City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the February 9th, 2026 meeting of the Storer City Council. This time, I will call the meeting to order and I'll ask that you all stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Well, as we get started, I'll just reiterate what the city attorney said a little minute a minute ago that if you're here to speak on a public hearing item or another item on the agenda, please uh be sure to sign up over there so we can make sure we get to you. But first, we're going to start with a presentation regarding the Stillwater Public Art Program. Don Brady, sorry, Don, it started too quick.

Sorry. Good evening, mayor and council. We have friends here with us this evening to celebrate Stillwater Public Arts as an official city program. Throughout our community and for many years, we have been doing the work of developing art and artists from paint, sculpture, dance, music, and more. Collaboratively, we have increased public awareness of existing art spaces and opportunities. And now due to the investment of you all, council and many in this room and those who could not join us this evening, we are moving forward with clarity and a stronger foundation for longevity. As the previous city council meeting, we shared some history about Stillwater Arch integration, which will transition to Stillwater public art. We discussed our art efforts, including the murals at Chris Hammond Plaza, the utility art box program, website, and communitywide art identifiers. Thanks to Billy, who could not join us here this evening. Our goals remain simple. Identify and catalog existing public art across the water. Increase public awareness of our art spaces and installations. Thoughtfully identify future public spaces where art could enhance wayfinding. and establish a formal process for art donations, acquisitions, and funding. Our communitywide partnership continues to grow and includes Prairie Arts, Medela Art Gallery, Stillwater Public Schools, OSU Museum of Art, Stilly Arts, Career Tech, Visit Stillwater Chamber, Stillwater History Museum, Still Wonder Community Center, and Block 34, and many local businesses. one of which I would like to invite up here now as they have some great news to share with us. Laura, can you join me, please? All right. Thank you, Don. And thank you to our city council members, our mayor, our city manager, members of the

Stillwater Art Integration, and all of the art enthusiasts of Stillwater whose teamwork has made today possible. If we haven't met, I'm Laura Griffith Offager and I serve as president of ONQ. And I am joined today by some of my amazing co-workers, Mara Rük, um our CFO and art advocate Steve James, and then my dad, ENQ CEO Jim Griffith, who's also a passionate art supporter. We understand the importance of art in community. Art ignites change. It brings joy, strengthens pride in our hometown, and creates shared spaces that are free and accessible for everyone. Public art has the power to inspire, connect people, and tell the story of a city in a way that nothing else can. On behalf of our entire team at ENQ, we are honored to commit $100,000 to launch the Stillwater Public Art Program. Thank you, Vanna. Public art brings people together. It sparks creativity, reflects who we are, and creates beautiful shared spaces that inspire connection, pride, and growth. We believe investing in art is investing in the future of Stillwater. Our family and our company have always believed in the power of art and we are proud to support something that will enrich the community for generations to come. Thank you.

Wow, that's great. Awesome.

We are incredibly grateful for ENQ's support, not only for their monetary investment, but also for their many years invested into public art throughout Oklahoma. Jim and Steve connected us with Cinda Coll who leads Edmund's public art program and I cannot speak highly enough to the to the partnership we have formed with both ENQ and Cinda. They have been instrumental to helping us develop Sill Water Public Art. And I would just want to add in one more thing that I kind of think is is is neat is that um a few years ago with our sister city program, we didn't have the funds to for the students in Stillwater and Cameoka to visit each other. And so how they connected was by sending art to each other, mailing developing and mailing art. And this year um still water art integration actually our first project was the Chris Salmon murals. and this year is our fourth one and it's dedicated to sister city. So, it's kind of cool how things come back around. But it this really is I I cannot express enough the teamwork approach that we have uh invested into this.

Fantastic. That's great. Yeah. I'd just like to again thank Dawn and uh all the efforts she's put into this as well as so many different community stakeholders that have been involved with the art integration and the the stakeholders that will be on this advisory committee moving forward and the impact they're going to have and and again just want to thank Jim Griffith and Steve and the ENQ Laura the ENQ family for uh their passion on this. We've met with them many times and and got to hear their desire for a program like this in Stillwater that they've seen elsewhere and and so we're grateful for their initial gift that is going to help seed this and really get it kickstarted. So, thank you all for your generosity.

Absolutely. I'll just quickly add uh ENQ is a great such a great um corporate citizen here in Stillwater. Uh supported so many wonderful things that the ENQ niku at Sodor Medical Center and so many other um community initiatives. I think this this uh donation towards public art here in the city is just going to be continuing to improve the quality of life uh in our community and we we appreciate so much the generosity of the entire team at ENQ. So, thank you so much. Absolutely. Take a picture.

Okay. Still artification and public art and let's take a picture together. Let's go. Come on. Hold your head Thanks, Jim. All right, that's fantastic. Thanks so much. It's hard to overstate the importance of community support uh like we get from Enko and so many of our other uh businesses here in the city.

Mayor, as we move into the consent docket, I do need to note one correction on an item prior to action. Um on item L, which is the last item on the consent docket, there is a typo. Uh the name should be spelled Jerome with a J. It's spelled two different ways in the item. So, I just wanted to note that correction prior to action on the item. Again, it should be spelled with a J and it's spelled correctly in the documents. Correct. Yes. Thank you. All right. Well, we'll go to the consent docket. Item four on the agenda. Counselors questions, comments, or action on the consent docket. I move approval of consent. Second. We have a motion, a second to approve consent. Please vote.

Consent dockets approved with a vote of five to zero. takes us to item five, public comment on items not scheduled for public hearing. I don't think I have anyone signed up for that. We do a public hearing. Did you Does anybody have my signup sheets? Ah, I got them.

Found them. All right, we'll get to the public hearing right now. Item seven, public hearings 7A. Pursuant to 11os section 22-121, the store city council will conduct a hearing to determine whether the apartments located at 1815 North Boomer Road to order Oklahoma. The dwellings constitute a public nuisance as defined in 50os section 2 and section 18-64 of the order city code of ordinances as designated and as designated as a nuisance in section 18-71 of the still orderer city code of ordinances on February 9th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the city council hearing room. At said date and time, the city council shall make a determination as to whether said dwellings constitute a public nuisance as defined by the reference statutes and ordinances and whether to order the abatement of said dwellings as authorized by 50s section 11 and section 18-69 of the store city code of ordinances and the assessment of all associated costs thereof to the owners of said property. For purposes of this hearing and process, the city of Stillwater alleges that the dwellings located at 1815 North Boomer Road, Stillwater, Oklahoma, constitute a public nuisance in accordance with 11os section 22-121 and sections 18-71, 18-152, 18-153, and 10-11 of the Stillwater Code of Ordinances because of the following. Set dwellings which through neglect or injury lack necessary repairs or otherwise are in a state of decay or partial ruin to such an extent that it is a hazard to the health, safety or welfare of the general public and in particular the residents of the dwellings. Number two, said dwellings are unfit for human occupancy due to the lack of hot water and heat which is a hazard to the health, safety and welfare of the public including the residents and visitors. Number three, with regard to the foregoing set dwellings are presently maintained in violation of the following code sections of the 2018 international property maintenance code IMPC505.1. Every sink, lavatory, bathtub, shower, drinking fountain, water closet, or other plumbing fixture shall be properly

connected to either a proper a public water system or to an approved private water system. Kitchen sinks, lavatories, laundry facilities, bathtubs, and showers shall be supplied with hot or tempered and cold water in accordance with the international plumbing code. Also, IPMC 505.3 supply. The water supply system shall be installed and maintained to provide a supply of water to plumbing fixtures, devices, and impertinances insufficient volume and at pressures adequate to enable the fixtures to function properly, safely, and free from all defects and leaks. IPMC505.4 water heating facilities. Water heating facility shall be properly installed, maintained, and capable of providing an adequate amount of water to be drawn at every required sink, laboratory, bathtub, shower, and laundry facility at a temperature not less than 110°. And IPM C 602- 602.3 heat supply heat shall be supplied in all habitable rooms, bathrooms, and toilet rooms in order to maintain a minimum temperature of 68 degrees.

I was waiting for one of you lawyers to jump in and tell me I didn't have to read that whole thing. Nobody did. I read it. And we do have good public. We have good notice on this item. Yes, we do. Special counsel Beth Anne Childs.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Beth Anne Childs. I am special nuisance counsel um for the city of Stillwater. You may recall that just over a month ago this matter was set for a public hearing before you. I had been working with the attorney and representatives of Vesta Realy um who are the operators and at their request we recommended that you table this for a month. Um I would like to say just a couple of quick things before I turn it over to my colleague code officer Moore. The first thing is that um when code enforcement initially brought this to me uh they were really very concerned for the residents living in in in these dwellings. um not having hot water, not having water, not having heat. Those are big problems and we are and always have been very concerned about the individuals that reside here. Uh clearly this is sort of an unprecedented stance for a municipality in the state of Oklahoma to take. Um, you may be aware, but we're pretty active in the International Municipal Lawyers Association. In other jurisdictions throughout the United States, uh, municipalities do take an active role in housing, but that that doesn't necessarily happen all that often here, even though there is a a housing authority. But because of the magnitude of the problem and the concerns that were raised by the by the citizens particularly after this drew some interest um you know the code officers and lots of other folks have been very vigilant in trying to bring this to resolution. Uh the other thing that I will mention is uh later on this evening you will be asked to consider a resolution. Initially, the resolution uh recommendation was just going to be to declare a public nuisance and authorize the city manager to move forward. But as

we the city attorney and I discussed this and we began having some internal discussions about this, we decided that uh probably an appropriate alternative would be to take this to the district court. Um, and so you will notice that there is a little bit of a change in that. Uh, we're recommending I in the event at the conclusion of the public hearing once you consider it that you consider approving the authorization which would allow us to take it directly to the district court level. And and I do think I'd like to mention just a couple of things about that real quickly. First of all, I think that um because this is so challenging, it is a large area. that does involve people's private residences. Um, and also the potential cost is enormous. Um, we feel like it it really does offer a measure of protection for the city of Stillwater um and its employees if we get a district court to sign off on it. Also, um you know, in the event that serious progress is made on these, then it does afford a little bit of time for Vesta to make those improvements. Uh what I'm going to do now is I'm going to ask uh code officer Moore to review just briefly what happened the last time we were here and also provide insight on what's happened since it it was initially before you.

