City Council - Special Meeting

Okay, we're going to call to order the finance committee meeting for March the 9th, 2026. Before we get into tonight's business, Mayor Patrick Kale will make a presentation at this time.

Thank you. Employee of the month. This is Ernie D. of the month of February. Ernie Nton was selected for employee of the month of February. Mr. Nton was nominated because he is very proficient, dependable, and goes above and beyond in his role. Mr. Nton takes pride in what he does and is and is on call 24/7. You can always depend on Mr. Nton and this award is much deserved. Mr. has worked for the city of Muscogee for 12 and a half years starting as an automotive mechanic too and then transferred to public works assuming the role of plant maintenance mechanic one in 2015 where he currently where he is currently Mr. Navy spare time he loves to take his wife on motorcycle trips to Eureka Springs and Hot Springs also builds and repairs computers Mr. N I've heard better things about you than what was in here. So that's a good thing this open. Thank you for your service.

I appreciate the work. Appreciate everybody. If you would join me at this time, if we'll stand and have the invocation followed by a flag salute. Dear Lord, once again, we just come thanking you for blessing us with the gift of another day. Just ask that you would just look upon your city leaders on tonight as we come together, have decisions to make. We want to make sure that everything we do is in your will and in your way. These and many other blessings we ask and thank you for in advance in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Attention. Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Oklahoma. I salute the flag of the state of Oklahoma. The symbols of peace unite all people.

Finance committee agenda item number one. Please consider approval of finance committee minutes of February the 9th, 2026 or take other necessary action. After reviewing the minutes, are there any corrections or additions to our minutes? I move for approval. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve our finance committee minutes. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes. Item number one passes. Item number two, please. Consider approval of claims for all city departments January 31, 2026 through February 27, 2026 or take other necessary action.

Do we have a report from the purchasing committee? Yes, the purchasing committee did meet this afternoon and we approved the claims. I move for approval. Second it. We have a motion and a second to approve our claims list. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes. Item number two passes. Item number three, please. Consider approval to award the contract for the lowest and/or best bid to Cooks Consulting LLC in the amount of $400,000 for the demolition abatement of 26 West Broadway Street, aka 26 East Broadway Street, or take other necessary action. Miss Winkle.

Um, so we are actually asking that this be struck from the record. Um, and I can go into details on that if you would like. You guys need details? Mhm. You want the details on why we're striking this?

I think we're fine. Thank you. Item number four, please. Discuss and consider approval of resolution number 3080, a resolution of the city of Muscogee, amending appendix A pert pertaining to the schedule of fees and charges for open records requests and copies, amending the fees for digital email records and flash drives, adding per hour fees for document searches and legal review and redaction. And amending the fees for city maps pursuant to section 24A title 51 Oklahoma open records act or take other necessary action. Miss Bowdenhammer. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I'm actually going to have my deputy city attorney, Carrie Spencer, present this item.

Thank you, Miss Benhammer. Thank you, mayor, and members of the council. This resolution number 3080 brings our fee schedule in appendix A into compliance with state law and the office of the attorney general based on changes to the statute that took place last year. I'm happy to answer any questions and the staff does recommend approval. Thank you. Any questions? Motion to approve. Second it. I have a motion and a second to approve item number four. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes.

Item number four passes. Item number five, please. Consider approval of the lowest and or best bids for pricing per square yard for asphalt milling service from Ross Construction LLC and laid inplace concrete from good concrete finishing for citywide street maintenance or repair projects for the city for the fiscal year 2026 2027 or take other necessary action. Mr. Riggney,

thank you. So the city solicited bids for uh asphalt milling service. We had three uh bids on this. Uh Ross Construction did have the lowest and best bid. This is a very fair price. This is to assist the city in getting streets milled off. It's not part of the uh zone mill and overlays. This is so a contractor can come in and mill it off and the city can come repave it. Um on the concrete laid in place, these were also solicited. We also have three bids for this. They're are very competitive bids and uh Good Concrete did have the lowest and best bid. Uh these bids are very very fair price and uh be happy to answer any questions if you have them. Otherwise, we recommend approval.

I have a question. Uh when we get a a very very very good bid from a contractor that maybe may be not known so well, do we uh install do we look at what they've done before they pour? Meaning, you know, did they really put in rebar? Did they really do this? Because after it's covered up, it's covered up.

Yes. uh both of these contractors have done uh many many many projects for us in the last 5 years. U so it's not relevant to this case but to answer your question yes we do uh we require pre-qualification for uh a lot of our projects um and we do check references if we're not familiar with the company. Yeah. And and and that's great. Just most importantly I is this uh good is this buddy good? Yes, I'll talk to you later. Questions. Do we have a motion?

Move for approval. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve this agenda item. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale. Yes. Item number five passes. Item number six, please. Consider approval of final payment to Cook Consulting LLC in the amount of $96,71.61 for the North Country Club Civotan Drainage project number 202411 or take other necessary action. Good evening, Mayor Council.

Um, this is final payment for North Country Club Culver project. Uh the project uh included a structurally reinforced bridge structure that basically carries the storm water from the west side of the project to the east side of the project. Uh this uh has three cells in it 5 by 10 each 5 foot by 10 each and uh the project also included 146 high-pressure gas line was relocated from the uh roadway to the rideway. Uh project also included 200 feet of storm sewer installation, 100 feet of 1,00 feet of water line installation, and a new sidewalk was installed along the side of the road,

and staff does recommend approval. Is this part of the country club street project? Yeah, this is the north project. Okay. I can't tell you how nice that is to drive on that. That looks really nice. So approval second. Have a motion in a second to approve this agenda item. Roll callar, please. Mike Rolley, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reid, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale,

yes. Item number six passes. Item number seven, please. Consider approval of the retirement and surplus of the police department K9 Max, allowing the current handler, Officer Taylor Hignight, to take possession of said K9 or take other necessary action. Chief Tehe. Yes. Uh, council, this is a uh K9 that's reached kind of the end of ability to work the streets. Uh, and it coincides with officer Hnight uh being finished with working canines. Uh so with that combination, we just would ask that you would uh surplus him and allow him to be uh housed with his current uh handler. Move for approval. Second.

