City Council - Regular Meeting

Um, good evening everybody. It's 5:30. Um I'd like to welcome everybody here. But before we call the meeting to order, um Reverend Aaron Catilla is from Trinity Lutheran Church going to open us with a word of prayer and then we'll have flag salute and then carry on. Please rise. Let us pray. Gracious God, heavenly father, we give you thanks for another day of your grace. grace through the uh crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. And by your spirit, guide us uh this evening and bless this meeting that all the things that we do would bring glory to your name, but also uh for the good of our neighbor that we may may live peaceable lives and uh in places where that are safe and secure. uh bless this town and and its uh leadership and guide them this evening and guide the people of this community as we are a community living together uh loving each other each and every day. Make it so among us, oh Lord, we pray in your name. Amen.

Join with me in the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. It's now 5:32 and I call the El Reno City Council regular meeting of Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 to order. Roll call starting with Councilwoman Nether here. Brothers here Mayor Jensen

here. Um, we've got some awards and proclamations to give out. A recognition and appreciation of fire captain Jody Mutsig for dedicated service to the city of El Reno from May 2001 to May 20 26 25 years. And I think Chief Duff is has something to present.

Reflect 25 years of service. We're going to miss you. your leadership, your knowledge. Don't make yourself scared. Come around. Enjoy your retirement. We have a proclamation. I'm g read it. It says whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities and services that are vital that are of a vital importance to the sustainability and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of the city of El Reno. And these infrastructure facility services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And on December 17th, 2003, 2003, President George W. Bush also officially recognized public works as first responders in the homeland security presidential directive number eight. Public works departments carry a level of responsibility that mirrors law enforcement and fire departments through although the specific roles in responding vary depending on the nature of the event. Often public works personnel are among the first responders during emergencies, disasters, and they are often the last to leave after an incident has taken place to ensure cleanup efforts are complete and safety is restored. And it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in the city of Elen, Oklahoma to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs

in their respective communities. This year marks a 20 in 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association and Canadian Public Works Association. And be it now therefore be it resolved that I, Steve Jensen, as mayor of city of El Reno, Oklahoma and its citizens do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 to be National Public Works Week. And let's give all those who are in public works a big hand BECAUSE they they work hard and often times or you know wintertime freezing cold water lines broke they're they're they're out there all hours of the day and night along with all of our other first responders and we appreciate all those. So thank you. Um

yep. So, with that, we're going to recess the city council meeting, get move into our authority meetings. All right, it is 5:36 and call the Elno Air Park Authority regular meeting on this Tuesday, May 12th to order, starting with roll call vote. Trusty Black here. Here, here item C, consent agenda. Following items considered to be routine by the El Reno Air Park Authority will be enacted with one motion. Should discussion be desired in any item, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. Have three items.

Move to approve consented items. Consent agenda items one through three. Second. Uh motion made and seconded. Roll call vote starting. Trusty Black. Yes. Trusty Nether. Yes. Yes. Trusty Black. Yes. All right. No items pulled. Discussion items. Number four, uh, discussion, consideration, action, andor possible amendments to move forward with the purchase of equipment and set setup work of point of presence located at the airport. This is

the outfitting of the telecommunication shelter that's at the airport. Uh this is the next telecommunication hut uh for the fiber system but will also serve as the IT um hut for the airport. Um we have a lot of customers out there in the hangers that want fiber internet service. Um plus we're trying to bring together the airport's telecommunications needs into one location. So this will be for purchasing of the equipment plus the labor to get all that work done. Great. Any questions? It's an important next step. Um, a lot of customers out there. Um, it's a good look. It's a good It's good service, not just for the airport, but that part of town also continue our fiber buildout.

I make a motion to approve or to move forward with the purchase of equipment setup work for point of presence. Mush made. Second. Seconded. Um, roll call vote. Starting. Trusty black. Yes. Yes. Vice chairman. Yes. Yes. There's us to adjourn it. Tojourn. Second. Motion made a second. All in favor? I. I. I don't need to. It is now 5:38 and I call the recreational meeting of Tuesday. Starting with trustee here. Trustee here. Vice

here. Trusty Jensen here. W here. Uh consent agenda. Following items are considered to be routine by the recreational authority and will be enacted with one motion. Should discussion be desired on any item that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. We've got items one through three. Items one through three. Second. Motion to second if we can have a roll call starting with Trusty Nether. Yes. Jensen. Yes. Yes. Yes. Second. I

I sorry. Amy, it's now 5:39 and I call the El Real Municipal Authority regular meeting Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 to order. Uh, roll call starting with Trusty Nether here. Trusty brothers here. Vice Chair Black here. Baker here. Chairman

here. Consent agenda. Following items are considered to be routine by the Elino Municipal Authority will be enacted with one motion. Should discussion be desired on any item, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. And we have items one through five. Move to approve items one through five. Second. Motion remain seconded. Uh roll call starting with Trusty Nether. Yes. Brothers. Yes. Vice Chairman Black. Yes. Trusty. Yes. Chairman Jensen. Second. Here. Here. I need a vote. Yes. Yes. Okay. Now move to second. Motion made and second. All those in favor say I. I.

We're adjourned. All right. Uh it's now 5:40 and acknowledge a return to the El Reno City Council meeting. Um item D, nomination and appointments. nomination and appointment of two members for a three-year term set to expire April uh 2029 and one member for the remainder of a three-year term set to expire April 2028 to sell serve on the Elon Library Board. Nominate Holly and Becky for the two member expiring April 2029.

Second motion made and seconded. Uh roll call starting with Councilwoman Nether. Yes. Sorry. What do you need? No. Council brothers. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Is there any nominations for the one? I didn't see an application.

Okay. I didn't either. Okay. Well, we'll leave that spot open and we'll move on to Consent agenda. Uh item F. Following items are considered to be routine by the El City Council will be enacted with one motion. Should discussion be desired on any item, that item will be removed from consent agenda and considered separately. We have items 1 through 14. Move to approve items 1 through 14. Men seconded. Uh roll call starting with Councilman Schaefer. Yes. Counciloman. Yes. Councilman Brothers. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Nothing was pulled. Uh, item H, audience participation. Anyone having an item of business to present to the city council that does not appear on agenda, please come to the podium at this time. State your name. Your request to limit your presentation to three minutes. Any item being presented must pertain to the city of El Rental Business. The Oklahoma Open Meeting Act prohibits the city council from taking official action on requests made during this portion of the agenda unless otherwise noted on the agenda. Anybody? Seeing nobody, brings us to discussion items. 15 A. Hold a public hearing regarding the proposed annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June June 30th, 2027. Discussion development resulting in amendments to the proposed budget may occur. I now declare the public hearing open. I'll start with a presentation of the budget and Zach, if you'll cue the PowerPoint for the overhead. I want to start by thanking all of the staff that uh participated in the building of this budget, which uh really involves it touches every department, involves uh many many people. Uh Tim Young uh did an excellent job. He's assistant city manager and finance director. Wear wears a couple hats. It's going to be a theme throughout this budget presentation. A lot of us wear multiple hats, but Tim has done a great job in uh preparing the budget so that it can be presented today. Um Judy Hullbrook, Cammy Brooks, Jessica Porter, lot of hands involved in in making this work. It's been a very challenging budget year um in in building a balanced budget. Uh but we are happy to present what we have. Uh revenue has not uh next slide, please.