Good evening, council. Um, as you recall, uh, brief overview of Remington Ranch built in 1969. 12 buildings, approximately 300 one and two-bedroom, one bath units. Um, the hot water heater is pro or the hot water is provided by central boiler systems servicing uh, four buildings uh, give or take per uh, setup. Uh on 11 November of last year, uh we notified Miss Childs about ongoing issues with no hot water. Uh we set up uh communication with with the management there, started to kind of get to the bottom of what was going on and what needed to be done. Uh we advised the vest reps of numerous calls that they'd received. They advised that they had ordered new pumps and were working on remedying the issues. Unfortunately, these just seem to be band-aids that uh weren't getting the job done adequately the way we had needed it. Um on the 24th of November, we did issue a letter advising about a public nuisance and our intent to abate the the situations. They acknowledged received a letter. Um then they began working on again the the lines, the existing lines from the boiler system. um got some progress, but again, it was a uh two steps forward, one step back with each repair. It's a 50-year-old infrastructure, and unfortunately, it just it wears out. Um then, so we had uh VIP Plumbing out there. They addressed numerous leaks and worked tirelessly to try to to remedy the situation. Um then uh it got to the point where intermittent hot water was being

restored to the buildings. Um then it was decided to go with installing a water heater in each individual unit. They did uh retain VIP to begin with building A and local field electric to add the electric for source for each of those uh systems. there was some delays some with the weather which I mean that's some one thing we can't control. Um then they're getting uh some of the equipment some of the the materials needed. Again it's just been a long drawn out process. Um then uh the 12th of this year we agreed to table till tonight. Um, since then, installation on Puggus, uh, on building A, uh, at one point staff was notified on the 12th that finances were secured to begin work on building C. So, they lined up another company to begin on that building. Contractors delayed due to winter weather. uh the 4th of February, the inspectors went out and uh were able to inspect half of building A. That's units 1 through 14 and 17 and 18 just because of the way the setup it I know it's if you're got a little OCD like me, you're thinking we're, you know, 15, 16, but it's just the way that it's set up. Um on the 5th of this month, they were able to complete the first half of the uh inspections. There were two units that initially did not pass inspection. They went back on site. The contractor flipped the switch and they worked. So, uh, the inspectors were able to sign off on the first 16 units. Um, while we were on site discussing that, I was able to meet with the, uh, company that was going to begin on building C. They had the equipment to kind of do their test run on the first, uh, unit. And uh then as of today, oh we also that day we posted the public

notice throughout the complex that uh we're going to have this uh audience with you this evening. Then today uh my partner officer Leaport went out there. He observed Field Electric on site working on the rest of building A. And then Integrity Plumbing and Electric was on site to begin work on building C. they were beginning to unload their materials and uh they estimate to have about four units done this week. Again, it's kind of like we uh explained the last time. First couple of units are a learning curve and so once they get going and everything, it will pick up on the pace, but uh that moves us forward to where we are this evening. Um work is getting done. It has been slow um given the pace of work. uh staff was going to recommend uh move forward with penalties against Remington Ranch. However, like Miss Charles said, uh that site had been changed. So, we just thank you the council for listening to what we have to offer and move on from there.

And I do have a couple of other things that I would like to add. Um as you know, when we initially began this process, um we thought that it was prudent to create a written official record. And so that was previously provided to the council as well as representatives of ESTA just because we think that it paints a really really important picture of with regard to all of our nuisance abatement actions but particularly in this one. I would like to recognize um code officer Moore because one of the things that he did today is he did go back and check the utility bills and currently there's close to $200,000 that's owed to the city of Stillwater for utility payments. Um technically they qualify to go on a cutoff list. Obviously we absolutely positively recommend that that action not be taken. Um that would only create more problems. Um, I would like to say uh the attorney for Ves Vesta is here. Um, he has been very responsive and immediately when I found out about the utility issue. Uh, he I I let him know that so that they could make arrangements to do that. I'm happy to answer any other questions before you open the public hearing.

Counselor's questions for staff. So, 28 days ago when we met, how many of these water heaters were installed and working? None were there. I believe two to four were installed. None were working at that time. And how many are installed and working 28 days later? 16. So less than one a day. Yes sir. And how many more to go? Uh approximately 283. Do we know how many residents are currently without this service in their unit?

I do not at this time, ma'am. I know that we've again had some intermittent. Um, we do drive through the the complex regularly and if we catch people out and about, we ask them if they have hot water and majority of them have had hot water as of late. Uh, there's been some intermittent uh outages with the hot water. But I do not have an exact number. Do we know which are all of the are all of the buildings impacted? I mean is it it's just strictly the boiler system is failing period across all clusters of buildings or are there

that's the best of our knowledge. Yes. It appears that it's kind of on a recirculation system. So you'll have one building that half will have hot water, but somewhere in the middle of that system, there's a failure to where the other half that's on the backside return does not have hot water. So really the expectation is that all 300 units need to have this replacement for hot water heaters. That's correct.

You mentioned that we're talking about 50-y old infrastructure here. from your standpoint and I know you guys don't get in and necessarily poke around at all the details but h how much of this has been how much of this is still 50 years old? I mean are we we're talking about infrastructure that's been updated at all in the last 15 20 years or is this stuff that's that's been there for the whole time visiting with the plumbers and stuff. Uh there is some update it's patchwork throughout but it's

never it was never it's never been like fully completely renovated or anything. No. Councilors, further questions for staff at this point. Do we have representative from the owner? Do we do that during the public hearing or do we do that after or how do you want to do it? I I probably um I'd probably recommend that you let them speak, but then after the residents speak, you might want to give them an opportunity Vesper representatives an opportunity to speak afterwards if you don't.

I would love to have Vesper rep representative come up before we open the public hearing if that's okay. If you could introduce yourself for the record, appreciate it. My name is Paige Walters. I'm in-house counsel for Veester Realy, the property management company for the apartment complex. And so what I wanted to address to the counselors today is that we are as frustrated by this situation as the city is. Uh I find that hard to believe.

Well, then then we are a close second and and I would apologize for implying otherwise. Our goal is to work to resolve a systemic issue that as was mentioned is far in excess of what was anticipated. Uh towards that end, what we have been communicating with the city's attorney's office is that while all buildings ultimately need this repair work, there are four buildings, buildings A through D, which are of critical priority. As of today, we are estimating a completion date of end of next week for buildings A and B. Uh then or apologies A and C. Then we will be transitioning to work on building B. We have three sets of contract three contractors working on this. Right now, uh the contractor integrity solutions will be handling the work on buildings B, C, and D. So, they are wanting to clear work on building C before transitioning to the others. Building D is the lower priority uh in a serious situation because it currently has full access to hot water. We of course recognize that that is a temporary solution, but our goal is to address this all timely and we are anticipating for those priority complexes a completion date of end of March. Therefore, we would like to request for the city another 30-day continuance that can be monitored of course and reviewed to ensure that we do this. The reason being that the move to district court will unfortunately create difficulties for my client that will hinder rather than assist in the urgent and necessary repair work that is ongoing.

Counselor, is there a representative from your client here? Yes, I have uh three people who can speak specifically to the issues. Uh I have a couple of business questions about about occupancy. Do you know what the current occupancy uh percentage is on the on the complex? Why don't you come up here?

Hi, my name is Laura Berg and I have been acting property manager at Remington Ranch since um October 31st. And you said 71% occupancy currently. So that's I can't do math. 200 some units. Do do you know how many currently are are having problems with their hot water heater?

Um so we've got intermittent um outages in building B and C which are two of our larger buildings out of the four. um half of building A, as I mentioned previously, um units A1 through A14, then A17 and A18 all passed inspection last week and have hot water. Um so I'd say probably 50 to 60 residents. And I wasn't here for the last meeting uh so I may have missed this when I watched it, but uh have you offered rent rebates, discounts to the folks who are struggling with this problem.

We have we did request that we give those rebates to the residents as soon as we had the hot water issue restored. We've just issued one month credits to everybody um that had past inspection in building A. Um so once their hot water's back on, then you're giving them a credit for their past rent. That is what they've decided to do. But the folks who don't have who who decided to do that's what we've decided at corporate office level to offer. But the folks who still have hot water now are not seeing any sort of financial renumeration for their struggle. We have not at this time yet. Are you letting people out of their leases if they are wanting to leave?

Yes. We've also offered to transfer them to um you know the same floor plan that they have in a building that has hot water. We've also had several um vacant apartments open for people to use showers or have hot water in the meantime. Before tonight, were you aware that the complex is $200,000 behind on its utility bill to the city? I was not.

I guess my my question is if we're not discounting rent and we're not paying our utility bill, where's the rent money? Where is this money going? If it's not being used to either renumerate these people for the fact that they don't have hot water or to pay your utility bill, is it being how much is being spent on repairs? And how much is going somewhere else? Sure. So, I know um uh since October 31st, since I've been at the property, we have spent over $250,000 just in hot water line repairs before we even put any money towards the um hot water tank installations. So, you you try you spent $250,000 trying to repair the current boiler system before you even start

the boiler system and all of the leaks that would pop up, the underground leaks on the hot water lines. How long has Vesa owned this complex? Do you know? Yes. April 2024. When it was purchased less than two years ago, was there an inspection done? Did you guys understand that this was a potential problem for for the complex? I am not aware. I don't have the information for you at this time. Counselors, other questions?

I have a I have a comment. Uh you indicated counselor that uh this is a big priority for the company but in the last 28 days they've completed twothirds of a water heater per day. That doesn't sound like a priority to me. I have uh been in direct communication with the CEO of the company who has wanted to put all hands on deck, all resources that can be dedicated to this. As the code enforcement officer mentioned, this is unfortunately a situation where it takes time to get online and up and running. But we are confident that we have reached the point now that there will be serious and and progress in addressing the systemic issues and that while certainly we are unhappy with the progress that you mentioned as I stated, we expect to see significant movement forward. Hence the request for the continuum.

Okay. Well, 28 days ago, we were told basically the same thing by our counselor who had been speaking to people with with with Investa that this was a priority. We would see significant progress in the next 28 days. That hasn't happened. So, how can we feel any assurance that it'll happen in the next 28 days? Okay. May I bring in another witness to Well, this isn't a trial, but you can certainly have anybody from your company that would like to. I I apologize. So, I have it kicks in. Please introduce yourself.

Good evening, council. My name is Oki Kellerman. I serve as direct contact between the contractors and Vesta. And since we started the project, we started with VIP, which and Field Electric, which we're doing separate plumbing and electrical work. And then since we have started working with integrity solutions who would combine these two and then we started last week Thursday with integrity and then until today they have finished four and they are estimated to have another four done by Thursday. So we're looking at about approximately eight units per week. That's what we're trying to get to. and then um as as well as using the help of field electric and VVIP plumbing as we move forward.