Have a motion in a second. Uh any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes. Item number 17. Congratulations on your appointment. Thank you, sir. We're all proud for you and happy for you. You're fine. Uh, item seven passes and that is our final item for the finance committee. Call to work the public works committee. It's item number one.

Consider approval of public works committee minutes of February the 9th, 2026 or take other necessary action. Any changes or additions? Motion to approve. Second. Got a motion and a second. Roll call. Mike Broly? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry? Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale? Yes. One. Item number two,

discuss and consider approval of amended ordinance number 4159A by amending the city of Muscogee code of ordinances by amending chapter 3 city council council ethics article 2 ethics. Section 3-8 general policy section 3-9 conflict of interest. Section 3-10 use and disclosure of information prohibited. Section 3-11, use of cellular phones and recording devices prohibited by council members during meetings. Section 3-12, positive workplace environment. Section 3-13, ethics advisory committee creation and structure. Section 3-14, participation in ethics investigations. Section 3-15, violation, adding repealer severability, codification, and setting an effective date or take other necessary action.

This is my agenda item. I put it on because we had this when I got on city council about the use of cell phones and recording devices during our executive session. I would like to go back to that. I think we need it uh just to keep uh the distractions down. I think a lot of us that have our phones up here get text and stuff while we're in here. And I think we need to turn them off and probably turn them in. And that way there's no uh chance of uh us getting involved with our phones while we're posting an executive session.

Are you moving for approval? I got a move a motion for approval. Second. Second. So is there any discussion? Yeah, discussion. Sorry. Yeah. because I mean I've gotten lots of calls about this want to know if something happened and I think when we do something like this we just went back and said that we could have the phones and now to say again that we can have the phones it appears as if something happened to the public and so I think we need to address that before we um do this because it just looks like something happened.

Okay. Uh yeah, it was me noticing people on their phones during executive session and texting. So I thought it would be appropriate for us to go back to it. It's not anybody in the public. It's all appeared in executive session. That reason I want to go back to this. I mean, was there a breach of information or something like I mean I think we need to address the issues that the public is asking because you're bringing it forward. I'm not opposed to it either way, but I think we need to address the issue.

We're not supposed to be on our phones during executive session, and I've noticed that our phones are out during executive session, and I felt like we need to bring this back so we're not distracted by text or anything else or emails during our executive sessions.

You're just saying it's a good idea. You're not saying there was an issue. They're just You're just saying you think it's a good idea. I'm just saying it needs to uh it cuts down on distractions while we're in executive session and we just don't need to be on our phones. And so, Katrina, could you touch on um there's a lot of uh extra sections in there that uh were not in the original um language when we did this the first time? Can you tell us, you know, so we won't miss anything as far as the extra uh sections that have been added? The only extra se section that was added was putting the phones back in and then staff had requested that we still be allowed to have our phones during executive session. A lot of times I'll look up different laws if someone has a question or pull up an ordinance. We communicate with our staff. Sometimes during executive session, go to the office and bring me such and such. Um, and then we have also medical personnel, an exception for medical personnel. So that for instance, we have a a medical doctor right now sitting on council. He might receive medical calls during executive session and this allows him to excuse himself and go out to take like emergency medical calls.

Thank you. Do I have a motion? I make move for approval. Second motion and a second. Roll call. Mike Broly. No. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, no. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes. Can I say Can I ask agenda item passes? Agenda item number three. She have a question.

Can I ask something? Can we make an exception for Katrina? That was included. already in there. You're It's already in there for you. Okay. Okay. We just discussed that. Well, I know, but Okay. Confused me. Consider approval of ordinance number 4278A, an ordinance amending the city of Muscogee code of ordinances by amending chapter 46 health and sanitation article 2 food sanitation division 2 permits section 46-46 required adding repealer severability and declaring an emergency. Thank you. This is Katrina voter.

You're more welcome. Thank you. So, I'm I'm gonna have my deputy city attorney. She'll address this item in the next one.

Thank you, Miss Bodenhammer, mayor, city council. This ordinance um is a result of the passage of the Food Truck Freedom Act that was passed in last year's legislative session, took effect November 1st of 2025. The biggest piece of this set of five statutes was that it removed the availability to municipalities to charge a permit fee for food trucks operating within the city limits. So, this brings our ordinances into agreement in compliance with state law. We will need to declare an emergency since this took effect November 1st. We stopped um charging those fees November 1st once this law took effect. We simply need to now have the official updated ordinance. I'm happy to answer any questions and the staff does recommend approval.

Does this open the door for uh well guess what I'm trying to ask this doesn't lacks the um inspections and so forth or is this something totally different? Correct. It actually um gives for a state permitting situation now. So food trucks have to have a state permit versus all the individual municipalities. and they still do have regulations that are required with regards to inspections, safety inspections, health department fire inspections, all of those things are still in the law. Thank you. Does this cover the propane use and everything that the state does?

