City Council - Regular Meeting

the September 28th, 2026 meeting of the Storer City Council. This time I will call the meeting to order and I'll ask that you all stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

All right, first up tonight we have a proclamation in recognition of National Careers in Construction Month. I know we've got several folks here from the North Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, including Executive Director Rebecca Eastham. I'm gonna read the proclamation and then I'm gonna ask Rebecca if you wanna come up and say a few words, maybe introduce your folks, that would be great. Whereas the City of Stillwater recognizes that a healthy and successful community depends on quality housing, a skilled workforce, and dedicated individuals who design, build, maintain, and improv

All right, councilors, that takes us to item four on the agenda, which is the consent docket. Several items on the consent docket, lots of easements. Questions, comments, or action on the consent docket? Second. We have a motion and a second to approve consent. Please vote. We'll vote a five to zero. The consent docket is approved. Takes us down to public hearings. Item 7. 7A has received public comment for the closing of 17.62 feet of Husband Street right-of-way adjacent to the property located at 228 South Husband Street, CC-26-172. Do we have good notice on this item?

Councilors, any questions for staff? Hearing none, I'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone here to comment on this item?

Thank you. Anyone else here to speak on this public hearing? Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing. Henry, is there a staff recommendation?

I move approval of the staff recommendation.

We have a motion and a second to approve item A. Please vote. Items approved with a vote of 5-0. It takes us to item B, which is the same project at 232 South Husband Street, CC-26-173. Did we have good notice on all of these items?

Do you want to say more about this one, or do we want to just jump to the building here?

Counselors, any questions for staff on this item? I'll open the public hearing. Anyone here to speak on this one? If you're here to speak on this one and not the last one, I'm really going to wonder why. All right. Seeing nobody, I'll close the public hearing. Henry, I assume that, well, give us your recommendation.

Motion to accept staff recommendations. Second.

We have a motion and a second to accept item B. Please vote. That item is approved with a vote of 5-0. Item C refers to 236 South Husband Street. Any questions for staff on this portion? I'll open the public hearing. Is anyone here to speak on this item? I'll close the public hearing. Henry, what's your recommendation?

Councilors? I move approval of staff recommendation. We have a motion and a second to approve item C. Please vote. With a vote of 5-0, item C is approved. Item D is 240 South Husband Street. Councilors, questions for staff on this item? Open the public hearing. Anyone here for this public hearing item? We'll close the public hearing. Let me guess, your recommendation is the same except for 240 South Husband Street? That's a good guess. Councilors?

Motion to approve staff's recommendation. Second.

Motion to second. Please vote. With a vote of 5 to 0, item D is also approved. That takes us to item E, which is receive public comment for closing the southern 2 and 1 half feet of an electric easement on property located at 1017 South Shumard Drive, CC-26-176. Henry.

Counselors, any questions? Hearing none, I'll open public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak on this item? All you guys are here and nobody wants to talk to us. We'll close the public hearing. Henry, what's the recommendation?

Motion to accept staff recommendations. Second.

We have a motion and a second to accept item E. Please vote. With a vote of 5-0, item E is accepted as well. Isn't meeting process and procedure fun? Item 8, general orders. Transportation program update. No action will be taken on this item. Mr. Millis. Good evening.

We're happy you're here. This is one of my favorite subjects.

Those are all different little sidewalks in different places?

Counselors, questions? What we talked about before the meeting about the fact that you're trying to speed projects up and get them done more quickly once the dollars are allocated by council. Can you talk about some of the things you're doing to make that happen?

end of 28 or into 29 and part of that planning also is spreading the projects around towns number one all parts of town get some coverage but number two every time you make a turn you're not running into another roadblock which can be really frustrating for people trying to get around town right yes

And I presume part of the planning also is making sure we get projects done so that when Highway 51 gets reconstructed by the state, the bypass routes aren't all tied up with construction by us.

Perfect. Thank you. I'm done with my question.

Bill, if someone wanted to look more closely at the pie chart, is it out on the city website where they can look at it?