So is the plan to install a hot water tank in each individual unit? Yes, sir. So you're not going to try to repair the central system? So the way that it works is we got to take each building off of the boiler system and that would be 16 units at a time. So once 16 are done, we can cap off the boiler or we can cap off the hot water line from the boiler system and then that specific building would be on their own system. So do we have any buildings that you've done that to yet? We have half of building A. Half of building A. Yes. Okay.

We are waiting on field electric for the second half. They started today on the second half of building A. So, are these hot water tanks in the unit or are they in a basement or somewhere else? Yes, they are in I believe in the closet. There's a mark space for Yes. In the closet. So, at 8 units per week, it's still going to take 35 weeks to finish this project for with 283 units.

Yes. I believe one of the buildings, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe building J, building J is on um their own system already. They have electric water heaters in their units. So that leaves us with approximately 263. Yes. Which are still dozens of weeks at eight per week.

Yes. As we move forward, we're hoping to be a little bit more efficient with timing. Yes. Uh councelor to clarify it is buildings A through D which are experiencing the most serious water loss. The other units while they certainly need this repair work are currently functioning at capacity and we anticipate that on-site maintenance will be able to handle any issues that arise while the priority work is ongoing. So So how many units remain? I'm sorry. How so? How many units remain in buildings A through D? How many units?

16 units times four buildings. 60. Was that 64? Half of them are done. Well, 64 total. So 64 total. And they have eight done. So that's eight week. Still two months middle. You when you said end of March, you meant for this priority, these four buildings that are in the priority, you you think will be done by the end of March. Correct. Are the contractors being paid? Do you have funding for for all of this to happen by the end of March?

Yes, all all contractors have been paid. There was an unfortunate issue with an administrative error with one uh payment to Fields Electric. It did take us unfortunately longer to notice that when it should have, but we notified noticed the issue and corrected it. There are no other errors with uh the contractors and funding is available to ensure that this project is completed. Yeah. So that yes, the utility bill would then be the next bill that we're we're worried about, right?

Uh absol absolutely. Uh I will I will be upfront that this is the first I have heard of this. I am sure that this is a major issue for the company and we will immediately discuss this afterwards to ensure that an adequate explanation can be provided along with payment to the city. So I think Oh go ahead. No, go ahead.

I think at the last meeting we also were discussing how many of the water heaters were actually available and on site for installation has and I think that was we were there wasn't the right numbers. there wasn't you didn't have access there wasn't ordered or in or delivered or is there assurance that there's water heaters available. Are they on site to be installed? Are they coming on site at the pace that you're discussing them being installed? Just for clarification for my colleagues at the prior meeting there was a discussion of about 20 units being on site with uh waiting for storage space to clear. So, please provide me.

I believe building C that were currently started last week. I believe that they have uh water heaters in stock and on site and ready to install. So, one of the four four buildings one of the four buildings. So, you have enough water heaters to install to install on site to install for one building. So yes, as we're doing building by building, we leave that or that's in the hand hands of the contractors in order to get those units on site. So they coordinate the units or the heaters coming in into the property and storing them there for installation.

So is it a So it's a storage is the challenge, not that they're available to purchase. I believe that they should have them uh equipped and ready to go. They should have them in stock. Yes. The other you said buildings A through D were the issue and everybody else's hot water is fine. Is that did I hear that correctly?

I'll bring in uh another of my colleagues to discuss that. But but overall while the entire building all the entire complex needs this work those are the priority units that are seeing the most frequent hot water loss. All other buildings to and we'll test we'll have someone testify to that. So

yes, as far as we are aware at this time all of our other buildings have sufficient hot water. When you say as far as you're aware, are you talking to these residents? Like, have you reached out proactively to everybody who lives in this apartment complex and said, "Tell us what's going on with your hot water."

I have not personally reached out to every single resident this week especially to find out. But, um, I have followed up with quite a few and, um, especially over the course of the last few months, I communicate with everybody regularly. they know how to respond and we ask, we're diligent about asking if you have any issues, please contact us immediately and let make us aware of it. So, um, at this time, I've not been made aware of any other hot water issues for any of our other buildings. I'm sorry, Councelor Hawkins, I cut you off there. No, it's okay. So, so other buildings, all the hot water's fine all the time.

Yes, we do. We never know. Um, as I talked about earlier, we've spent $250,000 in hot water line repairs over, you know, the last three months. So, I mean, one could pop up, another one could pop up tomorrow or tonight, but at this time, they do. It seems like the from several of the emails that we received from um or that we've seen from people that live there, this isn't just the last 3 months issue that it's been going on significantly longer. Um so I guess I'm so so why is it taken so long to to do anything about it? I mean, I think if any of us were living without hot water, we would want something done immediately, especially if we're paying rent where that's supposed to be included.

Absolutely. Um, as far as I'm aware, I was not on site um before that time before October. Um, the same issue we were experiencing all throughout the property was the hot water line breaks. So they would go in and repair those, make any repairs to, you know, any of the boiler systems, and then they would be fine. So, but because this has been an ongoing issue since we've owned the property, um it's just time to find a different solution, which is now why we are wanting to install hot water tanks into individual units so that we don't continue to have this issue going forward.

So, is your office open seven days a week? No, we do have emergency maintenance available to our residents 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Are you on site 5 days a week? You personally? I am personally on site 5 days a week. Uh couple clarifications to to add to that. Uh unsurprisingly, the difficulties at the apartment complex are uh as hard on the our staff as they are on the residents. And obviously, the residents suffer more. I don't think that's true. Well, let me these people don't have hot water in their homes. Let me rephrase your staff does

that is it is difficult for our staff as well. Certainly it is more difficult for the residents as a result we have experienced staff turnover on site which is why we had to state that to our knowledge were the prior issues as was brought up by the counselor. Uh additionally we are certainly sympathetic to the residents issues. We have re city attorney has been gracious enough to provide us with some of the communications that your offices have received with regards to this. We've made an effort to reach out to those residents whose issues had not already been addressed by the time they came to our attention. Additionally, we have been in constant and remain in constant communication with the residents doing our best to uh daily update them with regards to the issues. And as part of that, one of the requests that we wanted to provide, oops, if I can find it, bear with me, my notes got messed up, is an email address that is available along with the emergency service to residents 247. This email address is monitored in all the way up to the CEO himself who reviews this. This is feedback atvestarrealpropy.com and we just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that that is another avenue certainly that we want to provide to the residents uh to help while the repairs are ongoing.

So another issue you mentioned is if we go forward with this it would affect your ability to do the work through financing. Could you talk about that? Yes. Uh I will be upfront that is I am a litigation attorney. I am not dealing with that on a day-to-day basis. But my understand It's okay. We're city councilors too.

My understanding from speaking with our executives is that uh there are a number of institutions that are right now supportive of our efforts. They believe that they we are taking the proper and appropriate steps. However, an escalation to district court action triggers a number of notice requirements and clause issues within our contracts that will change the nature of our relationships with them. Not necessarily adversarial, but it will cause cascading issues that will create additional problems for getting the repair work done. So, are you relying on these existing mortgage holders to provide to provide more funding to do this?

I'm I'm afraid I cannot answer that question. because you don't know or because you can't tell us. I I do not know. So, I'm not there. There is no effort to hide hide the ball here. Uh normally I'm dealing with slip and fall cases and things of that nature. Well, I I mean, I just I I think it's a reasonable question because if if that is a a matter that you feel is uh necessary for us to consider when we're making a decision, if you don't have decision makers here, folks who understand that issue to explain it to us, it makes it harder for us to consider it as a as a a reason to to not move forward.

Absolutely. Unfortunately, uh we received notice or our understanding was that we would need to prepare for this uh meeting on over the weekend. Uh and so we have been working non-stop to try and get ready. Our COO who would be in a position to provide that information is unfortunately out sick and the CEO unfortunately was unable to attend this due to a prior scheduling conflict. How many how many properties does Vesta own here in Still Water? Is this the only one? This is the only one. Yes. In Tulsa. Like where else do you own property?

Tulsa, Oklahoma City, um one in Witchaw, one in Little Rock. Are any of the other ones currently having problems delivering hot water to 50 or 60 of its residents? My understanding is no. there uh certainly we have individual issues with regards to hot water supply but this this issue before the city is unique uh for the our organization. So is there a bigger apartment maintenance issue happening at any of your other pro properties around the state or other places?

I'm just wondering if the CEO considers this to be a priority why he couldn't figure out a way to be here to address the issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, I cannot speak for the CEO's schedule, but I can promise you that I have been in constant communication with him over the last several days. He he messaged me just before I walked in here to to confirm the start time because he wants to make sure that this turns out well. Uh if he could be here, he would be here. Okay, further questions before we open a public hearing? I'd like to get some feedback from some of the residents, I think. Thank you all. This time I will open the public hearing. I have three people signed up to speak. I'll call you up, I think, in whatever order you're in. Uh, and you'll have five minutes. Please introduce your yourself, uh, your name and your address, and let us know what you have to say. First up, Ronald Balderson.

My name is Ronald Balderson. I live at 1815 North Boomer Road, F17 apartment. Now, like I said back in the 12th, I'm not as unfortunate as a lot of these other people. I do have hot water cuz we have a tankless hot water heater, but my wife the day after that meeting put in a work order on the 13th of January uh to have our upstairs neighbors drain, bathtub drain, checked out and fixed. And they called us today. Okay. To say that they finally got the parts in. Well, it's kind of funny. They haven't even been upstairs or to our apartment to see what the problem was. Now, my wife did leave a detailed list, but how do we know what it is? Cracked pipe, cracked drain pipe, whatever. They don't know cuz they have not taken the time to even come in and look. Um, and I'm pretty sure everybody here has Facebook. Am I right?

Unfortunately. Yeah, I know. Uh, you can see that the owner or whatever, Mark, whatever his last name is, is probably getting a hold of these people in between his poker hands cuz he does like to play poker. Now, I do too. I'm not going to lie. I'm a good one. But I know when someone's bluffing. I'm sorry, but that's all I really need to say. Y'all have a great day. Thanks, sir. Joyce Fox.

