City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, welcome to tonight's Muskogee Municipal Authority meeting, July 27th, 2026. Mr. Brawley, would you be so kind as to give us an invocation?

Dear Lord, thank you for those gathered here tonight. Thank you for the blessings you give each and every one of us every day. We pray that you're with us tonight, guide us, direct us in our business, and just pray that everything we do tonight glorifies you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now salute the flag. Attention. Salute the flag.

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.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the state of Oklahoma, its symbols of peace, and of all peoples.

Mayor Ryan Lowe. Here. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Here.

Tracy Hoos. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Here. Melody Cranford. Here. Dan Hall.

Present.

Tom Martindale. Here. Mike Brawley.

Here.

Jeremy Shuler.

Here.

Consider approval of MMA minutes of special call June 8th, 2026 and regular session June 22nd, 2026 to take other necessary action.

I will entertain a motion.

Make a motion to approve. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Slannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes, item passes. Item two, please.

Consider approval of MMA claims for all city departments for the month ending June 30, 2026 or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you. You do have the claims for the municipal authority in front of you for the month ending June 30th. I would answer any questions. Staff does recommend approval. I move for approval.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley.

Yes.

Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Item passes. This meeting is adjourned. We will now call to order the Muskogee City Council meeting, July 27, 2026. Roll call, please.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Derrick Reed.

Here.

Tracy Hoos. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Here. Melody Cranford. Here. Dan Hall. Here. Tom Martindale. Here. Mike Brawley. Here. Jeremy Shuler.

Here.

May I make a motion to be excused, Dr. Hoos?

I second. I have a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. I'm sorry. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. We will now consider the consent agenda.

Approval of minutes. City Council special call session June 8th, 2026. Special call session June 18th, 2026. And regular session June 22nd, 2026. Or take other necessary action.

Now we consider the consent agenda.

I have a motion.

Oh, I have a motion. So moved. Second. Motion second. Any discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Mellie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Now we'll consider consent agendas 1 through 24. We do have a citizen that wishes to speak on 3, 4, and 9. It's my understanding that those would have to be pulled from the consent agenda to have that discussion.

Do these need to be pulled, number one? And number two, weren't they all passed unanimously on the public works?

That is correct. That is correct.

Do you need a motion on that?

Do you need a motion whether to pull them or whether to just approve as presented?

Okay, so we will need a motion whether to pull those from the consent for further discussion or as to proceed as 1 through 24.

I'll make a motion to proceed 1 through 24. I second it.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Rowley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes.

Mr. Mayor, may I make a motion to move item number 33 and 34 to the front of the regular agenda item, please?

I will second that motion. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler? Yes. Mike Brawley? Yes. Tom Martindale? Yes. Dan Hall? Yes. Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe?

Yes. Motion passes. Item 33, please.

Receive report and consider approval of the fiscal year 2026-2027 cooperative agreement in the amount of $100,000 between the City of Muskogee and Main Street Muskogee to promote the economic well-being and development of the community by enhancing the downtown area and take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you, Mayor. At this time, I'm old. I started to say that at this time I'd like to turn it over to Courtney Graham. And she's going to give us a presentation.

Hello. Good evening, everyone. My name is Courtney Graham. I'm the executive director of Main Street Muskogee. And for anyone in the audience or at home, I have brought the 2025 annual report just to give kind of an overview of some of our projects that we've been working on downtown. In this document, you'll find a letter from our leadership, myself, and also our former president, Dominique Embry. You'll also see a little bit about our vision and mission. We recently updated our vision statement to match our upcoming goals for the next three to five years. And that can be found in our transformation strategy. But we wanted to update it and have it at the current state of downtown Muskogee. You'll also see our service district. where our organization focuses. And on page number three, you'll see some of our 2025 highlights. We had a great time last year bringing downtown to life through events and activation. We worked very hard to have fabulous events downtown and bring volunteers to bring to life our downtown community. We also invested in downtown's look and feel. This was with a $150,000 grant that we applied to different projects that you'll see downtown, such as the new mural that went up in the Broadway Green, some of the traffic, pedestrian, crosswalk signals, new planters, and more. And then we also have been working very hard on the Broadway District renovation project, which you will see after our agenda item. Just kind of an updated presentation on where we are with that project. But it's been great working with the City of Muskogee staff members, also the City of Muskogee Foundation, and our architecture team, Kimlin Horn. We did over 2,000 volunteer hours, 2,346 volunteer hours just in one year. Currently we have around 30 volunteers dedicated to our organization and also more partnership organizations that we work with. If it's YDC, the Eddie Warrior Correctional Facility, and high school teams. Our four-point committees did some awesome projects as well. I like to brag on them. We finished up our Renew and Rebuild grant program. This went to helping building owners in our downtown area be able to fix some of the big ticket items such as HVAC, roofs, windows, things like that. We also hosted a window display workshop for some of our businesses downtown as well as organized field trips to visit the Rose District in Zapulpa to get updates and ideas on how they manage streetscaping projects as well. In our design committee, They helped with the new mural and pedestrian signals and all those fun items. They also hosted a workshop for realtors and title companies locally and are working with city partners and the Historic Preservation Commission to make historic preservation an easier process for our community to understand. Our organization committee helped expand our volunteer engagements throughout the community And we were actually able to add to our previous year's volunteer hours as well. And our promotion committee hosted 12 downtown events and shopping initiatives. They also helped with our annual shopping and dining guide that we put out for all of our downtown businesses as well. On page number five, you'll see some of our community spotlights. We like to highlight local businesses and people and organizations downtown, and then these are then sent off to our state awards through the Main Street Center, through the Department of Commerce. And actually, As a finalist and an award winner statewide, Watkins Chalk House on 3rd won Best Building and Business Branding. On page six, you'll see that we were celebrating some of our biggest events downtown. Love Your Downtown picked 10 different businesses. This can be any kind of business from a lawyer's business, a restaurant, a shopping, with high school students to leave love notes on these businesses, just to show people that we appreciate them, even when they're not seen throughout the entire year. Weekend of Local, we worked to do this. This is where we work with shops and retailers and restaurants. This is a statewide initiative, but just showing some local love to these businesses and really getting people to shop and drive foot traffic, Bonanza, We had a successful bonanza last year where we had over 8,000 people attend, even whenever it rained early in the morning. But that's a two-hour event, and a lot of our businesses in that event area see over $700 in revenue just from a two-hour event. So we're very excited to see that. And then the Muskogee Christmas Parade, that's one of our larger events as well. And we had a fun time celebrating the holiday seasons. with our parade last year. Looking ahead to this year that we're currently in, some of the items that we highlight are the Broadway District Renovations. This is gonna be a large project. It's a $13 million project that we're working on with all the partner organizations and we're very excited for it. More updates after this and then also we're keeping updates on the city's website as well. We updated our signature events and programming that we put on downtown as well. So some of the fun items, the Christmas parade will happen on Saturday this year. We also have Bonanza planned and all the other events that we've had throughout the beginning of this year as well. We're still looking for volunteers. We love working with the community in any way, whether it be in physical activities such as planting, maintaining our streets, picking up trash, removing graffiti that we find downtown, or just, you know, stapling papers and helping out in any way that we can. On page number eight, you'll see our board of directors. We currently have 13 board members, and then we had two ex officio that came off at the end of our fiscal year. So we are very excited to see these members. They've been dedicated to our organization for many years, so we're excited. We also have our staff. ambassador if you've ever seen the little golf cart drive downtown she's our right hand woman and we're very appreciative for the work that she does downtown and then I just want to say a huge thank you to the support that we get from the city as well as the community and everyone that helps make downtown Muscogee the special place it is we appreciate the hard work have you collaborated with

