The City of Kingfisher has hired an outside firm to manage and operate its water and sewer operations, including employees.

City commissioners voted last Wednesday to hire Inframark, LLC, which is a provider of water and sewer operations and maintenance services, financial, administrative and specialized support services.

Discussions at the meeting dealt mostly with the topic of the city’s new wastewater treatment plant and the possibility of hiring Inframark.

After hearing from Steve Sears, project manager with Inframark, the commissioners voted unanimously to hire the company to manage and staff Kingfisher’s water and sewer operations going forward.

Present at the meeting were Mayor Geoff Covalt, Vice Mayor Jeff Wittrock and Commissioners Dawn Taylor, Kyle Mecklenburg and Tammy Sammons.

Also present were City Manager Jim Thomas, City Clerk Brittney Hladik, City Treasurer Anita James and City Attorney Jared Harrison.

During discussion before the vote, Thomas told those present that although the four employees of the department were good and loyal workers, he felt strongly that the new multi-million dollar plant to be built needed the management and support provided by Inframark.

Thomas said he worked with Sears when he was city manager at Claremore and he had been very impressed with the way the company managed the water team and facilities of that community.

He also said the water and sewer employees have visited with the Inframark team and would all be employed by the company, with very similar pay and retirement packages.

Thomas said that the city now pays approximately $500,000 annually for the payroll and benefits for city and water employees and he said the contract with Inframark would be very close to that same price.

Currently the city is without a superintendent in that department and Sears said in his presentation, that there would be five on staff at the Kingfisher plant if the board approved the transition.

Sears said that Inframark, which is headquartered in Horsham, Penn., manages water and sewage treatment facilities for several municipalities across the state.

The commissioners also viewed a digital presentation narrated by Travis Archer of the Parkhill engineering firm. The images showed what the headworks of the wastewater facilities would look like in operation.

The board had already approved to move forward with the implementation of the headworks in August.

Archer told the commissioners that the project would cost approximately $2.5 million, with the bids set to go out in January 2027, if permits would move forward as expected.

The commissioners also approved the transfer of $1.1 million in the city’s general budget for the first payment for the new fire station currently under construction on the 1500 block of South Main Street.

Thomas also told the commissioners that Linda Garcia had resigned from her position as code enforcement officer, building inspector and community development director to accept a position as city manager at Medford.

In other business, Thomas said he was continuing with the search for qualifi ed candidates for the new position of assistant city manager and he would present the candidates to the commission so they could choose the most qualified to fill the position.

Thomas added that hopefully the person chosen by the commission would be able to step up to the position as city manager when Thomas retired in the next 18 months to two years.

He said that Covalt, Hladik and Fire Chief Ryan Gibson were also members of the search committee.

James said unencumbered funds in the banks were now at approximately $8 million, as was expected with the payments for the new projects, including the fire station now being implemented.

In the final topic for discussion, Thomas said he would be meeting with newly-hired economic development consultant Brent Kisling, with finding a new grocery store to fill the vacant United Supermarket building “high on the list” of objectives.

The next meeting of the city commission board will 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12.