I'll just keep going. So, um actually don't need the overhead if uh it's not available and that's okay. But um and we've had a successful year. basically uh we projected at the end of last year no revenue growth for this this current fiscal year that we're in and we hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, we did right. We were budgeting very conservatively for FY26 and um we are right on the money with basically a flat uh revenue year which we were hoping for for a little bit of growth. We didn't really see that. So, moving forward into FY27, we're basically going to be doing the same thing, budgeting a flat um revenue year. So, we're budgeting 15,480,000 in sales and use tax for FY27. So, that's that's projecting no revenue growth. um what we're seeing uh citywide and over and you'll see some I guess you won't see see any slides potentially not there was uh we we had a huge uptick in the oil and gas industry in the teens. So this the last six years it's it's dropped off. We aren't seeing that that revenue. The uh industry has has tapered off um if you will and so we aren't seeing that um from a sales tax collection standpoint use tax collection. So, um, that's that's hurt our budget overall. We aren't where we were in 2019. We aren't where we were in 2018, but as everybody in this room knows, the cost of doing business has gone up quite a bit. So, uh, that we're not immune to those expense increases and the cost of inflation. So, what we have seen though is housing growth. In the last um several years, we've we've seen um really hundreds of new homes being built, which is amazing that we are attracting new residents to our

community. This last fiscal year, we've had added 77 new homes. It's a very strong year, just for a point of reference. And in 2013, 14, 15, we had we're adding somewhere between 15 homes and 30 homes a year. 30 homes would be a good year. This last year, we added 77 homes. So, we're adding a lot of families. Those families will be spending money here. Um we've added new commercial businesses um in the last year in the way of uh restaurants and retail just for to name a few. Freeman's downtown um has rebuilt Brakes Plus is under construction. Waffle House will soon be under construction. Seven Brew is under construction. There's a lot of things that are in the queue that will be adding to our sales tax base. It some of them aren't online yet. Um, but some of them are, but that doesn't quite make up for the revenue loss that we were seeing, the revenue that we were receiving in the teen years. So, we're still not quite back to where we were, and it'll be some time till we are back there. So we are um u one thing that we have and we will be capitalizing on this year u it being the Route 66 centennial year we have a lot of travelers coming through town and that's one thing that the state is projecting 6 to 8 million people traveling 66 through the state of Oklahoma so we would be silly to not try to capitalize on that in some degree you are seeing anytime any time of the day you can go to the filling station you can go downtown you can go to Sid's Diner Robert's Grill Johnny's you'll see or freemans, you'll see folks from all over the United States and sometimes all over the world visiting our community and spending money. So, tourism dollars are um there's there's opportunity for for that and I think that uh you know we will see an uptick continue to see an uptick throughout this year and u certainly we are blessed truly blessed to have the most famous highway in the world coming through the heart of our

town. um airport activity. We have the Caldwell collection. Again, that's that's more tourism, but we are actively building There we go. Um airport. We're actively building a new airport terminal. We also have awarded contracts to build two new hangers uh which will store additional aircraft. We're at capacity at our in our hanger spaces at the airport. And so that's we're seeing additional uh interest and Scott told me today that there's our four uh box hangers that aren't built yet are already spoken for. So tremendous amount of interest in our airport and so certainly want to continue to invest in in that. Um one one common misconception so airport funds uh you we're building new box hangers. We're get we've seen a lot of interest from the state of Oklahoma in the way of grant funding um given to our community and given to our airport. Uh that's supporting a lot of the development and the construction at the airport um and also the royalty funds that our airport generates um from the oil reserves. Another common misconception we have uh hotel motel tax which is uh generated by visitors of our community that stay in our in our hotels. Those funds can only be used for certain things. They're restricted funds. They can't be used to they can't be used to fund the library unfortunately. They they can be used to fund tourism activities um and economic development. So it's split economic development and tourism. And so we have to uh be diligent in spending those funds in that way and generating additional um folks coming to our town spending money here. Those dollars can then be put into they go into the general fund which then go to fund the fire department. They go

to fund the um library, they fund streets department, parks department, those types of things. So that's that's one of the things that we will be leveraging uh moving forward as much as we can. Next slide. So the good news this year, our sales tax debt service is relatively flat. Last year there was an increase, but this year it's relatively flat. Um utility uh debt service is also flat this year from FY26 to 27. Um however, it's set to increase in FY28. And so that's something that we need to be preparing for. And um we'll talk about that a little more here in just a second. The uh overall operations budget for the city of El Reno is increased by about 04%. So really trying hard to stick to that flat budget. We've got to be very disciplined in that. Um not all the things that we're implementing are fun or things that we necessarily want to do. Um but uh one of those things is all of positions that become vacant throughout the year or are currently vacant will be heavily scrutinized and evaluated. Um a hiring freeze is what we're proposing as part of this to hold on to what we have. Um that's not something that we want to do, but it's something that we we we've dealt with worse in the past. Um 2020 was a horrible year with revenue and so we actually had to do citywide layoff. We don't want to have to do that this year. So, we're going to start with a hiring freeze. Last thing we want to do is hire some some folks into those positions that then later have to be let go. Um, also something that we did in 2020 that we're not proposing this year is a furlow for all city employees. We're not not proposing that. That would be

another alternative. those things are uh we want to try to um keep what we have and and continue to uh cover all the bases and minimize service disruptions as much as we can. So we have plans for that. Um we are proposing a merit increase for all of our existing employees. Um that merit increase equals between three and four% or four four and a half depending on the department. um you know we want to uh reward those employees that are with us and for the work that they do and u for yeah we want to want to take care of those that take care of us. So that is that is included in this year's budget. We will be utilizing um about 1.3 million in reserves to present a balanced budget for operations and that is 10 equivalent to what we did this last year as well. So trying to trying to minimize that as much as possible. Again, we're we are proposing revenue very conservatively. Obviously, we're hopeful that it will trend upward, but we have to plan for what we have to plan for. Next slide. So utility debt service is increasing significantly significantly in FY28. So that's ne next fiscal year. The debt ser this debt service is tied to the construction of our sewer plant. That sewer plant was constructed in 2016 or so and it the utility debt is is really going to start ramping up and so that's the the some of the last 10 years of that debt service is pretty high and we need to be preparing for that. So in FY27 we're proposing a 5% increase to uh water rates and 7 and a half% increase to the sewer rates that'll take effect December 31st uh 2026 bill. The trash is set to increase 5% and that'll be on the

