City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. We will call to order the Muscogi Municipal Authority meeting for February the 23rd, 2026. Before we get into tonight's business, if you'll stand, we have the invocation by Councelor Melanie Krampton, followed by a flag salute. Heavenly Father, we come before you today thanking you for this day that you have made. We thank you for allowing us to celebrate you and all that you've done in this Lenton season. We pray that you would continue to bless the city of Muscogi. Bless our decision making. Give us your wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the things that you would have us to do to carry out your business here in the city of Muscogee. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen.

Attention, salute, pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Oklahoma flag. The flag of the state of Oklahoma all people municipal authority agenda item number one, please. I need Sorry, bro. Mayor Patrick Kale, Deputy Mayor Derek Reed here, Jamie Stout here, Tracy H here,

Shirley Hilton Flannry here, Melody Cranford here, Dan Hall, I'm here. Tom Martanddale, Mike Brley here. Will we do the not payment? Item number one, please. Consider approval of special call MMA minutes of February the 2nd, 2026, or take other necessary action. Reviewing the minutes of the additions or corrections to our MMA minutes? Motion to approve. Second it. Have a motion and a second to approve our MMA minutes. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martale. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes. Item number one passes. Item number two, please. Consider approval of MMA claims for all city departments for the month ending January 31, 2026 or take other necessary action. Mr. Francis. Uh, yes. Before you have the claims for all city departments ending January 31st. Um, I'd answer any questions if you have any. We do recommend approval. Any questions or discussions on the MMA claims? Move for approval. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martell, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Item number one passes. Item number two passes. And that completes our MMA agenda. Go into the Muscogi Reed Development Authority. Calling that meeting to order. Roll call please. Mayor Patrick Kale. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed here. Jamie Stout here. Tracy H here. Shirley Hilton Flannry here. Melody Cranford here. Dan Hall here. Tom Martale here. Mike Broly here. Item number one please. Consider approval of special call Muscogi Redevelopment Authority minutes of February the 2nd, 2026 or take other necessary action. Muscogi Redevelopment Authority minutes. Any discussion? Second.

Have a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Further discussion. Roll call, please. Mike Broly? Yes. Tom Martanddale? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melanie Cranford? Yes. Charlie Hilton Flannry? Yes. Tracy H? Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Item number one passes. Item number two, please consider approval of MSG Redevelopment Authority claims for the period of January 17th, 2026 through February 13th, 2026 or take other necessary action. Mr. Francis, thank you, sir. Uh, you have the MR claims in front of you for the period of January 17th through February 13th. I answer any questions you have. We do recommend approval.

Motion to approve. Second it. I have a motion in a second to approve our EMR claims. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Charlie Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Item number two passes. And that concludes our Muscogi Redevelopment Authority meeting. Now call into order the Muscogi City Council meeting for February 23rd, 2026. Roll call, please. Mayor Patrick Kale, Deputy Mayor Derek Reed here, Jamie Stout here, Tracy H here, Shirley Hilton Flannry here, Melton Cranford here, Dan Hall here, Tom Martell, Mike Broly

here. I need a motion to approve the mayor's absence. So move second. We have a motion and a second to approve the absence of the mayor. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Deputy Mayor Jerick Reed. Yes. Before us, we have the minutes for uh January the 12th as well as a special call session for February the 2nd. And need action on those minutes, please. Move to approve.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve our minutes. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martondelle, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Thank you. Uh before us is the consent agenda with items 1 through six. We can either approve one of these items, any of these items for discussion. Approve by consent agenda as presented. Motion to approve. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second to approve our consent agenda items number one through six. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Bolley, yes. Tom Martell. Dan Hall,

yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Item number seven, please hold a public hearing and consider approval of ordinance number 4285A, a request to reszone the property located at 3101 and 3137 Inman Street from R1 Single Family Residential to C3 Regional Commercial and if approved, authorized staff to update the official zoning map of the city. I will at this time call to open the public hearing for this item. Miss Winkl.

Yes, thank you. Um, good evening. The applicant has requested a reszone of this property uh located at 3101 and 3137 Emmen Street from R1 single family to C3 regional commercial. The proposed use of the property is going to be for commercial development. This request does conform to the current 2025 Muscogi comprehensive plan that we just adopted in the future land use map. The area in question are the two parcels that are closest to 32nd Street that are currently R1 residential. And the future land use map is the map that is on the right. And you can see that it is um designated to be regional commercial. So it does conform. Staff recommends approval. I can answer any questions that you guys might have.

Questions? This time we will close our public hearing. No one has signed up to speak on this item. Any questions or discussion from the council? Move for approval. Seconded. I have a motion and a second to approve this item. Further discussion. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed,

yes. Item number seven passes. Item number eight, please. Consider approval of ordinance number 4291A repealing chapter 37 elections article 1 campaign finances section 37-1 short title section 37-2 filing requirement section 37-3 definitions section 37-4 duties of city clerk section 37-5 contribution and expenditure requirements providing for codification repealer separability and setting an effective today or take other necessary action. Thank you, Miss Benhammer.

