece of property here in Macau that I've talked with city manager about a couple of times. located at 318 East Simino in the area of Chad Park. Uh there's an individual there um that has a vacant piece of property there that is full of old hay bales, tractor tires, and some other things on there. And he maybe cuts the grass once a year. We'll give him a notice of violation. He'll cut the grass. Two months later, we're in the same situation. It's a revolving door. And when we have a revolving door, that also means that my phone is also being a revolving door with complaints from citizens in the area. So, I would really appreciate if we could take a look. And I know everybody is doing her job. This man, you're sending out the letters. She's cutting the grass once and then in two months we're back in the same situation. There are animals living over there and people in that area are rightfully upset. So this is a reoccurring situation with the same individual. So please on that if we can skip staff reports and we'll hear from Miss How in a minute.

We might get to have a little further discussion on that. Okay. And then also on the corridor of Strong Boulevard where Kidden Around Academy is there are a few places in there also but I'll reserve for for in a little while that report back I think just because the uh city is no longer picking up brush the uh the dump is still open uh Monday through Friday uh 8 to noon. and you can go drop off all your brush out there, clean up the yard. And at this point, it didn't cost anything. Is that right for brush?

I'd have to look at the uh I have to look at the uh the language on that because I think there was a we put something out yesterday, Adrian, on reopening that. I think the message said it was open today. They were just back to regular hours, but I'm not. Yeah. Yeah. Just beware.

Uh I told Dave, you know, three weeks ago tomorrow I had my surgery and I don't know something about that. I didn't get one call these three weeks or somebody complained or needed some help doing something except at 4:00 this afternoon. I went by and looked at it. So I guess I need have more surgeries. But anyway, uh I did have a neighbor three houses down the street that had his car burglarized a few nights ago. So that's all I have. All right. Nothing. Thank you. All right. I'll do mine. I'll come back to you in this town.

Uh mayor's comments. Uh I'm sure you all saw the scuttle over our uh Tomy's not having over our pothole or by pothole

pooa as we ended up calling it. Um couple of different things that we're trying to achieve through that. Uh the number one being um awareness of our app and how easy it is to use. Uh then second is just to help our streets look a little better. Um we don't send an employee driving around all day long aimlessly looking for potholes and and different things. uh to help the citizens identify the things that we need to fix, get our roads in a little better place and uh you know get a get a hundred bucks if you if you hit the grand prize and help pay the water bill. So I know Dave loves this one. I still like my Valentine's idea. What was your Valentine's idea?

My Valentine's idea was you fix up a pothole for your Valentine. You know, send us 100 bucks. We'll go fix a pothole for your Valentine. Oh yeah. Everyone's interested in that. I got to move a little harder around it.

Yeah. Um, Hope House is doing a cleaning supply drive. Um, so if you have some extra cleaning supplies, you can drop those off at Hope House. Uh, school starts Thursday. Uh, so please be wary. Um, if you are not dropping off children and you're going to work, you may want to just avoid the schools all together. Uh, usually the first couple of weeks the lines are they're crazy. Everybody's trying to figure out which way to go, where to go. people not following the rules, people following the rules. And so just avoid those areas alto together and just kind of keep a lookout. We'll have a bunch of kids out walking and and everybody's schedules change. You can even have parents out running, jogging in the morning and different things. So uh just be aware of that. And then we received the keys to the airport.

We did. Yes, we received the air piece at the airport on last Thursday. Tuesday. Tuesday. And so very neat there. So with that, uh we will move back up to staff report and hear from a staff.

