City Council - Regular Meeting

Can I climb and all that? You know, like... Do it. I'm not going to let you do it.

Plus, you know, I get to do it like this. It's like, you know, I'm going to press you off the camera. I'm going to shoot you. I'm going to take you down. I'm going to punch your wrist.

I'm going to give you the name of everybody.

That's right. I mean... There he is. There's the man.

There's the man of the hour.

He's right there.

All right.

Kim's not going to be here. All right. Are we ready?

All right, everybody. Welcome to the city council conference for Tuesday, July 14th, 2026. We have one item on the agenda and it's continued discussion regarding the Lindsay street water tower. And we have. director and staff here to lead us in that discussion.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Ken Giannone came with us today. Nathan's on vacation for two weeks. He stepped up. He's going to help me make sure to do the slides. Well, we had an awkward thing today. I thought of scenario A, B, C. What was going to come in on the bids today when we opened them at 2 o'clock? Well, we were sitting in there waiting for someone to show up, and we had no one show up for bids. So for some reason, we scared off our bidders. So we were like, oh, no, what are we going to do now? So we've spoken to legal, and it'll make us have to re-bid it 21 days by rule if we go that path. But we've got some other thoughts, too, to go with that. But we'll kind of show you from last week. I'll go to my slides here. We'll go over the bid. No one showed up. Kind of a path forward, kind of some ideas of what we have, and then the cost estimate of what we think it'll cost. Still a guess, but the engineer weighed in after talking with different construction groups, and this is his best numbers. So again, no bids received. One of the things we didn't anticipate, we thought this time of year, usually people don't want you painting tanks because they need them for peak season, summertime season. But actually, some of the guys called back and said, actually, we're very busy. We had like five bids. In honesty, your bid had eight scenarios of what you might paint. And we had done that purpose because we thought we might pare it down and do part of it or try to make something happen on cheap. But he said that was a negative. So they had these other tanks where they painted the full thing and this one was a partial and didn't know where it was going. So he said that worked against you and he put it in the bottom of his pile and ended up not bidding. And that was kind of the sentiment of the other two. He heard from three of them. And then the other thing is they did say they like bidding commercial, you know, with municipalities. We have a lot of rules, regulations, bonds. So they just kind of threw that out also that they like bidding private jobs and commercial jobs better than they like bidding for us. But we always hear that. So what we're thinking is we re-bid it and we take out all the scenarios and just make it simple. Don't really even advertise of maybe another group coming in and offering something on there. I know we've talked, you know, still in our minds, demo is an option. I know, Mayor, you don't love that one, and I get it. Or the other option is to go on and instead of letting it sit there and rest and catching a lot of negative feedback that we're letting our utilities look bad, you know, out there on Lindsay Street, we're proposing maybe we just paint it and just kind of put it on a mothball white and the bid be really simple. We'll go on and get demo price because we need that to know what the NUA would need to contribute to someone else if it comes along how we're going to do something else. But also the painting, just make it a two-coat system. give us a white paint job and let's be done for a minute and that way the asset is protected until we decide something we're going to do with it in the future or you know just puts it on hold keeps it safe i mean we're asking for guidance here but that's ken and i were talking just thinking And no logos or anything. Just keep it cheap. And then that's where he came in with the pricing on that. He said about $400,000 is what he thinks the demo was. The last time we bid it, it was like $320,000, $315,000, somewhere in there. So we thought we were on the line for that. But Joe thinks it's gone up now with inflation. He thinks about $400,000 would probably be a demo price. or you're paying it for $500,000. He thinks it would be that cheap if you go with the two-coat system, just white, make it simple. So we're kind of looking for guidance. We think that's the best way to go forward, but totally open to feedback. The consultant, his item is number 22 on here, so I think we still need their services regardless, so I'd kind of like to keep that item on tonight. But the 23, definitely let's scrap that, pull it off, Another thing we're looking at, too, is state bidding contracts, maybe some other options to speed up that 21-day cycle. There's a thing called buy board or the state bidding contract, and we're going to see if there are already some painters on there that are teed up and have been through the state bidding process that we could just utilize that and not have to wait for the 21-day state bidding law. Is that clear?

