The City of Watonga, its citizens and council members got an early Christmas present Tuesday evening when a new city manager was hired. There were several other bits of good news for the town as well.
The manager, Leroy Alsup, will begin work January 5. Because the contract between the city and the employee is not finalized yet, the details including the salary were not released. That information should become public information as soon as the contract is signed.
Alsup has been the director of economic development for Altus, McAlester and Enid, city manager for Cushing, Coffeyville, Kansas, Catoosa and Guthrie as well as the county administrator for Cowley County, Kansas. Winfield is the county seat of Cowley County. He has an MBA from Southwestern University in Winfield and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas. He is also a graduate of Leaderships Oklahoma and Kansas.
The newly hired manager made a brief appearance at the council meeting, slipping in the back after the council emerged from an hourlong executive session.
“I am excited to be working with all of you,” he told the assembled group of about 25 in the gallery. “I have an open office. You don’t have to wait for a city council meeting to come in and discuss anything.”
He then wished the crowd good evening, a happy holiday and said he was going to go have dinner and enjoy the rest of the holiday before getting to work.
That work is piling up on his desk already.
An item the council had asked the accounting firm RS Meacham to explore is the idea of levelized billing for electricity. It had previously approved averaged low use billing for sewer costs.
However, Russ Meacham told the council the issue with levelized billing is that if a balance is owed at the end of the year, as is often the case, collections can be difficult. The problem with a rolling monthly average, Mecham said, is that the billing is always on month behind, meaning the city is essentially fronting the subscribers until the bill comes due.
His suggestion was to work with the city manager during the budgeting process to determine the best way forward with the electric billing process.
Another item that will be coming Alsup’s way is the impact fee agreement with CoreCivic, the company that owns the Diamondback Correctional facility. That complex is slated to be populated with immigration detainees in the first three months of the new year.
The city does not sell electricity to Diamondback, but it is the water and sewer service provider. To help the town deal with increased traffic and road wear, keeping additional emergency medical personnel on call and having responsibility to respond to potential emergency situations, CoreCivic pays a fee, based on inmate population.
The city council last night agreed to a fee of $1 per day per detainee. It had been holding out for the same $1.02 that is paid to Cushing for the facility there, but city attorney Jared Harrison said the corporation would not budge off the $1 fee.
Even at the $1 mark, that accounts for some $788,000 coming into the city coffers annually if the complex is at full capacity of 2,160 detainees.
In other action, the city council named Roy Hampton as vice mayor to replace Debbie McGee, who resigned, but took no action on filling her seat. There was only one letter of interest and that letter arrived after the Dec. 9 deadline. The council can call for a special election or appoint someone to the seat if the appointment is made within a 60-day window of the resignation.
The council approved the purchase of a new LED beacon light at the airport, replacing the one that has been sketchy at best since airport manager Jena Ohman came on board in 2017.
Ohman told the council it was mandatory that the beacon either be repaired or replaced. That requirement was from the FAA. Repair estimates were about $12,000 while a replacement is $32,000.
“We have had issues every year since 2017,” Ohman said. “It might be time to move ahead with LED. I think we would be money ahead to replace it.”
The council agreed and approved the purchase.
The council had also requested interim city manager Justin Woldridge to look into what it would cost to either provide roll offs for the use of the public or reopen the transfer station near the water treatment plant.
T&D Waste made a presentation to the council to operate the station no less than every other weekend, providing the equipment -- other than the existing scales – and the employees.
The principals of the company acknowledged some of the particulars are still unknown at this point but offered an estimate of $15 per load minimum charge, plus 5 cents per pound over 300 pounds. There would be no free dumping.
The city would pay for the utilities to operate the scales – which have to be rewired for service – until the station is operating more than two days per month.
The company would run a walking floor trailer for handling the waste and it would also collect all fees associated with dumping there.
The agreement was not made, however, as there is still Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality approval to be completed for reopening of the transfer station at that location.