Hey, good evening council, Mr. Mayor, Mr. City attorney, Mr. City Manager. So gosh, eight years with the city and this is my first ever staff report to you guys. So thank you for having me and giving me this opportunity. Um, I am definitely excited to be here and share with you what uh, Miss Rosemary Carell and I have been up to this summer. If you don't know, we do have a second code officer now, which has been a fantastic asset to our community. I can't say enough good things about the work that she does. Um, but we'll jump right into it because it has definitely been a team effort this summer and thank goodness because the grass, oh my gosh. So, um, of course, we see a lot of issues that keep us busy all over town this time of year. Um, unfenced pools, improper parking of boats, travel trailers, RVs, that sorts of thing. Um, we'll see side obstructions at intersections getting reported a lot more frequently just to the due to the growing vegetation. Um, and then of course, everyone's favorite, we all love the folks that blow the grass into the street. Not really, we don't. Um, please don't do that. Um, so anyway, but of course the growing grass is our biggest priority this time of year and it takes the most time and attention. Um, and with as much rain as we had this year, the grass was growing earlier and faster than in years past. Um, it's also a big priority for our citizens in our community. Um that is the number one complaint that we receive from citizens this time of year, hands down. Um and with that said, we received uh since April, which is really what I consider to be the beginning of our grass season, so to speak. So since April, we have received a total of 71

citizen complaints regarding high grass, only high grass. um May, June, July, those were the big months where we saw a an influx of those. That was where the majority of those came from. They're starting to kind of dwindle now um as the grass isn't growing quite so fast with the temperatures and all of that. So, um, our efforts to address our citizens concerns with high grass, that includes we mail flyers, uh, lots of flyers out to people, um, particularly to try to help them understand the maintenance of rideways and easements, those areas that can create a lot of confusion, ditches, um, areas between like fences and streets and alleys and just all the fun things. Um, so we have a flyer to help educate before anything. Um, when it comes to that, uh, you also might get a friendly little door hanger, a little reminder to Mo. Um, and then of course we do mail notices of violation and it has been a busy year for that. I'm sure a lot of you have received those phone calls. Um, so we start mailing those notices in April. um in April and I would say early May, we focus primarily on vacant property. Um we kind of leave citizens to accept the fact that mowing season is upon us again and we kind of leave them alone through April and focus on those vacant properties. Um and then our citizens occupied properties start to get noticed about miday. Um it's pretty evident by then who's going to mow and who's not. so hit to mowing. Um this year since April we have mailed combined Rosie and I over,00 notices for high grass. That is from April to August.

It's been busy. Um so approximately a hundred of those notices uh those are going to be folks that did need and receive a second and final notice of violation. Um just reminding them to go ahead and and do what we've asked them to do, get the grass mode. Um and that's again that number does include our occupied and vacant properties. Um unfortunately sometimes people need um a little motivation to get the mowing done and that is where citations can come into play. Um there can be a little bit of confusion. I'll hear people sometimes say, "Oh, I got a citation from the city." When they actually just got a notice of violation. So, if you didn't get a visit from myself or Rosie and a police officer, you just got a notice of violation. Um, but if we do come to visit you and you do receive a citation, um, you know, we do that with the assistance of our police department. Um, and this year we did not issue our first high grass ticket until the middle of June. Again, it was a wet spring, early summer. The grass was growing like crazy. So we definitely try to work with people as much as possible um and be sensitive to that. Um so midJune we did issue our first citation and to date we have issued nine citations for grass. Eight of those nine citations have been dismissed. The citizens did what they needed to do before their court date and the ticket was dropped. Uh we do have one ticket still outstanding for grass and they are about halfway through with the yard. Um and and we feel pretty confident that they're going to get there. So we are hopeful for them. Um of course with any ticket, any situation, it's always our goal to get voluntary compliance. We don't ever want to have to resort to citations if we don't have to. But sometimes it's necessary. Um you know, if a citation is

issued, we want to see the violation corrected more than we want to see people pay a big fine. That is not what you have us here for. we have police to do that. We are here to address the problems and get them solved. Um not write tickets unless absolutely necessary. Um and and that's true with all of our tickets, not just high grass. If it's a cleanup or a vehicle or something like that, the process is the same across the board. So I am happy to report though that most of our citizens are doing what they need to do. They're consistently keeping their properties mowed. Um they keep them under that 12 in limit. Um, and we have a high rate of compliance with our occupied properties. Our our problem really is vacant stuff. So, um, before we get into discussing like the vacant stuff, we have a couple uh notable wins this season, some things that we really got excited about. So, um, we had a few demolitions uh that were completed by property owners after they did get a notice of violation from the city. Um, one of those is over on West Stonewall, Mr. Road. You've probably seen that work that took place over there. So,

and you think that's good? Oh, where they tore the house down. Thought you was talking about my neighbor if he was going to say, we always talk about your neighbor, but not tonight. We We'll talk about it after this meeting. Yes, sir. Of course. Um, always welcome that conversation. But that looks good. It does. It does. I tried to buy that 20 years ago.