My name is Joyce Fox. I live at 1815 Boomer Road. I have a client right here behind me with his dog and everything. He's deaf. He moved in December the 18th. He didn't even have a tank in his apartment for over three weeks before they finally got him a tank hooked in there. I've been getting hear this story, that story from the office, from the Palm people, from the electrician. Like this morning, the guy said, "Oh, we're going to get to your building today." They didn't get to our building at all. They only done the other stairs. They didn't even work on our part on downstairs. The apartment across from us, A13, he got his hot water turned on. When I was told we were supposed to have hot water that same day, they was supposed to be getting hot water, too. It's hard for me to keep him clean when he's a heart patient and he has problems with just certain things for himself. I had to boil hot water, carry big bucket, big pot of hot water to pour in the bathtub nine times or more to get enough water to get him a bath. I'm I'm just at my ends with this. I know he needs this place to stay because we lost our house in December of the FAR. And I want to thank the fire department for being there to help us out on that. But the problem is they need more people there to do their job. The construction people, the one who does the wiring and stuff, they need more workers and quit yakking. They were standing right there by my big window just yakking away. They need to be doing their job. And that's all I got to say.

Thank you, ma'am. Desire Pierce.

Hello. My name is Desire Pierce. I live at 1815 North Boomer Road. Desire, can you speak up just a little bit? Thank you.

Yeah. Sorry. Um, for most of you remember from last time, I haven't had hot water since November 11th. Um, the manager has called a few times to ask me if I have hot water. When I tell her no, she's she clarifies by asking if I completely don't have hot water or if I just have lukewarm. I've clarified that it's somewhat warm. Um, after the last meeting, my heater broke um the morning of I think the first snow. Um, they sent maintenance that day, but he couldn't fix it and they said he needed to contact an HVAC, which he could guarantee wouldn't come over the weekend, and they didn't. It was about a week later when they finally got portable heaters, so we had to stay somewhere else for a week. I've spoke with her about getting a reimbursement on rent or credit or something, and she just asked me to put that in writing. I've sent an email. I have not gotten a response on that email. Um, part of my concern is the ceiling of the parking lot during winter when there's people who don't have hot water or heat. And besides Facebook, I don't have that, but I do have the news. And we can see that the owner owes millions in loans, over 300,000 in credit card debt. I believe I seen an interview with another one of his properties in Oklahoma City where a employee said she quit. She wasn't getting paid. another one that didn't have water, a previous employer at our location that I know that also didn't get paid. I can see that it is probably frustrating for them the job they have. Um, we're going to call constantly because we were tired of being told I mean literally when this started it was this will be a week or

two. Um, I I don't think they can understand it. It's it's been going on for long enough that it's not um I don't feel the sincerity and the sympathy. I mean, unless they want to come to my house and take a bath in that water themselves every day, I I don't I don't you wouldn't choose it. Um, my concern is just that if the bunny will be there, um, just like the HVAC, they could, it took a week for them to find a company that would come look at it and then actually think it was fixed with parts from a different vacant apartment. Um, I don't I don't know if they need a whole new finance team. And at one point with my lease before, they went 7 months without noticing that housing hadn't paid my rent and never even let me know that that rent hadn't been paid until my lease was time to be renewed and then they wanted all that back money. Um, my lease was up in December and I did send a 30-day notice on December 4th requesting to move out because at the time I had a property to move into and I actually was declined because my lease said I needed a 60-day notice and um I'm on a monthto month now and I think about every week or two she calls and asks if I would like to renew my lease yet and I tell her no every time. Um, I'm my concern is just really if it's going to get fixed and another month and no reimbursements, no credits, um, more problems are going to continue to pop up, that's also going to cost them money. So, I'm just looking at the priorities because sealing the property that parking lot that still has potholes just seemed like a a waste of money at that time to me.

Ma'am, ma'am, I'm sorry. Did you say you're in building B? Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. Go ahead. So, one more quick question for you. So, you're in building B. Have you been offered to move to another apartment within the pro within the complex? I have not been offered to move. I was when I didn't have heat, I was offered to stay in a vacant apartment.

Okay. Thanks. I don't have anyone else signed up to speak in the public hearing. Was there anyone else that was planning to be here to speak? All right. At this time, I'll close the public hearing. Uh I I would actually like to invite um Mr. Waters to come back up. Uh and when's building B going to have water heaters?

Sure. Uh, and real fast before that question is answered, I just want to let the tenants know who are in this, we are more than happy to meet and talk with them once this hearing is concluded to immediately discuss with them regarding the issues they've raised. So,

well, I appreciate that, but what we've heard is that folks have reached out and asked for clarifications, have asked for for timing, you know, what when's this going to be done and haven't gotten those responses. And so to be here at a hearing and you know having this discussion in public for you to say oh yeah we'll we'll talk to you about it like that November 11th is almost 3 months ago. I I mean it's it's difficult for us to I mean for me to understand certainly I can speak for the rest of us but why would anybody believe that this that that from here on out it's going to be any different? I mean, I know, you know, you sort of answered that question, but what what what possible reason could you give us to think that something is changing here? Is there additional financing that's been secured? Is there additional clearly uh you know, the fact that the CEO is not here doesn't show me any sort of additional concern that they're putting the company's putting on this? What convince me that there's a reason that we should believe it's going to be different in the future? Well, uh, the reasons are the reasons we've enumerated, but additionally, as far as the individual tenants are concerned, I'll be looking at the issues. I'll be speaking with them. I'll make sure that uh I can't speak to why there might have been a delay in communication. I know in other situations there's unfortunately been staff turnover or a message gets lost or the issue we believe is resolved uh and there's a miscommunication that takes place. I'll be in a position to specifically look at these ensure that responses are delivered. Now, obviously, unfortunately, I can't deliver that all the time, but one of the things that the regional manager Jamie and I will discuss moving forward is to make sure that we have good systems in place to ensure that the residents concerns are addressed addressed. So,

you referenced the regional manager, Jamie? Yes. Jamie, could you come up please? Or sorry, I apologize. The property manager. The property manager. What's your role? I'm the regional property manager. So, you cover multiple complexes, correct? How many do you cover? Six. Where are they? Uh, primarily in Tulsa, but I also have two in Jinx. Okay. Any of them have these kinds of problems? No, sir. Do you guys understand that your business is people's homes? Yes.

And I mean, I I get, you know, these comments about we have trouble keeping staff or there's, you know, there's difficulty, that sort of thing. But I mean, this is where people live. That your job is to provide a a home for people to just take a bath in. Uh, and it doesn't feel like an excuse of, well, it's hard to keep staff is really difficult for us to sort of sit here and say that you're taking it seriously enough. I mean, if you can put in eight water heaters a week with one company, go get another company and put in 16 a week. like the the level of commitment and urgency to give people a place to live, which is why they're in contract with you. I I it's very difficult for us to see it. Do you do you feel like the level of urgency is commensurate with the fact that that folks have been without hot water for 3 months?

We're doing everything that we possibly can on a site level. Um like Laura previously mentioned, you know, we have offered to transfer individuals. We have vacant units that we just um we purchased, you know, shower curtains, floor mats, things like that to equip them so that they can go take a shower. And while I realize that that's an inconvenience for them as well, um we're doing our best to provide that access to them. We do have um two buildings that have tanks that were installed from the previous ownership, which is buildings F and J. So, those are the ones that we're primarily offering to transfer current residents to in that main circuit. has the the woman who spoke here just a second ago has um to me you have you found tried to find her a space to live and have you offered to come move her stuff from one apartment to another other than just saying hey you can take a shower over here if you're if if you need to

I'm not authorized to move their belongings that that would be the corporate level okay that I mean that those are I mean to me if I had spaces in my apartment complex that did have hot water and I had somebody who was living in a unit for three months that didn't have hot I would say, "Hey, let's get a couple guys together. We'll move your stuff over and give you a unit that has hot water. Are you suggesting that there are units vacant in this complex with hot water?" Correct. Why are these people not in them? Not all of them are in a position that they're physically able to move or that they are interested in moving.

It's so remarkable to hear you say that, that they are not physically able to move and yet they you are okay with them physically living in an apartment that does not have hot water. I have never stated that I am okay with that. I'm saying that we are simply doing our best to accommodate them in the best way that I am able to offer.

That that's difficult for for me to accept. I mean, I I appreciate that you're not saying that you don't care about it, but if there are spaces available with hot water in them, I would think you guys would be doing everything you could do to to make it possible for them to move, including moving them for them. If they have difficulty with mobility there, I mean, clearly they got there the first time they could be moved. And to me, I would think that it would be your responsibility since you are the one not providing your contractual obligation to provide these people with a livable unit. And so I would love to hear about how you're actually finding ways to move these people to folks to to places where you have hot water. If you have hot water available in vacant units, that that's just appalling, honestly.

Yeah, I do apologize. I'm not authorized to offer them. I would like to talk to whoever's authorized. Okay. Okay, cuz you have a CEO who owns this place and if if that's the one who needs to authorize it, then let's have him come and let's talk to him about authorizing it.

We'll we'll certainly discuss this as as soon as the meeting is concluded. I would also add to your point, mayor, as to hiring on additional teams. That was absolutely something that was considered when we made the determination that this required a systematic overhaul of the units. Unfortunately, it was determined that that would not result in a significant increase in in productivity due to the difficulty of coordinating the various teams and the linkage and alignage. We believe that the contractor that we have now that is moving forward with all the units is able to do it at best possible speed.

It's a totally different building. You couldn't get a second contractor to work on building B while they're working on building C. That doesn't seem like a coordination problem to me. That seems like we just don't want to pay for it. That was that is not our intent, uh, sir, but I certainly respect your opinion. Does anybody else have further questions? I've heard enough. All right. Thank you all for being here. Appreciate the fact that you're willing to be here and have these conversations and answer the questions. Of course. Beth Anne, would you like to close the discussion here? Uh obviously staff recommendation is now that the public hearing is closed that you take up the resolution once you get to that and and we would respectfully request that you approve that. Thank you.

Uh I mean we might as well just jump down to item nine uh which is resolutions. We'll come back up to our other public hearing in just a second. But this time uh we're going to close the public hearing. I did close the public hearing. Okay. Did I not? I did. He did it. I'm sorry. I just missed it. Close it again. Okay. Thank you. Super closed.