It might be interesting to have on our website if people are so inclined. And I would also just say thank you for the update. I know roads are always one of the things that we get a lot of suggestions for. And so I think this is a really good reminder of all the things that we are working on, that we have a plan. And it's not necessarily, I know I drive down a road and go, gosh, we should be doing something about this. But it's just because it's the road I drive down every day. And to know that there is a plan that looks at why we're doing which roads when, I think is good for people to know.

I think along those lines, too, I know when we have the opportunity to talk about our transportation plan, it is really helpful to kind of illuminate the pavement management plan and what that means. One of the questions I get often or comments that I get often is, Why are we working on this road right now when this road is clearly in a much worse state of repair? And I try really hard to go through the payment management plan. There's a big plan, and we look at all the things, and sometimes it makes a lot of sense to maintain a certain condition of a road when we don't have the funds necessar

Yeah, I think it's hard if your paths through town are down one of those really challenging roads, it can be hard to feel that, to be patient with that. But I do try to explain it when I can. But I think a lot of people don't always understand kind of the rhyme and reason.

Just on the pie chart, just to kind of walk through this, because I think it's sometimes hard to understand. You've got the budget revenue for the transportation sales tax is $10.6 million. That's what we estimate we're going to take in in that one penny of sales tax this fiscal year. Yes, sir. We're going to appropriate, we think, we're going to appropriate over $21 million in projects this year, which means we're spending $10 extra million, which is coming out of funds that are sitting in the transportation account from prior years, correct? Exactly. Okay, so do we know what the current... b

And that's of non-appropriated money still sitting in that account. Not just not spent money.

Well, I mean, if there's 25 and we're spending 10 of it, we're appropriating 10 of it, then it would make sense there would be 15 unappropriated.

And then the $12.8 million number is how many of those dollars are actually going to get a check written that says, here's your money, you're done with your project. I think it's important for folks to understand that all of this stuff in the pie chart was a lot of stuff. There's a lot of projects going on. There's a lot of different things that happen in a year. You spend $12.8 million and... They're still so much more in the back in the bank or, you know, in both in the bank to spend and on the list to do and work to do. Yes. And so I think that's also one of the things that sometimes it tak

of the budget income of the transportation sales tax fund.

And that's one piece of a road that really isn't that heavily traveled. I mean, it needed to be fixed for a long time, but it's not exactly one of our major thoroughfares. So I think helping people to understand the scale of some of these projects and the cost that it takes is important as well.

Yeah, I think for a while when we first started talking more comprehensively about our transportation plan, at some point somebody had thrown out a number for repair of a lane mile of road. I wonder how much that's changed since the last time we had a number.

still rather see it on the street oh you will do three years absolutely any further questions for Bill or the rest of the stuff just echo yeah thanks for all the work that you and your team and and all the city staff do on these these are massive projects tons of stuff going on at any given time citizen involvement is really appreciated as well and hopefully folks recognize This work happens, right? I mean, it's definitely hard sometimes when that same street you're driving on again, but there is a lot going on when it comes to transportation. So thank you. There is.

Okay, counselors. Item nine is ordinances. We have several ordinances based on the easement closings from earlier. We'll start with ordinance 3622 on first reading. Ordinance closing the southern two and a half feet of an electric easement at property located at 1017 South Shumard Drive.

I move to advance ordinance 3622 to second reading. With a motion and a second, please vote.

With a vote of 5-0, ordinance 3622 is advanced to second reading. On first read, ordinance 3623, an ordinance closing 17.62 feet of right-of-way abutting Husband Street and adjacent to property addressed as 232 South Husband Street.

Motion to advance ordinance number 3623 to second read. Second.

A motion and a second, please vote. With a vote of 5-0, ordinance 3623 is advanced to second reading. On first reading, ordinance 3624, an ordinance closing 17.62 feet of right-of-way and letting Husband Street, an adjacent property, addressed as 228 South Husband Street.

Motion to advance ordinance 3624 to second read.

Second. With a motion and a second to advance the ordinance, please vote. With a vote of 5-0, ordinance 3624 is advanced to second reading. On first reading, we have ordinance 3625, an ordinance closing 17.62 feet of right-of-way, abutting Husband Street and adjacent to property addressed as 240 South Husband Street. I move to advance ordinance 3625 to second reading. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. With a vote of 5-0, ordinance 3625 is advanced to second reading. And on first reading, we have ordinance 3626, an ordinance closing 17.62 feet of right-of-way abutting Husband Street and adjacent to property addressed as 236 South Husband Street.