I noticed another group that I think local businesses downtown that kind of been putting on an event, maybe the Page family and some of those folks that had a little car show.

Yes.

I think on the 11th, have you guys kind of got involved with them?

Yes. So we've been working with different businesses that want to put on events downtown and just kind of guiding them as well. It's a lot of work and it's a lot of trial and error. So, you know, Main Street Muskogee and Parks and Rec right now are currently some of the entities that fit on the larger events. So, yeah, we've been working with Amy and Shawna over there making sure that everything runs smoothly.

I know I was out there at that last one. It's gaining some momentum, so it's pretty neat to see. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, thank you very much.

Of course.

Good job. Thank you.

In a motion to consider approval of the contract.

Move for approval.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Love.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 34, please.

Receive a report from representatives with Kimley Horn on the Broadway District Streetscape Design and General Updates and take other necessary action.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to turn this over to Luke Schmidt, who's the architect with Kinley Horn. Courtney just alluded to the project, and he's going to kind of get us up to speed on all the work that's been happening today.

That's right. Well, thank you all for having me here today. I'm so excited to talk to you about it. AN UPDATE ON THIS PROJECT ON THE BROADWAY DISTRICT RENOVATION AND STREET SHAPE IMPROVEMENTS. I'VE BEEN HONORED TO WORK WITH THE CITY AND WORK WITH THE BROADWAY DISTRICT COMMITTEE ON ADVANCING THE MASTER PLAN THAT WAS APPROVED A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO. SO EXCITED TO GIVE YOU AN UPDATE ON WHERE WE ARE TODAY. SO TODAY WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT WHAT MAKES THIS PROJECT UNIQUE. WE'RE GOING TO HIT ON THE PROJECT TEAM. WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DELIVERING. AND WE'RE GOING TO WRAP UP WITH SOME INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOME BRANDING DISCUSSIONS ON WORK THAT'S ONGOING AS WELL. So first and foremost, what makes this project unique? This is a marriage of both engineering and landscape architecture improvements that usually occur separately. But for this project, we're going to do them all at once, which is a really exciting opportunity to get both the infrastructure in place and the beautification and streetscape improvements all done at the same time. Throughout this project, there's going to be a lot of education, engagement, and communication, keeping the local property owners and y'all up to date as we advance this project and move the project through design and construction. This project is also going through a branding effort to rebrand the Broadway district. And why that's so important is those elements will be rolled into the design as well for the project. So a new streetscape and a new brand that will be developed as part of this project. With this project as well, we're doing construction at the storefronts of many businesses. So the details matter. We need to get this right. Constructability will be key throughout the design of the project to make sure that we're building this project quickly and efficiently to have as minimal disruption to the community as possible. With this project, there's aging infrastructure that's under a lot of the sidewalks and roads in the downtown. So that's going to be a key element is getting the subsurface utilities corrected under the street and updated to match the street shape improvements. And then last but not least, success isn't just design of this project. It's both the construction phase and the end product. So that would be especially critical as we go through the project, keeping that lens, keeping that focus as well. I wanted to introduce just a few of the leaders for the different elements of the project. I'll be the project manager. I'm focusing a lot of the walkability, mobility elements of the project. Darren and Andrea are landscape architects, so they'll be doing the pretty things that you all see. Ryan and Olivia will be focused on the subsurface and utility work, so they'll make sure that the utilities are set up for the future in the downtown. And then Jeremy's gonna be focused on drainage and roadway. We know we don't like storefronts to flood, we don't like water that doesn't go away, so that's gonna be a critical element for the project as well. So now let's dive into our delivery strategy. So there's four major phases as we work through design on this project. There's the project initiation, there's the implementation plan, the preliminary design, and final design. Right now we're just wrapping up the project initiation phase, starting to roll into the implementation plan and preliminary design for the project. So what have we done so far? FIRST AND FOREMOST, WE HAD A TEAM AUDIT ON AUGUST, MAY 15TH. THAT WAS FOCUSED ON MEETING WITH THE BROADWAY DISTRICT COMMITTEE, CITY, AND THE COMMUNITY TO REALLY GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT ARE THE KEY PRIORITIES TO IMPLEMENT FROM THE MASTER PLAN. ALSO HAD REALLY DEEP CONVERSATIONS ON THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE DOWNTOWN. WE'RE READY TO FOCUS OUR EFFORTS. From there, we've been focusing on looking at the master plan and looking at the key elements we need to implement. We've also done a round of engagement as well in June, and then our survey completed at the end of June, so now we have the tools we need to start design. Last but not least, over the last month and a half, we've been especially focused on the branding effort, because that'll be an important part on how we implement the streetscape improvements. So from an engagement standpoint, on the city website, there's a link to the project website that hosts information on updates on the project. In addition to that, there's also two different tools that the community can engage. There's both a traditional question and answer survey, and there's a geographic survey. You can actually drop a pin and write a comment of, hey, here's an area that this issue happens. So these surveys are going to be really important for us to continue to advance the vision of the master plan in the community. We've gotten really good responses so far. We have 75 survey responses and 10 map comments, and we've gotten over 