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The amount of funds from the American Rescue Plan to towns and cities is based on census numbers, and the Town of Hennessey “should be getting about $360,000 in relief funds.”

That’s what Administrator Tiffany Tillman told town trustees at their Thursday night meeting.

Local governments are scheduled to receive the first half of their allocation in 60 days and the other half one year later, according to information from the Oklahoma Municipal League.

Communities under 50,000 population, such as Hennessey, will receive their funds from the feds via the state.

Tillman said the funds are a reimbursement due to COVID PPE equipment purchased for police, fire, and other employees, and for all town facilities.

Mayor Bert Gritz said it would also help with the low sales tax returns because of the slowdown in retail businesses, and mainly restaurants.

“Restaurants have been hit harder than anyone,” said Trustee Wes Hardin.

All board members were present for the meeting: Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Trustees Richard Simunek, Keith Meek (who arrived late), Gritz and Hardin.

In addition to Tillman, other staff present were Treasurer Teresa Weber, and Town Clerk Kati Walters, who also served as minutes clerk.

In the audience was Harold Shaw who goes on the board after April 15. Shaw will replace Hardin’s seat on the board. Hardin did not run for re-election this year, and has served on the board for more than 20 years.

Cemetery Chapel Donor

A 24x12 foot thank you marker to the anonymous donor of the outdoor chapel at the Hennessey Cemetery was approved. The cost is about $1,500 said Tillman, and it will be placed on the north wall instead of the west wall so it won’t detract from services, but will easily be seen.

Simunek asked for the item to be put on the agenda for approval and Tillman said the board had already approved it, but it had been on the back burner.

It’s now ready to be installed, she said.

Long-term Planning Meeting

Simunek had an agenda item to set a date for the board’s meeting for long-term planning that was pushed back from January due to COVID.

Tillman said she thought it would be better to wait until the fall after Shaw got his feet on the ground and had attended state-required meetings.

Simunek said it’s imperative that they come up with five and ten-year plans so they aren’t caught off guard and have to suddenly buy an ambulance or a police car as they’ve had to do since he came on the board.

He was also referring to previous meeting discussions and plans to use the townowned nine lots (formerly Lee Lumber Co. on W. First Street purchased for $50,000 in 2014, and Simunek’s 11 lots that connect to the south. Simunek had offered to give his lots to the town for use as a public park for community events.

In 2017 the town paid $20,000 for some used metal building frames. During a July 2020 meeting Simunek said he didn’t want to “throw up a bunch of junk there” and make “one bad decision to lead to another.” He said the frames had been laying over “by the lagoons for three years rusting away.”

He said people inside the community and those who moved away could be encouraged to participate in projects, and referred to the anonymous donor of $35,000 for the cemetery chapel.

“We don’t know how much that cost,” said Gritz, who owns Cordry-Gritz funeral home. “We never got a bill.”

Simunek also referred to the late Ray Kokojan’s scholarships for Hennessey graduates who are not only eligible for college scholarships, but for vo-tech.

Simunek asked Meek how much money was in that fund because Meek sits on the Hennessey Educational School Foundation that manages Kokojan’s gifts.

“We have not released that number,” Meek said.

Simunek said they need a list of addresses of all the HHS graduates so they can be asked for donations to fund projects. He said the projects need to be promoted and advertised.

He was asked where the money to pay for that would come?

Simunek said the hotel-motel tax.

Tillman said she didn’t think they could use that and said she could ask their attorney.

Simunek said to ask the Municipal League’s attorney instead.

Note: Hennessey receives a 3% hotel-motel sales tax, and funds are to be used for these purposes: “Encouraging, promoting and fostering conventions, conferences and tourism development in the Town of Hennessey. Promotion of cultural, recreational, commercial, industrial, educational and economic evets or development for the Town of Hennessey. Solicitation of visitor attractions, events, tourism, conferences, conventions and meetings in the Town of Hennessey.”

Simunek said Medford, a town of 1,009, raised $800,000 through donations for a museum, and Kingfisher did the same thing for their library.

Tillman said she’d also talk with officials in Medford and Kingfisher about their funding programs.

Board members said they thought people would give when there was a project they were interested in.

Community Meeting

There was also a Simunek agenda item to set a date for a community-wide planning to include topics such as “the pavilion and giving program.”

Barb Walter, a Hennessey United board representative, suggested that United plan that event as it had done in the past, and the town could co-host if the board wants.

A lengthy discussion followed, and most board members agreed to have United to plan that event.

Library Director

Board members and Shaw returned to the council room after a 15 minutes executive session to discuss personnel, and the board voted to hire Lyndsey Kopsa as library director and raised her wages to $15 an hour. Kopsa was named acting library director in May 2020 after Ruth Ann Replogle was fired from that position. Kopsa first joined the library staff as a circulation librarian in January 2019.

They also hired Jessi Schovanec as pool manager again this year. Assistant managers hired are Juliana Macy and Stephanie Patocka.

Spring Clean-up Dates Set

Tillman said the annual Spring Clean-up is Friday, April 16-Sunday, April 18. The dump site is open free to all Kingfisher County residents since the county pays a portion of the rolloff fees, she said.

There will be no curbside pickup, she said, but those who are physically unable to take items to the dump site should call town hall and they will arrange for help from the CAT Team, or football boys.

Questions Answered

Board members asked why the new directional signs weren’t up yet, and Tillman said they were waiting for ODOT approval on the highway signs. She said the downtown signs aren’t up either because they want them to all go up at the same time, and they’d also have the town’s new logo on vehicles that same day.

Hardin asked when work would be started on adding the six-inch water lines on S. Cimarron and S. Bonita streets. Tillman said it would go before the DEQ Monday for approval. The town was recently-approved for a REAP grant to help pay for the project.

Shaw asked why a four-foot drop off wasn’t repaired when the sidewalk on Oklahoma Avenue south of the Wellness Mercantile was recently done? Hardin said he’d wondered about that too. That strip wasn’t included on the work order, and board members said it should have been. Tillman said they are waiting to hear from Vincent Mesis Jr. about sidewalk work on the south side of Oklahoma Avenue.

Other Business

The board routinely approved a contract with Orr Construction for $81,715 for the extension of sewer lines on the north side of SH 51. They accepted the bid, the lowest of four other bidders, at the recommendation of their engineering firm, Cowan Group, OKC, at last month’s meeting.

Tillman told the board that the April meeting will be longer than usual because there will be training for the board by Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group.