Item nine in resolutions. We have resolution number CC-2026-2, a resolution of the Stillwater City Council declaring the apartments located at 1815 North Boomer Road, Solar, Oklahoma, a public nuisance detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the general public and the community. Ordering the nuisance to be abated in accordance with 50os section 11 and section 18-69 of the city of Stillwater Code of Ordinances. authorizing the filing of a district court action seeking a judicial declaration that the apartments constitute a public nuisance and entering an order authorizing the city of Stillwater to abate the public nuisances on these properties with costs to be paid by the owner of the properties and authorizing the city manager to take all actions reasonably necessary to proceed with the abasement the abatement and district court cause of action. Just a quick question on the this this would authorize us to seek a district court action, but we don't necessarily have to do that right away. We could in discussion with the apartment complex figure out, okay, there's something happening. We could we could wait.

You could. Okay. But it would be helpful um to staff to have some guidance on what that looks like. Yeah. So, well, I guess I just meant that it's not necessarily not drafted and ready to file tomorrow morning. We're going to have to figure it out. Or is it? Not that I'm against it. I'm just saying I it the goal, the objective would be to file it by the end of the week. Okay. And and simp and candidly, it's just to keep this moving. Keep it moving. So, councilors comments on the resolution. I move adoption of resolution CC 2026-2.

Second. We have a motion and a second to adopt the resolution. Please vote. Resolution's adopted with a vote of five to zero. These folks deserve homes to live in. Please make it happen. Absolutely. All right. Back up to item eight.

Mayor, could I stop for just just a moment? I I did want to let people know, I don't know how helpful this is in the grand scheme of things, but there are a list of resources on the city's website for you um in terms of how to talk with code enforcement or um legal aid or whatever it is, other resources that you might need. That seems like not a lot, but it is there for you if you need it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. All right, we'll go back up to item seven. We're at item 7B under public hearings. 7B is received public comment regarding a text amendment to still order city code chapter 23 land development code article 1 general provisions. Section 23-7 definitions. Article 5 use categories and limitations. Division 1 generally section 23-96 definitions. Article 6 land use classifications division 3 residential districts. Section 23-140 RMI, Multif Family Intermediate District, and Section 23-141 RMU, Multif Family Urban District, and Article 9, Landscaping Screening and Environmental Standards, Section 23-202230 Generally. Henry, uh, good evening, mayor, vice mayor, counselors. Uh, my name is Henry Beelheimimer with development services. Um, and tonight I'm here to talk to you about a text amendment to the RMI and RMU um, zoning districts. That's residential multif family intermediate and residential multif family urban. Uh, the goal of this text amendment is to update the way we regulate Greek houses. Um, quick background on this. Um, as we all know, we're currently working on an update to chapter 23. So, we're rewriting the land development code. Um, this is something we were working on before um, we decided to move forward with that land development code update. So this has been in the works for a while. Um which is why we're moving forward with this separately from that

process. So that is still moving forward as well. Um so this all started whenever we hired a planning consultant to do a comparative analysis of how other college towns similarly sized to Still Water deal with Greek houses. Um so with those recommendations and a lot of discussions, we came up with this proposal. Um so we're going to talk about this list of sections that we're proposing to update. We'll do that one at a time. So, first off, we're proposing to update the definition. The definition is on the screen. I'll read it real quick. So, a fraternity or sorority house means any building occupied and maintained by a social association of college students and containing group living quarters wherein for compensation and by pre-arrangement for definite periods. Uh, meals and or lodging are provided exclusively for members of the organization and their guests. So, explanation of why we're talking about the definition. Um, we have definitions in multiple sections of our code, but tonight we're talking about two. Right now it's in 237 which is our just general terms that are used throughout the code. So right now fraternity or sority house is considered a term. It is in the code. Um we're proposing to move that to section 2396 which is our use definitions. What that means is we're now saying this is a use that is allowed in certain districts. Um when we're moving that definition we're also adding this green section which I'll go ahead and read starting right before that. So, it's an association of college students that is a affiliated with the university recognized chapters of fraternity or sorority. Just to tighten up that definition a little bit. Um, so since we're moving moving this to 2396, that's now going to be considered a use. That means we need to say which zoning districts it's allowed in, which is what we're doing in 23140, which is residential, multif family, intermediate. Um, we're just adding it as a permitted use. That's one of the zoning districts that fraternity sority houses currently exist in. We are also adding some exceptions to the section, but we'll get to that in a little bit. So, we're also adding as an allowed use fraternity or sortity into residential multif family urban, which is our RMU code, as well as amending those side

setbacks. Um, we're amending these side setbacks to mirror the setbacks in the RMI or residential multif family intermediate district. Um, but it's a whole paragraph, so let's get into the kind of context around that. So, fraternity story shorty houses when a sideyard has a common boundary with property in any single family residential district or use the minimum setback is 15 ft. When a sideyard has a common boundary with a property in any other district to use, the minimum setback is 5 ft. The reason for that is a lot of these fraternity or sority houses abut fraternity or sority houses. So, that's why we have that reduced um side setback. One caveat I'll add to this is that um there is still except uh excuse me there's still an exception in the code that says for each additional for each story above the first story there's an additional 3-ft side setback. So for a twoft structure you'd have an 8ft side setback. For a 3-ft structure you'd have an 11. So that does still apply to the setback. Um but that whole first couple sentences was just to explain that if you're abing a single family residential district or use you would still have the 15T side setback that you have right now. We don't want to negatively affect any of those existing uses or districts. So now we're getting to those exceptions. Um the 23140 and 141 is just telling you that these are the two sections that we just talked about. So these are exceptions that will apply in both RMI and RMU. Um so we'll just go through these one at a time. Residential structures not divided into dwelling units shall have densities determined as each four beds shall be deemed to constitute one dwelling unit. So this is similar to what's already in code. Um why we need this is u we have maximum densities that are allowed in each different zoning district. The densities are calculated by dwelling units per acre. That's really easy when it's like an apartment. An apartment is a dwelling unit. When you have an apartment complex with 20 units that is 20 units per however many square foot that that lot is. um it gets a little more tricky whenever it's like a fraternity or sorority for example because they might

have one kitchen but like that's not one unit um if that makes sense. So um right now there's um a way to calculate it that depends on whether you're a one or two bedroom unit or whether you have like three or more beds in a unit. We wanted to simplify that to just make it easier for the future that each four beds is one dwelling unit. Next we have a structure being built for a fraternity or sority house shall be built to have a residential appearance which means which shall include um a is a front porch. B is street facing facads shall be constructed of masonry material which can include brick, cast stone, stone or ephus and stucco at least 50% of which shall be brick or stone. Um C is a landscape plan shall be submitted which meets the requirements of 23230F which is the next slide so we'll get into that in just a second. And then lastly, we have all fraternity and sority houses shall have a minimum a maximum height of two stories for any portion of a structure that is within 30 foot of a single family residential zoning district or use. So just to walk through an example of when that would come into play. So if you are abudding a single family house and you're building a new fraternity sority house, um since you're abudding that single family house, you're going to have a 15t side setback. Let's say you build right up to that side setback line. Um, for the first 30 foot of that, you would have a maximum height of two stories. The rest of the structure can be as tall as you want. Not as tall as you want. It has a maximum height of 50 stories for the zoning district.

Um, 50 foot is the maximum for RMI and RMU. Yes, important distinction. 50 ft. We would have to use some new fire equipment for storage. Um, so yeah, after that first 30 foot, you could go up to that 50 foot maximum height. Um, but yeah, that basically just requires that height step down so you don't have that 50ft structure looking right down onto a single family house.

Um, okay. So, the last section we're talking about tonight is 2330F, which is our landscaping section. We added in a section just for fraternities houses that says landscape plan with at least one tree and 10 shrubs per 30 ft of lineal frontage. Um, with planning commission's recommendation, it did change the verbiage of this. This is the verbiage that was presented to you and is in the current ordinance. We'll get into those proposed changes in just a second. So, um, in the ordinance that we have right now, corner lots shall provide landscaping for both front yards and that landscaping shall be a minimum requirement for the lot which can be clumped or spread throughout the parcel. So, let's just jump into that proposed change. Um, it's specifically on that first bullet point. Um, corner lots shall provide landscaping for the primary front yard, which is the front that the property is addressed from. The reason this change was added in is after we posted the agenda for planning commission. So we had already written this ordinance. We had a meeting with the Greek neighborhood association who pointed out that um for homecoming decorations, the fraternities use their front yards for those homecoming uh decorations, the decks. Um so they pointed out that the tree requirement for that front yard could be a burden and negatively affect that. Um, so the Greek neighborhood association requested that we decrease that requirement. Um, and we thought that was a fair request. So we changed it for the corner lot specifically. That's because almost all Greek houses are on a corner lot, which means they have at least frontages on two streets. Um, some of them are three cuz they extend a full block. Um, so this would mean that the landscaping requirement is set by the width of the frontage of the street that you are being addressed on. The trees don't necessarily or all the landscaping doesn't necessarily have to be on that street frontage. That just sets the requirement for the parcel.

I'm open to answer any questions if you have any. Well, I'm just glad to hear you're not trying to zone out house decks because then we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Yeah, that is not the goal. You you mentioned that the Greek Association had asked for that that um revision. So I would ask just to make sure that you all have been working with the Greek organization or the Greek association to make sure that they don't have any other concerns. Yes, ma'am. We started working with them a little later in the game. We um were contacted by them after the first because it went to planning commission twice.

Um after the first planning commission hearing um the Greek neighborhood association reached out to us to be in contact and then we started working with them and having those conversations. So, we plan on doing that moving forward and working with them on the code update for the bigger picture update. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Just a curious question. You mentioned trees and shrubs. Are there any definitions of what trees and shrubs, how big, how tall, how short that can be? They I don't have the definition in front of me, but they are both defined in the landscaping section. Okay. Any further questions for staff at this time? I'll open the public hearing. I don't have anyone signed up to speak on this item. Norman, you're not here to talk about this.

I will close the public hearing. Henry, was there a recommendation? Yes, sir. So, on January 27th, 2026 with a vote of 5 to 0. Planning Commission recommended that the city council approve the text amendment as presented with changes made to 23230F regarding the primary front yard for corner lots landscape requirements. Thanks, sir. Councilors motion to accept planning commission's recommendation. Second. We have a motion and a second to accept. Please vote.

