The Hennessey Board of Trustees approved work on two infrastructure projects and voted to go out for bids on another at last Thursday night’s meeting.

Board members accepted two quotes from David Fuksa’s Grade Work Construction Co.:

(1) Bullfoot Park – The pond was not holding water because there was a leak in the concrete wall on the west side of the walking trail, Public Works Director Curtis Turner had told the board in earlier meetings. The repair quote was $42,816 and includes tearing out existing overfl ow pipe concrete structure, 30 feet of walking path and stock pile in bottom, clear trees around bottom of pipe and stock pile in bottom, install new drop inlet structure and pipe and pour all concrete and replace concrete walking path.

(2) Drainage on North Walnut and Oak streets – Install drainage pipe, haul in rock backfill and cut-in for the two north entrances. Base bid: $48,000. “This is directly across from the (school) auditorium north of Oklahoma,” said Turner.

One of the board members asked if this was caused by the school’s construction of the new dome.

Turner said no and that the school should be commended for the drainage work they did on Oklahoma Avenue.

All board members were present for the Jan. 9 meeting: Mayor Bert Gritz, Vice Mayor Cliff Vogt, Trustees Wes Hardin, Keith Meek and Richard Simunek. Also at the board table were Katy Walters, minutes clerk, and Teresa Weber, treasurer.

Sewer Line North of S.H. 51

Turner asked and the board approved going out for bids on completion of a sewer line project on the north side of State Highway

51.

He said there is already a lift station but they need to get eight-inch lines in to furnish sewer service to the Main Street Truck Stop, Dollar General and any other businesses that might come in.

He said SKW Engineering in Kansas started out on the project and bids came in too high to complete the sewer lines.

He said Cowan Engineering of Oklahoma City is now handling the project.

“We eventually need to run water lines over there, too,” Turner told the board.

$161,060 in

Budget Amendments

Six months into the 2019-20 budget the board approved $161,060 in budget amendments for capital improvements in the EMS (ambulance fund), $82,300; streets, $24,910; parks, $8,250, and library, $14,100. Also, materials/supplies/other services for fire, $13,000, and general government $17,500.

New Signage

The board approved a $49,750 quote from Royal Signs of Hennessey for new signage.

Owner Terrell Prince was at last month’s meeting when the board approved his design.

The quote includes four entrance signs and five wayfinding signs at Town Hall, Memorial Park, Main and Oklahoma streets, S.H. 51 east pointing toward high school and the public library on Main Street.

“Comprehensive Plan”

The only vote that wasn’t unanimous during the 90-minute meeting was approval of a contract with the Northern Oklahoma Development Authority to provide the town with a “comprehensive plan” for the future.

“Is this a sham, or what is this?” asked Hardin about a $30,000 proposed contract with NODA.

“Is this a state agency or what? Are they funded by the state, and they are charging us for information they are getting for us then putting it on a spreadsheet?”

“We need this to help us get grants,” said Gritz. “Our plan is out of date… It would probably cost us more than that if we went with an independent company.”

NODA’s charges for the five-phase work is $6,000 for Phases I and II, goals, demographics and economics; Phase III, $7,000, present land use and digital mapping; Phase IV, $10,000, comprehensive land use and public facilities and digital mapping, and Phase V, $7,000, zoning and digital mapping and completion of the plan.

“This is our grant wish list,” said one of the board members.

Turner said Hennessey’s current sewer lagoon had to serve 25,000 people because that’s what a survey of the town said it would grow to in the coming years.

“We’ve never had more than 3,000 people living here,” said Hardin, “and I’m voting against this.”

And he did. The contract was approved in a 4-1 vote.

Police Department Shake-up

After a 20-minute closed session to discuss personnel issues, the board voted to hire Christian Solis on a temporary full-time contract as a patrol offi cer. He’d been hired last month as a reserve offi cer.

Then members reassigned Lt. Mike Jones from the police department to the public works department for 90 days with the possibility of extending that reassignment after an evaluation.

They also reassigned police dispatcher Mahala Jones to the town clerk’s administrative offices for 90 days with the same option to extend her reassignment.

Mahala Jones is the daughter of Mike Jones.

Police Chief Hank Weber was not at Thursday night’s meeting.

Monthly Animal Swap

Erin Wulffenstein said from the audience she wanted to use town property on Cemetery Road at Oklahoma Avenue for an “animal swap.”

“Would these be exotic animals?” asked a board member.

“No,” she said, “and people could bring in their chickens, or whatever, to sell or swap.”

The mayor and other board members said they didn’t think she needed permission for it and Turner said there is water on the property.

Wulffenstein said animals would be required to be “contained” or in cages and she plans to start it in March and continue it the second Saturday of each month from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

She said they didn’t plan to charge anyone, but they might need to make a fee so they could rent portable restrooms.

“You probably will since there are not restrooms there, and from 9-to-2 is a long time,” Turner said.

The location for the swap is sometimes referred to as the soccer fi eld or go-cart track and, most recently, some Pat Hennessy Celebration events have been held there.