Might be for sale now. Um, so yeah, the the gentleman took the structure down. Not only did he take the house down, he he did a great job clearing the lot. So, a couple of mature trees are left. It's mowable. It's fantastic. Um, also have another structure in progress over on West Ansley. Um, this one's moving a little bit slower, but the owner is doing it themselves. So, the house is down. They're working to remove the house now. So, I'm confident we're going to get there. Um, but they're again they're doing it themselves and and it's Mr. Stone knows it's a lot of fun when you do it yourself. Turn your wife loose on it and it's down.

There you go. Give a woman some heavy equipment and you'll get some things done.

Um, and then we also had another um accessory structure. We had a dilapidated shed that was removed over on West Delaware. Again, owner paid for that, got notice from the city, decided, let's go ahead and do what needs needs to be done. So, on to vacant and abandoned properties and structures, our favorite. Um, this is definitely uh the biggest problem that we have and the greatest uh source of complaints that we get from citizens. Um, you all take those phone calls, we've received those calls, talked blue in the face about it. Um, it it's a problem. Uh but we have many many many properties that would not be maintained at all if we did not do what we do. If the city did not do abatement mowing it would be an absolute nightmare. So this is such an important service for our citizens, for our neighborhoods, and just for our community as a whole. Um

how many structures have we taken down? Do you know off the top of your head? I can give you a guesstimate off the top of my head. I would say that Jamie through her condemnation process 160 170 in 10 years 140. Okay. There's probably more but at least 140. I know when you're driving by them every day it feel it feels like nothing is being done with the structures that need to come down but correct

when you look at what we've done over time 140 is quite a bit. Jaime's been in her position about 10 years now and yeah, she's at 140. Um, I'm coming into eight years and I have successfully worked with. I'm in the neighborhood of somewhere around 30 or so, maybe 35 um, property owners that I have worked directly with them outside of the condemnation process and just they were able to get the structure down after working together. So, we're getting there. And I know it's hard because sometimes it is difficult to see the progress. Um, but there are there are we literally have streets that have had four and five structures come down. So, if you live on that street, you've seen the progress. But, you know, if you're in an area where um perhaps things aren't as dilapidated as some of the other areas, you may not notice. Um, our our work has been a little more heavily concentrated. You know, third ward, fourth ward, things like that. So

the other issue to note with that is because I know people do get frustrated is the house is on the list and it's next up and somebody burns one down and then and then we get that cleaned up and it's like no you're the next on the list and then they burn one down and it's like no I'm telling you you're next on the list and then they burn one down and it it take down the burnt structures.

And I would like to tell you that we're in a different uh boat this year but we're not. Um, in fact, uh, I believe that the demo budget was cut from what it was last year. Of course, we're not the only department getting cut. So, we understand it's it's painful for everybody, but our budget was cut and there's a good chance that with the money we got, we probably will not even be able to take down all of the burnt structures we had. Um, and it is it is frustrating. I've take a I have the same conversation over and over with folks and people get tired of hearing it because it just sounds like lip service after a while. But all it takes is money. And if you guys want to carve out about 100 grand for us, we could really really make a difference. But until then, we're going to do what we can. Um and we're going to keep having those conversations and we're going to continue to work with property owners and get them to take down the structures that that they are able to. So, the progress is slow, but we're still making progress. So, um, but as a result of all of these properties, again, we do have a very strong abatement mowing program. Um, and we also have a lot cleaning program. I don't have time to talk about that tonight, so you guys will have to have me back for that in the future. Um, but we are starting to be able to clean properties. Um, say where squatters have been or you know they've just been abandoned and uh, you know, you've got debris or renters move out and, you know, leave garbage everywhere and the owner doesn't want to go pick it up. We can now do that for them. So, um, it it's been great and I look forward to talking with you guys more about that. So, our abatement process, um, that is a process that is outlined and required by state statute. We don't just make this stuff up. We're not out here just doing things willy-nilly. Um there is a very thorough process that we follow um for our abatements. And we don't use this process on occupied properties under

