City Commission Meet -- Dec. 15, 2003 -- Collinsville, OK -- www.cvilleok.com

Note: The City Commission will meet next in special session Thursday Dec. 18th at 1pm to vote on another city charter change election proclamation.

In the Municipal Authority portion of the meeting, a split vote approved an $8,163.61 reimbursement to the Collinsville Public Schools. CMA Trustees Michael Sirmon, Pam Porter and Gail Rogers voted for the reimbursement. CMA Trustees Stan Sallee and Brad Overholt voted no. The claim was from an incident at the High School back in October when an underground electrical line was cut by a backhoe. Wise Electric was called to repair the line on a weekend to allow classes on the following Monday. Wise submitted a bill to the school for $8,163.61 and that was then forwarded to the City. (Note: This incident was initially reported on www.cvilleok.com at the botton of the Nov. 3rd School Board Meeting story).
The discussion at school board meetings and the CMA meeting tonight has centered on responsibility for locating utilities beyond the meter where the city's technical responsibility ends. The underground line that was cut was beyond the meter and technically a private line. Apparently in the past, the city and/or V.V.E.C. have assisted the school in doing locates on the school's lines, but that was not done in this case.

City Manager Mike Tinker in reconstructing the events for the trustees, indicated that although the city should have done a better job of "customer relations" (and offered to assist the school with a locate), he did not feel that the city was obligated to make the payment to the school. The school had hired Lee Fugate to install a french drain in an attempt to solve a long time drainage problem. Mr. Fugate had called OKIE (for utility locates) and the City received notification of that request. Mr. Fugate's crew started digging without the locate by the city and struck the line.

The City Commission approved the reappointments of three member of the City Planning Commission: Jim Price (Ward IV), Marlin White (Ward II) and Ellis Holly (Ward III). No action was taken on the at-large position currently held by Sherri Davis.

City Attorney Ken Underwood provided wording for a city charter change proposal based on discussion at the last regular commission meet. This is a version with only two key changes 1) turning elections over to Tulsa County and 2) staggered 4 year terms for commissioners. This proposal makes no changes to the mayor's term or selection. It also keeps commissioner votes from only within that commissioner's ward. Commissioner Pam Porter asked Mr. Underwood if it was not possible to also add the option for at-large voting for commissioners on the same ballot. Underwood said he knew of no simple way to have a multiple choice charter change ballot, and was concerned with adding complication. The commissioners agreed to meet Thursday Dec. 18 at 1pm to formally vote on the election proclamation. Approval at that meeting will allow required legal publications to set up a January 27th election.

In other Municipal Authority business, trustees approved a $7905 increase in the bid for a sewer line upgrade from 9th to 12th Street between Maple and Walnut. The original contract was awarded to Ram Enginnering for $59,617. The original contract assumed a new 6 inch line would be slipped into the existing 8 inch line. The initial process of cleaning and inspecting the line showed that 300 feet of the line was already 6 inch line and made the slip-line solution impossible.