July 31st bill. Next slide. So overall general fund budget, we're proposing a general fund budget of 20,151,900. Municipal authority $15,934,300 with a $3.2 million transfer to the general fund. hotel motel tax budget of $787,200 with a $251,000 transfer to the general fund. And then airport authority 1.7 million1,766,700 with $120,000 transfer to the general fund. And then recreational authority $1,745,900. And so as you can see, the trend here is going to be propping up the general fund. the general fund pays for fire and police and streets and parks and library and and all of those core functions that the city um provides. And so in order to cover all of those bases and minimize any service disruptions, we're we're transferring which is not uncommon. There's many cities that are um I'd say most cities operate in this fashion. So um we're transferring in order to cover those those expenses. Next slide. We will be uh moving forward with capital improvements in some areas that are um really we're always doing water lines. Uh we have a couple of projects that are on are going on right now. Um broadband, we're going to be expanding the the uh continue continuing to expand the services across town. Airport already mentioned the hangers that are being constructed. uh finishing up of our ter terminal downtown streetscape. We likely won't see capital expenditures in this area, but I want to keep this on our radar because it will be coming up. That's a grant through the

transportation alternatives program we received through Oklahoma Department of Transportation in the way of about $1.2 million more that'll be transforming starting our downtown starting on Buck Island. We have streets improvements. Britain is going to be a heavy focus this year. We want to get that that one um corrected. And then also Darlington uh we have a partnership with the county on on Darlington Road. Um the other thing that we're going to be working on with our streets is our our traffic signals. I know that our intersections, we have some data technology. We need to replace some of our equipment at our intersections to improve efficiency of operations and safety. Animal control and police evidence facilities will be working on park improvements. We have uh slated uh equipment replacement. We also have um basketball improvements at Gadbury Park. And then a golf course pump house. Our irrigation system at the golf course uh has met the end of its useful life. I think it met the end of it useful life a few years ago. So we have that slated for uh replacement as well. Next slide.

Sorry that slide. Uh one other couple other things that we are doing this year rather than purchasing outright vehicles we're starting a vehicle lease program and then also the mobility hub our hub project which is heavily funded through the 66 revitalization uh program program will be under construction this year as well and finished. That's all I got. Tim take over from there. Excellent.

Okay. So, and we do have our numbers for the month of May. U the good news is for the first time since October we met. Uh so, and we'll continue to go monitor everything. But if we'll turn to the next slide, we can look at this in a bar graph form. We can see that the very last column over there is fiscal year monthly average. We are still just a tab below what our target for the year is. So we'll have to go pay attention to see what happens with the month of June. Um June historically at least for the past five years is our lowest month of the year. So again we'll have to go monitor all that we're keeping our fingers crossed that we at least meet budget as presented over there. The next slide this here shows our trend in sales tax and use tax since fiscal year 2010 2011. And we can see that in the mid 19, sorry, in the mid2010s, we definitely had the oil and gas bump that occurred with both sales tax and then a little bit later with use tax. And then starting about the time of COVID and everything else, we just saw the crashes occur, which we also saw oil and gas activity tremendously back off here in the state of Oklahoma. Uh after that crash, sales taxes rebounded some, but it's still not where we want it to be. We'll turn to the next slide. This right here just shows what happens with inflation in the United States since 2026. We are seeing that there is inflationary pressures on the economy again. But definitely inflation as you know weakens the value of our purchasing power just like it does you at home. You'll turn to the next slide. We adjust all the numbers for inflation. In all reality, we're still projecting this current year and for next year for us to be operating about the same level we were in the 2010 2011 time frame. However, our costs have definitely gone

up during that time. So, creates a lot of challenges and just want to go remind everybody again that we are not the only city that's dealing with this issue over there. Cities all across central Oklahoma reporting that they're having budget challenges because of weak sales tax collections. On the next slide, this right here shows in the general fund how expenditures are allocated by department. And so by far, police and fire followed the third place with the ambulance system take up a vast majority of all expenditures with the general fund. Public safety is very important to the leadership over here and we continue to invest in it. Uh cutbacks have occurred. There's just not a lot to cut back on anymore over there and we're trying our best further. One thing I do want to point out is you see with the finance department that pink over there that is due to the cost of insurance and credit card processing fees. If you look over there in streets that pink over there that is $300,000 a year it cost us just to keep the street lights going within the neighborhood street lighting going. So there are a lot of cost centers that are very hard to touch over there. It's very difficult trying to get this to balance. The next slide shows the same thing in pie chart form. Everybody loves a pie chart. Um, if you just go from the police blue going clockwise over to the EMS blue over there, that is all public safety. Public safety does take up about 2/3 of all general fund expenditures right there. Next slide. Um, this slide over here just shows the revenue source for the general fund over there broken out for some previous years for the current proposed budget. You'll notice at the very top we got that black and we got that really dark brown up there that is showing where this year we will be

pulling out we're proposing to pull out of fund balance and also out of reserves to make the general fund balance for the year. Next slide. Uh this slide just want to go remind everybody of the impending debt service increase we are expecting with the wastewater treatment plant that was completed in 2014. As we can see that debt service with principal authority is going to be almost doubling over the next several years. So, we're inching closer and this is one reason why with the utility authority, we continue to make the increases in utility rates. We either do it now or we're going to have double digit increases. When we get a little bit closer to the debt service coming on board, we're trying our best to try to minimize the impact on our utility customers. On the next slide should be questions. So

any questions? What are the amendments that you passed out? I know that one of them was for the library. Yes. One of them.

Yeah. So, one of the amendments transfers over a little bit of money to go pay for a part-time position at the library to keep the summer. Second amendment creates the air in the airport department. Scott does not want to he's going to try to spend $100,000 or get people to spend $100,000 in merchandise. That was scrim correcting with that one. Any other questions? Move to approve resolution. Sorry, we're in public hearing. No other questions.

I have one more question. I want to know about the Route 66 events and activities. We've got we've got a very healthy budget for tourism and economic development. And this 50,000 for Route 66 events and activities, are those already scheduled? No, not necessarily. I mean, we do have some events that will will come about that we know of that it gives a um a line that we could utilize for that specifically.

So, uh it is the uh we're And we always plan a celebration out on Lake El Reno and Adams Park. Um if there's something that we wanted to add to that for the um July 4th celebration in conjunction with Route 66, we would have a line to do that, but it's not spoken for specifically. So are the the fireworks and things like that, those are not already included in the budget? Fireworks are included in the budget.