200 unique visitors to the website that have engaged with it as well. So really good engagement over the last month and a half or so. And just one item of note, this survey will be open for the next two weeks, and then from there we'll close, put a snapshot, and that will be the information we'll be using for the next phase of design. A couple of other things that we've done as part of the project is we've assessed both the parking and the sidewalk infrastructure as well as the utility infrastructure. So I wanted to give a quick update on that as well. So we've counted all of the parking spaces in the downtown. We've looked at where there's accessible spaces and where we'll need to upgrade those as part of the project. So here's an image of the west side of the study area. And here's an image of the east side of the study area just to get an understanding of where we are from a parking standpoint. We also did an ADA assessment of all the sidewalk infrastructure in the downtown. There was three items that we noted, whether the sidewalk or curb ramps were non-compliant, or if they were compliant that they were from, they were using exposed aggregate sidewalks or brick sidewalks that had vertical separations, or if the sidewalks were compliant. So the green is good, the red and the yellow we're anticipating replacing or at least looking at as part of our project itself. Another item that we reviewed was the streets, alleys, and parking lots, just to see what tools we have in the toolbox to be able to upgrade and address. First and foremost, from a street standpoint, the streets are in fairly good shape. We have a lot of rehabilitation options that we can use as part of the project, but overall, for the most part, we have good subgrade and fairly good pavement, so we'll be able to look at rehabilitation options for most of the roadways. The alleys are in a little bit worse condition, so a lot of the alleys will need full replacement or limited rehabilitation options. So that will be something that we'll be looking at as part of the preliminary design for the project. And then last but not least, the parking lots. Also, we're looking at a mix of rehabilitation and reconstruction options as well to get those up to SNF for the future. From a utility and subsurface standpoint, we worked with the public works team and did an assessment of the drainage infrastructure in place, the water, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, to really understand what's the existing conditions, how old is the infrastructure, and where do we need the upgrades. So significant work has been done already on evaluating what's out there today. From the analysis, we see that we have quite a bit of aged infrastructure in the downtown, like I mentioned earlier. There is combined storm and sanitary sewer enforcers in the downtown as well, so we'll want to look at opportunities to separate those. And then we've also done an inventory of all of the subsurface infrastructure in the study area as well. So we have a tally of what the quantity of that is as well. The last piece that we've been working on especially hard over the last month and a half is the revision of the branding effort. The branding effort through the field audit and through some of the initial discussions was focused on three major things. It was focused on acknowledging the city's parent brand with the new Muskogee logo. Also focused on communicating a sense of place, so we want this new branding to be recognizable to the Broadway district. And then last but not least, there's great districts in Muscogee who want this branding effort to be an extension of the other districts as well. So it's really important that we're meeting those three qualities as we're continuing to advance the branding effort. And essentially the branding effort is really gonna continue to be part of the implementation and the framework of the streetscape improvement project. So here's a sneak peek of some of the things that are working behind the scenes on what could potentially roll into a branding effort. Last but not least, I have a really small schedule for you because we have so many different pieces and parts that we're working on for preliminary design. All in all, this fall we'll be rolling into the preliminary design and really focusing on both the cross-section and character images on how a street take could be implemented for the project. From there, we'll be rolling into final design and then into construction. So, next steps. Over the next Four to six months we're going to be focused on finalizing the branding, quarter cross-sections, character images, all the preliminary engineering, and then from there we'll have a good budget to proceed forward and understand what we want to prioritize for implementation for the project. And then from there we'll proceed into final design. So with that, I'll answer any questions you all have.

I have a question that looks nice.

Hold a public hearing and consider approval of resolution number 3094 amending the future land use map for the property located at 4306 East Hancock Street or take other necessary action.

We will now open the public hearing. Ms. Winkler.

Yes, thank you. This is the land use amendment that you guys heard at the public works meeting. It's a request for the property at 4306 East Hancock Street. The rezone request did not conform to the suggested use of the property on the future land use map, which is why we are requesting the land use amendment. This will allow for the rezone to happen. Staff does recommend approval of the resolution. I can answer any questions that you might have.

Move for approval.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mr. Bell, you are signed up to speak. Would you like to speak?

I'm on this item and the next item, and I put my name on there in case you had any questions.

Yes, sir. Anybody have any questions for Mr. Bell?

Do we need to close the public hearing before we go? Yes.

Okay. So having no other signed up to speak, we will now close the public hearing.

Apologize. Move for approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Stan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Love.

Yes. Motion passes. Number 26, please.

Hold a public hearing and consider approval of Ordinance Number 4311A, a request to rezone the property located at 4306 East Hancock Street, rezoning the property from A Agricultural to I-1 Line Industrial, or take other necessary action.

We will now open a public hearing. Ms. Winkle.