It does, and that's all codified in the state statute. The biggest thing for municipalities again is it doesn't allow us to charge a permit for every food truck. We have to accept their current state um permit as it's given to them by the state. They have to bring that in to the city clerk's office. The city clerk then records that and it does allow for us to continue to charge a permitting fee if they're operating within city parks. And I want to point I'm gonna point out something real quick. I'm sorry. Uh the the one in your packet is not correct and Tammy handed out a correct copy of the ordinance amended. Thank you. Move for approval.

Second it approval and second roll call, please. Can we move for approval as presented please? As presented versus as in the packet. Move for move for approval as presented in the package. I have a motion second. I'm sorry. Who made the second? On the on the amended I mean as presented. Okay. Thank you. I got a motion. Second. Roll call, please. Mike Broly? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry? Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale. Yes.

Agenda item passes. Sorry guys, I'm trying not to mess this up too bad. Normally I don't do this. Uh, agenda item number four. Consider approval of resolution number 3075 amending appendix A of the Muscogee Code amending section 46-46 health and sanitation food service sanitation permit for establishment or vehicle or take other necessary action. Miss. Thank you. My deputy attorney, Carrie Spencer, will present this item. Thank you, Miss Glen Hamehammer. Thank you, council. Again, this resolution is the companion to the ordinance we just discussed. It brings our schedule A um into compliance with the state law. Removes those permitting fees that we were previously charging. I'm happy to answer any questions. The staff does recommend approval. Move for approval.

Second. Got a motion for approval and a second. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale. Yes. Agenda item passes. Number five. Consider approval of resolution number 3081 recognizing the substantial impact of the retail food environment on the economy, health, and well-being of the citizens of Muscogee and providing support to the farmers markets and community gardens within the city or take other necessary action. Mr. Ying.

Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. So you see in front of you proposed resolution 3081. So this is a resolution that recognizes the not so in insignificant impact of retail food environment here in Muscogee's economy and on the health of our citizens. So in the first part of the proposed resolution, it acknowledges some startling facts such as 67% of adults and 33% of children in Oklahoma are overweight or obese. And obesity is a chronic condition associated with heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, all preventable. Um, why is that last part important? Well, these preventable diseases are the leading cause are some of the leading causes of death in the United States and subsequently in Oklahoma. And poor diet is one of the main causes of obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes. And studies continually s show a strong association between access to healthy food and better health outcomes. Less than 4% of adults in Oklahoma, 4% Less than 4% of adults in Oklahoma reported consuming two or more fruits and three or more vegetables every day. Terrible. Compared with 7.4% also terrible in the United States and this ranks Oklahoma 49th in the nation. A significant number of low-income residents in Muscogi lack convenient access to grocery stores and other healthy food retailers. And lastly, this resolution brings to light the annual cost of of this to the Oklahoma economy in medical bills, workers compensation,

and lost productivity because of obesity and physical inactivity. And that is $854 million. That's almost a billion. We got to do better. And after recognizing the issues at hand, the resolution goes on to state that the city is resolved to do all it can to support efforts that improve the food retail environment, especially underserved areas. That it supports the existence and operation of farmers markets within the city limits. and that it recognizes that community gardens are a best practice in making healthy food available to citizens, especially lowincome and low access households. So, with all these things in mind, this resolution is a way for you to recognize where we have some areas for improvement and to declare our support for all the great things we have that are combating the problem. So, and we also need this document to attach to a TEATE healthy incentives planning grant for Rooney Park. So, it will also help with any future TE set healthy incentive grants that we have. So, for all these reasons, uh staff recommends uh approval for the resolution. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Make a mistake when you said two pieces of fruit and three vegetables a day. That's correct. I don't eat that many in two weeks. No comment. I move for approval. I second that. Thank you. Roll call, please. Mike Broly? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry? Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale? Yes. That agenda item passes. Agenda item six. Receive a presentation and discuss possible amendments to the R1 and R5 zoning regulations providing direction to staff or take other necessary action. Uh, let me see here. Sarah Winkl, sorry about that.

That's okay. They handed me something at the same time.

That's okay. Um, good evening. Um, we had presented our um residential zoning ordinance update um to you all through council lunches back in January and were asked to bring this back to this meeting and present it to you as a group. So, we're going to do an abbreviated version of that um to get um any more questions that you guys have and then see what kind of guidance that you have for us. Um current residential zoning breakdown right now um is shown on the screen and that is um RA a residential. R1 single family. R2 is your duplexes and your two family residentials. R3 is your town homes um and condos. R4 is multifamily. R5 is mobile homes right now. on that is how it is stated in our zoning ordinance. Some of the proposed solutions that we have um proposed solution A, rather than calling it R5 mobile homes, we would like to call it R5 alternate housing. Um what that would entail is splitting the R5 zoning out into three different sections. So we're going to have R5A, which is going to encompass your RVs and campers in those parks. R5B is going to be manufactured and modular homes and R5C would be tiny cottage homes. Um some of the um for the RV and the camper parks uh the recommend the recommendations, excuse me, that you guys gave us, we took to heart. And for some of those new parks, we're going to require um providing infrastructure development plans and providing facilities for tenants. Um, we're going to ask for five acre lot minimums for those RV parks to make sure that there's enough space, uh, licensing or permits annually, um, to require for a park inspection, uh, property must meet code requirements for new licenses and permits, a local site manager, and then meeting Oklahoma uh, Department of Environmental Quality Standards. For the pre-existing parks, we're going to ask for some of those uh, requirements as well, such as licensing or permitting

