City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the May 4th, 2026 meeting of the Storer City Council. At this time, I'll call the meeting to order and I'll ask that you all stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, I will um make a note of our fun May the 4th uh city council preview screen. That was that was great little Star Wars day. It's also my son's 21st birthday, so put that up there. Uh, and the vice mayor is not here because she's not well. So, we send best wishes to her. We will move to item three in the agenda, proclamations and presentations. First up, the 2026 SBA Homebased Business of the Year Award. I think we might have an award winner here with us tonight. I'm going to go ahead and read this proclamation and then I'll invite Stara to come up and maybe say a few words if you want in a second. Here we go. Whereas the city of Stillwater celebrates Oklahoma National Small Business Week and our local small businesses and appreciates the contributions they make to our local economy and community. And whereas small businesses are the engine of the American economy and the foundation of a free and prosperous nation, accounting for more than 99% of all private sector employers and creating nearly two out of every three new jobs nationwide. And whereas from our farms and factory floors to the frontiers of technology, small businesses drive innovation, strengthen local economies, and provide the products and services that keep America competitive, secure, and strong. And whereas National Small Business Week has pro been proclaimed by the president of the United States since 1963, honoring the vital role of small businesses in creating jobs, growing the economy, and anchoring our communities. And whereas in 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, making historic opportunity to reflect our nation's founding principle of free enterprise. Now, therefore, I, William Joyce, mayor of the city of Stillwater, do hereby congratulate Starla Hulcom, upon receiving the award, the SBA homebased business of the year for lead training in Stillwater. And I encourage I I urge our community to continue to support small and local businesses throughout

the year. [applause]

Thank you very much. And on behalf of all the small businesses, thank you for being a mayor and a city council that support small business. Um it's not always easy and so it's nice to have uh those folks behind you. So I appreciate the recognition. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here and congratulations.

[applause]

All right. We also have a proclamation in recognition of Flood Awareness Month. Whereas historically the greatest number of flood disasters in Oklahoma have occurred during the spring and whereas flooding causes billions of dollars in property damages and numerous debts each year in the United States and losses due to flooding are not covered under most homeowners or business policies. And whereas it's never safe to drive into dangerous flood waters and residents must be prepared with various flood safety procedures. And whereas the city of Stillwater is participating is a participating community in the National Flood Insurance Program and is required to regulate floodplane development in partnership with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Insurance Department, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Oklahoma Emergency Management, Stillwater Emergency Management Agency, Oklahoma Municipal League, Oklahoma Legislature, the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Emergency Managers Association, and the Oklahoma Flood Plane Managers Association to promote benefit beneficial uses and natural functions of the flood plane. And whereas the NFIP allows residents of participating communities to purchase affordable flood insurance in exchange for regulating flood plane development. And whereas it's important to promote the timely purchase of flood insurance in advance of Oklahoma's spring flood season as flood insurance policies generally require a 30-day waiting period. Now therefore, I, William Joyce, mayor of the city of Stillwater, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as flood awareness month in the city of Stillwater. And Zach Henson from our wershed management department is here to tell us a little bit more.

All right. Good evening, mayor, council members. Don, did we have the slide up here? Some it was just showing. Fantastic. Now, that's okay. Anytime we have the everyone to see you first and then

Well, I'll take that. Yeah, there we go. Anytime we can get Dash the Duck on a screen, that's we love getting it out there as much [laughter] as possible. Our newest mascot from this year. Uh but back to the flood awareness, we appreciate the opportunity to bring a little additional awareness to flood plane and the dangers associated with that, but also the beneficial uses associated with flood planes. Um our group, the watershed quality division, manages our flood plane program. Um so anyone that lives in a flood plane or near anywhere that they think they might have a danger, give us a call. We can give you a lot of information for your local conditions. Um, we can also give you information regarding flash flooding or any potential hazards due to infrastructure that we're having issues with or upcoming projects. Um, it's important to understand that you don't have to live in a flood zone to be impacted by flooding or flash flooding. In fact, in our 2019 flood, um, still fresh in my mind anyway. I'm sure a lot of folks have forgotten about it, but about 70% of the FEMA claims from that event came from properties that were outside of a flood zone. So, it's very important to know what your risk is, whether you're inside or outside of a flood zone. And with that, I'll stop talking, but just feel free to give us a call anytime. We're happy to come out and visit with you, give you any information that you want. So,

excellent. Thanks so much, SIR. [applause] OKAY, that takes us to item four, the consent docket. We've had a request from staff to remove item G. I am also going to ask that we remove item I. Counselors, further questions, comments, or action on consent.

I move that we adopt or approve the consent docket, except items G and I. Second.