Thank you. This is the rezone piece to what we just talked about. So this is actually approving the ordinance to change it from agricultural to light industrial. We do recommend approval, and I can answer any questions that you might have.

Move for approval. Second. We will now close the public hearing, and I will entertain a motion. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussions? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Number 27, please.

Consider approval of Ordinance Number 4307A, an ordinance amending the City of Muskogee Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 54, Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions, Article 5, Offenses Against the Public, Division 2, Prohibited Acts, Section 54-205, Marijuana Prohibited, providing for repeal or severability, setting an effective date. THERE SHOULD NOT BE SETTING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. IT SHOULD BE JUST DECLARING AN EMERGENCY OR TAKE OTHER NECESSARY ACTIONS.

MR. FRANCIS? THANK YOU, MAYOR. SO THIS IS THE SECOND READING OF THIS ORDINANCE. OUR CURRENT ORDINANCE IS IN CONFLICT WITH STATE LAW THAT WAS PASSED, WAS AMENDED IN NOVEMBER OF 25. WE'RE JUST TRYING TO CATCH UP TO REFLECT THE CHANGE. STATE LEGISLATURE PASSED A LAW THAT WOULD PROHIBIT CONSUMING MARIJUANA BY VEHICLE OCCUPANTS. uh prohibiting uh open containers of marijuana and uh um so like i said we're just trying to get our laws our ordinance in compliance um as the city clerk mentioned as we will need to declare an emergency because the law took effect in november of 25. the first i need a motion for the first amending or the ordinance and then we will have to get a motion

second motion on the second one first any further discussion roll call please jeremy schuler yes mike crawley yes tom martindale yes dan hall melody cranford yes shirley hilton flannery yes deputy mayor derrick reed yes mayor ryan lowe yes motion passes make a motion to declare an emergency second i have a motion and a second declaring emergency any further discussion roll call please

Jeremy Shuler? Yes. Mike Brawley? Yes. Sean Martindale? Yes. Dan Hall?

Yes.

Melanie Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe?

Yes. Motion passes. Item 28, please.

Consider approval of Ordinance Number 4308A, an ordinance of the City of Muscogee Code of Ordinances, by amending Chapter 54, Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions, Article 6, Offenses Against Public Authority, adding Section 54-297, using an electronic communication device to publish, post, make publicly available information, identifying a peace officer, public officer, or crime victim, providing for repeal or severability, declaring an emergency, or take other necessary action.

Thank you. Again, a second reading of this ordinance, and again, we're trying to update our current municipal code. State law has changed. It now provides that it is a misdemeanor offense to be charged to anyone who uses a cell phone, fax page, or computer or other electronic devices to threaten, intimidate, harass, or post personally identifiable information of public officials and peace officers. And that does, public officials does include city council members and council appointees. Again, we will need to declare an emergency because this, the language was changed in 2024.

So we will first need a motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. I'll second that. Motion is second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes.

Make a motion to declare emergency.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 29, please.

Consider approval of ordinance number 4313A, an ordinance of the City of Muskogee, amending the Muskogee Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 22, Business Regulations, Article 4, Fireworks, Section 74-237, Conditions for Storage, Sale and Use, adding repealer, severability, and setting an effective date, or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you. This is some clean-up language with the recent change in state law about fireworks. We are removing some language in our ordinance that mentions several zoning classifications that the city no longer has. So it's basically a housekeeping item.

Will you entertain a motion? I'm for approval. Seconded. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 30, please.

Consider approval of Ordinance Number 4314A, an ordinance of the City of Muskogee, amending the Muskogee Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 34, Court, Article 2, Procedure, adding Section 34-58, Code Enforcement Officers, adding Section 34-59, issuance of citations by Code Enforcement Officers, adding Section 34-60, failure to appear for code enforcement citation, adding repeal or severability and setting an effective date or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you. So this was an ordinance that was requested by our municipal judge and it specifies that code enforcement officers are authorized to issue citations It also sets out the procedure for issuing and filing those citations to be prosecuted in municipal court. Additionally, it allows for warrants to be issued for a defendant who fails to appear for such action.

Motion to approve.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 31, please.

Consider approval of ordinance number 4317A, an ordinance of the City of Muskogee amending the Muskogee Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 78, Traffic and Vehicles, Section 78-567. Equipment required. Providing for repeal or severability and setting an effective date or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Okay. One more where we're cleaning up some language. So the ordinance is being updated because the state legislature removed the wording handlebars on motorcycles shall not be higher than eye level of the operator from state statutes. So to make our ordinances match, we had to amend the ordinance.

Okay. Second.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler? Yes. Mike Brawley? Yes. Tom Martindale? Yes. Dan Hall?

Yes.

Melanie Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery? Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe?

Yes. Motion passes. Item 32, please.

Consider approval of Ordinance No. 4318A, an ordinance of the City of Muskogee, amending the Muskogee Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 54... offenses and miscellaneous provisions section 54-46 assault and battery providing for repeal or severability and setting an effective date or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you. So this is, again, some more amendments that bring our municipal code into agreement with state law. This is specifically state law now indicates that a person who commits an assault will serve 90 days imprisonment instead of 30 days. They've also replaced the length of imprisonment for the charge of assault and battery to six months instead of 90 days imprisonment. So we are, again, updating our municipal code to match state law.

Motion to approve.

I'll second it.

Motion to second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes.

Consider approval to allow the City Manager or his designee to negotiate and execute an agreement between the City of Muskogee Police Department and the Muskogee City County E91 Trust Authority beginning July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Okay, the first one and the next two are very similar. This is our annual agreement with 9-1-1 Center. This agreement is for the police department. This year the agreement was for $203,279.28, which was... Excuse me. That was last year's agreement, and this year's is $1,000 less, so we saved $1,000, $202,279.28. Recommend approval. I'm in for approval. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Ann Hall.