annually. um it has to meet all code requirements um for those to be issued and then having a local site manager. Those are some of the things that we would like to enact for the RV and the camper parks. Um what that looks like as far as regulations go and my staff has done a remarkable job at researching this. Um the 5 acre minimum lot size is something that we are seeing frequently. 15t spaces. Um, for new parks, we're going to require a fee of $500 and $10 per space upon and that is as they apply for the new park uh that they want to bring in. Existing park fees would be $250 plus $10 a space. Um, as stated earlier, requiring an on-site manager. Um, ODQ standards would have to be in compliance. And then we would require an infrastructure development plan for the R5B which is your manufactured and modular homes. Um some of the questions we're asked is what's the difference? So manufactured are transported on a permanent chassis. Um the permanent chassis remains under the house but they are built to HUD standards. Your modular homes are transported in on trucks and pieces. They're placed on permanent foundations, but they are built to IRC standards, which is the same as sightuilt homes. Um, for the mobile home parks, if somebody wants to do a new mobile home park, we are going to look at requiring the same some of the same standards that we are asking for for the new RV parks. Um, we've got some pictures. These are what the manufactured homes would look like that we are going to allow in those areas. And then the modular homes which look like the more stickuilt homes for the tiny cottage homes that would go in the R5C zoning. Um 800 would be the maximum square footage. State law says that we cannot dictate a minimum. So we would set a maximum on that. U manufactured homes would not be allowed. They have to be stickuilt trust built

homes and built on site. They must meet RI code or excuse me IRC code. Um they cannot be shed conversions. So there's a lot of things on HGTV that are showing shed conversions to homes and things like that, but they don't meet code. So you could not do shed conversions for tiny homes. What that would change for the bulk and yard standards is it would break out under R5A, the lot area would be required at 5 acres. R5B, this would be reduced from 6,000 square ft, which is what it currently states, to 4,000 square ft to allow for more development. In an R5C, it would also be a smaller lot size, which would be the 4,000 square ft. That's solution A. Solution B. Solution B requires two outbreaks of zoning. So rather than having everything under the R5 zoning, we would put the tiny home and cottage homes under R1 zoning. So you would have R1A, which is your traditional stickuilt homes that are 800 square f feet and larger. And then you would have R1B, which is your tiny cottage homes, which would be up to 800 square foot. And then the R5 zoning would be R5A for RVs and campers, and the R5B for manufactured and modular homes. The way that that looks on the Bulkan yard standards, um the R1A would not change at all. It's still 7200 ft² for your lot area, but the R1B for the tiny homes would be 4,000 ft² for the smaller lot sizes to allow for those smaller homes. This will also help us with infill lots that are already zoned R1, and help us be able to fill those lots that are currently not considered buildable. The R5A um is your RVs and campers, which is the 5 acres as we just discussed, and the R5B would shrink from 6,000 square ft to 5,000 square ft. your pros and cons. Um, so solution A, which is everything under the R5 zoning.

Um, the pros are it redefineses the R5 instead of it being mobile homes, it redefineses it as alternate housing. Define specific areas to be more conducive for your tiny and cottage homes and provides structure for your RV, camper, and your mobile home park developments. The cons that are associated with that is there's going to be more immediate reasonzoning and land use amendments to the brand new future land use map that we just put through on the comp plan. Um it's also going to require more ordinance updates. Solution B, which is breaking it out into the R1 and R5. The pros are there's no immediate land use amendments that would be required. We have a lot of R1 zoning already there that has the smaller lots on it. So we would not have to do any land use amendments for those areas. It redefineses R5 as alternate housing. Um, and as stated before, it defines specific areas that are more conducive to your tiny cottage homes and provides structure for the RV, camper, and modular home park development. Um, the cons are also that it's just going to require some ordinance updates. Um, this is the future development map that we are looking at when we're looking at these areas. So, this is what we would have to amend less if we go with um, solution B. We also wanted to talk about short-term rentals. There's been a lot of um a lot of questions in my department about short-term rentals now with the civic center is trying to do more things. We've had a lot of questions about Airbnb and VBOs. So, we would like to add this to our ordinance as well. The permitted use in the areas would be single family homes, uh manufactured and modular homes, and the tidy cottage homes would be allowed to be short-term rentals. Um non-permitted uses would be in duplexes or um RV and campers. And if somebody wanted to rent out their town home or their apartment like we do see on Airbnb and VBO, it would require a special use permit. Some of the requirements that our department is developing that we would like to require for this would be home sharing applications. This will help us keep track of where these short-term rentals

are. Um it'll also help us when it comes to the annual inspections and the permit fees that we would like to ask for for these short-term rentals. In addition to that, we're going to ask for insurance verification on these homes and um notice to neighbors. So, a lot of communities if you want to put your home as an Airbnb or a VBO, you do send out a notice to your neighbors or the city does that that that home is going to be used for that um so that they are aware of that situation. The recommendation from staff is solution B, which breaks it out and puts single family homes and tiny cottage homes under R1 and puts RV campers and manufactured modular homes under R5B. And so our solution shows you the pros and cons that we already went over and then the short-term rentals of course um that we also just stated. Do you guys have any questions or comments or any other advice for us as we move forward with this?

No, you guys have done a lot of work on this. Sarah, I know you've been heading this up from the very beginning and I think you've done a wonderful job. I absolutely cannot take credit. My staff has done a remarkable job on this. Well, you and your team. Thank you. You guys have all done a great job. So, is there a certain stipulation nationwide that says that it's got to be 800 or is that going to just be us? No. So, it is not a stipulation nationwide. It's just something as um we looked at our IRC code and I actually would like to defer that to Brent if you'd like to answer that um as to why we chose that number.

So, uh there is actually in Oklahoma law that we cannot dictate as a municipality the minimum square footage, but we can Sorry, Mr. Robert, can you come up to the mic, please? Sorry, I apologize. Um, so there is a law that states that we can't dictate a minimum, but we can say up to a certain square footage. Um, so that's why we went with 800. So why not a,000? So you really we really could choose any, but we are seeing a lot of the tiny homes or cottage homes around the 800 foot range. It'll also work with the 4,000 square foot um lots, the smaller lots.