We have a motion, a second to adopt the uh consent docket minus those items. Please vote. That's approved with a vote of four to zero. Uh on item G, my understanding is that staff is going to bring that back after they correct a an issue with it. On item I, I just wanted to bring that forward. Uh, I know David Bart's here and I know um just as a a highlight, this came out of uh his work out of uh after the wildfires because this is a piece of the uh neighborhoods over there that is it's Seventh Street is very weird. If you've lived in that area, you've gone through there, Seventh Street just stops. There's like a dead end.

So you those two neighborhoods don't really connect. It's not misaligned. It's so weird because the street is perfectly straight. Uh but uh I appreciate the work that David Bart's done to to uh initiate getting that uh connected and fixed. And so uh really excited to see that acceptance of a rideway design uh dedication on here so that we can improve the interconnectivity and and transportation and response from emergency vehicles into those neighborhoods. So thanks so much for your work on that, David. And uh with that, we'll move that we accept item I second.

We have a motion and a second. Please vote. With a vote of four to zero, item I is adopted. Approved. Approved. Not adopted. All right. Item seven, public hearings. 7A. received public comment regarding a text amendment TXT 26-01 to chapter 23 land development code by repealing article 5 use categories and limitations division 4 residential short-term rental in its entirety and creating and adopting chapter 23 land development code article 5 use categories and limitations division 4 short-term rentals section 23-115.1 definitions section 23-115.2 two permitted districts. Section 23-115.3 short-term rental license required [clears throat] compliance with applicable codes. Section 23-115.4 application form and process. Section 23-1 section 23.115 section 23-15.5 denial revocation notice and hearing and compliance process. Section 23-115.6 covenants deed restrictions and overlay requirements. Section 23-115.7 penalty repealing all ordinances to the contrary and providing for severability. This is CC-26-81. Did we have good notice on this item?

Yes, we do. And filling in for Henry Beheimer tonight is the aforementioned David Bar.

Yes. Good evening, mayor and counselors. Um David Bar with development services. Um, before you tonight is a text amendment that will replace our current short-term rental regulations with a new set of licensing requirements focusing on enforcement and compliance. Uh, the city has issued short-term rental licenses since 2019, and we currently have 167 active licensed short-term rentals within the city limits. On October 28th, 2024, a joint study session was held uh by the city council and planning commission to discuss short-term rentals. The discussion centered around our current regulations and the challenges that they present. So, I wanted to go through those current uh requirements tonight. Um a the city currently requires a short-term rental license in a single family neighborhood or duplex zoned um neighborhood. So, uh, small lot single family RSS or large lot single family RSL or duplex, which is RT. Uh, we require a license for a short-term rental operating in those districts. Uh, the current process is we receive an application for the short-term rental. The city would then send out uh, which is my department development services would send out uh, notices to uh, property owners within 300 ft of that short-term rental or proposed short-term rental. If the city does not receive an objection uh to that short-term rental application within 30 days of that letter going out, then we administratively approve the short-term rental license. And again, this is just in RSS, RSL, and RT zoning districts. If an objection is received by anyone, anyone that's within the 300 ft, anyone in Stillwater, somebody in Texas, it doesn't really matter, uh that triggers the requirement for a public hearing at the planning commission. uh the property owners again are notified uh within 300 feet of that

short-term rental application um that the the public hearing will be held at the planning commission. Uh then the planning commission can approve or deny that short-term um rental license. If the short-term rental license is uh denied by the planning commission, then the applicant can appeal the decision to the city council. So that is our current process. Now, I'm going to go through uh the changes in our proposed text amendment. And this is broken up by section just as a summary. It's not everything inclusive. You all have the the proposed text amendment. Uh but I just want to hit the high points. Um in section one of this new uh new code, we'll be adding definitions for property manager, property owner, subject property revocation, and denial. In section two, um we're just explaining that all short-term rentals are permitted by Wright in all zoning districts. In section three, um and this was another thing that was discussed at the joint study session, uh is that short-term rental licenses will be required for all zoning districts. Um, so no person shall operate a short-term rental in any property not approved for residential occupancy and no person shall engage in a short-term rental without complying with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Uh, section four, um, this, uh, section outlines our new application form and process. When these public hearings happened at the planning commission, a lot of the same questions were asked by planning commissioners um or uh the the person who was objecting. Um what is your occupancy limit? What are do you have a copy of house rules? Um do you have insurance? Do you have available parking on site? Not, you know, asking people to park in the street. Um do you um have contact information for the property manager posted? Um, and so these things we're requiring now on that

application uh as part of the process also that you have to have a 24-hour contact available within 1 hour of any issue or complaint. What is your screening process for tenants? Uh, you required to have a floor plan. One of the other items that's not listed here is that you have to have, you know, um, working smoke detectors uh, in the in the in the short terminal as well. Hey Dave, can I ask about the the 1 hour thing? You know, I I understand someone needs to be available and somebody needs to respond quickly, but if it's 7:30 and a concert started at McNight Center, they're going to be there for two hours. Do they have to leave the concert to go to respond to this?