Motion to advance ordinance number 3626. Second. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Please vote. With a vote of 5-0, ordinance 3626 is advanced to second reading. Reports from the officers and the board. Ms. Carnley?

Heading to an OSU home game, how could you not be heading to an OSU home game right now? Make game day easier with the free park and ride shuttle service offered through a partnership between Oklahoma State University Athletics, the city of Stillwater, and Visit Stillwater. Shuttle service begins three hours before kickoff and runs every 30 minutes. The pickup and drop-off location is at 7th Avenue and Lewis Street. Park in downtown, grab some food or drinks, and enjoy a convenient ride to the game. Save the date for OSU Homecoming, October 23rd through the 24th. Walk-arounds will be Friday, O

It's amazing how many more people are interested in game days. I know.

It does not take much to rile up our base.

If you're looking for something to do, check out playstillwater.com. With multiple parks and community resources, there's plenty to explore and enjoy in Stillwater. Go to playstillwater.com to discover parks, walking and hiking trails, playgrounds, fishing, disc golf, pickleball events, and more. As we head into the fall, also a quick reminder that our splash pads will close for the season beginning Monday, October 5th. This includes the splash pads at Boomer... Boomer Park, Southern Woods Park, and Block 34.

Thank you, Councilor. That place to order website is really great because you can just pick like, oh, I want to go play pickleball, and it'll pull up the different places you can do that. I love the start with the activity idea at placetoworder.com.

Councilor Clark. Election day is coming up. The 2026 general election is Tuesday, November 3, with polls open from 7 AM to 7 PM. In addition to candidates for federal, state, county, and local offices, Oklahoma voters will consider two statewide questions, state question 845, which deals with the Judicial Nomination Commission, and state question 847, which deals with property tax growth rates. All registered voters are eligible to vote on the state questions. Please take time to review the questions before you vote. Now is a good time to make sure you're registered. Find your polling place an

Great team at the Election Board. Council Hardin.

On Saturday, October 17, the City's Watershed Quality Department will have its biannual Household Hazardous Waste Collection event. The event will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Convenience Center at 807 South Perkins. Stillwater residents can drop off household hazardous waste for free, including oil-based paints, pesticides, herbicides, household cleaning products, pool chemicals, unused pharmaceuticals, and more. The collection center will remain open for regular trash and recycling. Trailers and commercial waste are not accepted. For a complete list of accepted items and more informa

Excellent. Thank you. I will remind you that there's always something happening at Block 34. If you missed the Halfway to St. Patty's Fest event this last weekend, you've got plenty more opportunities. You can join us this weekend, Saturday, October 3rd, for Oktoberfest from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with live music, local vendors, food trucks, games, and family fun. Then on Friday, October 9th, enjoy Cinema 34 featuring Hocus Pocus at 8.30 p.m. Before the movie, Stillwater Electric Utility will celebrate 125 years of service with a look at its history, bucket trucks, and light-up wands for the kids.

A motion and a second to adjourn. City Council, please vote. With a vote of five to zero, the Storter City Council is now adjourned. I will call to order the Storer Utilities Authority meeting for September 28, 2026. Trustees, questions, comments, or action on the consent docket? I move approval of consent.

We have a motion and a second to approve consent. Please vote.

With a vote of 5-0, the SUA consent docket is approved. If there are no reports from the officers in the board, we can have a motion to adjourn.

Second. We have a motion and a second to adjourn. SUA, please vote. With a vote of five to zero, Storer Utilities Authority is now adjourned. This time I will call to order the Storer Economic Development Authority meeting for September 28, 2026. Trustees, questions, comments, or action on the consent docket?

Second. We have a motion and a second to approve consent. Please vote. With a vote of 5-0, that consent docket is also approved. Any reports from the officers aboard here, or a motion to adjourn? Second. We have a motion and a second to adjourn. Sita, please vote. With a vote of 5-0, the Stored Economic Development Authority is now adjourned, and that concludes our meetings for the evening.