So, the state doesn't the state doesn't have a minimum, but don't certain subdivisions have their own like we ran into in North Park. So, I can answer that. So, there are covenants and restrictions that subdivisions can put on their plat. However, the covenants and restrictions are not um governed by the city offices. We can't enforce those. But what we can do is for instance on that one when you see something like that we can look at those covenants and and we were able to send our inspectors out to to catch that before it because that one is stopped. It's ceased. Right. We our inspectors actually went out there to let them know that there were actually covenants and restrictions on that.

Dan I uh did a little research on plans for these homes. uh almost all homes were just under 800. And I don't know why, you know, 795, 785, 750. Um if you'll take a drive around town, there's a lot of homes that are a,00,50, 1100 square feet.

So, you know, we can we can build that without calling it a tiny home. Yeah. I mean, I was just wondering why that number because I was thinking then I thought, well, you could build whatever you want on either side of the the spectrum, but I was just wondering why we picked 800 ft for a tiny home. I'm not going to move in one. I don't want to walk outside, turn around, and go back in. But, uh, so, and then on the lot fees, like for the RV parks, why are we setting that, not the owners? Is that to keep certain what? So on on that is just the application fee for like what we have found with other municipalities. I know um Skyler if you'd like to answer that. I know that she did a lot of research on that as well. And a lot of these different RV parks would set application fees if you wanted to create a new RV park or a new

that's just kind of like a building permit fee. Correct. Correct. Well, and I was wondering why we like per lot we were also adding a fee to each lot. Should we just not do to each space? Huh? To each space? Yeah. Okay. Skyler, would you like I didn't understand that. Why are we building someone for each space and not just the whole project?

So, the research that we did um we looked at each basically um responsibility per space. So, you're looking at RV parks being um you're looking at RV parks and the different the amount of spaces that people are trying to develop and we want to keep that con that number consistent. And so, you're looking at that $500 um application or permit fee. Um, and we just really want that want that responsibility for that developer um to know how many people they're bringing into the area. And so um that's basically what we're looking at as far as that um that fee and that can be adjusted. That's something that you guys can discuss. Um, but that's just kind of what we're presenting as far as the the initial uh permit fee and um inspection fee that we place.

So, and I'm just the way I think about that is that if I'm a builder and I'm going to build a RV park and I want 30 spaces, I'm going to build 30 spaces and pay the 10 bucks a space. But I just and if you don't have the money, you probably shouldn't be building it. But that's the kind of way I'm looking at it. But I just kind of thought that's just an extra fee that the city is getting and I just want the construction fee. I didn't want the add-on to each lot. I don't see a need for the additional 10 bucks a lot. I I maybe I misunderstood that.

Well, I mean, you can look at the the five acre um uh area that we're looking at. Um, and like I said, in your discussion, you can discuss whether or not that $10 uh or 10 or $15 per space um is conducive for the future of that um that park. Um but when you're looking at the long term and how long that park is going to be there, um you want to you want it to be uh beneficial for the city. Um and we're not asking them to pay $10 of space per year. that the inspection fee or permit fee is going to be different from that initial um fee that they're paying as they're developing.

So, if I hang on one second, if I come back and I say build 15, I want to build another 15 later, I only pay the $10 per lot, not another $500. Yes or no? Thank you. Correct. Okay. I do. What does the other RV parks in the area? Do they do that same thing in the other cities charge a lot lot price plus the

So yes, so we um we did research beyond just Oklahoma. There weren't really a lot in Oklahoma that have the standardized um details as far as development. Um so we expanded to we expanded to Texas and Arkansas. Um, and they do have the the standardized um, so they they charge the construction fee plus a per lot fee or per per space fee. Okay. Thank you,

Dan. I was going to tell you part of these fees instead of going to a house and inspecting, you know, water and plumbing and sewer uh or water and sewer and then utilities. They have to inspect all of that on every little 30 foot wide lot. So, we I we're not making our money back. It's costing the city money, but so be it. Well, I was just sitting there thinking why we're while we're making picking. So, they could charge more than what we're asking. Correct. We we What about a guy that's just want to stay overnight? Does he have to pay the $200?

So, these are not the application fees for the property lot. This is to construct the new lot, just the annual one time. Okay. This is if you came into the city, you yourself, and said, "I want to build an RV park." Then this would be your application fee. And then if you were doing 30 spaces, it'd be that plus the 30 or the $10 per space. So we have little packets set up for someone goes, I want to build a RV park. You reach up and grab it. You got to fill out all of this like a one-stop thing where you don't have to go to and then that there will be a form on there that'll let her know that well they won't need to do water, but they'll just, you know,

we we can create a a packet like that and that's kind of goes into the infrastructure development plan. So that that plan that they're going to create um will be based on what we um what we ask them ask of them as far as um their initial interest in develop developing a an IV park. Um so we'll have a form that kind of gives us general information about the details of their park, the size, the how many lots and things like that and then we can go into um further information. We discuss amenities on there like if they have external showers like a a that would be on the form as well. Yeah. What what we're asking to have.

All right. Cuz the number one thing go down on a RV is the hot water connect shower. So I just like they need to take a shower to be able to do their laundry. So just thinking about it. Been dealing with them a lot lately. So thank you ma'am. Any more questions? We need to approve this or is it this was just a discussion and then any direction that you guys had for us and if you had action for us to take. Okay. So that needed to be done. Agenda item number seven.

