Hennessey Assistant Fire Chief James Matousek said they didn’t want to burn down the old day care center behind the town auditorium, but want to use it as a search and rescue facility

“We want to set it up as if it was a house,” he told Hennessey Town Trustees before they approved it at their Feb. 11 Town Hall meeting.

The structure has been vacant for a few years and Matousek said they plan to put up partitions and make it a maze.

He asked about the interior construction.

“It’s creaky,” said Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman. “The floors creaked when I went in there to check it out...You need to secure the windows.”

“We’re not going to remodel it for you,” Matousek said.

Tillman said all the utilities are off and it has gas heating.

“We don’t need the utilities on,” said Matousek. “We’re only going to use this two or three times a year.”

“Yes we do,” said Mayor and Fire Chief Bert Gritz. “We need to have the lights on.”

“We need it to be dark,” said Matousek. So it will be realistic, crawling on the floor searching for victims.

“At some point we’re going to need to see to put up the partitions,” Gritz said and, when asked, said he thought the ceilings are 10 feet high.

Police Chief Ed Cangiano said he also needs a training facility for room searches and meetings “and

“I’m in,” said Matousek.

Gritz said he worries about the building being vandalized and Trustee Richard Simunek suggested they put up a sign that reads

“Fire and Police Training Center.”

“I like that idea,” said Gritz, “and we could do cross training in there with Dover and too.

“Now,” said Matousek, “whose budget (is going to pay for this)?”

The town’s county fire department sales tax budget, said Trustee Keith Meek.

Matousek didn’t seem to agree with Meek, but did agree when Tillman said, “I’ll check on that.”

Meek was referring to Hennessey being among the eight municipal fire departments that equally share a quarter-cent county sales tax and 13 % of a half-cent county sales tax eight ways based on miles covered.

At the Meeting

Trustees at the meeting were Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Gritz, Simunek and Meek. Absent was Trustee Wes Hardin.

In addition to Tillman and Cangiano, other staff present were Treasurer Teresa Weber and Town Clerk Kati Walters.

In the audience were Trustee-Elect Harold Shaw and Tony Blackburn.

Sewer Line Bid OK’d

A bid of $81,715 by Orr Construction for the extension of a sewer line to the north side of State Highway 51 was accepted.

The town’s engineer, Cowan Group, OKC, recommended it be approved. There were four other bidders on the project.

“We have some money left over after we put in the lift station for that project,” Tillman said when Simunek asked how they’d pay for it.

Sand/Salt Spreader Purchase

Although the board wanted delivery of a sand and salt spreader the next day, Tillman said it would take longer.

Meek asked if it would be cheaper if they bought it this summer.

Someone else said it might be higher then and another said they might be sold out.

They approved a $6,346 quote from Perfection of OKC for a Saltdogg Poly Spreader to fit a Chevrolet 3500 with 11 foot flatbed/dump, stainless steel 118-inch hopper, electric spreader.

Town Hall Drive-Thru Window Buy

A $7,435 bid was accepted from Black Mesa Security, Oklahoma City/Tulsa, on a vision window, steel drawer and audio system to replace the drive-thru window at Town Hall.

“Your drive-up window was built in the 1960s and the manufacturer has been out of business for over 30 years,” according to a Nov. 2 email from Black Mesa.

During discussion, both Vogt and Meek questioned the purchase because the bid did not include “removing the bay window, reframing of the wall opening to accept the new window and drawer, any wall finishes inside and out, as well as an electrical outlet for the new drawer.”

When asked by Gritz, Tillman said she needed them to accept the bid that evening.

She said the sound on the current one “is not great, there is a draft from the window that hits whoever is sitting nearby, the top of the counter is peeling off, the money drawer is hard to open and close, the heater doesn’t work. It’s heated by a light bulb and I got under there but couldn’t figure out how to get it in.”

Audit Accepted

The board accepted the annual audit though some of the members said they didn’t understand it and Tillman said she also had trouble with it when Simunek asked if she could go over it with him later.

She suggested she set up an appointment with the accountant in their Edmond office for him and he took her up on it.

Pitts is Promoted

After about 15 minutes in a closed session, the board voted to promote Police Officer Aaron Pitts to sergeant and raised his pay to $18 an hour.

Pitts is also the full-time resource officer for the Hennessey Public Schools.