The City of Kingfisher will host a groundbreaking ceremony to begin construction of the much-anticipated new fire station at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6.

This was announced by City Manager Jim Thomas at the city commission’s special meeting Monday evening at City Hall.

Thomas noted the public is invited to the groundbreaking ceremony at the location of the new fire station at 1501 S. Main St.

Light refreshments will be served.

Commissioners voted 4-0 during the meeting to accept the bid by A&K Construction of Edmond for the total amount of $8,942,000 for the project, which includes $450,000 for contingencies.

In discussion, it was noted by City Attorney Jared Harrison and Thomas that it was their experience that companies rarely submitted claims for the full contingency amount and the expectation was such claims by A&K would be minimal.

Present at the meeting was Mayor Geoff Covalt, Vice Mayor Jeff Wittrock and commissioners Dawn Taylor and Tammy Sammons.

Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg was unable to attend.

Also in attendance were City Clerk Brittney Hladik and City Treasurer Anita James.

The commissioners also voted 4-0 to proceed with securing two separate loans of $5 million each.

One was for fire station construction.

The second was to begin the first phase of a multiyear infrastructure project for a comprehensive water and wastewater construction and repair program that the commissioners had designated as a “critical need” several months ago.

On hand was John Wolff, the city’s financial consultant.

He told commissioners the Oklahoma Water Resources Board offered a 4.9% borrowing rate for a multi-year loan and his advice was to close on the loan this year so that work could begin on all phases of water and wastewater flow, which included headworks improvements, the installation of instrumentation and system controls, hydraulic analysis and distribution system improvements and cleaning all water and wastewater lines.

That work had never been performed to anyone’s knowledge.

Thomas commented that all aspects of the project were long overdue and Kingfisher’s water movement system was operating on “borrowed time” and had been for many years.

After a short discussion, the commissioners voted 4-0 to procure the loan.

Another $5 million loan to assist with the “ups and downs” of city sales tax collections was also strongly advised by Wolff, regarding the city’s new fire station construction.

He said the half-cent sales tax dedicated to the project as voted on by the citizens of Kingfisher has collected $2.5 million, which was in the city’s bank account.

But to ensure the continual flow through the construction process, Wolff said he had contacted banks and loan institutions to attempt to “lock in” an acceptable loan rate for the $5 million, 15-year loan.

He added that a local bank had agreed to the city’s list of needs for the loan and a 4.5% borrowing rate for 15 years.

After another short discussion, the board voted unanimously to proceed with securing the loan with the local bank.

Wolff said of top priority for the loan payments was to ensure that the city “cashfl owed” through the loan period and avoided getting into a financial bind in the future.

He said in his estimation, by looking at the history of sales tax and utility collections of the city, he was confident the city would be able to “handle” the debt.

Also approved by the board on a 4-0 vote was the payment of $56,000 to BRW Architecture for the additional design and implementation of a fifth bay to the fire station, which was of a high priority for Fire Chief Ryan Gibson.

In other business, the board unanimously voted to authorize Thomas with the authority to change orders and contingency expenditures to an amount not to exceed $50,000 for the fire station’s construction.

Gibson then told the commissioners that he had secured a grant to replace 19 fire hydrants in the city for the total cost of $174,800, of which the city would contribute $50,000.

He said there were approximately 320 fire hydrants throughout the city, with “probably 10%” in need of replacement. He said this was the first phase of the replacement process.

The commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the project.

The commissioners also approved a payment to Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG) for $111,370 for property and liability insurance.

In other business, the commissioners unanimously approved the reappointment of Judy Whipple, Eddie Payne, Reggie Redwine, Austin Evans, Neal Brown and Jean Crosswhite to new terms on the city’s planning and zoning board.

Thomas noted that a seventh member was being sought to complete the board and asked the zoning board members present to submit names of qualified candidates.

“We thought we had a qualified candidate with real estate profession experience, but we discovered he lived outside the city limits,” Thomas commented.

“We ask city residents interested to please contact the city offices.”

Facility use agreements for Kingfisher Park with Kingfisher Winter Nights were also approved unanimously by the commissioners.

Hladik commented that the Chisholm Trail Technology Center carpentry department had agreed to remodel the train station at the entry on the north end of the park in preparation for the Winter Nights’ annual lighted Christmas display.

She said the work would not be charged to the city, as it was deemed a class project, and the city would only pay for the lumber used.

Thomas said he would be traveling to northern Michigan in the near future to select a featured Christmas tree to be delivered to Kingfisher for the opening night ceremony lighting.

The next meeting for the Kingfisher City Commission is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. There will be no meeting in October.