That items approved with a vote of 5 to zero. Thank you, Henry. Item eight is general orders 8A, presentation of the Sto Public Library Stillwater Fire Department collection, which was digitized as an archive collection through a grant from the Oklahoma Historical Society. Stacy,

good evening. I am Stacy Deleno, the director of the Stillwater Public Library, and I have with me Andrea Kaine. She is the supervisor of technical services, which is the department that's entrusted with the care uh care and um preservation of our um archive material. Um, I would say it's probably been since I have been at the library, which is 25 years now. Um, we've always had historic materials like you would envision in an archive. It's just that libraries normally didn't take care of archival material in the same way we think of a university or a museum doing. um 10 years ago, we decided to change that and we decided to actively preserve the um the materials that we had been collecting for decades. So with several national and state grants, we created an official archive room and that now um houses about 7,500 items on Stillwater history. We share cultural preservation duties with OSU and with the Stillwater History Museum. The library's focus, however, is on the history of Stillwater's governmental entities and its community organizations. So that of course includes the Stillwater Fire Department. Last year, the library added an archive catalog so that community members can view um items in the collection once they're digitized. And we also received a $14,000 grant from the Oklahoma Historical Society to digitize the Stillwater Fire Department collection, which was at the time being cared for by OSU's fire protection publications, but

then was gifted to the library. The fire department collection consists of over 42 boxes of photos, documents, scrapbooks, and log books going over decades of uh fire department's history. Our OS grant project included digitizing approximately 40% of this collection, and the result is about 2,000 mostly photographs that are currently available for use online. The entire collection however is available for public viewing and research at the library and is searchable in whole on our archive catalog. We do expect to have interest in the collection on a state and national basis as well as interest from our community. And use cases for this material includes research on firefighting equipment and techniques such as these photos I'm going to show you, including Stillwaters um 1869 fire truck that it was showing off in a parade. um Stillwater Circa 1941 fire truck and this photo demonstrating a 1940s catch net.

Do we still use those, Chief? Another use is for general cartoons

Stillwater historical research and that um is well shown in this amazing photograph of Oklahoma&M's women's um building during a fire that was happening in 1914. It's a beautiful picture in a weird way um and shows uh the depth of destruction that occurred, but those are in our archives now. The collection can help with genealogical research because it has multiple photos of personnel in the fire department as well as entries and shift books. So, it would be a great gift to a family doing research to be able to have some of these photos. Another use is research on the history of Stillwater Homes and property um such as uh looking into this property depicted which is 9006 South Hester. Um another use is for research on the history of businesses and business property. We do get those um regular requests for information at the library. Um, we can now provide more of it with this collection. Um, such as the property and businesses located at 14th in Maine and at 1802 E6 Street. And last, some of the images are just for fun. uh nice to look at to view um high interest historical topics such as this fireman rescuing a small child from one of the water towers. And then of course our very favorite topic at the library and maybe y'all's is um the fire dogs of Still Water. So we've got Sparky one right here. Do you see him up in the in the middle of the

fellows? Sparky, too. And then the very beloved Queenie. So, at this point, I'm going to go ahead and turn over the microphone to Andrea so she can quickly demonstrate how to access these materials um in our online catalog. Okay. Thank you, Stacy. So, I'm going to start at the libraries website and I'm going to uh navigate to the research tab and then local history and archive and click uh under search special collections. Click the link here and since we have a specific search we want to do, I'm going to click on advanced search and I'm going to enter Stillwater Fire Department in the collection box. And I have the phrase within quotes so that I don't get records that just contain part of the phrase like Stillwater or Department. You can check the box next to only records with images or leave blank to search all files. I'm going to go ahead and search only records with images and scroll till I find a record that I want to take a look at. On the right hand side is the description which depends which depending on how many in how much information was known about the items in the files may include dates, people, and links to similar items. And I'm going to click on an image to open up the image viewer. And that lets me navigate amongst the photos that was in the folder. And there's some nice scenes of 9inth Street in front of the original central fire station equipment and campus fire station number two. Going back to my search results, I can get more specific in the description box. And again, it's helpful to use quotes to

uh make sure you really narrow down. So, I'm searching for former Chief Ray Davidson. I'm able to bring up some nice photos of him. And I really like this photo of Rey and his wife Hazel. Um, it goes back to what Stacy was saying that this can be a valuable resource uh for people researching genealogy. Returning to the search results, um, I can also search for a specific uh, building if I know of a building fire. I'm going to search for Stillwater School supplies. And I find these photos really interesting because it shows what 9inth and Maine used to look like before this building burnt down and had to to be demolished. And this is of course where the current site of Chris Salmon Plaza.

What when was that? Um I think uh 60s or 70s. Wow. You would ask me that hard question. They could go back to the metadata and look

1976. So yeah, you can see the description. So they knew uh that fire date. Returning to search again, I'm unchecking only records with images because um if you have a research question, it is important to look at everything. For example, uh we recently got a question from the Illinois Fire Service Institute and they were working on an instructor memorial project and needed information on a former firefighter who had worked and trained in Stillwater sometime in the 50s. And by searching our records, I knew that we had past Stillwater Fire Department annual reports that which they still put out uh that I could look at. and I found out that he was part of a part-time he was a part-time student firefighter who attended OSU and the dates he was in Stillwater. So, the wealth of information in the collection has been already been very valuable to what we can offer patrons both in Oklahoma and in other states. Um, for patrons who want to make copies of specific photos, uh, what we have in the database is okay, but keep in mind that we have much higher resolution files at the library which we can give access to upon request. as so you could copy it to your own drive and have uh for yourself. And lastly, for anyone interested in having paper copies of instructions for accessing the database, I will leave some in the lobby for pickup. Okay, back to you.

Thank you so much, Andrea. Um, just to close, I want to profusely thank the Oklahoma Historical Society. They are doing amazing work by putting money in the hands of the entities that have these treasures. Um, we thank the friends of the library. They provide almost all of our cash for grant ma matches that are required. Um, thank you to the OSU fire protection publications for taking such good care of the materials. To the fire department for allowing us to safekeep their materials. and to our wonderful volunteers who taught us how to archive, preserve, and digitize, including Terry Barry and Kitty Pitman. And most of all, I want to tell you how amazing your technical services staff is at the library. They have just worked all year um and done so much learning so much new material so that they could understand how to help preserve Stillwater history. And as a reward for their hard work, technical services will get to be working even harder this year. Um because we were just notified uh last week that OHS has awarded us another $15,000 to preserve and describe the Stillwater News Press photograph collection that can contains over 29,000 files. And I think that this will result in being one of the largest photographic collections in Stillwater. Um, we will not be digitizing them yet because we have to do the preservation and description work, but these photos just tell the story of people in all walks of life um throughout the 1950s and 90 and to the 1990s. And we're hoping to begin digitizing those the following year. So,

we're happy to answer any questions you have and we really want to welcome people to test out this service because we just intend to keep um as of this time keep adding to our collections to make it easier for people to research Stillwater. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Counselors, any questions? Yeah, just really well done. Thank you for your work. I wish we did this at every city council meeting. I love this kind of stuff and I think it's awesome and I'm going to spend tons of time going through this. So, thank thank you for doing it.

All right. Item 8B, presentation by Washington School Advisory Committee to present the committee's 2026 proposed work plan, including possible action to approve the 2020 2026 work plan and authorize the city manager to execute site access agreements as necessary to allow execution of the work plan. Christy Driscoll.

Good evening, mayor and council. I am staff leazison to the Washington School Advisory Committee. So, it is my honor and privilege to introduce our chair, Karen Washington. I don't want to steal any of her thunder, but if you have not yet driven by the site location in even just the last week, please do so. Um, the progress on this site and really opening it up to the community is phenomenal and I am excited to turn this over. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have of staff following the presentation.

Thank you, Miss Christie. Hello. I made some notes because anybody that knows me know I can go go. So, I just want to make sure of just certain points because I got a bigger person coming behind me with some good information that we like to share. First of all, I'd like to just thank you all. Thank everyone of you that has been and been a part of this project. It has been awesome. A special thank you to the tourism uh advisory committee, the tear down. I've gotten a lot of comments from the people like, "Okay, we've been hearing about it, but now it's really happening." When you tear down stuff, that means good stuff is going to come back up. And we know this is a good building. It's not just a building. It represents resilience, education, and it also our community. So, it's not just a building, not just any me. So, we thank you all. teamwork making the dream work in our in our mindset. So today we're coming um asking for your approval and support on a work plan. Now we have the building. We have it preserved. We have it safe. Now we need to move forward to the purpose and our purpose that we're needing to move forward to with approval of this work plan will address our culture, our education, and our community empowerment. So, it's going to be an awesome building and our chairperson, which is Jim Begrren, best chairperson on this side of heaven. He meets regularly. He bugs you often and he gets things done. So, we need your support and together we can make this dream u and this vision come around. So, without any further ado, I'll have Jim come and he'll give you a very detailed of our work plan. And again, thank you all so very much. No pressure.

I was gonna say geez. Oh, thank you Karen. I think um well, thank you all. I I'm Jim Beexter. I'm actually uh vice chair of the advisory committee and chairman of the Stillwater Community Center Foundation. Um she kind of led this thing off, so I'm just going to jump right into it. Um the advisory committee was formed uh with with several objectives uh guidance from the council um to preserve the building uh kind of preserve the heritage of the building for educational purposes, sports and recreation, events and parking. Okay. Have the property redeveloped so it put it back back to work. Um structure that's still standing built in 1938. Um, and um, it's in phenomenally great shape. And I'll elaborate on that a little bit later. I think uh, I I kind of say it's a God thing. I mean, it's it's a miracle it didn't get torn down because um, it's in really really good shape and it's going to be around for a lot lot longer. So, um, and the wording is wrong on here because my understanding is is that you they were you were donated the funds and you bought the property. Is that is that correct? Yeah. Um, there's been a school on this block, African-American schools on this block since the late 1800s. So, it's it's kind of like our block 35 uh for the white part of town where community center is right now. It had schools on it from the late 1800s until it got converted to a community center. So, this this block had a similar history. Um, this is uh what was it no longer is. What's what is is the 1938 structure and it's it's beautiful. I've had so many people say, "I had no idea that that thing that that was in there, you know, and it's just gorgeous." um and kind of I don't want to say the

centerpiece because that's not true, but um the auditorium, the gymnasium um is just a classic gymnasium that a high school would have multifunctional and um with with some proper planning and redevelopment um in the redevelopment process, we can make that thing highly flexible. And this is just an example of a great room where you can see African-American heritage honored around the perimeter. And it's just banners. And so there's so many things you can do that are cost effective that really transform a space into something special and are also adaptable. So if you have another type of event going in there, you just change them out and put other type of banners back up, buck up there. And uh there's a a vision that this space would be um multi-purpose, be sports, uh be events, uh I don't want to say kind of an annex to the Stillwater Community Center, LAC Lowry Activity Center, but that's kind of very much the model. Um and something that can be used for lots and lots of different things and synergized with the uh 12th Avenue corridor. We're in contact uh with the activities going on there. We want to make sure that we're complimenting each other and not duplicating and stepping on each other's toes. One of the things I think is so the timing was just perfect for this. I I had no idea the library was going to be talking about their work. Um we're a digital world now