I like the two-coat system, and I'm curious if there still have been discussions about projecting.

The lighting?

Yes.

So how we were going to do that, we didn't put that in the bid because he said really different people bid to do the lighting, and he was worried to keep costs down. We were really going to try to keep the costs down. He said, you get the prime contractor to do the painting. They would have subbed that to lighting and probably put 10% on top of it. So he said, really be better if we want to paint it and then bring in and do a bid for lighting. And they get lighting guys to do that after.

I'm cool with doing it in two bids. And then with the lighting slash projection, just so we have clarity, is that you can project information or logos on it, or is it just regular lighting?

This is the LED lighting that you get. Colors. Yeah, change the colors.

It could be like revolutions and you just change. It's like St. Patrick's Day and it's all green or Earth Day. Okay. I'm for the two-coat system. Make it white and preserve it.

The extras like lights. using visitor tax or some other not NUA funding for whatever extra we wanted to do like that would come from some other. Okay. I also do like the paring it down to just this and this and whatever we do with this other third party with logos and stuff. That's the way I've thought about it is if the tower is just a base plain white color then whatever comes along can just be theoretically just put on it right and then that way it doesn't look like it's resting anymore and then it's that blank canvas for whatever comes along that we want to do councilman uh how long would a two-coat system last

We're proposing the cheaper way, the 10 to 15-year life on it instead of a 20. It's good paint, but really to get the best 20-year paint cycles, you blast it down to the white metal and put the big shower curtain around it. That just makes the expense go up. So we're kind of doing it. And usually we really worry about that for a water cycle. put water in it we do the inside with NSF approved paints so it can touch water but this one we're just going to do the outside just kind of preserve it and not do the inside not put on the shower curtain thing so he he said this would be like rollers and more paintbrush very little spray because they didn't want to over spray get on the cars

And then you had mentioned, too, the potential for it to be put back in use if we keep it for reuse, spray water, whatever it be, for Reeves Park, potentially for the golf course, other facilities.

There's a line of non-potable water that goes to OU's golf course right now, and they use it for their fairways, and that's not very far.

Right.

air you could get a line going from there to continue up the railroad tracks and how you use these tanks why we thought that'd be favorable is you fill it slow with a little pump and then you have 500,000 gallons in the air and then when the sprinklers you want to turn them all on at night because you You're not supposed to run them when people aren't there, and you want to run a bunch of water. You've got a big high-pressure volume of water, 500,000 you can put and irrigate, and then you slowly fill it up the next day. So it really kind of would work, but we did the math, and the piping was very expensive. We don't own that easement through there. That's OU's land going south of the yard. So it didn't pencil out at this time, but it might in the future.

So this would preserve that potential? That option. Councilman McGrath.

We charge for giving green water.

Do we charge? Yeah. We would need to. Yeah, yeah. And that's what, yeah, we'd need to, and you'd probably need to make an advantage. Like Fort Worth has that, and so they sell it cheaper than finished water so that the companies will say, oh, yeah, I'll buy that and put that on my lawns and not buy your high dollar those on the water.

Do we have a rate or we don't charge current?

We don't have a rate. That was part of the study, too. Plumber looked at it and said, cost of all this pipe, maybe get paid back. It's going to be a really high rate. It'd be more than your...

I think we were looking at piping it to Hitachi and some of these big manufacturing plants we have.

That's when it was like, okay, that's going to be millions and billions of dollars.

Do you need agreements to be able, I mean, like you say, are you even interested?

They already get it, so they would be satisfied. We would just piggyback off that line going there if we could come from their tank up into our tank. And then we were thinking of running one down the road, tracks kind of to Highway 9. And then going postal training looks like a big one. The Saxon building used to be. We thought, so when anybody's irrigating,

that they've been talked to along that.