Yes.

Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 36 please.

Consider approval to allow the city manager or his designee to negotiate and execute an agreement between the city of Muscogee Fire Department and the Muscogee City County E911 Trust Authority. beginning July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, or take other necessary action.

Mr. Francis. Thank you, Mayor. Just like the previous item, this is for the fire department so they have access to the centralized dispatch. We're renewing the agreement. The same amount remains unchanged from last year, $136,045.72. I do recommend approval. Move for approval. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Ryan passes. 37, please.

Consider approval of a lease agreement with ImageNet Consulting LLC for the replacement and maintenance of the city's multifunction copiers and printers or take other necessary action.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, Mayor. Nick Shornick with PCLZ is currently contracted to oversee our IT operations and he will take the podium to speak to you about this lease agreement.

Good evening, Council. My name is Nick Shornick. Today I'm going to be presenting the lease agreement for ImageNet Consulting. Currently we have a Xerox lease agreement that is expiring. So The old copiers are on a dollar buyout, meaning that there is no cost to get rid of the current copiers, nor do we have to pay to ship them back. So we can get out of the lease agreement with a 60-day termination notice. The printing committee, which was built by Chris Cummings from different departments, all had a vote and a voice for all of their printing needs. So we didn't have just a bias of just the technology department to help pick and choose the copier models and decide what each individual department needed. um so the uh with this new printing solution that we don't currently have is the option to do reporting to see where our money for the city of muskogee is being invested into per department so we can tell which departments are spending the most amount of money on a click to bill ratio there all these reports can be can help save budget for the city by being able to look where they're all being spent it is my recommendation that the council take action to approve the rfp for and move forward with a 60-month lease of these copiers. There's going to be 20 Konica Minolta devices. This is going to be including installation, maintenance, parts, labor, toner, and support services for the amount of $2,211.60 per month for the 60-month lease. So just a maintenance contract, basically? Yes. Okay.

Move for approval.

I second it. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Jarrett Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Number 38, please.

Consider approval to award the city demolition contract to Five Star Demolition LLC for the lowest and or best bid of $3.08 per square foot or take other necessary action.

Ms. Whitman.

Thank you, ma'am. The planning department requested bid proposals for the city demolition contract. The bid request was advertised in the local newspaper on June the 13th and on the city website. Bidding closed on June the 29th. We received one bid from our current contractor, which was five-star demolition. It came in at the amount that we currently do demolition at, which is $3.08 per square foot. They are a local bidder. They've been a long-time vendor with us. All attempts and communication were made to receive more than one bid on this RFP. Due to the acceptable price and work history with Muskogee, five-star is recommended, and my staff does recommend approval to award the contract to five-star demolition. I can answer any questions you guys might have.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shearer. Yes. Mike Brawley.

Yes.

Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

I abstain. Do the family member.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Helton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Jared Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 39, please.

Receive an update on the approved demolition of the property located at 313 North 14th Street, setting the cost and the commencement and completion dates for demolition quoted by Five Star Demolition, and take other necessary action.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mayor. After receiving an appeal from the property owner on this 313 North 14th, we we brought the findings before you guys at the council meeting that was held first on March the 23rd. It was tabled for six months because they thought that they might have a buyer on the property. And that did not happen. So a second meeting was scheduled for June the 22nd, where we brought it back and you guys did vote to uphold the findings of a cab which was to go ahead and demolish the structure. We have received a quote from five-star demolition, which is going to cost $11,161.92. And then to complete the demolition of the structure, and we would like to set the commencement date for August the 6th with the completion date of no later than August the 19th. We would like for you to set that commencement date and completion date and then accept the quoted price of the $11,161.92. And I can answer any questions you might have.

There's a motion to approve. Is that what you're looking for or you want us to actually set the dates in the motion?

To approve the cost and the commencement and completion dates.

I make a motion we approve the cost and the commencement dates and finish dates.

As presented. As presented.

As presented.

And I'll second it. I have a motion to second. Any further discussion? Roll call please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

I abstain to do the family.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Love.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 40, please.

Consider approval of a deductive credit change order, change order number one, for the wastewater treatment plant improvements in the amount of $2,477,757.04 or take other necessary action.

Mr. Stewart. Mayor and Council, this is a deductive change order with Crossland Heavy and Vanessa Laveau, who is the engineer with Olson on this project, is here to explain that change order. And then we'll answer any questions if you need.

Thank you, counsel. So as mentioned, we have a change order that we put together after the bid was received. We worked with Carlson. We identified some potential cost-saving items, so I'm just going to run through those with you. At the end, if there's any questions, I'm happy to answer. So our first one is we had some aerator equipment. We found a different manufacturer that meets our specifications, so we were able to save some money. Items two, three, and four, we discussed a coating that was initially a part of the bid that after some discussions, we realized we could remove. It wasn't necessary since these basins are going to be underwater. They're going to be protected from sewer gases, UV rays. So we do feel that even without these coatings that the basins are still going to work great and they still have some other admixtures in them. We opted to remove painting one of our pre-engineered metal buildings and replaced it with a galvanized adder. And then we have removed some of our concrete admixtures. We have changed some of this contingency earthwork from a hard bid item to a unit price item. We did have a couple of structural revisions that came back after we opened or after we answered some of the bidding questions that we provided some clarification to that will hopefully help reduce costs and potential construction delays down the road. And then we made the option to hold $2 million in the contract for an allowance for anything that comes up during construction. So with that, are there any questions? Oh, sorry. With a total savings of $2,477,257.04.

She said $257,000. We have $757,000.

It should be $247,257.04. Okay, the agenda item reads $2,477,757.04.