Does does anybody have uh questions or comments in that? uh could we do this or add this or I don't like that, let's pull it or I I don't know that this is time to vote. But but I would think that next time we come here we should vote and we need to be prepared to say let's have I mean cuz otherwise she's going to go and she we might as well voted. So does anyone have any changes that need to be made or whatever and if we don't we can say next meeting we'll vote on it. I think you did a great job.

So if I So if I could, I mean staff does have a recommendation of the two options and I and I think there needs to be some direction from the council as which way to go, but then really the next step probably needs to for this to go to the planning commission for them to do the heavy lift and finalize everything then come I would like to hear what the planning commission which proposal the planning commission likes before we take it. I would like to see that before we vote on it. Yeah. When do when do they meet again? When do they meet again? So they meet again on April the 7th. Oh, not till April 7th. This body's more qualified to make that A or B decision.

We'll sum up. Um is there any changes anybody like to make to this or would you like I think I've done a great job. I think we kind of in our lunches kind of flushed out a lot of this. Do you want A or B though? B. I I don't have a problem uh either having them come back again with a recommendation or or even one that planning and zoning agreed on. I don't mind saying I move that we accept B and then have them continue on with what they need to continue on with. Does everybody else accept that?

I don't know. Is there a second? Well, per per the agenda item, the way it's presented, we can't vote. There can't be a vote tonight. Okay. So, it's to make recommendations or direction to staff. So, be to direct them to go towards plan. So, the direction would be to move toward plan B. But I like that. I mean, well, devil's advocate always to move toward a plan B that you just said you liked and give them some direction tonight. Yeah. And just proceed forward.

We'll see you at the next city council meeting. Okay. Thank you. No action needed on this tonight. Agenda item number seven. receive and discuss a certificate of no action necessary on the property located west of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 320 West Martin Luther King Street, provided by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission through their Brownsfield program, stating the property does not contain pollutants or take other necessary action. Mr. Bolton Hammer, thank you.

Excuse me. The city attorney's office reached out to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission about two years ago to start this process. We applied for a grant through the Brownsfield program after we purchased the city purchased the empty lot vacant that was vacant next to the MLK center and that was a former gas station and we're worried about expanding the MLK center or building onto that or putting a parking lot if there were pollutants or potentially uh fuel tanks left underground. So, the Brownsville grant program will come into certain cities and if you're buying property that you didn't cause the pollutants on, but you think there are pollutants, you can have that all examined and they dig down. They they do soil tests, they do uh ground scanning to check for tanks and everything to make sure that that that lot is safe. And that's the first grant that we apply for. So, we applied for that. Um the city's attorney's office received approval for that and then we started the process of getting this property inspected. So they've done the Oklahoma Corporation Commission came in through their through this program and they thoroughly inspected the property. They did not find any gas tanks left on the property. They did not find any pollutants or any kind of environmental contaminations that they tested for which means that we don't have to apply for the second grant which is a cleanup. So the propertyy's good to go. So, I just want council to know that that was successful. The property is safe to build on and expand the center, build a parking lot or do whatever the city wants to do with it.

I'm so glad to hear that because about six years ago, we were trying to looking at that and I was very anti- against that because that's before they tore it down and I was asking is there gas tanks on there? Did they pour the oil and the antifreeze out the back all these years? And I guess it's sunk so far down we can't find. No. Yeah. Well, they didn't find any. And that's one of the reasons why we we the state attorney's office, we applied for the grant. We applied for it with the closing documents of to buy the property to make sure that we got the grant so we could buy the property and buy it without pollutants or knowing that we could get the grant part B to clean it up. Well, I'm excited to hear that we so well needed addition over there

and happy to answer any questions and there's no approval on this. I just wanted to let everyone know and to see the certificate that's in your booklet. Anybody have any questions? Tried to tell you that years ago, Dan. Huh? I tried to tell you that years ago. You didn't even know you agreed with me. What are you talking about? You were too. No action needed on this item. Numbers eight, consider approval for the city manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Tetratech for a sewer system evaluation in a sewer basin located in the northwest quadrant of the city in an amount not to exceed $175,000 or take other necessary action. Since Mike Stewart's not here, I guess it's you, Avery.

All right. Uh thank you, chairman. Uh so this is a uh sanitary sewer evaluation in the northwest quadrant of town. More specifically, this area indicated on the map, which the words are not showing up very well, but that that solid red line across the top is basically the walking trail. If you go down, you have Linnip, Tamaroa, and then that street that's running at a 45 degree angle uh from left to right going downwards is Martin Luther King uh Junior Boulevard. So, this is an older part of town. Uh we have some residents in the area who uh suffer a diminished sewer service whenever we get heavy rains, meaning we think we've got some inflow and infiltration of storm water into the sanitary sewer. The most effective way to uh get a capital improvement plan to fix that is uh to have a company like Tetrate Tech come in and do the things uh like uh flow metering, flow monitoring, I should say, smoke testing, line cleaning, and CCTV in those uh sewer lines, which is running a crawling camera through them. We do some of this stuff in house like line cleaning and some CCTV uh smoke testing uh on certain occasions. Uh but we don't have the flow monitoring uh equipment to do this. We don't have the manpower or the equipment to do this on such a large scale like Tet could. Uh we recently did something very similar to this in the northeast part of town. We had uh seven items that could have been improved in the northeast part of town. We got in and knocked those seven out and uh waiting for for a next good rain to see if those improvements uh carry the weight that we think we do. So, this is something that uh is is fairly necessary in this part of town given its age. Uh it's predominantly clay tile sanitary sewer lines uh which are more susceptible to INI than PVC. Um I think that pretty well covers it. I'd

be happy to answer any questions. Staff recommends approval on this and we think it's a a big step in the right direction for helping some of our citizens out. Uh my question is going to be to the city manager. Do we have money to fix all this if we after all the testing's done immediately? No. I I can kind of help with that answer. It depends what we find.