and um and it's not experiences historical experiences are not all about artifacts. uh that artifacts can be digital and they can and so having a space that allows you to display historical items and tell a story um ends up being a highly adaptable space. So we're looking at leveraging technology in in the front part of the building, you know, the heritage part, the conference part um so that we can tell a great story without having lots and lots of stuff on display. So, it ends up, I don't want to say this too loosely, but with a flip of a switch, it goes from a heritage center to a business center. You could have a business come in and use this space. You could have the city could come in and use that space. So, highly adaptable um recognizing that whatever we do needs to make sense from business perspective and needs to have an operating plan. We'll talk about that more in a minute. Um it's we actually OSU is engaged pretty heavily right now. Um, we have one of the experts on virtual reality involved in the school and we're looking at ways to to leverage that um to create a very adaptable space um that the whole city can use and actually of regional significance and not crazy expensive. Um there's been a great community support for this project. This is the first workday I think in 2023. Um lots and lots of people want to help out and want to see great things happen here. This is from the last workday which was uh fall of 2024. We had OSU students all the way up to 80 year olds. I mean everybody was working together. It was a great experience. We got a lot done and they're chomping at the bit to do more and we'll talk about that more in a bit later. I think you may recognize one of these guys here. He's he's in this room every now and again. Actually related to somebody in this room I think. Um and he knows how to run a chainsaw. Um so we brought down the the breezeways and um we thank so thank

you so much for the city's support on um tourist advisory committee allocating the funds and the council approving the demolition work. I mean it's it's really changed the look and uh created a sense of excitement. Um and the dumpsters providing the dumpsters is hugely helpful. Um allowed us to get the metal and and and the trash away on the last workday. Here's a picture was taken two weeks ago. Um, pretty exciting actually. And, uh, we're we're chomping at the bit to get back in there and do the next wave of cleanup. Um, more than just kind of sweeping up floors. Um, but the devastating windstorm that we had that burned so many homes and damaged so many homes, took the roof off the gymnasium. That that was for the first time in almost 100 years that building did not have a roof on the gym. And so we've got exposed wood and structures and um so there's a sense of urgency. That's probably an understatement. We're scrambling to get the money to help. Um this is a city project. So I mean it's not like the foundation or the advisory committee is going to do the work. The city's going to have to bid that out and they're and fully recognizing that the funding needs to come from someplace else. And that's what the foundation's chasing money for to help enable things like this to happen. Um but I will say we had a very thorough architecture and um engineering study done on the building. Um and in spite of these kind of selective areas localized areas where there's problems in the north wing in the north part of the building the building is phenomenally structurally sound. There is no compromised structure with the exception of this crack for lack of a better word in the north building which is I don't want to say surficial because that makes it sound really minor but it's very manageable. It's not ownorous and there's another one like it up in that area but they are not the wood structure

is in fantastic shape. That was the conclusion of the study done. So we've got a really you've got a really great building to to work from here. Um, so our focus has been on the is on the main structure, the 1938 structure. This is a a recent rendering done by the architect. Uh, again, focusing back on what that would be used. This is notionally what it would. This is kind of a space view, you know, multi-use for the gymnasium, have restrooms and storage to service that area, and then conference learning center on the north end um with parking to cover events as well as visitors to the center. Um, we had some rather I don't want to say detailed, but this is kind of a space plan next level done by the architect to give a sense what a layout might look like for the gymnasium and the supporting infrastructure of bathrooms and storage for that space. Um, no big surprise everything's pending funding. If we had $7 million lying around, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.

Um, no trouble.

Yeah. I mean, I know this group here, if you just had your checkbooks with you, we could have this handled. But, uh, anyway, um, but we are having a fundraising gala. I'm going to talk about that in just a minute. Um, to raise money, our target is to raise $150,000, um, to put a roof on. Um, since the last gala, uh, we've had the engineering work done, and they've, uh, discovered some repairs needed on the structure that were not included in the previous estimate for a new roof. And they also identified a bunch of masonry work that they suggest all needs to be done when you do the roof so you don't have to do it again. You don't want to It's kind of like you're up on the roof. What else could I do while I'm up there? That's that's kind of what that's about. Um so want to get that done and I'm going to ask that for formally ask for that permission here in a minute. Um to be pursuing a new roof within the next year or so as soon as possible. Um architectural design as soon as we can raise the money. um uh gymnasium redevelopment all of of course follows the architecture. I mean in a dream world we'd round up $5 million or whatever the number is like now and start the architectural design and have this thing up and running in two or three years. It's not a complicated project. We're not you know it's not so it could come together pretty quickly. Um and guys jump in here if you have any questions before I get too wild here. Um there's a gala on the 27th. This is the free marketing pitch, but we want to raise money to get this thing done. So, that's going to be on the 27th um at going to be at the community center and we're going to have money to put a new roof on, help get that done. Our request here to you is um basically approve our work plan for 2026, 2027. Um, first and foremost, roof for the gymnasium, which would include engineering and and architectural work, bid preparation. We know that's included and and we

understand we'll be funding that. So, that's kind of all in that money I was talking about. Um, begin scoping operations on operations. Um, in my experience with projects for decades and decades, um, if there's anything we've learned, it's that you need to have the end in mind. You need to understand what the operation of this facility is going to look like, how it's going to be funded, and you don't jump into a design and then do that. You actually do that before you design it. It needs to be designed for purpose. So, um, we want to start having conversations about what that operating organization might look like. Uh, there's lots of examples of of entit across the country of how to operate a facility like this. Um, so think we start that now. Um, we would like the city to sponsor a volunteer workday in the spring. There's a into the streets, uh, March 29th and, uh, we would like the city to spons sponsor that event. Um, provide dumpsters so we can haul stuff off. Um, and we'll round up the volunteers. Um, we want to get at the work on the interior. Thank you so much for your payment of or uh funding of the asbestous removal in the old building, a 1938 building, because as soon as that's cleared out of there, and of course, as soon as we have an asset agreement, we want to get in there and start cleaning it up. There's kind of this next level, which is take take down non-structural walls, remove drywall, pull out the plumbing, pull out the electrical, all that stuff that no longer has any service. Um there's a lot of floor perfusions. If you've walked around in there, there's little steel things sticking up all over the slabs and there's tripping hazards and they need to go. So, get those cleared out of there. Um there's suspended ceiling everywhere. So, it's just a matter of clipping and dropping that stuff. It's not highly involved. Uh a lot of broken glass in the building and uh remove graffiti. Um there's some structural work. There's

kind of like this temporary construction work element and then there's this long-term structural work like those cracks I was showing you in the ceiling areas. Um, we're not going to do anything without approval of the city. I mean, so all this is going to be done with with permission and access agreements. Um, but we've got an architect that knows the building real well. We'll make sure that whatever we do makes sense and doesn't put anybody at risk and takes care of the city's asset. Um, there's some site work yet to be done. Uh, there's tree stumps still around the uh building. They're not growing. They're not full-size trees yet, but they need to be cut all the way to the ground and killed um and removed. and not sure what grading is going to be left. I think there's going to be some grading work done to finish out the demo, but um any site work that needs to be done that the city and we agree and advisory committee agree needs to be happen then we'll try to make that happen too. So any questions on that?

A couple. Okay, go ahead. So one issue we has not been addressed flooding. Yeah. What's the plan? How are you?

Okay, great question. Um, I think maybe the first answer is that the the building is phenomenally capable of handing floods. It's proven that by being here for 90 years and still in really, really good shape. So, number one, I don't think the building's going anywhere. Um, there are some cost effective technologies that can be applied to raise floors, and that's what we're looking at. Um there's a technology called geoam that's used all the time in construction um that can be laid down to raise floors up. The building's got really high ceilings so you have room to raise floors and get up out of the water. Um so that's one of the thing we're looking at very strongly.

I saw the picture with all the electronics in there. Yeah, it'd be up above. Electronics and water don't go don't mix very well. No, I you're right. You're right. And so, um, I don't think any electronics would be put on the floor, you know, and typically on, in fact, all those were overhead projectors. All the commun computer equipment would be mounted up high. Um, but the plan is to I mean, we wouldn't there's no way we would build this thing have any of that stuff below flood line. My impression is there's a high water mark in there that's still visible from an earlier flood. Is that correct? I don't know. I mean, I've got a lot of photos I've looked at to get an idea where the where the flood line is, and we know what that is from surveys.

Um, but yeah, we raise the floors up a bit and and I think that's manageable. Any other questions? Yeah. If um I know you'd mentioned you're there they're they're going to there's going to be a gayla, but if someone doesn't make it to the gayla, but wants to donate, how might they go about doing it?

God, I love questions like that. I mean, we would love to have you, but um the uh you can go to our website, Washington, just in fact, it's as easy as typing into Google Washington School Stillwater and we're about usually the third thing that shows up on a Google search, but it's actually Washington Schooler Foundation um.org and uh you there's two options. You can go to the gala and that'll take you to a donation button or you can go to how you can help and that takes you to donation button. So, thank you so much for asking. Um, yeah, we uh all it takes is money, right? Okay. Nothing that can't be fixed with a few million dollars.