That's a great question. I, you know, I think we we want somebody to be available. And I guess if you're going to be in the short-term rental business that if you're going to go to a concert at the Mcnite Center and you know you've got somebody at your short-term rental, maybe you should have somebody as a backup to cover you if there's an issue. Um because yeah, I think you know if there's a water leak, you don't want to have to wait two hours to to have somebody show up and attend to the situation. So somebody has to be available, not necessarily the same person every minute of every day. That is correct. It can it can be a sub. Thank you.

You bet. Uh section five uh sets the denial, revocation, notice, and hearing and complaint process. So these are the reasons the development services director can deny or revoke a short-term rental license. Um complaints will be made to um our code enforcement division. There's an an appeal process that's listed in this section. Um also at the end of this section, there is a list of what is required to be posted in the short-term rental unit. if the license is approved. It removes the public uh removes the 300 foot notice requirement that we've currently um been, you know, mailing out those notices. It also removes the public hearing process unless there's an appeal. If there's an appeal, then there's of course the public hearing process. This next section uh just outlines that a text a this text amendment is not intended to conflict with um any restrictive covenant, deed restriction, lease agreement, overlay district, or zoning regulations. So, if an HOA decides to not allow short-term rentals or an overlay district uh doesn't allow short-term rentals, then um this text amendment will not um oversee or supersede that. Section seven um is the penalty. So, this just adds in that violations of this section of code will be a class C offense which is punishable with a fine of up to $500 per day. So, this next slide is a map of the current licensed short-term rentals. Um, so inside the city limits, please remember these are in RSS, RSL, and RT zoned districts only. One of the items discussed at planning commission was preserving neighborhood character. It was also discussed at the joint U session with city council and planning commission. And so staff provided language that proposed a maximum density of short-term rentals within residential neighborhoods to

protect the character of those neighborhoods. The recommended language limits short-term rental licenses to 20% of all residences within a block. There are currently three blocks on this map uh that I that exceed that 20% uh level. So, if this text amendment is approved, those blocks would continue to um they would be able to operate those short-term rentals as licensed until any of those units became unlicensed for whatever reason. Either they decided to quit operating or their license was revoked until we get down below that 20% and then we would we wouldn't, you know, allow it to still operate at a higher percentage. So, quick along that line.

Yes, sir. Along that line, um, if the property changes hands, does that require a new license? Yes. Okay. Yeah. The licenses are not transferable. Okay. And you said there were only three blocks at this point that had more than 20%. Yes. That's what we've shown in our analysis.

And that's um so again, those are three blocks in RSS, RSL, and RT. Okay. Now, there are a lot of places that have residents, residential dwelling units that are not zoned, RSS, RSL, and RT. Um, and this I want to point out, well, I'll show you on the next slide. Well, I'll just go there. So, this proposed language is is only um for RSS or RSL. We're not including RT. And but what I was getting at is that, you know, the formbbased code area, for example, around campus

Mhm. that's not RSS RSL. There's a lot of single family houses there are being rented out either as long-term or short-term rentals. So, this would not apply to those areas. Um, I mean, would the the licensing still applies, but the the 20% limit would not apply. So, it would only apply to RSS or RSL. David, yes, sir. What's a block?

So, great question. A block in our code is a continuous group of lots separated by street rights of way or it's a continuous group of lots comprising a portion of a platted subdivision. So most of you if you own a home um your legal description is lot something block something uh in some subdivision or if you live in an older part of town it might be um well it still could be that but um a lot of the blocks in our older part of town you can see what a block is. It's it's rectangular in in shape and it's got public streets on all four sides. In newer subdivisions um that are irregularly shaped blocks are very unusually shaped and so they don't necessarily have streets on all four sides. They might only have a street on one side. Um but it's just a group a continuous grouping of lots and so um you know our code defines this pretty well. There's another definition of a in our code that says a block shouldn't be any longer than 1,800 ft. But I feel like this definition that I just read to you is what we would use for uh evaluating whether a block had 20% or you know the density. So in a old older part of town, say you know 8th and Pine, um is the block defined as the houses that back up to each other between 8th and 9inth and Pine and whatever.

Yes. Um so that 20% of those houses. Yes. But in if you have to look in some of those areas there's there's a subdivision that is on one side. It doesn't make any sense. But there are subdivisions that are midb block. And so, you know, here you have, like you say, you've got Pine and and whatever is to the east of Pine and then eighth and ninth. Should have used one that I knew, but that's all right. My wife's office is on Pine and I can't even think of the road to the east. So, anyway, um I'm going with McDonald or McFarland. Do what?