So, one of the things that uh we could find is that there was a house demoed in that area 40 years ago and they never plugged the sewer line. We'll find that out in a smoke test. Uh, but that's not something we have the staff availability to send them out to check historical records of every house that's been torn down and did they cap it. So, if it's a fix like that, if we have five or six of those, we can make a big difference with extremely low funding. But, there's chance that a main has a major problem and that could take more funding and a and a more thorough capital improvement plan. The reason why I was asking is because I was getting excited we could if we could just go in there and rechange place all that that would be awesome but we don't have the funding for that. So if we could find that that would be great to fix all the plumbing over there. I know that's a historically older part of town. So any other questions? Motion.

I make a motion. Second. Second. Got a motion to second. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes. Agenda item passes. Number nine, please. Consider approval to purchase one commercial use sanitation truck from RI River City Hydraulics via source well numbers 1110223 and 17934 in the amount of $221,421 or take other necessary action. Mr.

Yes. So, uh, if this looks like a familiar agenda item, it is. We recently bought two, uh, commercial use sanitation trucks from River City Hydraulics. Unfortunately, one of those trucks that we bought was in a accident and was totaled. So, with that being said, it was uh claimed as a total loss on insurance. We were given two options by our insurance company. one was a 100% reimbursement for the cost of the vehicle, but we had to give the vehicle to the insurance company. Option number two was we got a 90% reimbursement, but we got to keep the sanitation truck and utilize it for all the uh specialized parts on the body, the the packer body on it. After discussions uh between me, Mike, and Mr. Schwep in fleet. We thought it would be a uh net benefit to the city uh financially for us to take the 90% reimbursement and keep the truck. So, with that being said, we want to put that 90% reimbursement to a replacement truck for that. That is a necessary thing for us to have to stay up on our commercial uh trash routes. Um be happy to answer any questions. So, is there a difference in cost from that 90% to the 100% since we're keeping the other truck?

Are we going to buy the exact truck over? Yes. So, we'll have to take uh that remaining 10% from our sanitation account to purchase that, which it does. It's not a budgeted item, but it does have funds in there for purchases like this. Thank you. I think it was a great idea to keep the truck for the parts. Thank you. I' I'd like to take some credit there, but Robert Swepson is the the man with the plan when it comes to fixing these. That's a great idea. Any other questions? I move for approval. Got approval. Second. Second. I got a second. Um, roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale,

yes. Item passes. Agenda item number 10, please. Consider approval to accept a Safe Streets for All grant from the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration in the amount of $389,500 with a city grant match of $97,375 or take other necessary action. Mr.

Yes. So, uh, public works has been working with our, uh, partners at Neighbors Building Neighborhoods. Uh, they help us with our grants. This is a grant that we applied for several years ago. it got hung up in the the federal budgeting process. Uh but they have finally sent the paperwork over for us to accept it. So that's what we ask for tonight is the acceptance of this grant. The uh total amount of the grant is $486,875. of that $389,500 are what we will be receiving from the Federal Highway Administration and we will have a match of $97,375. That has actually been budgeted already and is currently in this year's budget because we anticipated this grant going faster. So, it's it's taken care of on the budgeting side. what this grant is for. It's a planning grant for a safe streets for all program uh with a safe routes to school program and a non-motorious safety plan. So what that is going to do is allow us to go out solicit an engineering firm of our choosing and evaluate the city on several fronts. These fronts range from walkability, bikeability, uh safety, lighting, and overall layout of our street index. This doesn't pertain to the quality of the street itself, but more about how it's used and who it's used by. They will examine accident records, uh have community engagement, so they'll gauge public opinion and utilize uh many other tools to generate a list of capital improvements for the city. Uh for example, they may choose a school and see that there's a lot of students walking, but they don't have a lot of walkability infrastructure for that school. So they'll say, "City, your best bet is to go add a sidewalk here. we'll come up with the groundwork for this plan, including the statistics, the data that we need to apply for those future transportation alternatives grants or safe routes to school grants. So, this is a they're giving us a lot of money.

We're contributing uh roughly 20% 8020 is a standard match uh in grants like this. uh and it will help us start to make the uh community level improvements that provide uh walkability for our citizens and our students and uh nonvehicle non-motorized vehicle pedestrians. So with that being said, we uh recommend acceptance of the grant.

Any questions? I don't have a question, but I have a comment that um this is great because we've been doing the walk, bike, and rolls and um gotten things for uh Cherokee and Irving and the seventh grade center, those schools that have lots of kids, but the walkability and bike ability, right? And so I think this is great. Thank you. We're very proud of it. Any other questions? Second motion. Second. Roll call, please. Mike Rwley, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry, yes. Jamie Stout, yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed, yes. Mayor Patrick Kale, yes.

And I want to thank everybody for suffering through my uh me being the chairman on this agenda tonight. Okay. Welcome everyone to special call Muscogi City Council March 9th, 2026. Roll call, please. Mayor Patrick Kale, here. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed here. Jamie Stout here. Shirley Hilton Flannry here. Melody Cranford here. Dan Hall here. Mike Broly here. Okay. Do we need to make a motion? No. Straight. This is regular. Okay. Item number one.

Consider approval of a special warranty deed and a termination of a second amended and restated lease and memorandum with St. Francis Regional Services Incorporated that will terminate St. Francis's current lease of the land where the new bed tower is located and convey that real property from the city of Muscogee to St. Francis pursuant to the Muscogee project development agreement dated March 15, 2022 or take other necessary action miss.

