Former Assistant DA John Walton Named New City Judge
Several items were either tabled or no action was taken at the Sulphur City Council meeting Monday night.
One tabled item was the purchasing of 10.3 acres from Corey and Melissa Stevens in the amount of $400,000.00 for drilling of a water well. The Stevens’ were initially paid $100,000.00 to drill a test well on the property to see if a viable water well was possible. The project is a part of the Chickasaw Nation/OWRB ARPA Water Project.
According to the scope of the project, if a well drilled is a viable water source located outside the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer buffer zone, and the city assumes the well, then the city would be required to cap one of their existing wells that is located in the aquifer. Before tabling the request, Ward 4 Councilman Ryan Peters raised questions about why the city would accept a well only producing 190-200 gallons-per-minute and have to cap a well possibly producing over 400 gallons-per-minute.
Peters also questioned how this was going to benefit Sulphur.
Sulphur currently has seven wells that service the city. All of the wells pump different amounts and most also free flow several hundred gallons-per-well, per-minute.
The initial scope of the project was to drill up to three wells producing 350-600 gallons-per-minute which is considerably more than 190-200 gallons-per-minute.
After a lengthy discussion, members voted to table the request and referred City Manager Andy Freeman to discuss the matter further with the Chickasaw Nation and OWRB.
In connection with the previous item, the next item tabled was action on awarding the bid for the water well transmission mains from the well to the water plant.
The bids were opened on Friday, April 9, even though the public was not aware of the opening date because it had been moved from the previously advertised date of March 26.
Even though the bids were opened, the route for the water line from the well to water plant has not yet been secured. Project officials and city officials met with the Murray County Commissioners Monday morning to discuss using the county rightof- way on Koller Road for the line. The commissioners tabled approving the request until they receive advice from the county legal counsel which is the District Attorney.
Also tabled in conjunction with the project was action on drilling a second well on the Stevens’ property.
Other tabled items at the meeting include:
•renewing the contract with Choosing Charity, LLC for grant writing services; and
•payment to KSA Engineers, Inc. for airport pavement rehabilitation in the amount of $8,704.30.
In other agenda action, members accepted the resignation of Municipal Judge Rebecca Johnson and then approved the employment of John Walton as her replacement. Walton served many years as the assistant district attorney for Murray County.
Several other applicants for the position were present at the meeting. Other applicants included Mary Beth Heskett of Pauls Valley; Jacob Heskett of Pauls Valley; Mark Melton of Davis; J. W. Morgan of Sulphur; Robert Gray of Ada; Jason Christopher of Ada and Travis Keith White of Sulphur.
RFD Construction of Sulphur was awarded the bid to rebuild the Sulphur Fire Department substation that was destroyed in the 2024 tornado. The station will be built on the previous site.
The bid for the fire department brush truck uplift was awarded to Casco in the amount of $78,914.00 and the bid for hay baling lease at the airport was awarded to Arthur Earsom for a bid of $1,500.00.
Members approved seeking engineering services to engineer a paving project for West 14th Street from Broadway to Williams Drive. Requesting bids to mill and resurface Vinita Street between West 9th and 13th Streets and 13th Street between Broadway and Vinita Street were approved by the board.
Payment request #1, from Pavers Inc., for the current street paving project was approved in the amount of $569,540.96.
Members approved the annual purchase of a ½ page ad in the Chickasaw Country Magazine in the amount of $950.00.
Following a short public hearing to discuss a special use permit request by Ambre Miller to operate a small, low-impact gardening boutique at her residence address of 1122 West 12th Street, members reconvened into the regular meeting and approved the request.
In other agenda action, members approved the following:
•a bid of $19,959.70 for a Sutorbilt 8 MP-RH Blower for the wastewater treatment plant;
•seeking engineering services to engineer water and wastewater lines in need of replacement;
•payment to Oklahoma Emergency Management (OEM) in the amount of $558,579.60 for repayment of the funds used from the OEM loan to pay for right of way debris and vegetation monitoring and removal to be paid from FEMAfunds received by the city;
•payment to OEM to refund the unused amount of the OEM loan in the amount of $1,027,951.65;
•payment of $486,705.90 to Downey Contracting for invoice No. 3 for the well drilling on the OWRB/Chickasaw Nation Project;
•payment of $4,213.75 to Del Sol for storm debris consultant services for February; and
•request by Bobby J. Taylor for a lump sum payout of the employee’s portion of retirement contributions from Oklahoma Municipal Retirement Fund.
No action was taken on discussion of future SORD Landfill rate increases.
Following a brief executive session regarding a claim by citizen Ide Russell, members returned to regular session with no action taken on the matter.
In the consent agenda, members approved the monthly cell phone service charges as well as the monthly fuel expenses.
In the treasurer’s report, Treasurer Ginger Cornell told members that sales tax was up slightly for the month, however year to date the increase is only approximately 1.4%.
All five council members were present at the meeting.