McDonald or McFarland? Okay. One of the two. So, um, anyway, if some of those subdivisions actually split midb block, I don't know why. And it I think part of it is there was miscellaneous tracks that were never platted that were then developed into medical offices or or whatnot. Yeah. So, how will you do the math in that scenario? I mean, we'll just look at the we'll look at the blocks, but if there is I guess if there's not a block number, then yeah, we will look at the the lots that are bounded by four streets. Okay.

And if there's eight lots bounded by four streets and it makes sense to to evaluate that as a block, there's there's part of that that there's interpretation for my department to look at and evaluate. And if somebody doesn't agree with my interpretation or our interpretation, that's where then they appeal it and it's outlined in this text amendment to appeal it to the city manager's office. They don't like that, they can go to the planning commission. If they don't like that, they can go to the city council. So, so in in a new in a subdivision that's newer that's I mean my subdivision is a windy road with some sure some uh culde-sacs that come off of it. How do you know how many blocks are in like the country club? Say I'm not in that one but I don't know how many blocks are in the country club or

is it defined somewhere in our platting? Like we could pull out a map and you can say okay this block. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I um I probably should have had an Well, that's fine. I mean, I I mean, I think the question I really am getting at is when someone is looking at a house, how are they going to know like, are we going to have some kind of a map up that people can say, "Oh, nope. There's already 20% in this block and so I'm I'm not going to be able to get one or is it just going to be kind of we just have to ask and see?"

Yeah. So, right now, we already published a list of all the short-term rental licensed short-term rental properties. Um, and we're also proposing that we include this map that I just showed you, um, or something like it available online so that people can, and it would be, you know, this is just a PDF, but this would be something they could zoom in to a, you know, a more granular level to see if it's allowable in that area or not. if they were if they were speculating on buying some property to operate as a short-term rental. Um we so yeah we we plan to offer you know more uh this information u so and if people call we can ask them you know are am I within the

the density limited area or not. Okay. But if someone's going to buy a piece of property for the purpose of making it a short-term rental they probably ought to call your office and make sure before they go spend the money. Yes. And and as Dave is describing, we're going to have tools that we're going to develop to make it easy and accessible. And also remember, this is only in areas zoned as RSS and RSL. Every other zoning district, commercial, you know, if there's a res, if it's approved to live there, then you could get an STR uh license.

You mentioned as you were talking about those um the like long-term rentals. Um, but there are rental houses that are in neighborhoods that are I mean, so I guess you you kind of implied that it that long-term rental houses if it's a neighborhood that has those that that's that doesn't that's not included in RSS or RSL, right? Well, long-term rentals are not part of this at all. Right. So,

but I I guess so I'm asking and I I'll just ask the question that I'm thinking of. Okay. The Westwood Neighborhood Association has rental homes, but they are considered uh neighborhood small lot, large lot houses, aren't they? Yes. So, um I don't really remember the zoning district for um the underlying zoning district, but they have an overlay. Their overlay, to my knowledge, doesn't restrict you um operating a short-term rental. So, that's why there are short-term rental licenses that operate inside. But would would they fall under this 20% if they're zoned RSS and RSL? Yes.

Okay. So that varies for every house basically. Um sorry I didn't understand. Well I guess so every home in the Westwood Association is RSS or it might be some of it might be RT or RTM. I mean there's a mixed bag of zoning districts over there by the campus. So any of the houses that are currently long-term rentals could become short-term rentals or not? Yeah, I I an application. Yeah, if they would fill out an application and go through the process, would they count against the 20%, I guess, is what I'm asking. Uh if if again, if it's in RSS or RSL, yes, it would count against the 20%.

And that would be per block. So, we'd have to look at, you know, the streets over in that area pretty crazy. So, um you know, what the blocks are laid out. I'm not sure. or we we could look at that. Yeah.

The idea, you know, is not to to limit people operating a short-term rental. The the idea is to um you know, protect the character of neighborhoods. And so when I think about, you know, I mean, I raised a family for the first three years in Crosswinds just down the street from this gap that we just filled tonight. And so I know exactly what happened there. I mean, there was a cluster of mailboxes at the entrance and nobody wanted to have a street running through where people stopped to get their mail. Well, that cluster box is gone. But, um, you know, we grew up in a street full of duplexes and so people were moving in in and out all the time. And so, it's difficult to establish relationships to have kids that play with your kids, you know, if they're always moving in and out. Well, if your neighborhood's predominantly short-term rentals, um, that's even harder. And so I think just protecting neighborhood character plus the other issues that were brought up at this joint study session and have been talked about before with regards to um available workforce housing. I mean, you know, you think about a house that's um you know, perfect for some family that's going to work in one of our new um industries that's coming and it's taken off the market um to be used as a short-term rental, which is fine. Um but now that's only being used maybe seven Saturdays a year and some few handful of other weekends. And so um anyway, we're just uh trying to balance that neighborhood character protection or preservation

um along with allowing people to, you know, operate a business. Thank you. You bet. All right. One more quick question. I think I heard you say long-term rentals don't count towards this number. Correct.