Oh, okay. So this would just be additional if you wanted to do something. That would be up to the council to determine how how to use that. It go it's hotel motel money. It would go back into that fund as fund balance if it if it's not budgeted and used and be budgeted but not used and still stay in the fund balance. So for the hotel and also this this year's two on July 4th is uh the 250th anniversary or birthday of our country. And um depending on what you look at, there's a lot of uh a lot of things being asked of communities to you know come together and celebrate our country's independence.

We are on a nationwide um car caravan across the country on 66 also that I know that that we were on a call uh with Lieutenant Governor yesterday and that that event was shared Reese Martin with Route 66 association. Um, so that's going to be, you know, there's going to be a lot of a lot of folks, a lot of activities happening throughout the year and into 2027. I think the actual birthday of 66 is November 11th. So, you know, if the council would like to do something on November 11th, that's also Veterans Day, but it could there could be something in conjunction with that as well. And so, there is some funds set aside.

Any other questions? Seeing none, I declare the public hearing closed. brings us item 15B, discussion, consideration, action, and/or possible amendments regarding approval of resolution number 26-051, a resolution adopting the annual budget for the fiscal year 2627 ending June 30th 27, maintaining certain special funds uh filling of the filing of the adopted budget with intergovernmental agencies and providing for transfer of funds and adopting budget amendments. Any discussion?

Move to approve along with budget. Motion made and seconded. Roll call starting with Dr. Schaefer. Yes. Counciloman. Yes. Vice Mayor Black. Yes. Mayor,

yes. Motion passes. brings us to 16A to conduct a public hearing to reszone from rural agricultural district A1 to suburban agricultural district A2 for the property described as a track of land mean part of the north half of the northwest quarter of section 14 township 12 range 7 west of the Indian meridian of Canadian county Oklahoma Emily oh the public hearing. Sorry.

Um the applicant's proposing a lot um to do a lot split and in order to do so they'll need to reszone their property from A1 to A2. It met the minimum lot size requirement. It exceeded it actually, but that frontage is about 35 ft short. Um everything else is in compliance and it'll be used for single family residential. Um planning commission recommended unanimous approval and I haven't had any um opposition to this item, any phone calls or anything. Okay. Any questions? Any y'all want to add anything? No, sir. No.

Any other comments? I declare public hearing closed. Brings us to item B, discussion, consideration, action and/or possible amendments regarding ordinance number 9408, ordinance to reszone from rural agriculture A1 to suburban agriculture A2 for property described as a track of land being part of the north half of the northwest quarter of section 14, uh, township 12, range 7, Indian meridian, west of the Indian meridian in Canadian County, Oklahoma. Move to approve ordinance 9408. Motion made in second. Roll call start. Counciloman Nether. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Motion passes. So, brings us to 17A to conduct a public hearing regarding an appeal by Rick Pew of the Administrative Code hearing officer's findings that a structure located at 2410 Townson Drive is dilapidated public nuisance should be removed in accordance with 246-1 C31 of the Eleno City Code of Ordinances. And now declare public hearing open. Um, this property was originally noticed in December of 2024 and then we noticed again um in February of 2025. Um, the applica or the property owner attended a few public hearings and then was working with one of the building inspectors um outside of the hearings so he didn't have to attend each one. Communication kind of dropped as did the progress. So, we decided to renotice again so we can get him back on a schedule to communicate progress and expectations. Um after two subsequent meetings, the property owner was not in attendance and so we had to um make the recommendation to proceed with demolition as um significant progress and communication hadn't been made. Um I'll note one of the major concerns is the electrical hazards. Um specifically the panel. It's a stab block system and they're a known fire hazard and um that's one of the main things that really needs to be brought up into compliance. um a lot of electricians won't touch those. Um and so our recommendation in that requirement will be to get that replaced in any electrical work that comes comes with it. So that's and he um filed a timely appeal.

Other questions?

Mr. Pew, would you like to talk to to us? It's your pro you own the property. Come, please come to the podium and and state your name for the record. Rick Pew. I'm the owner of 2410 Towns and Drive. It's a rental property. Um the main reason this has all happened is um um we were in the process of of repairing doing some repairs and a squatter moved in on us and I couldn't get him out. Um, and anyway, one thing led to another and had to police got involved and they kicked me out, but I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble, but I had to leave the premises and the squatter got to stay at my house and, you know, there's no anyway, that's a long story. Finally, the only way I could get him out is is to have the city condemn the house. That's what that's the only way I could get him out.

So that's what we did. Is the squatter still there now? No. Okay.

All good. But it's been vacant for a year or cuz I'm I'm in the process of fixing it up. I already purchased the windows and we're new central heat and air is in it. It's just got to be wired up because we we do have to change the breaker box. Uh it's no gas. It's all electric. the heat and the breaker box when wouldn't held. It's got to be a bigger one to supply the more amperage and different breakers. So, that's the permit should already be pulled. Uh Bobby Eagle Nest is uh he's going to be the electrician pulling the permits. So,

okay. And he's a licensed electrician. Okay. Anyway, just don't tear it down. I'm still working on it. What work has been done since March?

Um, probably not a whole lot other than we're just kind of maintaining the yard and the rubbish. Uh we uh some of the inside's been been worked on, but uh our our plans are new windows and the windows are already purchased. They're they're in a a shed stored, but we're replacing all the windows and new siding. We're going to kind of remodel it uh pretty quick. within within uh the next two months it'll be done. That's our plan. I'm a busy guy though. check everything after that and we can put a time on that maybe any other questions. Okay, declare the public hearing closed. Brings us to 17B. Discussion, consideration, action on andor possible amendments regarding resolution 26-052 resolution city councils of the city of Elino, Oklahoma affirming a finding of a dilapidated structure at 2410 Townson Drive authorizing measures necessary demolition or remove such stro authorized bringing of any action. District Court necessary to bait such public nuisance. Allow mayor sign documents associated

I like Emily's idea. I mean, just from what I've heard, um, sounds like whatever reason we're delayed, but there has been significant work done or planned to be done. So, three months, three more months on this. If that's what happens and we pull the the remodel permit and we and and we establish a timeline that gives us an idea or some kind of leverage to make sure that it's that it's being worked on, that it's being done. Um seems to seems to fall in line. I mean, I I don't have a problem with that.

I don't either. As long as we've got a good deadline, long as we got a deadline, it's not indefinite. A year and a half. I agree. Yeah. So, that puts a deadline on it. I mean, we could put a deadline on it as as three months, 90 days. I I I don't know. I don't know what that looks like in a motion. Um,

procedurally, this is up on an appeal. So, you would need to grant the appeal and provide for an additional 90 days to pull a remodel permit and come into compliance with the code. And I think at least for purposes of the code enforcement hearings, it would be helpful if the motion also directed whether the action needs to come back to this body to code enforcement or code enforcement officer to make the determination of whether comp.