We didn't really approach them with that because we did the consultant study and it looked like you didn't have enough users to pay for that cost. The other one, too, is back to the trails. Trails was struggling for water back then also. They were interested if we could get a pipe over there.

Approved Sooner Village, which is just on the other side of Highway 9 off Jenkins. I don't know. I know there's more development coming to the area.

Our ability to keep our eyes open for grants, when you think about water reuse and the commodity, the value of a potable water supply versus not just discharging non-potable water into the Canadian, but how do we... keep it circulating in Norman's water environment. If a grant pops up and we can do some piping for an end user for that type of water, we'll jump right on it.

What agency might we find that for the grant?

Water Resources Board, so there could be some state agencies and could be some federal agencies.

So that might be a federal ask in the future?

Absolutely.

Okay. What is the cost of We built one about five years ago, six years ago.

Yeah, we'd have to check to look. Now it's probably approaching a million dollars over something like that, I would imagine. Two bucks a gallon. That's where we're headed, yeah. I mean, for years it used to be, so I'd say a buck a gallon, but now I'm too old. You're too much at this. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. That's correct.

Okay. Council Member Steele.

If a demo option did occur, do we get anything from, like, the scrap metal, or does that 400K include them taking it away?

That kind of was brought up in the last discussion. We would put in there that they could have that, so take it off the price, because usually what we do on construction projects is you just make it go away. We don't want to play commodities. Give me your lowest price. Whoever wins, you can have it, but we want the lowest price, and we want it to go away.

So any idea what that scrap metal is worth off that 400K? no i mean until we bid it right and we'll get their numbers because we're going to tell them you can go sell that between the two options i would prefer the two coat system just for the potential future use of it

You said the demo. No. All of a sudden. In regard to Council Member Bruce's question about that, that we had originally, that 400,000 number includes the.

We think it does.

And if it didn't, then that number would be bigger.

Right. If we told them we wanted to keep the metal, we think they would charge more. We're going to specifically put those words in there that you get it.

They'll show us their math. Council Member Kirby and then Bruce.

Just through experience. You do not know unless you ask in your solicitation. Does that make sense? Yes, sir. Just through experience. Right. Put it in there. the outside of the coating. So what shape is the inside of the tank? I mean, are we talking, it's just rusting out, falling out, or are we going to be clogging pipes and pumps because of debris falling off on the inside?

So it's not, we're not, it's not in use. Okay. So we got it capped off. Usually water towers, they rust on the roof because the water, under the water, it doesn't rust. It's usually the vapor. This one we haven't been in there in a while and last time we left it full of water Just so the wind didn't blow it over kind of as a ballast and so we plan to fill it again We were talking Fire department or someone to help us pump more water to make sure it has plenty in there just for weight So it's not hooked to a well or nothing right now to get up there.

No, okay All right any other questions about that That's where Dixon.

I just say I would support the two-coat system to preserve Future use.

So, Council, we will continue to move expeditiously. We'll go through those state bids tomorrow morning, first thing. And if we are successful, we'll schedule that next conversation, bring you current pricing, and bring you the option to execute and go forward with abandon ship.

All right. And that two coat system, is that the whole thing, the legs, everything?

Yeah, we had piece milled and said, we don't paint the legs. It's the bowl, you know, just trying to find price breaks. But they said actually the legs are probably the hardest because the way they're constructed, they're little cross patterns. Yeah. So they said to power wash or clean that all out to make sure your paint adheres so you get a 10 to 20. It's going to be difficult.

When Chris indicated that in the two-coat system, just that white protective coating that it could be done with rollers, we had several staff members volunteer to say, well, I'll go roll that paint. And then the risk management group said, oh, heck no.

like a church project and that the two-coat system is that compatible with the third party and what they are interested in doing that sounded like then the rest of it makes it a little easier if someone wanted to paint a logo on there and then put a clear coat over the logo just to make it last longer okay hopefully won't clear coat we'll just go simple easy yeah okay so uh the mayoral

indicate that those other items have been pulled, and they'll come back to you at a future date.