Right. They're not a part of this. Okay. Uh so the the next thing um you know this is that proposed language uh that says uh the maximum amount of short-term rental licenses issued in the small lot single family RSS or large lot single family RSL residential zoning districts shall not exceed 20% of the total dwelling units located within any any block for purposes of calculating the maximum number of permitted short-term rentals on any on a block. Any fractional results shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number. No additional short-term rental licenses shall be issued once the maximum allowable number of licenses has been issued unless an existing license is surrendered, revoked, or otherwise becomes inactive. So, the last thing I'll add before I just ask for any other questions or you know we go to move into the public hearing is um you might be asking how will these new regulations be implemented um if this is approved. Uh, one, staff is going to begin working with property managers and short-term rental owners to move towards compliance. Um, we understand there are quite a few that are probably in other zoning districts that, you know, are not RSS, RSL, or RT that don't need a license now that will need a license after this is approved. Uh, so we will work with those people. We will definitely give them time to become into compliance um and and work with them. The other thing is we're also evaluating thirdparty software platforms for helping us with that imply enforcement and compliance. So there's no way that we have the staff to go out and you know figure out where all of the short-term rentals are that are currently unlicensed that need will need a license. So um there's companies out there that we've already started talking to that will help with that and they will also help us um help move those people into compliance. And with that I will ask if there are any further questions. councilors.

Thank you, David. This time I'll open the public hearing. I do not have anyone signed up to speak at this public hearing. Any of you all here to speak on this item? No. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing. David, was there a recommendation from the planning commission on this? Yes. On April 21st, 2026, the planning commission voted 5 to zero to accept findings and recommend that the city council approve the proposed text amendment with the density requirement for RSS and RSL zoning districts as presented.

Thank you. And we will take that up under the uh ordinances section. Correct. All right. That takes us to item eight, ordinances on first read, ordinance 3604, an ordinance amending the store city code by amending chapter 23 land development code by repealing article 5 use categories and limitations division 4 residential short-term short-term rental in its entirety and creating and adopting chapter 23 land development code article 5 use categories and limitations division 4 short-term rentals section 23-115.1 definitions section 23-115.2 permitted districts. Section 23-115.3 short-term rental license required compliance with applicable codes. Section 23-115.4 application form and process. Section 23-115.5 denial revocation notice and hearing and complaint process. Section 23-115.6 covenants, deed restrictions, and overlay requirements. Section 23-115.7 penalty repealing all ordinances to the contrary and providing for severability. Counselors

I move to advance ordinance 3604 in a second reading. Second. We have a motion and a second to advance the ordinance. Please vote. With a vote of 4 to zero. Ordinance 3604 is advanced to second reading.

Yes, mayor. If I can interrupt just for a second, I just want to give thanks and appreciation to the city attorney's office and to the development services uh group for the amount of time that's taken to uh develop a code which we think really fits Still Water and being a host community. Um and in meeting the needs and the things that were discussed of that joint uh study session. Um I will say that we're also, as you know, updating section 23 of our land development code. So, this is a great opportunity for us to put this code into place, work through these new processes, and then if anything needs uh some mod modifications or revisions, we can always do that during the code rewrite. Okay. Thank you.

On second read, we have ordinance 3601, an ordinance closing utility easement at property located at 410 West Franklin Avenue. Councilors, motion to adopt ordinance 3601. Second with a motion and second to adopt the ordinance. Please vote. The vote of 4 to zero. Ordinance 361 is adopted. On second read, ordinance 3602, an ordinance closing a previously unclosed portion of the general utility drainage and pedestrian easements at property located at 410 West Franklin Avenue. Councilors, I move to adopt ordinance 3602.

Second motion and a second. Please vote. The vote of four to zero. Ordinance 362 is adopted. And on second read, we have ordinance 3603, an ordinance repealing and replacing section 7, government and educational access emergency alert of store ordinance 3489, which granted a non-exclusive permit to Clarity Telecom LLC for the construction and operation of a cable system, repealing all ordinances to the contrary and providing for separability. Counselors motion to advance ordinance 3603.

