Kingfisher city commisioners on Monday elected Tammy Sammons to fill an unexpired seat on the commission and also rejected a rezoning request by Mike Matthews that was previously approved by the planning and zoning board.

Sammons was appointed to the commission by a 3-1 vote to fill the spot vacated by Debbie Burpo who resigned after moving outside of city limits.

Jeremie Hill, Jimmy Koehn and Wendell Prim also applied for the position.

Voting in favor of Sammons were Mayor Geoff Covalt, Vice Mayor Jeff Wittrock and Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg. Casting the nay vote was Commissioner Dawn Taylor.

Covalt commented that all candidates were very qualified to hold the seat and he thanked them for their interest and concern on behalf of the city.

Koehn and Prim have both served as commissioners in the past.

Later in the meeting, the commission denied Matthews’ request to rezone the 1000 block of U.S. Highway 81 to C4 commercial for a proposed strip mall.

The zone request was previously approved by the planning and zoning board.

On Monday, Meckleburg made a motion to approve it and it was seconded by Wittrock.

Covalt and Taylor voted against it while Sammons abstained, which made the motion fail.

Before the vote, Linda Garcia, the city’s community development director and building inspector, told the commissioners that she felt the city should “work the plan” already in place regarding commercial zoning and stated that “spot zoning” exceptions should not be made for specific commercial properties.

Koehn, who was still in attendance at the meeting following the commission seat vote, said that it was very unusual for the commission not to accept the recommendation of the planning and zoning board.

He added he strongly felt that the entire U.S. 81 (Main Street) frontage corridor on both sides of the highway should be considered as commercial.

Before the vote, Matthews presented his case to the commissioners and said the businesses in the proposed structure would all benefit the city in terms of sales tax and business customers for the city’s income.

He also commented that for 30 years he had provided positive economic impact for the city through his construction, commercial and retail development companies.

He added that he was “very frustrated” that he was blocked from completing the project in Kingfisher while other cities “welcomed him with open arms” in projects he successfully completed elsewhere.

He said Kingfisher was his home and if the commissioners took the time to study his past projects, they could not help but realize that he was “trying to do something good here.”

During discussion, Mecklenburg said he understood both sides of the situation, but he felt that as the spot zoning was recommended by the P&Z board, that Matthews’ plan was appropriate in this case and he voted to approve.

“We need to get a comprehensive planning and zoning plan together,” Mecklenburg said. “I realize it’s frustrating for everyone. But in this case, I am going to make the motion to approve.”

Taylor commented that she was concerned as to what possible businesses might eventually fill the leased spaces of the commercial site. She said she understood that Matthews would follow through with acceptable businesses, but she was concerned as to what kinds of businesses may be there 15 to 20 years in the future.

Matthews stated that his attorney would be “serving papers if they haven’t already been served” and he felt very strongly that the commission as well as City Attorney Jared Harrison, Covalt and City Manager Jim Thomas were acting in a biased manner.

He added there was “no possible way” for the action to not be reversed.

(Editor’s note: The KT&FP will have a more detailed story in the upcoming Sunday edition regarding Matthews’ strip mall proposal.)

In other business Shauna Rupp, executive director of the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce, and Ellen Wilfong, chamber board president, presented a summary of annual activities and expenses of the chamber, featuring the event expenses and monetary support the city provided the chamber for those events.

In total, the city provided $43,054 in funds for activities, while the event expenses totaled $52,246, for a net loss of $9,192.

Rupp noted that chamber staff hours, salaries and outof- pocket expenses were not included in the report.

Both Covalt and Thomas commented that the city’s monthly payment of $938 in support of the chamber was well spent.

A representative from TEIM Design updated the commissioners on the anticipated start and complete dates for the rehab of the surface of Will Rogers Drive from U.S. 81 to 13th Street.

The commissioners gave authority to solicit bids for the construction when those designs were complete.

All commissioners voted in favor.

The commissioners also unanimously approved an ordinance to establish fees for the Kingfisher Cemetery South Addition II.

Also approved was a Master Services Agreement with Life Line Billing Systems for ambulance service billing and collections.

Thomas said he felt the city would collect roughly $700,000 more in service fees annually by contracting with the company.

In her treasurer’s report, Anita James said the city’s overall funds balance in the banks was slightly over $10.9 million, which is slightly below last month’s total.

Jon Wolf, a financial advisor with Municipal Finance Services, provided the commissioners with an overview regarding capital improvements financing options for the city’s water, sewer and storm water systems.

He said federal money was available to help fund the infrastructure of the city’s aging systems and the bond finance rate was currently at 4.73 percent for 30-year fixed rates.

He noted that the overall five- to 10-year plan called for a $19 million investment, but he suggested that the city work with $5 million “chunks” to finance the projects, rather than finance the entire amount at one time.

The commissioners also unanimously approved completing a design memorandum to support the future design and budgeting a new wastewater head works facility.

The last item of business of the meeting was to discuss and approve the purchase of a HX30VAC vacuum removal system which will be of cleanup benefit to all departments.

The total cost of the rig is $81,218.00, but with grants applied, the city’s contribution would be $16,244.00.

The commissioners unanimously approved the purchase.

Because Monday, Oct. 13, is a national holiday, the next commissioners meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14.