Thank you. This agenda item actually needs to be amended on the language. So we'll talk about when talks about the land, it will be St. Francis currently is of the land adjacent to the bed tower instead of just the bed tower that was left out. Um, and what this is is we had a MSOI project development agreement in March of 2022. It had to do with a lawsuit that was settled and in that agreement we agreed to transfer this property when the bed tower reached substantial completion. St. Francis agreed to make payments to certain entities, the school and other entities in the city and build a new bed tower and provide additional services to the citizens of the Scogi. And so that's kind of what this is. It's just a wind up that we've received notice of their substantial completion which is included in your packet. And we just need approval to go ahead and execute the lease and terminate the lease and execute the deed. And this is again the property surrounding the new bed tower. and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Katrina, can you clarify? I got, you know, several calls over the weekend concerning this being uh public land that we're giving away or, you know, allowing to be transferred through this lease process. Can you explain the legalities of that? And is there any liability that we could get involved in when it comes to um doing a a project like this and not going before the vote of the people? No, because this this land was actually effectively transferred before uh my understanding is this is preme but my understanding is that they had a there was a lease with Capella hospital that hospital itself was managed by the city and the MTA I believe Ann is that correct. Do you recall if you want to come up and speak on that?

I'm sorry I'm having a hard time hearing you. Can you come up? You're going to know more of this history than I am. Yes. So this is Ann from from the MMCA Muscogee Medical Center Authority. Authority. Yes.

And uh the authority had a lawsuit with St. Francis over the fact that uh they did not want to comply with the terms of the agreement as it had been transferred from Capella. Um St. Francis prevailed in that particular uh discussion, but we decided we agreed to uh give them the hospital property for the promise of the new hospital towers and that has been completed and that transfer of land took place in March of 22. So you cannot transfer that property tonight because it's already been transferred. The property that's adjacent to the hospital is the property that is uh up for being transferred and the question as to whether or not you can legally do it is not within my purview to determine but there is a contract for that. So,

so as far as the legal issue, I just wanted Ann to give be able to give the history of this, right? So, the bed tower property itself was actually transferred in 2022, right? Pursuant that lawsuit. So, tonight, as I stated earlier, we're transferring the land just around that bed tower. Um, we don't have to have a public vote on this because of the type of land that it is and the way that it was held as long as we're doing it for public benefit. So at this when we settle this lawsuit um it settled to the benefit of the citizens of the city of Muscoi. You have actually already agreed to do this. You have already contracted to do it. The only thing that's left is for you to

really do the formalities of signing over the warranty deed for those properties. And that was in a lawsuit preme and that was the agreement reached with the court and approved by the court. Right. So I agree with you when you say a public benefit. The benefit is that our health care uh for the entire city has improved with the with the building of this and that contract does um include us monitoring making sure that we get the adequate doctors here in Muscogee that the transfer rates are down and so forth. Right.

And you had signed up to speak. Do you have anything else to add? Well, Katrina and I had a discussion prior to this and we agreed that if the statement is amended to say that it's the adjacent properties and not the tower properties, then I I'm okay with that. So, and that's we all agree on that. We we all agree on that and actually all the attorneys agreed on that before. So, I just didn't want us to make a mistake by uh not properly wording Yes. the resolution. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ann. Okay. Item number We need a motion. We need to

We need a motion. Move for approval. I'll second it. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale. Yes. Item number two. Item passes. Item passes. Item number two.

Consider an executive session to discuss and take possible action on the following. A. Pursuant to section 307 B4 title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss the lawsuits Polaris Technology Incorporated v. City of Muscogee, Muscogi County District Court, case number CV2025457 and Oklahoma Supreme Court case number 123730 and if necessary take appropriate action in open session B. Pursuant to section 307B1 title 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. C. Pursuant to section 307B1 title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss the employment and evaluate the performance of city attorney Katrina Boddenhammer and if necessary take appropriate action in open session. D. Pursuant to section 307 B1 title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss the employment and evaluate the performance of city clerk Tammy El Tracy and if necessary take appropriate action in open session. A motion.

Motion to go. Could we have a motion to go into executive session, please? Some move. Second. We have a motion in a second. Roll call. Mike Broly? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melanie Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannry? Yes. Jamie Stout? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Patrick Kale? Yes. All good. Okay. Could I have a motion to return to regular session? Make a motion. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Mike Broly, yes. Dan Hall, yes. Melody Cranford, here. Shirley Hilton Flannry,

here. Jamie, yes. Yes. Jamie Stout. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Patrick Hale. Yes. We are now in regular session. Roll call, please. Mayor Patrick Hale here. Deputy Mayor Jerick Reed here. Jamie Stout. Yes. Here. Yes, she's here. Shirley Hilton Flannry here. Melody Cranford here. Dan Hall and Mike. Miss Bowdenhammer.

Thank you. Item 2A pursuant to to section 307B4 title 25 Oklahoma statutes. Council did convene an executive session to discuss the lawsuit style Polaris Technology Inc. versus city of Muscogee. Muscogi District Court case number CB 20225-457 and Oklahoma Supreme Court case number 123730 and there is no action required on this item. Item B 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 and there is no action required on this item. Item C, pursuant to section 307B1, title 25 Oklahoma statute,

the council did convene an executive session to discuss the employment and and evaluate the performance of city attorney Katrina Bodenheimer, and there is no action required on this item. Item D, pursuant to section 307B1, title 25, Oklahoma statutes, council did convene executive session to discuss the employment and evaluate the performance of city clerk Tammy El Tracy, and there is no action required on this item. Thank you. Anything else? This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.