In a surprise move late Monday, council member Debbie McGee resigned her position as the representative for Ward #2. Other than discussing the methods the city may use to fill the void, there was no information offered on the resignation.
As if to underline the elimination of the rift on the council – McGee was often opposed to items proposed by council member Neal Riley – Riley asked that the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting be pulled from the consent agenda. Usually the consent agenda holds items that are voted on whole cloth, such as approving the bills presented to the city. However, any board member may pull an item for discussion.
Riley wanted the minutes amended to show agenda item 1 – his censure and the removal of citizen activist Marcus Wray -- was moved to the end of the meeting and when discussed, it was stricken from the agenda. His motion was approved and the meeting moved forward.
Wray presented an agenda item that would create a public comment segment during council meetings. He had surveyed the nearby towns of Geary, Thomas and Fairview to determine how they handled citizen comment. Each town sets a time limit, with Fairview and Geary holding speakers to the agenda. Thomas allows any topic to be broached, but council cannot engage or take action on the topic in order to remain in compliance with the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act.
“This is to give a voice back to the people,” Wray said. He also conceded it was not part of state requirements. Riley pointed out that Wray had exercised his voice by getting the item on the agenda by asking his council representative to place it there.
“We have had some tense meetings in the past 15 months,” Wray said. “My hope is that 12 months from now, because people can be heard, it won’t be that tense again.”
At that juncture, Mayor Ryan Bruner waded into the discussion, suggesting the matter be tabled.
“I’m open to it, but I’m not ready to decide tonight,” he said. “Let’s find something that works.”
Another complaint lodged by Wray and others has consistently been the time it takes to obtain an open record from the city. Riley, even after being elected, has sometimes had trouble obtaining open records.
He suggested there be change in the request forms that allowed the requesting party to choose how the record is delivered – electronically via email or saved to a memory stick that the requester purchases at a small fee, as a printed record, also with a fee attached for printing or by viewing the original document. The form would also include time limits that the city has to produce the documents.
“I’m all for that as long as we are covering our costs,” Bruner said.
City Attorney Jared Harrison offered what might be a more equitable solution, though.
The Legislature had instituted new rules on open records requests that took effect Nov. 1. The Oklahoma Municipal League, in response, has issued a form that tracks the requests and the time it takes for release of the document.
Harrison suggested that form be adopted immediately and if there was still a persistent delay in release of documents, the matter be brought back to the city council.
The council also took up the weighty matter of water and sewer fees as part of the public works agenda. Russ Meacham from RS Meacham, the city’s accounting firm, was on hand to describe to the council how the finances might change if there were a change in the fee structure. The changes would only impact residential meters. Basically, the idea was to institute either a flat fee per meter plus the cost of water consumed during the low-use months of December, January and February. That usage would be averaged and become the monthly sewer rate. The other option was to simply charge a per gallon rate, averaged over the three low use months.
“Winter averaging is a very common concept,” Meacham added.
Council member Howard Hursh asked Meacham whether the changed rates would produce enough income to cover the debt service to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Meacham replied that either of the two solutions would cover the loan costs.
“What we don’t want to do is punish people for having green lawns, flowers, a pool or gardens,” Riley said. There had been multiple complaints that tying the sewer rate to the water metered into the home was unfair, since water put on lawns or gardens is absorbed into the soil rather than going into the sewer system.
In the round, it was decided to try a $20 flat rate and a fee of $3.91 per 1,000 gallons of water. If the system is not satisfactory in a year, the council may make changes.
Two other hot button topics - reopening the transfer station and placing rolloffs for the use of residents on a pay as you use basis, were tabled because not all the requested information was in hand.
When an agenda item is tabled it is automatically placed on the next meeting agenda until it is discussed and voted on or allowed to die via no action.