Uh, thank you, Deputy Mayor. This ordinance 4291A strikes out the provisions that we have requiring that the candidates file their campaign contribution notices and all their financial records with the city clerk. It's in uh violation actually of state law and all those funding reports and the financials are reported to the state ethics committee now. So, this just gets that off of our books. Move for approval. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve this agenda item. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, Dan Hall, yes. Melanie Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed,

yes. Item number eight passes. Item number nine, please. Consider approval of ordinance number 4292A, amending the city of Muscogi code of ordinances, chapter 82, utilities, article 2, charges and procedures, division 3, water service charges, by amending section 82-71, rates generally subsection A by providing for repealer, severability, and setting an effective date or take other necessary action. Mr. Ry,

uh, this is my item. Uh as we discussed at the public works and finance meeting, this is not a rate increase. What this is doing is raising the uh thresholds for household income guidelines to be eligible for our disabled and senior rates. Uh we will be going for a single f or single person household, we'll be going from $1,200 to $1,300 a month. And for a twoerson household, we'll go from $1,600 to $1,800 a month. Um, you can they can apply for these reduced rates at the uh revenue division in city hall on the first floor. Excuse me. Uh, I'll be happy to answer your questions, but staff does recommend approval. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Tracy?

Yeah, I just have a kind of a clarification question. So, this is allowing more people to take advantage of that program. Right. It has because of inflation, it has raised the income requirements. It's it's added more money that they're eligible to have into their household and they can still apply. Perfect. Thank you. Mhm. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Second it. I have a motion and a second to approve item number nine. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed,

yes. Item number nine passes. Item number 10, please. Consider approval of a contract renewal between the city of Muscogee and Midwest Employers Casualty Company for excess workers compensation insurance in the amount of $118,551 or take other necessary action. Miss Bowden Hammer.

Thank you. This is a contract that's handled through the city attorney's office. We are self-insured up to a certain point for workers compensation over and above that amount that we are self-insured. We have to have another company come in to cover us for excess costs. Um, we have been with this company, United Safety and Claims for a number of years. They always give us the lowest rate. And the next person under them to give was uh, Safety National, they require $150,000 minimum. And so, they refused to even look at our files or give us a quote because we we'd already beat that price, basically. So, we'd like to stay with United Safety Claims. They're they're great to work with. and they've given us an option of instead of a one-year contract, a two-year contract locked in at $118,551 a year for the two-year period. So, we'd like to lock that rate in and get council approval. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions for Miss Bowdenhammer? I move for approval. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve agenda item number 10. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Item number 10 passes. Item number 11, please. Consider approval to accept the lowest and best bid from Tonto Construction in the amount of $1349 per cubic yard for the water treatment plant lagoon number two sludge removal and disposal or take other necessary action. Mr. Reed.

Yes. I've got a quick PowerPoint. Want to take the moment to explain kind of what this project actually is. So the lagoons themselves are located at the water treatment plant. There's a series of three lagoons. The water settles in one. The solids go to the bottom. It moves to two, moves to three, and then out to the river. It's a filtration so that we know we're putting the best possible water back into the river. Where this water comes from is when we clean our filters. It's a backwash process that goes out. So it does take uh those filters do occasionally uh get dirty and we clean them out and they go to the ponds. This is a raw material that comes from raw water. Um, so it's all naturally occurring things. Uh, but it gets concentrated enough that ODQ keeps an eye on how these things are disposed of. So it is regulated, but it's not hazardous and it is not sewage. Uh, so the location of disposal, Dan Leatherman, who owns Tonto, has a permitted site uh for disposal. This site was available for all biders. Uh we have sampled B site and determine it's allowable for disposal, specifically land application where it's discked into the ground. The city is actively pursuing a variance from ODQ to allow for stacking of the material at the Port of Muscogee where it can be used as fill material. We still haven't heard back from ODQ. We've been chasing that for several months now. The side of the disposal is the little green square. The streets over there, that last street that has a uh name on it is 74th Street. So, it's pretty far west of town. It's about 11 miles away from the plant. Uh the bids were taken. We bid the 11mi hall and then we bid an alternate for if we get that ODQ approval at the plant. So, uh the lowest bid for the 11mi hall was 1349 from Tanto and then the lowest bid for the sub onem hall was also from Tanto at 646. The city is accepting the

bid for 1349 from Tonto with council approval which can be change ordered down to 646 if given approval by ODQ which would be ideal if it happened but we don't want to count on that so we want to accept that uh 1349 bid. We received six total bids for the 11mi hall ranging from 3650 to 1349 and then we also received six of the alternate bids for the sub one mile hall ranging from 3650 to 646. The city budgets this annually for 100,000 a year. This pond has been uh extra full, so it's going to take a little more than that. We have that funding available. Um we will have a not to exceed for that 250,000 which we think will get the whole pond cleaned. Um this is a necessary task to stay in compliance with ODQ and ensure we're putting good water back into the river. With that, I can answer any questions. We want to uh seek your approval on this and uh support project.