I agree.

So those are your options. Right. Yeah. So, so the motion I would say um would say uh that that we grant the appeal and then um has has a week to pull the the remodel permits. And from that time that we allow 90 days um to comply with with the remodel and the and the continued restoration of 2410 uh Townsen. Is that the address? 2410 Towns and Drive and then and then from that point it goes back to code enforcement um for uh I don't know for determination as to the worthiness of the structure.

You want to say it again? Repeat after me. Motion made and seconded. Roll call starting with Dr. Schaefer. Yes. Uh, Councilwoman Ney, yes. Councilwoman Brothers, yes. Vice Mayor Black, yes. Mayor, yes. Motion passes. Brings us to item 18, discussion, consideration, action, and or possible amendments regarding demolition of the structure located at 619 West Clark Street. Mr. Charles,

how's everybody today? Good.

Tell us what's going on.

Okay. Um, I was planning on selling my home. I mean, I got really basically no choice at some points, but uh I I had electrician come out. I had a plumber come out. I done did plumbing work. I've been doing work in the house still. I got to get my electrician back out and then pull permits, I guess, and have uh my airlines up. That's the only thing I got to do is get the plumbing up. Is that what they do? They put a air tester on the meter and whatever that thing is. Yeah, pressure test or whatever for the gas. I got to get that tested up and uh the electrical box needed uh upgraded. So, I supposed to be pulling permits sometime soon for that.

I know last month we left and there you're going to have an inspection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Had an inspection. I read I read the inspection report. they came out there was, you know, a few items cited in there for repair, different things stuff. So, um, are you wanting to sell the property now? I mean, I was I was told that or you want to work on it or it's listed.

Okay. I uh show Matt this paper. Can I show you this paper right here? Sure. Could you tell me who that is right there in that truck? Don't know who that guy is. He states he works for the city. That's the guy that removed everything up off my premises right there. I need to know his full name. He say he's worked for y'all guys. He sat out and watched me for 30 minutes. 30 minutes. This this what he did on my property. That's not an employee of the city. No,

he said he worked for y'all. a contractor. But uh well, I'm I'm I'm stating what I what what he tells me when when I I caught the police on this guy before and uh they uh said they was going to have him, you know, where he couldn't come on my premises. But before that even came to that, he was already on my property when I had bonded. He was the one who was removing my property, too. But that's what he do. He got a Jeep, too. And he come by my house and stalk me all the time. When was this photograph? That's was taken on the 5th.

Well, I think I think where we're at where we were at from last month. Um, we were to have inspection and then determine whether the council wanted to uh have more time, give allow more time to improve the property, come up with a plan. Um, that's the way I remember everything from her last last meeting. Do you have you have contractors plan lined up ready to I got contractors lined up. I got a company that's going to come and take care of their gods for them. I mean, I assume you would need to, you know, pull a remodel permit just like, you know. Yes, sir. Um, that way we can monitor progress and all that stuff.

So, so Mr. Charles, your your plan is to continue to fix it up and then sell it. Yes, sir. And and so it's listed for sale now. I don't know. I'm not sure how that works even if that's if that's if you're able to sell it. If somebody came and offered, I don't know if that's even a possibility because it's kind of caught up in this. Yeah. Because y'all it's caught up with y'all. It makes it hard for me.

And uh in a lot of ways, you know, because you know, on top of that, I'm ran down through there on each angle. you know, a lot of things that's uh untrue about me, you know, was publish published on my house and everything. Ask you that's that's not us. We're not we're not publishing anything on you. That's not we're we're simply trying to I understand. Hey, hey, hey, let me we're we're trying we're trying to just understand what the plan is here, right? I'm trying to get a plan, too. And I can't understand because most things y'all don't even know. Y'all don't even know who this guy is who been say he work for y'all, but he coming up and robbing me. But but anybody but anybody could say they work for the city. That's Wow.

I mean anybody can say anything that that we can't we can't control what people would say. Just because they say that they work for the city doesn't mean that the city has sent somebody out there clandestinely. That that's that's a wild accusation. So So if somebody comes by and robs you, that's between you and the police. That's right. I mean, that's not the city manager didn't send somebody out there to rob you. And then y'all had them out on my property.

What what we're trying to decide, asky, is is simply we we wanted a plan, right? We needed a plan. We've had an inspection. They found some things. It sounds like you're you're trying to work on it, but in the meantime, you've gone and listed it for sale. Now, if somebody comes and makes you an offer, h how does how does that even work? So, a couple things procedurally um to be aware of. The resolution that was passed um authorizing city staff to demolish the property is still technically in place. So, it would be my recommendation that whatever you all decide to do is we make some kind of a motion recognizing whether that resolution is is going to continue in force or if it's going to be stayed. Um the process is that when Tim issued the administrative hearing order, the demolition lean was at that point filed on the property. So if you sell the property and it goes through a title company,

not a quick claim deed that you go to the courthouse and file.

If it runs through title work, then that lean will be flagged in any title opinion that comes back or title report. And so the seller is then um the buyer is then put on notice um that it is under a demolition order from the city. So that's technically how that would work. However, unless and until this body stays the resolution or does something different, um it's a buyer beware type situation because that order is still in place. Well, so Emily, have you guys been notified of of permits being pulled or any work being done? So, the work that needs to be done when was the inspection done?

And you've got people lined up to do work. Yes, I do. Right. But, but they've not inquired about even pulling permits yet. They're gone too. They I'm just waiting on some funding to come in, some more money because I'm not I'm not rich by any means necessary. But as soon as the money I should be having in any day, per se, I'm waiting on some funds to hit the bank. As soon as it hit the bank, it'll be done. So, uh 8,000 somewhere around there. Plumbing. Electrical.

Plumbing. Uh it was 150. It was it was kabonded. One of one of the companies was what konded that I called. One of them was together and then the other one was separate than that.

You picked one of them to actually do the work. Yes, I did pick one of them. What was the bid for that one? 8,000 both. And and any day any day means what? Day. Like tomorrow?

No later than what? Tomorrow or no later than I'm waiting. I'm waiting on some tax money to come in. You know, I'm I I don't work for the governor. I can't I can't make the government overcome my funding. You know, it's it's like I'm telling y'all everything y'all you know, y'all need to know, but you know, the questions I ask, I get uh nonchalant, y'all. Man, it it's crazy. Ask you if I feel like we have tried very hard to work. You tried. You tried to throw a rope at me. That's what you tried to do. And I feel dead

despite the allegations and despite the animosity, we continue to let this linger on. This was this was scheduled for demolition when, Tim? It was December. Janu January. So So here we are five months later and we're still trying to work with you. So a little bit of appreciation would go a long ways. We're trying, but but we can't get we can't get vague answers at this point. We can't get maybe tomorrow, maybe someday, right? We're

I'm 100% getting it done. It's just that I don't I can't say the date because when I call the IRS, they don't give you no date. Have you ever heard them on the phone, people call them? Anybody up in there? Unfortunately, yes. So, what do you want me to tell you? Uh, so far you're telling me you're answering all my questions, right? So, I am I'm trying to my best ability. Listen, don't don't get defensive. We're just having a conversation when you're just throwing ropes. We're We're trying to throw a lifeline, man. I don't need your Man, that's crazy. I feel it. Okay.