Okay, so we'll need a motion. Yes, as presented. Correct. When you say you're holding on to $2 million, explain that to me.

so it's very typical construction to have an allowance that way if anything comes up during construction that maybe we encounter that wasn't anticipated due to maybe record drawings that didn't accurately portray something we have that allowance we can dip into to be able to address whatever comes up additionally we do have that contingency earthwork that can be pulled from that allowance as well

Not to be a thorn in your side, but I remember when we bid this project that was over budget, there was contingency in that. So is this contingency on top of the contingency or is it just added to it?

Added.

Added. Okay. And hopefully we won't need any of it.

And when we go to pay back the loan at the tail end, we'll have that much more to pay back. So we're going to need a motion. Before we have a motion, I want to explain to you how I'm going to vote and why I'm going to vote that way because I'm all for saving the city money. I believe in that wholeheartedly. I'm not for holding this money to me in the best interest of our taxpayer. We took a loan out for this money for a pretty large amount, and if we're going to save that money, I think it should be put back to that loan to reduce interest and reduce the principal on that loan and take some of the tax burden off the taxpayer. So I just wanted to let the council know why I'll be a no vote tonight, and I'll entertain a motion.

I think with a job this size, there's going to be changeovers. And I think what I gather is this will help streamline the process of getting the, instead of coming back to council and asking for more, it's held in this account for if something does arise. I understand, I mean, with a project this big, there's going to be some changes or some unforeseen items.

Yeah, I understood that, but we already added that in a pretty large amount before the project, so that was my concern.

Thank you for all you've done to try to do all the things to cut the fat. You mean the process?

Yes, ma'am.

Move for approval.

As presented?

As presented.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler? Yes. Mike Brawley? Yes. Tom Martindale? Yes. Dan Hall?

Yes.

Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed?

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Love? Yes. Consider approval of the reappointment of CB Abel to the Martin Luther King Community Trust Authority to serve a full five-year term beginning August 1, 2026 and ending on July 31, 2031 or take other necessary action.

Ms. Cramer.

Oh yes, this is my appointment, reappointment. of C.B. Abel. I think that he is a great benefit to this trust authority already, and I'll make a motion that we reappoint him.

Second.

I will give another disclaimer. I think very highly of Mr. Abel. Nothing against him. I think I've made it very clear that I believe if you're going to serve on a board or commission or a trust in Muskogee, you should live in Muskogee, so we'll get that out there before we vote. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale.

Yes.

Dan Hall.

No.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Upton-Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Abstain due to my employment with third-party contractor, Neighbors Building Neighborhoods.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

No. Motion passes. Number 43, please.

Number 42. uh 42 of them so consider approval of the appointment of counselor mike brawley to the city of muskogee foundation board serving a two-year term filling the expired term of former counselor jamie stout beginning august 1 2026 and ending on july 31 2028 or take other necessary action

Yes, this is also my appointment as a council member. I think that Council of Raleigh would make a great asset to the Muscogee Foundation Board. And I move that PG be accepted tonight.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Raleigh.

Abstain.

Tom Martin.

Yes. Well, as it pertains directly to me, I guess.

Tom Martindale.

Yes.

Dan Hall. Yes. Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Upton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor, excuse me, Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Yes.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Forty-three, please.

Consider approval to allow the city manager or his designee to execute an engagement letter with Rosenstein, Fist, and Ringgold, attorneys at law, to perform the duties of the interim city attorney or take other necessary action.

Mr. Frank. Thank you, Mary. Tonight I'd like to... to present a recommendation for this engagement letter with Rosenstein, Fist and Ringgold. When we were asking for recommendations, their firm was at the top of every list of every organization we asked from OML and OMAG. the Oklahoma Attorney Association. Tonight, Greg Leffler is here. As a representative for the firm, he will be the face of their firm as it applies to the city of Muskogee. I'm going to give him an opportunity to talk briefly about himself and their practice and then would answer any questions.

Well, I'll try to abstain from talking about myself. You don't want to hear about that, but I'll share with you a little bit about our firm. Our firm is based in Tulsa. We specialize in primarily political subdivision work, so we represent a lot of cities, a lot of school districts in the state. Our firm has been around for over 75 years, and we've been doing this work, and we're known for this work. I'm very, very excited to work with the city of Muskogee in this interim in this interim period while you search for a permanent replacement for your city attorney. I've had several conversations with Mr. Francis about some of the advantages of our firm, the primary one being that I may be the face of the firm as it pertains to you all, but there's a team of about 20 lawyers behind me who are all great experts in what they do. And I portend to know a lot about this area of law, but there are a lot of folks behind me who know even more. So I'm very excited to work with you all, and I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

I would throw out the disclaimer that we aired in our original agenda item, and Mr. Lefler caught that immediately and corrected us. That's why we have an amended agenda tonight. So I think it's just proof positive that we're going in the right direction with this. But staff does recommend approval. Well, welcome, and we appreciate you coming to speak with us tonight.

Yes, sir.

Move for approval. I second it.

Motion to second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Raleigh. Yes. Tom Martindale.

Yes.

Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Love.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 44 please.

Discuss and take necessary action on developing and implementing a hiring process fulfilling the open position of city attorney or take other necessary action.

I'VE GOT DR. HOUSSE, MS. HILTON, AND MR. MARTINDALE HERE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK. TOM. SO OUR DIRECTION WAS TO PROVIDE INSTRUCTION TO THE CITY MANAGER TO OPEN THE PROCESS FOR BIDS AND CONTINUE WITH THAT OPEN PROCESS UNTIL A PERSON IS SELECTED.

If I can expand on that a little bit, I shared with the committee a potential timeline for how we might go about this search. With July 28th, we'll get the job posted with potential for first review of resumes on August 24th. That's also a council meeting night, so they'd have the option to share those potential candidates with the entire council. Targeting September 8th through the 11th with interviews. Of course, with the holiday in there, we may have to adjust a little bit. Then we'd have a special call to discuss making an offer on September 14th and a possible appointment by the 28th. That's in a perfect world. BUT TO COUNSELOR MARTINDALE'S POINT, WE DO RECOMMEND THAT WE CONTINUE TO TAKE APPLICATIONS UNTIL IT IS FILLED. AND WE WILL POST IT, NATIONWIDE SEARCH, FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD. AND I THINK PROBABLY MR. LEFLER COULD PROBABLY ASSIST US WITH SOME AVENUES THAT WE MAY NOT typically know about. So we're going to really beat the bushes and come up with some good candidates.

