In response to a request from Kingfisher Public School administrators, Kingfisher city commissioners voted Tuesday to change morning and afternoon traffic patterns on Werner Street south of Gilmour Elementary School.

KPS Superintendent David Glover and Gilmour Principal Makylah Tollefson attended the October city commission meeting to request a short section of the street west of Oak Street be restricted to eastbound traffic only during dropoff and pickup hours on days school is in session.

After some confusion about the direction and length of the requested restriction, commissioners voted a resoluton limiting Werner traffic to eastbound only from 10th Street to Oak Street from 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. each school day.

Parents dropping off and picking up students line up from west to east each morning and afternoon, with students walking from their vehicles to the school’s south door at approximately 10th Street.

Without the traffic restriction, those children can be endangered by drivers turning west from Oak Street onto Werner, the administrators said.

“It’s become a real safety issue,” Glover said. “We already isolate (traffic flow) for a few hours in front of Gilmour on Oak Street and that works.

“But now it’s become more of an issue on Werner.”

Tollefson said school personnel supervising pickup and dropoff often have to step into the road to protect children from inattentive motorists traveling the opposite direction.

“We’re only asking to restrict a small section of the street and only for a few hours a day,” Tollefson said.

“We just want to keep those babies safe.” New signs have been ordered to designate the one-way traffic flow, City Manager Dave Slezickey said Friday.

In the meantime, the resolution adopted by the city commission authorizes school personnel to place traffic cones designating the appropriate traffic patterns.

Commissioners Geoff Covalt and Wendell Prim and Mayor Roxie Alexander voted to approve the traffic change.

Commissioners Ryan Deatherage and Kyle Mecklenburg were absent from the meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday due to the Monday Columbus Day holiday.

In other business, commissioners voted to approve purchase of a used 138 kV transformer from Edmond Electric for $17,500, plus another $31,300 for it to be transported to Kingfisher by Allied Steel, the lowest delivery quote obtained by Edmond.

Covalt questioned the amount of the delivery cost for the short trip from Edmond to Kingfisher, but Slezickey said the expense was due to the massive size of the transformer, which must be routed as an oversized load with extra provisions made to avoid hitting overhead lines and other potential obstructions on the way.

Slezickey also pointed out that even figuring in the delivery expense, the transformer can be rebuilt and put into service for about $150,000, compared to $750,000 to $1 million price tag for a new one.

He recommended purchase of the transformer for the Bowman substation in advance of the OG&E incoming transmission upgrade from 69 kV to 138 kV, scheduled for 2024-25.

“This project will save us considerable money and prepare us for the conversion without having the ratepayers bear the cost,” Slezickey said.

The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority will upgrade the city’s Industrial substation out of that organization’s capital outlay, he said.

After a final determination that the generator at the power plant that was damaged in a July fire can be repaired, commissioners voted to declare an emergency to allow repairs to be made before winter temperatures set in.

The emergency declaration will allow the city to avoid competitive bidding requirements and timelines that would extend the repair time.

Additionally, Evans Enterprises appears to be the only vendor willing and able to make the repairs, Slezickey said.

“OMPA was very helpful in assessing damages and identifying how to and what needs to be repaired,” he said.

“Evans Enterprises estimates a best case scenario at $119,370 and worst case scenario at $232,989, with an additional $4,300 for removal and installation of the generator.”

Slezickey said the city also will need to replace some heavy duty wiring, but cost estimates were not available in time for Tuesday’s meeting.

A third agenda item involving the electric department was approval of OMPA’s intention to draft a new capacity generation agreement between the Kingfisher Public Works Authority and OMPA, regarding how much electricity the city will be expected to generate in situations of peak demand and how much it will be compensated.

See Wednesday’s paper for other meeting actions.