You guys have all these budgets for all your But you guys say that you're here for the people. You're going to throw a couple out on the streets that have home and not help them with the fun that you have that they're poor. You're just going to throw them out. That's what I had to ask. It was your grandparents. Not everyone with a silver spoon, but

is there Yeah. Is there Mr. Charles? Are are there are there people living at the property currently? No, I I attend to my apartment property 24/7 because I don't want to get any or more of my stuff tooken. All of my stuff has been robbed. I've been this, been that, and I'm barely keeping my properties cut because you've got it you've got it secured, correct? Locked. I mean, you Yeah, it's locked. Yeah.

Mayor, I don't have any more questions.

Don't know that I have any more ideas either. move to stand on resolution 26039 with two addendums. One noting a change of ownership effective March 3rd to Mr. Childs and the second one noting that this matter has been on city council's agenda on March 25th. Well, it wasn't on the agenda, but Mr. Childs was here March 25th was on the agenda April 14th and on the agenda again tonight. I'll second

motion made and seconded. Roll call start with council nether. Yes. No. Vice Mayor. Yes. Yes.

Yes. to item 19. Discussion, consideration, action, and/or possible amendments regarding ordinance number 9409, ordinance amending code ordinances of Elino, Oklahoma, code chapter 34, establishing rates for utility services, amending section 17 for water, section 41 for sewage, amending and repealing conflicting sections providing for severability and declaring an emergency. clean up of an existing uh ordinance that we have on the books for it relates to adjustment of water rates based on CPI. So, it cleans up and modernizes that that language and then it adds language on private fire line uh charges on commercial applications, commercial and industrial applications. Tim, do you have anything to add to that? And then also as part of the clean up, we're cleaning up how we do the winter period averaging for sewer rates right there. Bring in line with actual practice.

Okay. Any questions? I I had a I had a question about those about those meters and and about those how that's rated. And Chief, I I don't know if you could speak to it. Those commercial meters um on people that have to be um sprinkled, are are they are they tested, mandated, tested annually, anytime? So, it has to be inspected yearly. Everybody that's got a commercial meter and sprinkle,

what what's the what's the approximate life cycle of one of those meters? Yeah.

Five years. So the whole system itself, not just the how many in town approximately? Um is it is it in the hundreds? Is it?

Okay. Yeah. Right. Any newer I know we've talked we went through that with the airport and you know certain sizes that have to have it not have it. Okay. Thank you. Any discussion? Make a motion to approve ordinance 9409. Motion made and seconded to approve ordinance 9409. Roll call starting with Councilwoman Nether. Yes. Yes. Mayor.

Yes. Ordinance 9409. Second motion made second declare. Sorry, I didn't hear. An emergency roll call start. Councilwoman Nether. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Item 20, discussion, consideration, action under possible amendments regarding ordinance 9410, an ordinance amending code ordinances in Oklahoma code chapter 334, section 78, amending permit requirements and regulations for solid waste, amending and repealing conflicting sections, providing for severability, and declaring an emergency. So, this pertains to our commercial uh trash haulers that we have in town. Uh there are many different companies and currently books every commercial dumpster. There's a $7 fee associated with that that comes to the city of El Reno. With all of these services, you have large heavy trucks driving on the streets. And so that's the um the reason why we have a fee associated with that to to help pay for the infrastructure that we're utilizing. Uh this that that hasn't been touched that fee has not been touched in many years. And so this is a proposal to raise it from $7 to $12 per can. It also impacts the annual facility fee um going from $500 annually to $1,000 and that' be per company. I miss anything, Tim?

Very simple. Just paragraph D. So, I think it's changed those two rights on the books, but it's updating it. Any discussion? Move to approve ordinance 9410. M second approve ordinance 9410. Roll call starting with council nether. Yes. Yes. Yes. Must remain seconded. Declare 9410 an emergency. Roll call start to Dr. Schaefer. Yes.

Yes. Item 21, discussion, consideration, action, and possible amendment regarding ordinance 9411, an ordinance amending the code of ordinances of Elen, Oklahoma, amending the code chapter 135, adding to article 4 to establish requirements for spay, neutering, amending violations, penalties regarding spay and neutering, provided for repealer, provided for severability, declaring an emergency.

So, this uh this is an item that uh brought to our attention that our animal animal control officer, animal control department um does an amazing job with what they do. They they really uh do a lot with a little. Their adoption rate is amazing. Uh but they need some help. So this is an ordinance that will help them out. Uh we have folks that will surrender full litters of dogs or kittens to our animal shelter. That puts a lot of pressure on our services that we provide. And so what this does is for those folks that will surrender a whole litter or drop off a litter or maybe they get caught dumping a litter of animals, they uh will have a spay or neuter requirement on the animal they have in the house. So work on this. Would you like to share any

Yeah. And I will say that this proposed ordinance is more restrictive than what most communities have and these ordinances go back to the 90s Tulsa being the most permanent communities but most of to not limit to if there's a surrender or an abandonment. Um, it's all pets unless you meet one of the exceptions. K9 officers dog that sort of thing um are subject to a spay neuter. So, ours is is starting off restricted, but as indicated, giving the animal control officers a little bit of teeth. There are families out there that surrender a litter and then there's another litter and then another litter and they can't anything. It's not um animal neglect. Um it just is a lot of resources on one family. And so should should that happen and you cannot find rehome puppies or kittens appropriately then you will need to spay and neuter so that this is not a problem. If we require they spay and neuter, are we able to cover the cost or hook them up with a free clinic?

We can connect them with free and reduced cost. We have great relationships with Nexus and um with another organization. Yes. And we put it in here that the animal could stay with the owner while we're getting them taken care of. Um but we can and assist with that. No other dog at large type issue. Right. Right. Which they might have, you know, a lot of times these get ticketed all in conjunction with one another. So assuming there's no other issues with the animal roaming or anything like that, then yes, that's the way I read it. Right. Right. Correct.

Amy, I have a concern that it's going to force people away from showing up with their litter. Um, instead they'll be dumped in the ditch and they'll just quit coming. So, what other towns and studies that have this have found is that there is a slight uptick early.