Second have a motion and a second to adopt the ordinance. Please vote with a vote of 4 to zero. Ordinance 363 is adopted. Reports from the officers in the board. Miss Carly, request for an executive session pursuant to 25os 307B4 for the purpose of confidential communications between the city council and its attorney concerning all aspects of a pending claim involving Terracon Consultants, Inc. and BKL, Inc. for damages related to geotechnical investigation services for city project 14 TR3 fiscal year 14 bridge maintenance and improvement. It is the opinion of the city attorney that disclosure of this matter will seriously impair the ability of the city to process the claim or proceed in the public interest.

Thank you, Mr. Moore.

Yes. Couple I have a couple of quick announcements. Um, one, I'd like to uh send a special congratulations to Saw Water Fire Chief Dwayne Helberger on his nomination to the Oklahoma State Fire Marshall Commission representing the Oklahoma Fire Chiefs Association. He received a unanimous vote of approval from the Oklahoma State Senate Retirement and Government Resources Committee. Um, which now just needs a Senate confirmation to make his appointment official. Again, this is a a nomination from Governor Stit. So, we're grateful for Chief uh serving on that state board. Um, also excited to announce that the city of Stillwater's Dennis Dybold has been named the 2026 MISO Champion of Public Power. This award um from the Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma is only given out when their board of directors find someone whose career has moved public power forward and whose leadership has strengthened their communities in noticeable ways. And so they recognize Dennis and his career um for this longevity in the municipal uh electric service system area. So, we're grateful for his 50 years of service that spans three different municip mun municipalities and um yeah, he's built his career on excellence and so we're just uh we want to congratulate Dennis on his uh award.

That's great. That's fantastic. Thank you, Councelor Hawkins. We're headed into graduation season with the first being this past weekend at Northern Oklahoma College. This coming Friday and Saturday, May 8th and 9th, OSU will hold its graduation ceremonies at Gala Arena, followed by Meridian Tech on May 20th and 21st and Stillwater High School on May 22nd. We want to congratulate all our graduates on their hard-earned degrees. We also want to take this opportunity to remind residents that we will see a big increase in visitors. Please be patient on the roads, watch out for pedestrians, and of course, join in on the energetic spirit of this time of the year.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Councelor Clark. With with university students preparing to head out of town, Still Water's waste management team is once again offering an OSU student moveout special. From May 9th through June 13, students who present a valid OSU ID can drop off bulky items and electronics for free at the convenience collection center on Perkins Road. This includes furniture, mattresses, appliances without freon, computers, television, stereoss, and more. Waste management has also partnered with OSU Greek life to collect sorority and fraternity students unwanted furniture and mattresses from May 5 through 15. Rolloff containers will be placed both at Third and Jefferson and Third and Garfield for that purpose. Thanks to Waste Management for helping keep our community clean.

That's a really helpful service. And uh for all the college students out there watching us right now, [laughter] every one of you, please use the services. Councelor Harden,

on Saturday, May 16th from 10 to 12, 10:00 a.m. to 10 noon, the Still Water Police Department is hosting Cops and Bobbers, a free youth fishing event. Stillwater police and other local law enforcement officers along with Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conf conservation will invite families to come out to Boomer Lake for fishing clinics, food, fun, and more. Look for the festivities by the West playground. A fishing license is not required and equipment will be provided. And I will say I've noticed the Department of Wildlife in Boomer Lake two or three times in the last month doing something. I don't if they're harvesting fish or or stocking fish. Let's hope stocking. Yeah,

I have a one of my favorite pictures with my daughter is from Cops and Bobbers. That is a a great event for families and kids to go out and fish together. I've gone in a couple of times and it's amazing. There's always one really nice fish that somebody catches.

I will um let you know that we're excited to welcome athletes to Stillwater from the Special Olympics Oklahoma summer games May 13th through the 15th. Whether you're participating, attending, volunteering, or simply out and about during those days, please be cautious of pedestrians and be patient with the potential increase in traffic. It's not a potential. It will be a lot of increased traffic during Special Olympics, uh, which we love. Events will take place across the OSU campus as well as at Stillwater High School. This will be the 41st year that Stillwater has hosted the Special Olympic Summer Games. If you'd like to volunteer to help make this another successful summer games, go to s.org or uh or talk to Christy Morrison back there who's a board member at the state special Olympics. And best of luck to all of our athletes. This time I will move that we recess the city council meeting prior to item 11 on the agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second to recess city council. Please vote. With a vote of 4 to zero, the store city council will now be in recess and I will call to order the store economic development authority meeting for May 4th, 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. The vote of four to zero, the consent docket is approved. That moves us to item five, general orders and our Chamber of Commerce quarterly report. I got excited because I have a bag from USA Rare Earth. Oh, excellent. So, I'm going to pass this. Don't hold it too close to your computer. Don't get [laughter] Watch out for your pacemakers. It's a small one. Way over here. [laughter] Okay. Are you guys ready?

