Four hours and 12 minutes long and many tabled and/or no action on agenda items described the Sulphur Council meeting Monday night.
One item that was tabled because no agreement was reached came after a lengthy executive session to discuss the salary increase for local firemen between the City of Sulphur and the Sulphur Professional Firefighter’s Association. The Association was requesting a 15% increase but city officials noted the city budget (if approved at next Monday’s budget meeting) will only allow for a 2.5% rate increase for all city employees. The association representative told members since no agreement was reached they would go to arbitration.
Members also approved the City Manager’s 2025-2026 contract following the executive session after a motion was approved as the same as last year.
Members tabled approving the revised Employee Personnel Policy as presented by Chris Vaught with Crowe & Dunlevy until members have more time to review the policy which has many major changes throughout from the old policy according to Vaught. One change is how much sick leave can be accumulated and establishing a hard cap on sick leave. Action on hiring Crowe and Dunlevy to update employee job descriptions was also tabled because the $12,000 cost for the service was not in 2024-2025 budget.
Action to approve Southern OK DevelopmentAssociation (SODA) to prepare US Commerce/EDA and OK CDBG Fundings & Grant Proposal applications and to administer projects when awarded was tabled. Freeman told members since the city hired a grant writer a few months ago, who is working on seeking several grants in various areas, he would like to make sure we aren’t overlapping with two agencies working on same grant opportunities before approving the SODA proposal.
Members approved a proposal for federal grant administration polices and procedures manual as presented by grant writer Sherry Snider. The policy is necessary to have in place when reporting use of federal grant funds. The City will be subject to the Single Audit Act for 2025 for ARPA funds, as well as other funds expended on projects this year.
Approval of a new Zoning Ordinance for the City of Sulphur as presented by the Planning and Zoning Committee was tabled until the new zoning re-mapping is also presented with the ordinance.
The Planning and Zoning committee has worked the past several months to update and combine city zoning ordinances into one cohesive zoning plan.
Action on placing an advertisement in the 2025 Chickasaw Country Travel Guide in the amount of $3,000.00 was tabled. The cost will come from the lodging tax funds, however the funds can’t be dispersed until council members approve an annual resolution to spend the money in the fund.
Terry Blalock, of code enforcement, gave an update on the storm ravaged downtown area and residential area cleanup but after a lengthy discussion no definitive time-line for cleanup was reached.
Council approved a project agreement with ODOT to install advance school warning and flashing beacons along U.S. 177 and S.H. 7. ODOT will install at no cost to city but the city will be required to maintain the lights.
A request to conduct a new appraisal on 11.418 acres of land a the end of the airport was approved. The cost to city should be approximately $450.00.
Members approved action of transferring approximately $150,000.00 of unused FAAgrant money back to FAA to be used by some other airport.
A bid in the amount of $27,300.00 to replace the HVAC units at the library was approved as well a request by the city to transfer $3,766.00 from library cash fund to city general fund for library building insurance for 2024-2025.
Members heard a presentation from Cathy O’Connor about possibly establishing a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in the City of Sulphur. O’Connor explained the ins and outs of the TIF program and what’s involved to get it started. No action was taken on the presentation.
No action was taken on an agenda item on purchasing property at the County Treasure Notice of Sale for Delinquent Taxes to satisfy liens since the sale was at 9:00 a.m. Monday. Freeman reported the city purchased two pieces of property.
A request by city staff to return recently purchased employee time clocks due to increase costs not discussed at time of purchase, was approved by the board.
In other agenda action, members approved the following:
•payment of $4,500.00 to replace ice machine at the public works facility;
•payment of $10,041.05 to replace the transmission pump on the backhoe;
•payment of $2,343.56 to remove and clean fuel reservoir on backhoe;
•payment of $2,180.77 to Elliott Rental & Equipment Inc. to repair the cylinder on sanitation truck #24.5;
•payment of $2,461.96 to Holt Truck Centers of Oklahoma LLC to replace speed sensor and pin kit in sanitation truck;
•payment of $14,802.75 to Myers Engineering for engineering services on Chickasaw/OWRB grant project;
•change order request for 36-day extension by Marsau Enterprises on Wynnewood Street water line replacement project;
•payment of $117,471.65 to Marsau Enterprises for Wynnewood Street water line replacement project;
•payment of $14,875.00 to Myers Engineering for engineering services on Wynnewood Street water line replacement project;
•establishing a review team for reviewing the proposals for storm debris removal and monitoring;
•payment of $10,045.00 to Del Sol Consulting, Inc for storm related consulting fees; and
•executing a contingency agreement to access property owned by Corey and Melissa Stevens for water well testing and drilling and land purchase.
In the consent agenda, council members approved the following:
• FY 24-25 Budget Amendments; •payment to FirstNet, a branch ofAT&T for cell phone service in an amount not to exceed $900.00;
•payments not to exceed $25,000.00 to Finish Line Fuels for fuel expenses for June;
•payment to Pioneer Supply for Splash Pad repair parts in the amount of $1,866.80;
•payment to Cordell’s for 2 cycle oil in the amount of $15.00;
•payment to RFD Construction for road repair in the amount of $4,215.66;
•payment to Dub Ross Company for a tin horn on the amount of $2,004.75;
•payment to ABC Occupational Safety Service for fire extinguishers and set up at the airport on the amount of $659.00;
•payment to COPS Products for new hire duty gear in the amount of $318.40;
•payment to the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System for volunteer contributions for Kaden Seitz in the amount of $60,000;
•payment to Industrial Supply Solutions, Inc. for bearings and the housing for the sewer pump in the amount of $117.32;
•payment to Pioneer Analytical, Inc. for asbestos sampling bottles in the amount of $39.56;
•payment to Mid America Chemical, Inc. for bleach in the amount of $3,989.70;
•payment to ABC Occupational Safety Service for first aid kits, safety glasses and gloves in the amount of $473.15;
•payment to Pitmon Oil & Gas Co. for diesel in the amount of $4,516.05;
•payment to Pro Window Films for decals for sanitation truck #25 in the amount of $295.00; and
•payment to OMAG for adding 3 vehicles to the auto policy in the amount of $378.00.
All five members were present at the meeting.