Um, and that's why we put in there some language that if we can connect it back and if you call and say, I have 12 chocolate labs, you know, puppies, and then two days later they find 12 chocolate lab puppies, they, you know, can connect it back. Um, but the the stud that actually over time the uh dumping diminishes and so we we will expect a slight increase um you know no guarantee we will follow the trends of other communities but that's what they see. So the idea then is that they they surrender the 12 chocolate labs and and now you have to get mom spayed and and if you have dad you have to bring you have to present him too or Right.

Right. That's so so present your adult animals. We'll take the puppies. We'll take the puppies. We will get them to a rescue. Find homes. what our shelter has been great at doing to get that 92% adoption rate and not a not a fine at this point. Not a fine if they comply. If there's another litter because you did not comply, then a fine kicks in and then at that point you could take it up with Judge King and talk about why you should keep having animals you can't take care of. This is really

because you kind of know who those people Sure.

Yeah.

And that's what I was going to touch on. The officers will tell you, somebody will call and say, "I have a, you know, whatever a I keep thinking chocolate lab. I don't know why, but I have a beagle. I have a beagle, you know, that I can't take care of. and you bring them to you, where do you live? You live in Purcell. Well, we can't take in a Purcell animal. And then two days later, here's a beagle. Where do you live? Uh, Elena, you know, and so there I do think that even the provision about if we can connect it back to you, a lot of people kind of tell on themselves, frankly, and I think that we will get some um because they have have reported that they need to get rid of these animals and then the animals are found. Um, they couldn't do what they could. You know, it's like honestly I want council to consider and it's not on for today and not this month. maybe not even this year, but a full speed meter statute that other communities have, it would help our officers a great deal. But today, we are just looking at addressing the problem of these repeat offenders.

Bob Barker's been trying to solve this problem for years. Oh, he has. He has. And this is also part of why we're looking at expanding the shelter and including a surgery room so we can have vet students help with spay and neuters and so that we can have a small dog and we can better keep and our officers won't feel so pressured to get those small dogs to a rescue. There's no place for them. And so that's why it's so important and it's, you know, part of our budget despite the other constraints, the great work they're doing out there.

Colorado statewide meter and that's why so many of our animals get flown out there for adoption. They don't have shelters full of animals because they have a statewide spayer law. Oklahoma says it city by city other than any animal adopted from a shelter must be spayed or neutered. That's the only one that's statewide. So that's why we have so many now planes that going to Colorado they have a statewide I'll make a motion to approve ordinance 9411. Second motion made a second to approve ordinance 9411. Roll call starting with Councilwoman Nether.

Yes. Counciloman. Yes. Yes. Yes. To declare ordinance 9411 an emergency. Second. Much made second to declare 9411 an emergency. Roll call start with Dr. Schaefer. Yes. Yes. Yes. Item 22. Presentation by the Elren Library Board in support of the Elen Carnegie Library.

Hi, I'm Holly Mace. I am a lifelong resident of Oreno. I serve on the library board. Um, I'm an avid reader and patron of the library and its programs and perhaps most importantly the mother of three young readers and active participants in the library's programs as well. Um, I come behalf on the board today. I have a letter that I'm going to give you all and just we're just wanting to express our concern regarding the regarding the hiring freeze and the um inability to hire a children's librarian after losing ours a couple months ago. Um so I just want to read the letter. Uh, dear mayor and members of the city council, on behalf of the Elino Carnegie Library Board, we are writing to express our concern regarding the decision to leave the librarian the children's librarian position unfilled at this time. We recognize and respect the city's responsibility to manage personnel decisions within the constraints of the municipal budget. We also appreciate the ongoing support the city has provided the library system and its role in serving the Eleno community. However, the board is concerned about the impact this vacancy is having and will continue to have on library services that directly support our children, families, and early literacy develop literacy development in our community. The position has historically played a central role in planning and delivering children's programming, supporting early literacy initiatives and school readiness, coordinating outreach with local schools and educators, providing a safe and structured environment for youth engagement in the library, and assisting families in acing age appropriate educational resources. Children's services are not a small portion of the library's operations. They represent a substantial share of the overall usage and community engagement. So, a few stats. Um, pro children's programs account for approximately 80% of all annual

programs. Children's titles represent roughly 46% of monthly materials selected by staff. The children's floor accounts for approximately 39% of total library visits. Um, children's materials make up roughly 63% of overall circulation and families represent approximately 76% of summer program attendees. Without a dedicated professional in this role, we are concerned about a few things. um reduced availability and consistency for ongoing programs such as story time, um school age children, programs such as art lab after school, coordinating programs with local partners such as the cooking classes, the hands-on workshops that they do, and other similar activities, and all the themed activities within the children's area that our library has done such a fantastic job with lately. Um, we're also concerned about increased strain on the existing staff, diminished capacity for outreach to schools and other early literacy initiatives, and potential decline in engagement among one of the library's largest user groups. Um, so we're also concerned about broader operational and financial consequences with continued understaffing. If the library is unable to meet its maintenance of effort, it risks losing state funding from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. This includes approximately 13,000 annually as well as access to grants and other services um that the state provides. Um in addition, staffing shortages may make it increasingly difficult to maintain the public service hours that are required by Oklahoma statute based on community population size and could create further challenges for compliance and continued service to residents. We are particularly concerned about long-term implications for early literacy, youth engagement, and the sustainability of library operations if this gap in services continues. We respectfully request that the city

reconsider this decision as it currently stands in the proposed uh 2627 budget and evaluate the importance of restoring this position as part of its final budget deliberations. We understand that the city has now um plans to hire a seasonal position to help the library throughout the summer um with summer reading. We ask um that hiring a full-time children's librarian is placed as a high priority if and when the city is able to remove that hiring freeze. If that's not possible within the next year, then we would ask that that seasonal position recur in the coming years as well. So the library board remains committed to working collaborative collaboratively with the city to identify a sustainable path forward that balances fiscal responsibility with continued delivery delivery of highquality library services. We believe that strong library programming for children is an investment in the long-term educational and social health of El Reno community. We appreciate your time and consideration and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Brings us to item 23. Discussion consideration possible action regarding resolution number 26-053. a resolution to nominate a candidate to fill an open position on the board of trustees of the Oklahoma Municipal Retirement Fund representing district 6 for a 5-year term beginning October 1st, 2026 through October 1st, 2031.

Second. Motion made and seconded to nominate Cammy Brookshshire. Roll call starting with Councilwoman Nether. Yes. Yes.

Yes. I'm 24. Discussion, consideration, action, and/or possible amendments regarding resolution number 26-054, resolution of support for nomination to the district 8 seat on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Municipal League. the district 8 seat is open and and they're accepting nominations for the seat. It's central Oklahoma basically. I think that from a staff standpoint, we have pretty good coverage and a lot of statewide boards, CMAO, Tim's on the Lindsay's on a slew of boards and um so and we just nominated Cammy to be on OPMRF. Um this is uh it's eligible for mayor and council members as well. So there's anybody on the council that would be interested in throwing their name in the hat. I think what the the sequence of events will be there'll be nominations probably several from central Oklahoma and then it'll come back for a a vote to all of the cities. So this is just the nominating stage of throwing a name in the hat.