Also, direction on that, should I stay with the consultant as far as doing the bid and moving this inspection? Because kind of what I'm thinking is, anyway, we're just going to go paint it, regardless of any offers that come down the street. That way, we got it painted, it's sitting there, and we'll stop the complaints from it deteriorating further. That's our thinking.

Yeah, and I think if it's a blank canvas and OTHER OPTION FALLS THROUGH, THEN MAYBE, I THINK.

CAVEAT, THOUGH, I'M THINKING THAT 500,000 NUMBER. IF IT'S A MILLION, I MIGHT COME BACK TO YOU AND SAY, YEAH. YEAH.

YEAH, YEAH.

THEN WE MAY TAKE THOSE VOLUNTEERS WITH RULES.

YEAH, FOR SURE.

COUNSELOR GRAHAM.

I WOULD JUST PUT IT ON THE RADAR. Could we develop a gray water rate? Yeah. Is Rathaus still working on the sewer?

They can do it. Plumber is, I think, they're pretty experienced in it on reused water. But no, we could do an RFP and get the best consultant to do some proposals on it.

I'd like to plan for a future where we're expanding our ability to charge for gray water.

Sure. If nothing else, sometimes your water systems... It kind of helps subsidize that lower rate, you know, just so you don't, you know, your drinking water plant now is not having to hose an eight and make all that high quality water for someone to put on their lawn. So somehow they kick in some money to make sure the purple pipe non-potable system works. I don't know what that balance is, but we could maybe have them look at that. What's fair. We've talked about it. It's been in our former plan. How are you going to develop the rate?

Got to have a cost recovery component to it and then a cost of preserving the potable supply. To what?

To those assets. We have a plan of how to lay them out. And you lay to so many customers so you get a little bit of payback. And probably your rate's going to be a theory just because you want to do good for recycling water. You might give a 70% of your normal rate or something just to try to incentivize them to do it and just start the system.

Hopefully we can subsidize through a grant or something like that to do something. Not your water rates.

Definitely a long-term thing to poster. water sources. Council Member Dixon.

I was just going to point out that OU, correct me if I'm wrong, they paid for all the infrastructure to get the gray water to the golf course. Right? Like they just like hooked up to.

Don't they use the wells, the arsenic wells?

No, no. They do use our wastewater.

They did invest in a big storage tank.

Out there. Piping. I'm not for sure if they pay for the piping. But if it breaks now, they do fix it. So they're maintaining it for sure. Cool. And then, yeah. But we're working on that agreement. It's making it more fair. Before, it seemed like we were doing everything for cheap, cheap. And now we're trying to get a little bit of cost recovery. And they understand. They're saying, yeah, that sounds more fair.

I think we do use OU's non-potable water at North Base. So they've got some wells out there that... For the truck wash. Not habitable, but yeah, we wash garbage trucks with it.

They used to be kind of well-known for watering the sidewalks on campus a lot. And people would ask, you know, and I remember them talking about, well, the water's not potable. Yeah. Probably shouldn't be watering the sidewalk, but the water is not potable, so we're not wasting.

They're north wells. They re-piped. It goes down Berry, comes down Lindsay, goes down Chautauqua, down Timberdale. That line brings all that well water from north base that they use for irrigation. That's their non-fossil. We partnered with them when we replaced our water line because there used to be leaks along Berry, so we would always say, it's your line. They said, no, it's your line. We did a project together and replaced both of them, so they're all new, all the way down to Timberdale.

And oh you was there they were their own water supplier They were independent before 2006 right and then lost all their wills to arson Regulations not additional arsenic, but a lowering of the federal regulations, and we lost several too But they lost all of theirs, and that's how it became Norman's biggest water customer Any other questions