After four or five years of planning, a sewer services project for the north side of SH 51 is moving closer to reality in Hennessey.

Cowan Engineering’s bid opening schedule for the second phase was approved by the town board Thursday night.

The bid opening is 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb 10, at Town Hall, and the board could award the bid at its Thursday, Feb. 11, meeting.

Phase one was a sewer lift station on the north side of SH 51 at the Seaboard truck wash last year. DEQ issued a per-mit for eight-inch lines that will run 1,400 linear feet north to the Dollar General store

That property, owned by Scott Hajek, had been used for agriculture and includes 25.76 acres north and west of Dollar General.

The land was rezoned highway commercial in August, at Hajek’s request, and he gave the town the right-of-way.

Hajek said in August he had “no plans yet.... Just getting it ready for future developments.”

The town will use loan money to pay for the new lines, Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman said.

The engineering company for the sewer project is Cowan Group, Oklahoma City.

The board also voted Thursday to pay Cowan $22,821.67 for their work on a CDBG drainage grant on Walnut Street.

Present at Jan. 14 meeting

Present at the board table were Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Trustees Hardin and Meek. Also present were Clerk Kati Walters, Treasurer Teresa Weber, and Tillman. Absent were Mayor Bert Gritz and Trustee Richard Simunek.

In the audience were town employees Police Chief Ed Cangiano, Deputy Clerk Shelley Burch and Bryan Burch.

The Times Sc. Free Press did not have a reporter at this month’s meeting.

Other sewer issues

“I just went over a few issues with the (town) board about our sewer lines,” Hennessey Wastewater Superintendent Bryan Burch told the Times and Free Press the day after the meeting. “It’s nothing that will back the town up, I just wanted board members to know.”

Burch said Luckinbill’s of Enid ran a camera and did flow tests on sewer lines last month that showed problems that the board needs to deal with, but it’s not an emergency. “Though they shouldn’t wait four or five years.”

There are trouble spots on Oak and Walnut streets and in an alley on Second St. on the east side of town, he said.

In a phone interview he said, “85 to 90 percent of the town’s lines are made of old clay, and are probably 100 years old.”

When asked what they’d be replaced with, he said, “Plastic.”

Burch said the tests were paid for by the town’s insurance through the Oklahoma Municipal Insurance Group.

Sidewalk repair on Oklahoma

The board voted to pay $5,950 to Daniel Construction, Hennessey, to tear out 8.5 ft. x 10 ft brick sidewalk and replace with concrete on the north side in the 100 block of Oklahoma Avenue. The walkway is on the south side of the new Wellness Mercantile opened by Stacy Grimes-Cline and Tina Miller-Walker.

The board took no action on a quote from Daniel to do the same sidewalk work/ cost on the south side of that street where Vincent Mesis’s Law Office is located.

Nor did they decide to add an ADA-compliant walkway for $2,850 at the “business door and alley” there.

Those two items were not on the agenda for action.

Seven guns declared surplus

At the request of the police chief, the board declared these weapons as surplus property and sold by “blind auction” to the highest bidder: Four Springfield XD45 .45 cal. handguns; one Springfield TRP .45 cal. handgun; one Glock 22 .40 cal. handgun, and one Mossberg 590 12-gauge pump shotgun.

Police dispatcher hired

After a 15 minute executive session to discuss hiring a part-time dispatcher, the board voted to hire Brent Bruner at $9 an hour.