So my only question and I think I asked this through the city manager too is the uh the biggest difference between that 1349 all the way up to 36.50.

What what is the variance here that these guys one guy thinks it's going to cost him this much and one of them thinks it's going to cost this much. So there's a lot of reasons for that. Some of these guys are not from Oklahoma. Uh so there'd be a lot of mobilization cost built in there. And some people they do this uh with the intent to make more money on this and some people do it with the intent to make less money. You know, at the end of the day, I can't tell you all the reasons why there's such a variance, but I can tell you most of it is the mobilization. And uh we think it's pretty good rate from Tonto based off historical and comparative

and we don't look for any like uh change orders on this to go up. Not up down hopefully. No, there's enough season. All right. So, all right. I want to hold y'all to that. Move for approval. Second. I have a motion in a second to approve agenda item number 11. Any further discussion? Brok, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martell, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy Husse, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Green, yes. Item number 11 passes. Item number 12, please.

Consider approval of the appointment of M. parks to the airport board to serve a 4-year term beginning March 1, 2026 and ending February 28, 2030 filling the expiring term of Gary Wright or take other necessary action. Council La. Yes, this is my appointment to the board, airport board. Uh Max Parks has been uh involved in several activities out at the airport and it seems like he's going to be a good fit and I move for approval. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve agenda item number 12. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martandale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melanie Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout,

yes. Deputy Mayor J. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, excuse me. Item number 12 passes. Item number 13. Consider approval of the appointment of Kevin Anths to the wellness initiative beginning March 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2026, filling the unexpired term of Ashley Lively or take other necessary action. M council and this is Mr. Anths. Uh guys, we talked about trying to fill boards and stuff. This one was a hard one to feel. Everybody goes, "Hey, that sounds like one I want to be on." And they started reading it and they didn't want to. Then they go, "Nope, that's not for me." Well, Mr. Anthis stepped up and he said, "Hey, I'll do it." And I'm proud proud to have him and nominate him and I move for approval.

Second. Have a motion and a second to approve agenda item number 13. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Item number 13 passes. Item number 14, consider approval of the appointment of Gary Underwood to the Parks and Recreation Board to serve a 4-year term beginning April 1, 2026 and ending March 31, 2030, filling the expiring term of Bren Stratton or take other necessary action. Captain St.

Yes. Uh Gary's been interested in serving on our parks board for a while now and he's involved on the softball leagues as his kids play. And so, um, my appointment is to approve him to serve on this board. I think he'll be a great asset. And I move for approval. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve agenda item number 14. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Item number 14 passes. Item number 15,

consider approval of the appointment of Jamie Coburn Spear to the Parks and Recreation Board to serve a 4-year term beginning April 1, 2026 and ending March 31, 2030, filling the expiring term of Linda Sters or take other necessary action. This is my uh appointment and uh Jamie is one that needs no u explanation in our community. She's very active in the community. A uh mom in the community has uh donated a lot of time out at the hatbox complex um with the agriculture shows um with her um involvement in our community. I think that she'll make a great parks uh board member. So that is my um appointment and I make that motion.

Second. I have a second to approve this uh motion and a second. Any further discussion for 15? Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martanddale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reid. Yes. Item number 15 passes. Item number 16. Consider approval of the reappointment of Ren Stratton to the Parks and Recreation Board to serve a full 4-year term beginning April 1, 2026 and ending March 31, 2030 or take other necessary action.

Council Broly. Yes. This is my uh appointment to the parks and recreation board. Uh Ren has been extremely active in the community for years and I move that we uh reappoint her to the parks and recreation board. Second. Have a motion in a second for item number 16. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes, Deputy Mayor Jerick Reed.

Yes. The um item number 16 passes. So now it's time for the public comments. Before I go into the public comments, I need to recognize the young people, our future leaders who are in the building. I think these are the teen center kids. Is that correct? YBC.

YBC YBC. If the young leaders will stand so we can recognize you guys. ALL RIGHT, THOSE OUR FUTURE WARD ONE, TWO, THREE, and four count there as well. Thank you guys for coming. Now for public comments, three minutes to speak. The first person that has signed up to speak is Miss Nina Ground. Second call from Miss Nina Ground. She's not here. Uh the next person is Miss Sarah Kelly. If you'll come up, you uh just present your name and you have three minutes.