We're ready. you enjoy that magnet. Um, okay. So, as always, we like to start with reiterating what our mission of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce economic development division is to promote and support sustainable economic growth by attracting, retaining, and expanding diverse and sustainable businesses for our community. We work in partnership with community stakeholders to create quality jobs, enhance quality of life, and ensure long-term prosperity for Stillwater through responsive, transparent, and communitydriven initiatives. Uh we do this sustainably, collaboratively, intentional, ethically, and community centered. So those are our core values. We've had a lot going on. Um as David mentioned, we have a lot of new industry in town. So what we are focused on right now is workforce and economic development efforts. Um both for immediate talent recruitment, long-term workforce development, and then enhancing our existing workforce to meet demands. That is coming down three paths. The first is the ACT work ready community certification. So, we are partnered with Meridian and Stillwater public schools to help um get students certified as they enter in to be ACT work ready, but then also have our community be one of there's only one other in the state of Oklahoma that is ACT work ready, but we have them all over the country. Um, unfortunately, our friends to the north of us are beating us, which I'm competitive, so uh I'd like to get us certified.

Um, we are also looking at Make My Move. Make my new move was something that we partner or an organization the chamber partnered with before Elaine and I came on board during COVID. They originally started out by doing uh remote work recruitment to communities and realized that they were uh missing a whole need of existing talent. And so now they help partner with communities to bring specific talent in specific industries to your community. Uh this would be a short-term investment to meet the immediate workforce needs. And then our long-term is our first ever fifth grade district-wide fifth grade career exploration event which is happening in partnership with Stillwater Public Schools, Meridian, and the Hub. So, we're excited about that. We actually had 48 businesses that signed up. Um the kids will do a an assessment that will tell them about their natural strengths and abilities as well as interests that are important to them. they will have planets that they'll be assigned to and they'll actually get to go explore different careers on those planets. So, we're really excited about that event. Um I think it's important for us to be planting those seeds of opportunity for kids um as early as we can. So, some of our elementary schools already do these uh career fairs in their parking lots, but not every elementary school has had the ability to do that or the team uh to help put it on. And so we're excited to make sure that all kids um get the opportunity to to know what's going on. Questions, comments, concerns before I move on. Oh, okay. Uh programs and roundts. So we hosted our regional economic development roundt and did an economic development 101 and I'm think want to thank councelor Harden for attending uh that event last quarter as long as well as our um county assessor and our county commissioner. The purpose of that was to go how do we start talking the same language and then how do we look at what we have currently for economic development and then grow that into what it could be. So it was a great

event. We've had great follow-up conversations um for our regional partners in Perkins in Cushing um and even in Perry as well. So crossing uh county lines there for the region. We hosted the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's All-In for Oklahoma, which meant we had 75 state leaders from um from Oklahoma in Stillwater for half a day. And then following that, we actually got to tour the uh USA rare earth facility with commerce's edge team. So edge is the part of commerce that goes out and recruits industry for the state as a whole. and they've identified what's happening um in magnet production and in at USA Rare Earth as vital for our state economy and they want to have they wanted to have a better understanding of how far the project has progressed and how well it's doing so that they're able to recruit industry that can come alongside it. So that was huge. Um we had the Greater Oklahoma City Regional Partnership quarterly meeting which was also awesome. We did that out at the hub. Um and we did a simulation. So, we are part of the Greater Oklahoma City Regional Chamber, which is a 10count chamber economic development partnership. Um, but there's a lot of communities that aren't in that partnership that they don't have the means to be. So, what we did was a simulation is how can we, those of us that are in that partnership ripple effect and pull in our smaller communities and include them in the projects that we're submitting because economic development these days isn't happening from a single community. it's happening from a region and so we're staying on the front edge of that. And then we relaunched our Stillwater Area Manufacturing Council. Um, and this has been huge. It's been sponsored by Fly Swo, which we're super grateful for. But all of those workforce initiatives um that we are focused on are coming from either those conversations, those meetings or auxiliary meetings um from them that spin ideas and say, "Hey, we