normal circumstance. This this is reserved for for things where there is nobody to take responsibility for them. Um, and usually they're going to be foreclosures, um, or they're just owned by someone who is deceased or out of town, absentee kind of a situation. So, um, here we go. We took bids in March on our abatement mowing. We had a fantastic response from contractors. We received, uh, 13 requests for bid packets. We had nine of those returned to us um, for bidding, and we put three contractors on contract. two of them full-time. One of them is basically a backup if something happens to one of them. Um, our contractors, Mr. Tommy Hendricks and, uh, Mr. Darren Bell and his crew with Limestone Gap Construction have done a fantastic job for us this year. They really have done great. Um, couple of highlights with that. We did see a small decrease this year in our per lot mowing cost. It wasn't anything super substantial. Five to$15 per lot just depending on size, structure, no structure, height of the grass, those kind of things. But the cost has come down just a little bit. Um we did make two additions to the contract this year. Large acreage mowing. Um, so that when we do get those complaints about those parcels that are big, 5 acres, 6 acres, we've got one on the highway, a 7 acre track that we've struggled with to get mowed. Our contract previously just did not fit that type of mowing. It it would have exhausted the budget. It just and it wouldn't have been fair honestly to the property owner either. Um, but we now have something in place so that we can address that if it comes up. This is for brush hogging big vacant lots. Um, and we also added a little bit of limited weed eating. Um, obviously we do not

want to pay abatement contractors to go in and landscape or manicure a property. But there are times when you you got to bust the weed eater out. You've got to get the weed eater out and you got to hit that fence line. You've got to hit those utility poles. And it just helps the overall appearance of the property after abatement. you know, if you go more mow four foot tall grass and you leave four foot tall grass in the fence, it still kind of looks cracky when it's all done. So, we we want to um see that not be the case, you know. So, we did add that in. Um again, it is a limited weed eating um on that. So, we typically start abating properties and start running our mowers. Those guys are out starting in May. We will mow from May until October sometime in October. So we are out there six months out of the year cutting grass. Um it is a very very busy time for us. So miday we sent our first notice to proceed to our guys. Um of course just like our citizens man it was rainy, it was wet. We don't ever want our guys to get into a property and damage it. We don't want to see ruts. We don't want them getting their equipment stuck and creating more problems. Um, so we did start a little slow, but even even with a slow start, um, they did complete the mowing of 24 properties in May. Um, as things kind of started drying out, we got 34 properties mowed in June, 49 properties in July, and we are moving now. We are we are really moving quickly. Um, August, we've already completed 19 properties. Rosie assigned 10 properties on Monday to her contractor. I have 15, possibly 20 that I'll send to my guy on Friday. They have 10 days to mow those. So, those will be completed this month. That's an

additional, let's just say 35. And then we should both be able to send at least one more list this month. So, we're picking up steam. um you're going to see a lot of things getting cut. Um this also means that we have completed the first cut on pretty much everything that we have to maintain. So it's been mowed once definitely ready for a second cut and we are already working through those with the August mowing. So we're we're trying to get there and and get that done. Um, with that said, we will mow these properties twice at least. We hope to get three cuts on them. It a lot of it just depends on what the weather does come October. Um, so when when you are getting those phone calls from citizens and they're expressing that frustration, you know, we're we're no different than anybody else. We we've kind of got to get to everything and and we do it in a cycle. You know, I'm not going to go over here and mow something for a third time if I haven't mowed this for a first time. And we're not going to start cutting things a second time if we haven't gotten everything mowed that needs a first cut. So, it's a process, but we're rolling. Um, our current budget for abatement mowing is $20,000 and we use I think last year we used 19,000 and some change. So, we definitely use it. Um, and you're gonna see why here in just a second. So, um, right now we've spent just shy of about 7,800, uh, has gone to our contractors. We paid that money out. That doesn't include what we've got encumbered for the current mowing that's happening right now. I figure once they invoice, we're probably going to be sitting at about 10 grand. We'll probably have used about 50% of our budget. Um, so, um, of course, anytime the city mows something for you, you get an invoice for that.

