Water and wastewater discussion flowed through a large portion of Monday’s meeting of the Kingfisher City Commission.

However, beyond water, the January regular meeting provided a busy agenda that also saw the introduction of a new assistant city manager.

Jonah Humes started in that role officially on Monday and he addressed the commssioners at Monday night’s meeting.

City Manager Jim Thomas noted at last month’s meeting of the desire to hire someone for that role as he looks to retire within the next two years.

Humes has served as the public works director for the City of Claremore, since July 2018. Thomas is a former city manager at Claremore.

Humes told commissioners that he and his family will make the move to Kingfisher from Claremore soon and he was excited to begin making the rounds of the community to become acquainted with the citizens of Kingfisher.

The hiring of the assistant city manager - like any other city employee outside of the city manager - doesn’t require city commission approval.

( Editor’s note: Look for an in-depth story of Humes in an upcoming edition of the KT&FP.)

Last month the city learned it was being awarded a low-interest loan through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board Financial Assistance Program to help fund the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades.

On Monday, the OWRB’s Traci King was on hand to present a ceremonial check to Thomas, Mayor Geoff Covalt and other commissioners.

Joining Covalt at the meeting were Vice Mayor Jeff Wittrock and Commissioners Dawn Taylor and Tammy Sammons. Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg was unable to attend.

AlsopresentwereThomas, City Attorney Jared Harrison, City Clerk Brittney Hladik and Humes.

Also discussed was the upcoming airport runway expansion and progress of the related wetlands removal from the north end of the airport to “Harry’s Hole” in the southeast part of the city.

That project is in conjunction with plans to He said that he would soon have a quarterly progress report meeting with Brent Kisling of Enid, who was hired to a one-year contract for economic development.

extend Kingfisher Trails through that area.

Regarding the airport, the board heard from Bill Reitz of the Kingfisher Airport Authority Board of Trustees, who asked the commisisoners for approval of a plan to build a new meeting room at the airport in an existing hangar, with the cost slightly over $36,000 for the city’s expense.

The commissioners approved the request.

Also approved was a final design payment of $203,500 to Parkhill architecture and engineering firm, which is working with the city on the airport project.

Reitz also asked for approval to appoint pilot Craig Michael to the Airport Authority Board of Trustees to replace Mike Rosen, who retired from the board after 16 years of service.

The commission approved the appointment.

Also approved was Kingfi sher Police Chief Travis Gray’s request to surplus 13 body cameras and related equipment which has been recently replaced.

In other business, the commissioners approved a change order for a fifth bay at the fire station being constructed. The cost of the change order will be $74,110.

John Gooden, who is working with the city on securing ongoing grants on behalf of the airport wetlands relocation and Kingfisher Trails, told the commissioners that a recreational grant of $300,000 was in final stages of approval.

Plans are well under way to begin work on the wetlands relocation to the Harry’s Hole area on the east side of the railroad tracks behind the Atwood’s store on the southeast side of Kingfisher, Gooden said.

( Editor’s note: See the Notice of Public Meeting advertisement on this page regarding the grant and project on this page.)

He added the overall master plan is now “within sight” of completing the recreational walking trail loop encircling the city.

The commissioners approved the grant application as well as one to the Department of Environmental Quality for the wetlands improvement.

Also approved was a resolution setting the date of April 8 for a citywide vote to ask for the hotel occupancy excise tax to be increased from 5% to 9%.

Thomas commented that most cities have the tax set at 10% and above.

He said the chamber of commerce has agreed to help with the promotion of the need for the increase.

In related business, April 8 was also approved for the date of the election for the two commissioner seats currently held by Taylor and Sammons. The filing period for the seats is Feb. 2-4.

Kingfisher Treasurer Anita James was unable to attend the meeting, so Thomas gave a brief overview of the city’s finances.

The budget, said Thomas, was on track with all departments, but he was troubled that sales tax collections for 2025 were $2.7 million compared to $3.1 million in 2023.

He said Kisling continued to make a priority in finding a replacement for the United Supermarket store which closed last summer.

Thomas commented that the City of Kingfisher office would be the site of the Chamber of Commerce Coffee VIBE meet-and-greet mixer at 10 a.m. Thursday and he said this was an excellent opportunity for Kingfisher citizens to drop in and meet Humes.

In other business, the commissioners approved immediate work to repair a sewer line at the intersection of 11th Street and Fay Avenue at the cost $83,250, which was the low bid by BG Pipeline.

Marc Long of SRB Engineering and Consulting, which has been contracted to work with the city regarding management of the water and waste water construction and improvement projects, told the commissioners of ongoing work regarding the 10-year capital improvement plan enacted by the city last year.

The commissioners approved the budget of $500,000 annually for the ongoing projects.

Also discussed with Long was possible action to approve a water model contract at the cost of $200,000 for assessing and determining exact water propulsion and usage needs of all areas of the city.

The commissioners voted to approve the project.

Long said that information would be made available to the commissioners by July.

Also discussed but tabled for future consideration was approval of a sanitary sewer evaluation service at the cost $1,645,981.

Covalt commented that the commissioners and Thomas had discussed the plan to some degree, but as yet were undecided as how to approach the project.

He said he felt it would perhaps be better to address the sewage issues in “bitesize chunks” as opposed to one large investment.

The commissioners will next meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9.