have a need here." So really grateful for the team that has has put that on. questions, comments, concerns. It's a lot. No. Okay. Projects. Um, so you guys might have seen that Bradford Plaza was acquired by Dunh Hill Partners. So, we're really excited to see them make the investment in Stillwater. They are based out of Dallas Fort Worth area. Um, and they own millions of square feet of retail space all over the country. So they have great relationships with um national brands, national retailers, but they also understand the value of being connected with small businesses and having them in their retail centers and spaces as well. So that has been a really great partnership and we're excited to see that grow. We're excited to see some of the changes uh to Bradford Plaza right there by campus um get a facelift. So So that'll be nice. And then of course we can confirm that yes, Barnes & Noble is coming to Still Water. that was not fake news. Um we're working with two different developers on some investment and projects and we've had some great meetings um with them and then we're working on a project to help grow quality child care services. Um you guys may or may not know but we have had over 500 child care facilities close in the state of Oklahoma in the last year. And so we recognize how vital that industry is to our economy um to our workforce and to our communities. And so we want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to continue the efforts that are being led by some of our other community members and providing the necessary support. So questions, comments, concerns there. Okay. Everyone always wants to know like are we really seeing an impact from the data center project? So I am thankful for our partners at Manhattan TWW who are providing us with regular updates of what the investment look like. So um from September of 24 to March of 26 just through Manhattan TWW this has been um the dollar these are the dollars spent

in our community that does not include what the company itself has has invested. So we are um we're seeing it and we're seeing our local businesses our local contractors out on site and we're very very excited about that. Questions, comments, concerns? There's a lot of people out there. Do you know what what uh employment numbers look like out there right now? I don't know all the auxiliary numbers. I can tell you that today I did find out that Manhattan alone has 89 employees that are Manhattan employees. Yeah. Um and so when you look at the contractors, a few hundred. Yeah. And then there's a lot of food trucks. They're selling a lot of food out there. Any others?

Nope. Okay. Um and then you guys always ask me, do I have an ask? Um, and so my ask would be that um, how do we start prioritizing established sustainable long-term revenue streams that are going to support economic development? When we look at communities the size of Still Water, um, they have five people dedicated full-time to doing economic development. And so, um, while the the team at the chamber is amazing, we can't dedicate them full-time to economic development. So, we want to want to figure out what the long-term um growth of that looks like and and a model of like what Oklahoma City has where they have a fully staffed economic development division within the chamber um is a great example.

Love to hear your ideas on that. Yeah, right now uh or later. No, probably not right now, but I mean

I think it would be good to sit down with you all and and talk about what you know, options would be for what, you know, we've we've talked about this before because there's lots of different models on how this is done as this has grown uh over the last couple of years and the opportunities have come in. Um, you know, I think it's I think it's definitely worth re-evaluating what our sort of economic development u function and you know, how to best uh set it up because it's changed a lot since honestly the last time we had a deep conversation about it. It's changed a ton and I'm glad it has, right? That means like set up originally was so how do we evolve with it? Yep.

Thank you. And then um yeah, the magnet. I hope you guys like get a chance to play with that. Any other question? So, there are actually magnets being produced. There are actually magnets. No. No. I know it kind of feels like the Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Um, but I can say that my last visit there, I was really excited to get to park far away from the door because there were so many cars in the parking lot. So, um, life is happening. Yeah, it's exciting. um you know, seeing what's going on out there, seeing what's going on at the the data center, seeing what's happening at Kingspan.

Um you know, and I I love the workforce development stuff because I think that's going to be our big squeeze over the next several years is going to be who's going to work at all these places and and where are they going to live? Y uh and so the workforce development piece and and the housing development piece is going to be a big uh priority for all of us, for Stillwater and the county um and the region. So, it's I'm thankful for the relationships and the partnerships and that we have so many entity entities recognizing that we are going to all be impacted. So, good. Cool. Thank you. Anything further? Great job on the chambers part. Y'all have hit lots of home runs this year. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Great team.

Thank you. I might get back up. Oh, [laughter] there is nothing further on this agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second to adjurnn. CEDA. Please vote with a vote of 4 to zero. The store economic development authority meeting is now adjourned. This time I will call to order the store utilities authority meeting for May 4th, 2026. Trustees questions, comments, action on the consent docket. Motion to approve consent docket.

Second. We have a motion and a second to approve consent. Please vote. The vote of 4 to zero. The consent docket is approved. And there's nothing further on that agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Second. A motion and a second to adjurnn the SUA. Please vote. The vote of 4 to zero. The SUA is now adjourned. This time I will reconvene the Stillwater City Council meeting. Prior to item 11 on the agenda, is there a motion to enter executive session for the reasons requested by the city attorney? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second to enter executive session. Please vote.

The vote of four to zero. This order city council will now be in executive session.

Welcome back. Is there a motion to reconvene in regular session? Motion to reconvene. Second. We have a motion and a second to reconvene. Please vote. Vote four to zero. We're now back in regular session. Uh any action from executive session. I move to approve the settlement agreement with Terracon Consultants and BKL Inc. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the settlement agreement. Please vote. We go to four to zero. agreement is uh approved. Can't get my words right tonight. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second.

Have a motion and a second to adjurnn the city council. Please vote. With a vote of four to zero, the store to city council is now adjourned. And that concludes our meetings for the evening.