that um and that invoice is going to include what it what we had to pay to the contractor. So that's your cost of mowing plus the $100 administrative fee. Um and that is uh we we get to add that on there. You know, if we have to be your property manager, we're going to get a little something for that as a municipality. We see that back because we do put a lot of time in into that process. Um the average cost this year about $160 to $200 and that's going to be for just a any any lot under a half an acre, you start getting bigger than that, the cost goes up, but about 160 to 200. Um, folks have 30 days to pay that invoice. Um, after that, we send it to the treasurer. So, just to give you guys an idea of what we're where we're at, we have mailed 94 invoices to property owners so far, totaling $17,16. Of those 94 invoices that we have mailed, two of them have been paid, two out of the 94. So um again that abatement process, filing those leans, certifying those costs, very important um to help us recoup that money. Um, so again, we place a lean against anything that we obey and uh if the owner fails to pay, we're going to the the county assessor, county treasur, I apologize, county treasurer is going to certify those costs and they become a lean against the tax role. Um, now every year we get some of that money back. Um, it either, you know, people get their tax bill and say, "Oh crap, I don't want the city doing that for me again." They pay it or it goes to tax sale. So, um, in 2024, we got back a little over $25,000

in old leans that we had paid out, and we also got, uh, just a hair over 4,800 in interest on those leans that came back to us. Um, that does not include demolitions. We do have other cost about 13,000 almost 14,000 in demos and another 8,300 in interest on those demolitions came back to us in 2024. So far this year we're sitting at 17,000 in recouped cost um and 3,700 in interest. Demos are already coming in. We've gotten 17,000 back and about 4,600 in interest. So we do slowly get that money back over time. um the county treasurer will no longer accept your tax payment without you paying your lean as well. So that has helped us tremendously. Um I cannot say enough good things about our county treasurer's office. They they are fantastic. We have a really good working relationship with them. Um and they also do a great job maintaining their properties. So big big shout out to the to Pittsburgh County because They take care of business as well. And if we come across something that needs mowed, we call them. It's done within a couple of days. I think you called me with one not too long ago. They got it done. It took about a week, but it gets done. Um so, okay, in closing, I'm getting the old tap tap. So, um that's just a recap. That's our summer. Um obviously, we do a lot more and I could go on and on and on about code enforcement. Um, so I look forward to coming back in the future. I hope you guys will give me a chance to come back and talk to you about our abatement lot cleaning because that is um that's a huge step forward for our community. Um it it's a great thing that we're doing with that. So um okay, thank you.

Couple of quick statements, questions. Um I I would like to point out that you really do work with people. Um, absolutely. You don't just want to give somebody a ticket and move on. As long as you see progress and a little bit of help me help you. Like, I know you're not going to get this done this weekend, especially if it's a a house that's got piles of trash and grown up grass and those things, but Correct. I mean, you take it very serious with them of I've got to see some progress, too. At the same time, you really we we really try to meet people where they're at. I mean, if if a property didn't get in that condition in 10 days, it's probably not going to get cleaned up in 10 days. Um, yes. I mean, I could go on and on.

No, I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely. We we always want to work with people. We want people to call us, hey, what can we do to help you? So, yeah, T tickets, they're a last resort for us. You really have to work to get one of those. Like, you got to try. And one thing I've really tried to encourage people, there are people with disabilities, elderly, maybe in a bad situation. Go out, meet your neighbors, help somebody out. I mean, they may just be I mean, maybe they're physically capable and they're just in a rut. You know, sometimes we just need to get out and help people and and be a community and pull together and and sometimes people need help getting ahead to stay ahead. Absolutely. Um and then another big misconception is ugly isn't against code.

No, no, it is not. So I know those are some of the calls that you get of this thing look and you go okay but you need to tell me the code violation. Yeah we don't so much address aesthetics as actual violations of code. So so that is a little bit misconception and I assume on the app I can report

oh my gosh the app is fantastic. I know you're catching a lot of flack over that right now, but um from our standpoint, we really have enjoyed the app because the complaints come in. Um it allows citizens to upload a photo, which can be very helpful. Um I will say it's real cute when we get a selfie. That's not the photo we're looking for, folks. Please take a photo of the violation. Um but we enjoy those. So, but yeah, the app is fantastic and I try to push that. It's it's very user friendly. Does it help you as far as addresses and things kind of autopop populate for your letters?