Thank you.

Thank you for your work, Kendall.

So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale.

Yes.

Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melanie Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Item 45, please.

Discuss and take action to nominate and appoint a replacement as Ward 2 City Councilor to serve until the next regular election in accordance with City Charter 206, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Dan Hall or take other necessary action.

Mr. Franks. Thank you, Mayor. So, Councilor Hall has submitted his resignation, and so we will need to go through a process to appoint someone to fill the unexpired term. The city charter does not really lay out what that process looks like. It's my understanding historically... The outgoing council member has submitted a name for recommendation. Lacking that, anybody on the council is able to make a recommendation, and then it would take a vote of the council to appoint them. But Mr. Hall is here tonight, and I think he has some things to say towards that.

Well, very interesting. So I have to, I want to clear up something real quick. So with my resignation, it's due at midnight. So, but it doesn't get voted on to accept or not. I'm just ready to resign, right?

It will be voted on? No, they've received your resignation.

Dang, I could have resigned two days ago. Okay. It's been an interesting couple weeks, guys. Who would have ever thought that you resigned from a city council seat and it's such a highly popular seat that hardly anybody ever runs for, but, uh, we'll try to be as nice about this as possible. Some of the things that has been said about me and how I'm going to appoint someone, or I'm not going to appoint someone over the last two weeks. is ridiculous. That's probably what some of the things that's wrong with our city. All I try to do is do the right thing. I tried to resign from a seat and take a job. And the DA said it wasn't a controversial conflict of interest. But I felt like it was a conflict to me to get off the city council because of the time restraints that this new job is going to take. I've had people call me and tell me if I didn't nominate their candidate, this was going to happen. If I didn't nominate their candidate, this was going to happen. This is ridiculous. This is a job that doesn't pay anything. And to have people run around Muskogee like a bunch of high school kids spreading rumors on who you're going to appoint and who you're going to recommend, and that's not who I want because they hurt my feelings one time or they didn't do what I wanted them to do, is ridiculous. And these people know who they are. And I'm very disappointed that we have people in our community like this. It's a voluntary seat. And I just wanted to say that it breaks my heart that you're, it's not about what's best for our city or appointing someone that's best for our community that wants to work, but it's about who my buddy is and I don't like this person or I don't like that person. And I have three names that were given. Actually, I had 15 names given to me over the last two weeks. I will take it that some of those were quite comical because they were giving their friends out. But there was some names given to me and I think they would be very good city council members. I just find it disheartening that it's just another step in our city government and our city council up here. The way we treat people, the way we do business, and how we handle ourselves up here on city council. Under the rule, because I go all the way back to when Bob Luttrell stepped off and put Mayor Coburn up here. We went all the way back when Bob stepped off as mayor and put Janie Boydston up here a couple weeks ago, a month ago. CB Abel stepped off, put Mike Brawley up here. None of those appointments were talked to about, hey, Dan, is this okay with you? That was never discussed. It's whatever that outgoing city councilman, who they wanted in there, is who they put in there. And I thought that's the way it worked until today. I was told that, nope, you can nominate all you want, but that person's not going to get in. I promise you that. So and then I was told if you pick that person to nominate, you are going to be ostracized by this party over here. And if you put this party person in this side over here is gonna think you're within again, not what's best for our city, but what's best for these people, these groups. So Since we're going to give recommendations, I'm just going to come out and tell you. And I've talked to the people that they told me to put in, and they're understanding, and they both understand what I'm going to do tonight. If everybody gets a nomination, I'm going to nominate Dee Boots for this job as I step down.

Second.

Motion to second. Any further discussion?

Can I take this opportunity to say hats off to you, Dan, for your years of service to the city council. He often says that I talked him into coming back. Keep your phone on because I might call you again. But once again, thank you for representing Ward 2 and all that you have done down through the years we started together in 2012. You've made a great impact on our city. And I'm sorry it was a rough exit, but we wish you well in your next endeavor.

I echo that. Thank you, sir. So we need a motion to appoint Dale Boots as your replacement.

Can you formalize it to say Dale?

I make a motion that we accept Dale Boots as my replacement for City Council. For Ward 2. For Ward 2 City Council.

Thank you. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler? Yes. Mike Brawley?

Yes.

Tom Martindale?

Yes.

Dan Hall?

Yes.

Melody Cranford? Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed? Yes. Mayor Ryan Love?

Yes. Motion. Nope, we have two citizens signed up to speak. Ms. Ground, if you would come up, state your name, please. And you have three minutes.