Good evening, members of the city council and uh Deputy Mayor Reed. Um and our city manager, Mr. Francis. Hello. Um my name is Sarah Megan Kelly and I am the founder of the International Women's Group of Muscogee. We have been hosting a fashion show uh to celebrate international cultures and celebrate women's history month. Um and this is our fourth year. So we have um last year we had 10 designers in boutiques. It was a 2-hour show. We had Fox 23 News um at our event and it was a great success. Um this year um this is a benefit fundraiser for the Ruth Timmans Cancer Foundation and also the Women Who Care Relay for Life organization affiliated with the American Cancer Society. Um, when I was an intern with Oki Country Radio back in 2012, I had attended a women who care fashion show in the old glory days when the Arrowhead Mall was alive and well and we had a Dillards and the clothes were provided by Dillards for breast cancer survivors to model the clothes. Um, that was where the light bulb kind of just kind of went off in my head and I was like, you know, I like this idea, the organization of everybody having a lunch, watching a fashion show, enjoying seeing the ladies model. And I just, you know, I wanted to be able to give back to my community by creating this, but also celebrating International Women's Day because this is the weekend of it. It's actually um the day falls on um Sunday, but we will be celebrating this on March 7th and I have a few uh sponsorship applications on hand if anybody um is interested in wanting to be a sponsor. I'm also looking for

members in the community if they want to be a model. So, if any of the city council ladies want to model, um we have three clothing boutiques local um that we will be selecting clothes for and we also have uh three Native American uh fashion designers that we will be showcasing clothing and also Hispanic uh clothing as well. So, this is going to take place March 7th at the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center. And I would just like to ask for the city council support. And if anybody wants to be a sponsor, feel free to reach out to me. Thank you. Thank you.

I think Dan is no sign up to tomorrow. So, make sure you get in touch with Dan Hall after after it's over. All right. Item number 17, please.

Consider an executive sess session to discuss and take possible action on the following. A. Pursuant to section 307B4, Title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening in executive session to discuss a potential lawsuit and if necessary, take appropriate action in open session. B. Pursuant to section 307B4, Title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss workers compensation claim number 10-25-9 and if necessary, take appropriate action in open session. C. Pursuant to section 307B4, Title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss workers compensation claim number 37010-25-8 and if necessary take appropriate action and open session de pursuant to section 307B4, title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss workers compensation claim number CC3-2025- 02097E and if necessary take appropriate action in open session. E pursuant to section 307B1 paddle 25 Oklahoma statutes consider convening an executive session to discuss the employment and evaluate the performance of city manager Kendall Francis and if necessary take appropriate action in open session.

Executive session. I need a motion. So move have a motion and a second to go into executive session. Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. We would now consider ourselves an executive session. If you guys can excuse us at this time. I need a motion first of all to return from uh executive session if I could entertain that at this time. We uh return from executive session.

Second. I have a motion and a second that we return from executive session. Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Jerick Reed. Yes. I will now officially call this session back in call this meeting back in session from executive session. Roll call please. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed here. Jamie Stout yes. Tracy H here. Shirley Hilton Flannry here. Melody Cranford here. Dan Hall here. Tom Martanddale here. Mike Broly here. Miss Bowdenhammer.

Thank you. Item 17A pursuant to section 307B4 title 25 Oklahoma statutes. Council did convene an executive session to discuss a potential lawsuit and if necessary to take appropriate action in open session. Uh an appropriate motion would be to direct staff to take the action as discussed in executive session. So move second. Have a motion in the second for 17A. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly. Yes. Tom Martale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. 17A passes. 17B, please.

Pursuant to section 307B4, title 25 Oklahoma statutes, council deconvening executive session to discuss workers compensation compensation claim number 10259. An appropriate motion will be to authorize the settlement as discussed in executive session. Entertain. Move for approval. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve 17B. Any discussion? Ro calloff, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martanddale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melanie Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek, yes. 17B, passes 17 C, please.

Pursuant to section 307 B4, title 25 Oklahoma statutes. Council did convene an executive session to discuss workers compensation claim number 37010-25-8. An appropriate motion would motion would be to authorize the settlement as discussed in executive session. So moved. Second. Have a motion in the second for 17C. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martell, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed,

yes. Item 17 C passes 17D, please. Pursuant to section 307B4, title 25 Oklahoma statutes, council did convene executive session to discuss workers compensation claim number CEC3-2025-02097E. An appropriate motion will be to approve the settlement as discussed in executive session. Move for approval. Second. Thank you. I have a motion and a second to approve 17D. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Tom Martale, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Tracy H. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. 17D passes. 17E. Please.

Pursuant to section 307B1, title 25 Oklahoma statutes. Council did convene an executive session to discuss the employment and evaluate the performance of city manager Kendall Francis. There was no action required on this item. With that being the case, this meeting is now journed.