No, not at all. All of our letters, we we do all of our research. All of those are, you know, we type them in, seal them up, email them on a list where you could instead you have to make notes. Yes. But with that said, um you know, we're out, we're very proactive. However, if a citizen reports something, that goes to the top of our list. Like we're going there first. Um, so it it definitely helps. If you have an issue, please please report it. Um, well, one of the things I really like the apps is we are human. We do make mistakes. We we forget things. We forget to write things down. We get distracted. We miss voicemails,

you know, and those sorts of things. And that's one of the amazing things is it goes into the system and we don't have to sit there and go, "Oh, wait a minute. They walked into my office. Who was that that called me?

I just got off the phone." And it's really nice because like the way that ours are set up, if I if we get one um and let's say I've had 50 emails that day or something and it falls to the bottom, it's going to send me a reminder in like two days that like, hey, you haven't responded to this and and I love that. So yeah, it's it's hard for stuff. It can still fall through the cracks, but it is a very useful app for not only citizens, but staff as well. you have a a tough job and sometimes some tough clientele to to deal with and we really appreciate everything your department does. So, thank you guys. I know you get all the phone calls, too. So, all right. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. All right. City manager report. I don't have anything to report this evening. Kick it back to you.

All right. We'll now take a motion to convene as Mallister Airport Authority. Motion to include approval of minutes from July 22nd, 2025 regular meeting of the Mallister Airport Authority. Confirm action taken on city council agenda item B and adjourn. Motion councelor Batty. Second. Councelor Gilmore. Cor. Vice Mayor Batty. Yes. Councelor Gilmore. Yes. Rhden. Yes. Bry. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes.

Mayor, this motion carries. I take a motion to convene as Mallow Public Works Authority. Motion to include approval of minutes from July 22nd, 2025 regular meeting of the Mallister Public Works Authority and confirm action taken on city council agenda item B and adjourn. Motion councelor Stone. Councelor Woodley for call. Councelor Stone. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Rhoden. Yes. Boatright. Yes. Batty. Yes. Mayor.

Yes. The motion carries. I take a motion convenience. Mallister Economic Development Authority. Motion to include approval of minutes from July 22nd, 2025 regular meeting. Mallister Economic Development Authority. Confirm action taken on city council agenda item B and adjourn. Motion. Councelor Gilmore. Second. Councelor Roden. Coridge. Call. Council Gilmore. Yes. Rhden. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes. Boatright. Yes. Batty. Yes. Mayor,

yes. The motion carries. I'll take a motion to recess into executive session in accordance with title 25 section 307 B1 discussing employment hiring appointment motion to motion discloation of any individual salary public officer employee most specifically Mr. Andrew, city manager. Motion on councelor Willy. Second. Councelor Stone for call. Councelor Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes. Boat. Yes. Batty. Yes. Gilmore. Yes. Roden. Yes. Mayor. Yes. The motion carries. Now in executive session.

back from executive session. Only those items as listed were discussed. Honorable mayor, members of the council, pursuing to 25307B1, the council did committee an executive session to discuss the appointment of the city manager. No votes were taken or polls cast. However, at this time, I do believe an appropriate motion will be to accept the resignation of the city manager to pay appropriate seance. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion councelor Batty. Second. Councelor Woodley for Would you call the RO? Vice Mayor Batty? Yes. Councelor Woodley? Yes. Gilmore? Yes. Stone? Yes. Roden? Yes. Right. Yes.

Mayor, yes. The motion carries. And we mayor, I jump council. Given the resignation of our city manager, the city needs to have somebody in charge. Uh so we need to designate someone as interim. Uh we have discussed with the assistant city manager and he's indicated his willingness to serve that role on an interim basis. So I do believe an appropriate motion will be to designate the assistant city manager as the interim city manager until the position is filled. Do we have a motion to have the assistant motion councelor Gilmore second councelor would you call the ro counselor Gilmore? Yes. Roden. Yes. Woodley. Yes. Stone. Yes.

Boatright. Yes. Baggy. Yes. Mayor. Yes. The motion carries. Now we return.