Sorry, I missed the agenda part. Guess you made a change. I'm Nina Ground, 2614 Boston Street, and I hope that you'll fix the sound in here so that when we attend, we can hear what you say. That would be very nice. First, I want to give all my respect to the Muscogee citizens because they're the reason I get to talk to you. They own this building. They are why you are sitting up here. And sometimes I think you forget that. Uh, if it wasn't for all of the Muscogee citizens, we wouldn't have an opportunity to be a community and be representative. So I want you to remember that. And Dan Hall, I want to thank you for your service and your honesty. It's been a pleasant experience compared to the groups and the nightmares we do have in Muskogee. Do you think because you all sit up there and you have a little name tag in front of you, you have the power to control this city? Because it appears that you do. And that's the wrong way to appear. The power is in all these people and the ones that don't show up. They are Muskogee. And that's who you need to start working for. So, I don't know if you understand my fight to try to fix our city, to make it a more honest, a more reputable place, but there's going to be some people served on council with documents. And I'm going to need you to respond to those, uh, because of what you have forgot. I am an anomaly and I do get that. And I know that you all do panic. And I know that the no caller ID calls may be serious. They may not be, I don't know about those threats, but I'm fine with them. Let the people know that who's ever bouncing on me, I'm not going to back down and I'm not afraid, just so you know that. I don't want to be isolated and I know that you have done that. I've been slandered. As he says, this is the stuff that happens here and I think people are trying to ruin me in this town because I do speak up. It won't work. I took on some outside help. I shared a lot of documents with them, especially civic groups that will help me help us because we are a community. We need good people here. We need people that don't think you're in charge of us, but know you work for us. Your honesty is questionable for some of you. Some of the things that I've caught in the audits will prove that. And that's why you'll be getting issued papers for information about your past conduct, as well as your participation in certain things. And Ms. Cranford, if you would please file with the state, the people that contributed to your election. It's still not up. We're still looking for that information on you. I appreciate the opportunity from the people of Muscogee to give me the opportunity to speak, and I hope that you'll all start to listen. This isn't an attack. This is about helping a community actually heal. From a lot of things that he talked about, we need to heal. You let a great city attorney go that almost cost us a bankruptcy. She saved us, and now she's not here.

Thank you, ma'am. Ms. Cassica? If you would, step to the mic there, state your name, and you will have three minutes, ma'am.

I'm Patricia Cassica, and this is Debbie Rowland. I'm going to do the speaking, and she is going to hand out some flyers and invitations to you about a town hall meeting that's coming up on August the 20th. AI centers are a real hot topic, but the community does not understand how some of these come in, how these work, and so there's lots of questions. There's a group that Debbie and I volunteer with in . They are two young, professional Muskogee Creek women that, on their own time and money, they go out and they present information to help people. They answer questions. So this is just a town hall meeting, and flyers that she can start handing out to you, and I'll just keep talking a little bit here. Okay. They are in the process, these ladies, are developing a map of all the AI centers currently located in their county and reserve. And when I say reserve, this is the Muscogee Creek Nation Reserve land. They recently purchased 5,500 acres just so that they could keep land that was not contaminated by the data centers or deplete their water reserves. and also for agriculture. They have told me stories about driving to some of these AI sites, physically actually driving, because they wanted to get accurate information on this map. These are young women that have a professional presentation. I think that you'll be happy to meet them. We want to support, and I hope everyone comes out to support these younger people because, um, it's very difficult sometimes to know how to get started. And unless, you know, people that have been there, um, Debbie and I, we do flyers. Um, we do phone calls. We, we do it all, whatever they want us to do. We do. So it's about educating. the public and making them more aware. I think people are waking up to all of the things that AI centers are used for. Some of it's propaganda. There's pros and cons to it. So come to this meeting, this town hall meeting, and get your questions answered. Meet these young women. They were on the cover of Time Life magazine in November 2025. the people versus AI. You can read their article and why they started this and where they are today. So I appreciate you guys' support.

Thank you. Thank you. Item 46, please.

Consider an executive session to discuss and take possible action on the following. A, pursuant to Section 307B7, Title 25, Oklahoma Statutes. Consider convening an executive session to discuss the requested disability retirement from the Oklahoma Municipal Retirement for Employee Number 7520110117, and if necessary, take appropriate action in open session. We are striking item B. Item C, pursuant to Section 307, C11, Title 25, Oklahoma Statute, consider convening an executive session to confer on matters pertaining to Economic Development Project ED202402, including the possible transfer of real property in the southwest quadrant of the city, and if necessary, take appropriate action in open session. D, pursuant to section 307 before title 25 Oklahoma statutes, consider convening an executive session to discuss workers' compensation claim number 37010227675, and if necessary, take appropriate action in open session. And we are striking item E.

I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session.

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Jared Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion to pass.

Okay, I will entertain a motion to return from or excuse me return to regular session. Say motion a second roll call.

Jeremy Schuller. Yes. Mike Broly. Yes. Martindale. Dan Hall.

Yes.

Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Hilton Flannery.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passes. Roll call for attendance.

Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Derek Reed.

Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. An appropriate motion would be to approve the request of disability retirement from the Oklahoma Municipal Retirement for employee number 7520110117. So moved. I second it. I have a motion and a second. We need a second. Roll call, please.

Jeremy Shuler. Yes. Mike Brawley. Yes. Tom Martindale. Yes. Dan Hall. Yes. Melody Cranford. Yes. Shirley Helton-Plannery. Yes. Deputy Mayor Jared Reed. Yes. Mayor Ryan Lowe.

Yes. Motion passed.

Pursuant to Section 307 C-11, Title 25 Oklahoma Statutes, Council did convene an executive session to confer on matters pertaining to Economic Development Project ED-202402, including the possible transfer of real property in the southwest quadrant of the city, and if necessary, take appropriate action in an open session.

No action is needed on this item.

PURSUANT TO SECTION 307B4, TITLE 25, OKLAHOMA STATUTES, COUNCIL DID CONVENE IN AN EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS WORKER'S COMPENSATION CLAIM NUMBER 37010-22-7675 AND IF NECESSARY TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN OPEN SESSION. AN APPROPRIATE MOTION WOULD BE TO APPROVE TO SETTLE THE WORK COMP CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION CLAIM NUMBER 37010-22-7675. SO MOVED. SECOND. I HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.

ROLL CALL, PLEASE.

JEREMY SCHULER. YES. MIKE BRAWLEY. YES. TOM MARTINDALE. YES. FOR THE LAST TIME, DAN HALL.

YES.

MELANIE CRANFORD. YES. SHARLEY HUBBARD PLANNERY.

YES.

DEPUTY MAYOR JERRICK REED. YES. MAYOR RYAN LOVETT.

YES. MOTION PASSES.