Hennessey Mayor Harold Shaw told town trustees last week he was contacted about the town selling its land west of the Cow Palace to the county.

He said that District 2 Commissioner Mike Sparks said the county plans to tear down the Cow Palace (at 120 Arapaho St.) and build another county barn, but still keep the existing shop.

He wants to buy five or 10 acres from the town to make a storage yard for rock and gravel, Shaw told board members.

Shaw said during the board’s Tuesday, Feb. 11, meeting at Town Hall, that the land is close to the soccer fields.

“They basically want where their yard is now and go straight west (along Oklahoma Avenue) and where we’ve been dropping rock and gravel and all that stuff over the years,” Shaw said.

Trustee Bert Gritz said he thought the town should give the land to the county because of the county’s help with work at the pond in the park and on road projects.

Shaw said he’d discussed that possibility that afternoon, but didn’t “know the legality.”

Trustees David Jones and Randy Bohnstedt also agreed to donate it.

From the audience, Frank Patton suggested offering a nine-year lease so the town would still own the property.

After more discussion, trustees agreed, but took no vote, to give the property to the county.

Since it would be a contract between two governmental agencies, Town Attorney Jared Harrison said he’d need to check it out.

He also asked if the board wanted him to bring options to them next month.

“It’s just which way makes the most sense,” Harrison said. “Like you say, does it make sense to try to hold on to it for any reason? Is it better to just be done with it? I think we can look at options and bring all of that back to you.” There was no vote, but it was the consensus of the board for Harrison to “move forward with it” and contact Sparks.

Mitchell Road Street Repairs

Trustees accepted a $493,000 Municipal Road Drilling Activity Fund grant to make street repairs on Mitchell Road from Seventh Street south to Conoco Road.

The town must pay 25% of the projected cost for the two-mile project.

The state Department of Transportation manages the program to help towns under a population of 15,000 repair roads damaged by oilfield activity.

The grant was turned down by the board about “about three years ago because they couldn’t understand why it would cost so much to do the work,” Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman said.

Tillman said she hopes once this this project is finished, the town could apply for work on Cemetery Road.

Water Well Lease Renewed

The board, while meeting as members of the Utilities Authority, voted to renew a water well lease agreement with the John S. Gorrell and Dena R. Gorrell Revocable Living Trust.

They are to be paid $9,300 each year for the town to produce up to 15 million gallons of water, with anything over that amount at 62 cents per 1,000 gallons.

Town Gets Clean Yearly Audit

No deficiencies were found in the Town of Hennessey’s 2023-24 fiscal year audit.

Three budget amendments were approved:

• Adding $5,000 to general government, other services and charges.

• Adding $2,500 to cemetery other services and charges.

“We were able to increase those appropriations because we’ve had more money coming in than what we anticipated,” Tillman said.

• Adding $35,000 to fire department capital outlay from restricted emergency services for parking lot improvements at the fire station.

At the Meeting

All four trustees were at the meeting.

Other town officers present were Town Treasurer (and town office manager) Shelley Burch and Town Clerk Kelley Vaverka.

Staff at the meeting were Tillman, Public Works Director Alyssa Kubat, Fire Chief Brandon Scott and Harrison.

Visitors in the audience were these candidates who are running for the town board: Patton, John Peach and Tim Riddle.

“We did not encounter any significant difficulties in dealing with management and there were no defi ciencies or misstatements identified that needed to be reported and are required to be included,” said Kency Duarte, a partner at Arledge Certified Public Accountants in Edmond. Financial highlights in the written report show: “Town’s total net position increased by $36,366 and the assets of the Town exceed its liabilities at June 30, 2024, by $4,914,682 (net position). Of this amount $1,102,714 (unrestricted net position) is available to meet the government’s ongoing needs.” Combined (Town of Hennessey and Utilities Authority) ending fund balances were $3,643,564 at the end of the fiscal year. A copy of that 44-page audit is available for viewing at Town Hall. The forensic audit by the State Auditor and Inspector’s office isn’t in yet. It started at Town Hall in January 2023 after a request in mid-October 2022 by then-District Attorney Mike Fields of Enid.

Budget Amendments