Have you heard anyone that's wanting to serve that I know and the nominations are open till Monday, June 1st. So, and and you don't have to nominate anybody just available. We were all looking at you, Amy. I don't know if you know if you felt it.

So So if you say no action, then I would second that. Have to have a motion. If there is a there's no action. Okay.

Raises reports. Uh, mayor's report. Well, weather at Burger Day was, you couldn't ask for better weather. Um, I know the crowd at noon was I've never seen more people in downtown a long time. Car showed was big. I just want to um thank everybody that helped participate in that and serve help the historic downtown um foundation help with that. This is extremely important event for Eleno. Um, and it kicks off our summer, you know, tour basically of events with small town weekend coming up here in a few weeks and and um it was just a great day. Um, I had fun. I didn't have to sit in a dunk tank this year. I looked for it because but I didn't I guess I didn't look hard enough for them to find it. So pe people people said that they would help me find it next year. So we'll see maybe next year. Um I know the budget um you know or sales tax is flat and all that and it's it's nobody likes to have freezes different things. I wish sales tax was better and you know hope and pray that it gets better and it can. I mean, just a slight uptick in our sales tax uh things locally change our budget numbers pretty drastically. Have we faced a lot tougher budgets than this? Absolutely. I mean, if you look back at um through COVID years and all that, I mean, we were running four and a half million dollar deficit um per year uh and then the next year and then things, you know, turned around. Um, you look at our five-year average of of last five years in income. Income is slowly kind of inching up, but it's not

as fast as unfortunately as our inflation and and our cost and things have gone up. But, uh, that can change. You know, Elen's been tied heavily to oil field and different things. I mean, we've diversified a lot of things, but we're still uh tied to that. And you know, you would think as with oil prices and different things up um there would be more drilling, but drilling has been pretty slow. We've been fortunate southwest Canadian county out around the airport and on different properties that the city of El Reno has royalty in to to be drilling, but I know you get to western Oklahoma, you know, a lot of these areas that typically have a lot of drilling, it's been pretty flat. Natural gas is very flat. Um, oil is high. Um, bounce around. Some of it's activity in the Middle East, but uh um so I don't know, but we're all going to do the best we can to provide the services to the community um that need to be provided. I mean, people have called me wondering about summer reading program and all that and I said absolutely we're going to provide it. We'll find a way to provide it. I know you know library board and all that is concerned about the children's librarian but you look at staff library you know precoid we've got you know as much staff pre on our precoid as we did so we'll get the kids read too whether I' I've been up there before and read to the you know kids if if if one of us from the council once a once a month once a week whatever needs to step up there and redo the kids. I mean, I challenge us all to do that. I mean, it's a fun activity. I I did that a year or two ago and it was fun. So, I know you look at I mean, our grass

mowing. You look at the uh our parks department, street departments, they're taking on a lot of mowing. Airport's taking on a lot of mowing. Um they're doing excellent jobs ma rightways cleaning them up and and um it's just you know budgets are tight and whether it's city budget family budgets um whatever it's just you know tight time you look at the agriculture industry you know wheat was up 45 cents today there is not going to be a wheat crop in not just western Oklahoma we're blessed right here in Canadian county there'll be some fields that are decent most of them are not going to be won't even county average. But you look at western Oklahoma, western Kansas, um I mean, you got wheat over $7 a bushel. Well, there's a reason there's not going to be any of it. And it's going to get higher. Now, I'm not telling you to go long in the futures market. So, trading futures, that's your own risk. But, uh but anyway, is higher today. So, great burger day. Um I thought and um that's all I've got. Anybody else?

Could not wor.

Thank you, David. Just few time to hit it, but the small town weekend is coming up here in a couple weeks. It's on Route 66, so it's it should be a bigger event. And I think you guys have done a good job with getting it planned for this year.

I wanted to say thank you publicly. Um the the library board, um a lot of times people volunteer for those jobs and you don't know what you're getting yourself into. and and so when when you guys show up and work hard and you've put this effort into it and you deeply concerned about it, it means something. And obviously it means a lot to to me personally and my family because we've been big users of the library through the years. Um and I agree. I I echo your sentiment, Steve. um you know if we need to to pitch in or however we need to do that. It's it is a concern and we and we and we are concerned along with you and and we want to see it succeed and we certainly don't want to see it take a step back. It's a beautiful library. It's a beautiful building. It's a great place and we've spent money to make it better and you know it's something that we want to we want to showcase and show off and and for for now and for future generations. So, thank you for coming and sharing today and and showing that you care about that. That's a that's a benefit. It's another benefit. It's another feather in our cap as a as a community.

So, as of right now, we have uh trail construction underway at Sunset Trail, Lake El Reno. That's um to remind everybody, that's part of a grant program through the recreational trails program. We received $300,000 to extend that trail. Um on the uh recreation authority agenda tonight, there was the approval of the um grant agreement for the next phase. So that'll be phase two is under construction. Phase three uh the grant agreement's been approved. It's for another $300,000 to continue extending that uh trail around the lake. So uh we're doing um trying to do a lot with a little as far as leveraging every dollar that we have. um you know dollars are are scarce. So we've got to use what we have to to leverage to gain other dollars. So that's 8020 grant program. Those are the kinds of things that we need to continue to pursue and and we've done a we've been successful at doing that. So

phase will be all the way right for it's pretty close. Yeah. Yeah. I think it depends on inflation right there.

How much does that concrete cost? So it has gone up since phase one. So Okay. Uh, we already went over the sales tax numbers. Uh, on use tax, we brought in $314,66.80, which exceeds budget by almost $100,000 for use tax. So, that is definitely some good news. Uh, in the hotel Moto tax, we saw a rebound. We brought in $46,75953, which exceeds our monthly budget target of about by about $10,000. We are up to 822 active service lines. Um we are starting to add some uh phone customers. Uh we've had a few voice customers added and we've had uh our first commercial customers coming online next week. Uh we officially have a dedicated internet customer um which we're excited about that. And then the guys have worked hard in the last couple weeks installing nearly 20 uh 20,000 feet of mainline fiber through Sailor's Crossing and then out here on uh Foreman. So we're we're just trying to get a bunch of mainline in. We'll start pulling access fiber here soon. Our total customers as of today

822. So soon to have 823 as soon as they're get some equipment in for me. They're wait they're waiting on it. My my house is kind of unique and has its challenges and stuff. So it's 100 years old this year. So anyway, all right. Second. Motion made and second to all those in favor I. Hi. We're done. Good job.