Yeah. Funny. Works. It's fantastic. I mean, it's so cool to see with with the uh surrounding parts taken down. And it's exactly what we hope for, which is when people can see this, it's going to give them even more of a an understanding of what we want to do with it and what it can be. Well, thank you again. Thank you again for that. Um, hopefully we've got some marketing like media stuff that we're, you know, planning. I don't know if you're working with Dawn or or what, but you know, I mean, we should be talking to news folks and getting people out like we we need to get this picture out to people as much as we can. Um, would I'm sure you guys are working on that, but whatever we can do

um to help get the word out, show people. I'm so with you on that and I appreciate the energy because that it's contagious. So, keep it up. You said the the roof to the the cost of repairing the roof is about 150k. No, that's how much is left to pay. We have about we have about $125,000 in our coffers right now. um roughly and I again I we're getting these numbers kind of tightened up, but we're probably going to have to spend 30 $35,000 just to get the bid package put together, have that design work done. Um plus we got to put a new roof, plus we have all the masonry work. I mean, it's

so so closer to 275 to 300. 250ish I think is a good round number. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? I've noticed that as stuff has come down, some of the window board the boards for some of the window spaces and stuff are pretty old and board birds are coming in and out of there. I assume we're going to do some Yeah. So, keep on some of that stuff. The uh

I'm I'm going to be careful because I my architect's probably ears are probably burning because we're so lucky we have one architecture. One architecture was involved in Greenwood Rising. They just were really architects on a massive project in Taloqua at the women's seminary. Um they're doing a community center in Sulpa, which is an old which was the actual black school there as well. Um they know all about these old buildings and so we're we're so we're so blessed to have them. Um, and their initial thought is that the all the windows, all the including all the mechanisms in the gymnasium would be rebuilt. You'd take them out, go have them rebuilt, have them reglazed, reinstall them. Um the uh the windows on the uh administrative part of the building, the north part of the tea, uh the wood frames are in rough shape. And um we're not not sure that they're restorable. We'll probably have to put new in, but of similar era, so they retain the heritage of the building.

That Well, I just meant that we're going to get it ported back up and secure so that it's not Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't understand getting out of it. No, we've we paid um actually the foundation funded uh a $7,000 project to harden up that part of the building. Um Capstone came in and put on roofing material. I mean, sure. But just in terms of access to keep it the building secure those any like it'll be boarded up, I guess more properly and secured that way.

It is very secured right now. The only we've been watching it and the to our knowledge the only access in the last month or month and a half has actually been the workers and then the doors that have I think because they were in and out of that building there there's but it's it's pretty pretty tight. Norm's Norm's the guy. Norm how we doing over there? We have one open door. It's which can be closed. They had to tear it open as Yeah. As soon as you're done, we'll get He's our security guy. All right. Thank you.

And staff does have plans. We actually talked today about what the concerns are when the construction fence comes down. And there is a back part of the building that will have some shoring up and some security done. So, we are working currently with Washington School Heritage Foundation. Mr. McNichol and I are frequent um speakers to each other on the security and we have looked at that as far as when the construction fence comes down what next steps are just to keep it as preserved as we can. Excellent counselors for the questions. Really, really appreciate the work you guys are doing. The whole group, you guys, it's just fantastic. Really excited about the future. Thanks for your support. Do we need any formal action on this?

Oh, yeah. Okay, back to Christie. Thank you. Excuse me. Staff does have a recommendation for council when council is ready to accept. Staff does recommend approval of the 26 work plan as presented by Washington School Heritage Foundation and Washington School Advisory Committee and direct staff to um work with the found the committee and the foundation to grant an access site agreement. If I may amend that slightly to authorize the city manager to execute site access agreements as necessary to allow execution of the approved work plan. Thank you for my phone a friend. That's what I heard you say. Thank you, sir.

Counselor's action on the recommendation. Motion to accept staff recommendations. Second. A motion and a second. Please vote. Recommendations approved with a vote of five to zero.

All right, we are done with item nine already. So we'll go down to item 10, ordinances on first read, ordinance 3590, an ordinance amending the Stowwater city code, chapter 23, land development code, article 1, general provisions. Section 23-7, definitions, article 5, use categories and limitations, division one, generally section 23-96, definitions. Article six, land use classifications, division 3, residential district. Section 23-140, RMI, multif family intermediate district. and section 23-141 RMU multif family urban district and article 9 landscaping screening and environmental standards section 23-230 generally repealing all ordinances to the contrary and providing for severability.

Mayor as a reminder um this ordinance as drafted does not incorporate the changes to the section 23-230F as recommended by planning commission. So, I would just ask as we advance this if you um I believe action on the item was to accept planning commission's recommendation that we would just also clarify that on first read and we will bring back those um changes in the second read version. All right. And in the secondary version, we'll also get rid of the preposition that ended that phrase.

Yes. Thank you. Then I am move to approve the uh the planning commission recommendation while we're on the order on the ordinance and I move to advance ordinance 3590 with the with the changes with the changes as proposed by the planning commission. Thank you. Second.

We have a motion and a second to advance the ordinance with the changes proposed. Please vote with the vote 5 to zero. Ordinance 3590 is advanced to second reading. Uh, also on first reading, we have ordinance 3592, an ordinance amending the steward city code by creating a new chapter 30, municipal code lean enforcement, creating section 30-1, adoption of the municipal code lean enforcement act of 2025, creating section 30-2 definitions, creating 30-3, creating section 30-3 code violation fees and costs enforced in REM, owner occupied property exception priority creating section 30-4 inrem foreclosure of municipal code leans creating 30-5 code enforcement identification of properties petition notice repealing all ordinances to the contrary and providing for severability.

So the municipal code lean enforcement act of 2025 is new legislation that was effective November 1st, 2025. Um cities are required to enact an ordinance approving use of those provisions um before proceeding. Um that act um provides for a process to um proceed with judicial foreclosure on a property with a municipal lean. Um those leans apply to um fees, penalties, and abatement costs that exceed $1,500 that are imposed against a property for abatement of violations of the city's housing and building codes. Um, the measure also provides that the municipal code lean would be superior to all other leans except for those for taxes.

This is a new ordinance that was or a new law that was passed by the state to make it easier for us to go collect money that we're owed on properties we've evaded. That's correct. Good job. And it's completely coincidental that it's here today. Well, it just just went into effect in November. Uh questions, comments, or action on the ordinance? Motion to advance ordinance number 3592 to second read. Second.

Motion a second to advance the ordinance. Please vote. Ordinance 3592 has advanced the second reading with a vote of 5 to zero. On second reading, we have ordinance 3591, an ordinance amending the store city code by creating a new chapter 34 public art program, creating section 34-1 purpose, creating section 34-2 definitions, creating section 34-3 fund established, creating section 34-4 administration, creating section 34-5 store public art committee, creating section 34-6 supply display of public art, creating section 34-7 infrastructure art sponsorship program, repealing all ordinances to the contrary, and providing for severability. There have been a couple of changes from the first read version that were recommended by staff. Um they are reflected uh via track changes in the agenda packet. Um and I'm happy to call those out individually um if you wish. Otherwise you can review the changes via track changes. How would you like for me to proceed? Councilor's questions on the changes that were tracked.

Is there action on the ordinance? Motion to adopt ordinance number 3591. Second. Do I need to say with changes or No, the the uh second read version already has those changes reflected. Yeah. Thank you. So, we have a motion and a second to advance uh or excuse me to adopt the ordinance. Please vote. With a vote of five to zero, ordinance 3591 is adopted. Reports from the officers on the board. Miss Carley. Nothing to report. Mr. Moore.

Yes. I'd like to just take a moment to share appreciation for staff. Um I'm always so proud of the work they do. Uh and grateful, you know, just the impact that they make in our community every day, those that are seen and not seen, and this is one of those that's not seen. But our finance team has been working hard on so many things. You know, we've had our clean audits come through recently. And in addition, we got some good news last week. They've been working with uh Fitch to uh do our annual credit rating review on the SUA revenue bonds. And it they concluded that there would be no change in our exist to our existing rating and outlook, which is means we stay really strong with our double A minus with a stable outlook. So just yeah, thanks to CFO Clark for the way she leads that team, Lauren Smith and Jared Thulan for the work they put into that project.

Absolutely. Thank you all very much. Vice Mayor Jowski, City offices will be closed for President's Day on Monday, February 16th. Trash, recycling, and yard waste will still be collected. Make sure to set your carts out by 6:00 a.m. because collection routes can vary. For more information, go to stillwater.gov. GV/wastemanagement. Thank you so much, Councelor Hawkins.

It is a time of year to file taxes and Stillwater Library is offering assistance. Community members can schedule appointments for free tax preparation assistance from the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP, by scheduling an appointment online at stillwater.gov/ GV/ library taxes or by calling 4053723633 extension8103. Appointments are available now through April 7th. Stoarter Public Library is located at 1107 South Duck Street. Great service they provide.

Absolutely. And you can go look at pictures of the fire department while you're while you're waiting. Councelor Clark, as many of us know, we have a citizen request tracker on our website. This tool provides a mechanism for residents to report concerns regarding drainage and flooding, street light outages, trash collection issues, animal control requests, and more. Please consider using this system for non-emergency concerns that we need to check out. To get started, go to storewater.gov/report. I'm the guy in my neighborhood who requests trash cart repairs for my neighbors because they don't even know how it's there and I just put the requests in. That's excellent. I was uh speaking to the store car club on Saturday morning

and had a couple questions about places where lines needed to be repainted on roads and a couple of street light issues and I said, "You know what? It's this great system because if you just tell me, I'm totally going to forget." So, go to the system report uh system on online. Always a great place to let us know about things that need to be fixed and it's easy to use. Yes, it is. Council Harden,

a couple of reminders that could help our residents best prepare in case of an emergency. Number one, please remember to apply or renew your burglar fire alarm permit registration with the police department. Permits are $6 per alarm and free to government entities and also residents who are 62 years of age and older. Thank you very much. If you live outside Z limits but within Stillwater Fire Department response area, please consider purchasing a rural fire a rural fire service contract. The annual fee is $200 and the contract provides assurances that could save you thousands of dollars. We want to help in all ways possible to keep you and your family protected and safe. For more information, go to stillwater.gov.

Very important information. Thank you. I will let you all know that construction on the new airport terminal is now more than 75% complete with interior finish work underway, including tile installation, painting, and cabinetry. The project remains on schedule, and we're looking forward to servicing daily commercial flights to DFW from the new terminal in August. Also, work on the new access road is progressing with the roadway now more than 30% complete and anticipated to open in March. As construction continues, there will be upcoming closures along Airport Road. However, there will be detours to ensure access to the airport terminal. We appreciate everyone's patience and request that when driving in the area, possibly add a few minutes for travel time to check on the progress of the new terminal and transportation projects, you can go to stillwater.gov. Anything further, counselors, or a motion to adjurnn.

Motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. We have a motion, a second to adjurnn the city council. Please vote. With a vote of 5 to zero, the Stoer City Council is now adjourned. At this time, I'll call to order the Stoer Utilities Authority meeting for February 9th, 2026. Trustees, questions, comments, or action on the consent docket. Motion to approve consent docket. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve consent. Please vote with the vote of five to zero. The consent acket is approved. There's nothing further on this agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Second.

We have a motion and a second to adjurnn. SUA. Please vote. The vote of five to zero. Store utility authority is now adjourned. And that concludes our meetings for this evening.