WATONGA – The Watonga City Council on Tuesday approved a quote to resurface the splash pad at Huff Lorang Park.
Aquatic Warriors LLC, a Texas-based company that specializes in splash pad services, quoted the city $15,749.95 for the resurfacing. The job will be paid from the city’s designated oil and gas saving fund for Huff Lorang Park.
City Manager Karrie Beth Little said the splash pad will be finished and ready to open by Memorial Day, as usual.
The meeting was Adam Tock’s second on the council; Tock was sworn in as Watonga’s Ward Two councilman before a special meeting on March 29, during which the council held budget discussions, before his first regular meeting on Tuesday. Tock will serve out the remainder of the term started by Lindsey Doyel, who resigned earlier this year.
He joins Ladina Willis, Travis Bradt, Allen Cowan and Mayor Bill Seitter on the council.
Garbage collection to contractor?
During the Watonga Public Works Authority agenda, Little and the council discussed Watonga’s garbage collection service and whether the city should consider an alternative model. Currently, Watonga collects trash with its own trucks and employees. But Little said that’s becoming increasingly difficult.
“We’ve not been able to garner staffing for that service,” Little said. “It takes a CDL (commercial driver’s license) to drive the truck. We all know that that changed Feb. 1 as well. We cannot be competitive in the rates of current CDL drivers. Right now, we’re paying $14.50 (per hour), and on the market they’re getting $25. So they’re not even looking at us as a possibility.
“Municipalities all around are experiencing that,” she said.
The alternative, Little said, would be to pay a contractor to collect the city’s trash – something that’s already being done, she pointed out, in surrounding communities like Kingfisher, Geary and Okeene. “We’re really one of the unique cities around that’s still operating our own garbage service,” she said.
Little said the lack of drivers and general short-staffing in the street department often forces staffers to focus on garbage pickup and neglect other department responsibilities, like street repair.
The council agreed that Little should look into the cost of hiring a contractor compared to running its own service. The agenda item was for discussion only, and no final decision was made Tuesday.