The Watonga City Council met Tuesday in special session. It was considered a special session because the date had been changed from the original meeting schedule issued annually.
The council was treated to a discussion of model communities and economic development by Charlene Flanery from the Blackwell Economic Development Authority.
The focus of the departments are summed up as Blackwell CARES – connect, attract, retain, expansion and support of businesses.
Blackwell has a municipal trust authority to retain and attract industrial and warehouse businesses. It also has an economic development authority that entices retail development. It originally had seed funding from the city, which has since expired, and was gifted a property that became the industrial park. They also gave a portion of property to a builder, who put up eight homes, all of which are now sold.
Flanery discussed several grants the authorities have won, but also noted she is a grant writer, with a master’s degree in grants.
One event she discussed was a career exploration fair held with Kay County schools, cities, the county and the career tech, which introduces the industries in the park and incubator to students. The fair is handson and helps the industries create a pipeline of students who may become trained employees down the road.
The best advice, Flanery said, “Is pull in every partner you can.”
The council also approved the city’s request to write a REAP – Rural Economic Action Plan – grant for street overlay projects and an Urban and Community Forestry Assistance grant to fund a park tree shade canopy project to introduce shade at city parks. Near the end of the evening, council turned to trash, or the discussion of trash. The city has sought an operator for the transfer station – commonly referred to as the dump— with no luck.
City Manager Leroy Alsup reminded those present that the contract with Veterans Waste Systems will lapse in January 2028, and the town will ask providers for proposals to collect city trash as well as run the dump and the recycling center.
Until then, the town will run the dump itself beginning October 17. But unlike using the dump previously, it will not be free of charge for residents.
Because there is very little data available, the city manager and the utilities director came up with a fee schedule based on what it will cost the town to get rid of the collected trash.
The base charge will be $15 per load, plus 4 cents per pound. The service is open only to residents who will have to show a utility bill and an ID.
The transfer center will be operated the third Saturday of the month, from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Those hours and dates may be adjusted for demand and when more data on use and costs have been collected.
As it was before, a customer will drive on the scales and be weighed in. They will then unload themselves in a designated area. Exceptions may be made for disabled persons.
There will also be a 4 % convenience fee for card payments.
But there is another development on the trash front. Many residents still have the old dumpsters that were not purchased by Veterans when the change was made to that service. Many people just did not know what to do with them.
They are now being offered options. They may remove the dumpsters from properties on the alleys and clean up the location themselves, or they may choose to surrender the dumpsters to the city for disposal.
If the choose neither option, code enforcement on the removal of dumpsters will begin in October and residents who have not made progress in removal and cleanup will begin receiving citations.