Angle parking on Oklahoma Street east of the Main Street stoplight has caused congestion and safety issues, Hennessey Town Trustee Bert Gritz said at the board's Sept. 9 meeting.

The safety issue is from northbound alleyway traffi c from First to Oklahoma streets because drivers can’t see around the angle-parked vehicles, he said.

It’s also a problem of seeing oncoming traffic on the west side of Oklahoma at the Mercantile, said Lezlie Hardin, a visitor in the audience.

No action was taken and suggestions ranged from making parallel parking only on Oklahoma Street to deleting a parking space on each street at the alley entrances and exits.

Gritz said he’d talked with Sheila Duell, owner of The Hive located on the south side of East Oklahoma Street and immediately east of the alley.

She would like to have two handicap parking spots in front of her business, Gritz said.

Mayor Harold Shaw said he’d talked with Police Chief Aaron Pitts, who Shaw thought would be at the meeting, but wasn’t. “He wants to make that alley open only to one-way traffic going south,” Shaw said.

Gritz looked surprised and questioned southbound only. “All other alleyways in that downtown area are northbound,” he said. (Note: That includes Post Office mail drops.)

“Sheila told me she was concerned about where her customers and employees would be able to park,” said Shaw.

Auditor and Accountant Coming Next Month

Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman and Treasurer Shelley Burch fielded questions from Trustee David Jones about their accounting roles, and those of other employees, for about 30 minutes.

Then Tillman suggested to Jones that she’d call their accountant (Crawford & Associates) and auditor (Arledge and Associates) and have them at the next meeting to answer his questions.

Jones agreed and the board tabled acceptance of the yearly audit report until next month.

At issue was lack of funds budgeted in the tourism account when a purchase put that account $9,342 in the hole, budget-wise.

That’s a restricted sales tax account funded by the town’s 3% hotel and motel sales tax and the balance sheet shows there was $150,167 in that fund.

Gritz said there was money in that fund and the board could sign off on amendments later as they’d done in the past.

Jones said he was aware of that.

A footnote on that audit report states: “Transfers of appropriations within a fund require Mayor’s approval while supplemental appropriations require Town Board approval.”

Jones also noted, and it was reported in last week’s edition, that the town’s audit report listed another problem.

It dealt with “Inadequate Record Retention” about a $99,000 capital outlay check that “cleared with no purchase requisitions, orders or invoices retained on file.”

That report lists that the problem was caused by “not only inadequate purchasing procedures,” but also by “insufficient staff to develop effective internal controls for accurate and complete records.”

Jones had a problem with the auditor’s “insufficient staff” notation.

(Note: The KT&FP reporter was not given a copy of that audit at the meeting, but was provided hard copies of other documents. Usually, copies of meeting reports and documents to be discussed at the meeting are provided via email on the Friday before the meeting by Town Clerk Kelley Vaverka, but Vaverka was out of town. The meeting notice was posted at Town Hall, but a reader contacted the KT&FP reporter when it wasn’t posted at the town’s online site. This month’s meeting date was changed from the second Tuesday to the second Monday of the month due to a date conflict with a state Oklahoma Municipal League meeting.)

Auditor Rehired for 2023-24 Tillman said she “just got the engagement letter this month” from Arledge and Associates to conduct the 2023-24 audit and recommended approval.

It was suggested that it be tabled, but Tillman said they couldn’t because it was already included in grant applications. It was unanimously approved, as motion to direct the town administrator to prepare a request for proposal for the 2024-25 audit.

New Hours for Town Hall Effective Monday, Sept. 30, the Town of Hennessey will change its Friday hours of operation at Town Hall from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. to 8 a.m.11:30 a.m.

Town Hall will continue its 8 a.m.-5 p.m. hours Monday-Thursday, Tillman wrote in her monthly report to the board.

New hours in other departments will be Monday- Thursday from 8 a.m.5:30 p.m. with 30-minute employee lunch breaks (instead of one hour) and Fridays from 8 a.m. until noon.

Proposal Made Last Month In Tillman’s written report to the board last month she proposed the changes and asked for their “concerns.”

Since she didn’t receive any concerns last month, she again asked for comments in this month’s report, but none were mentioned during the meeting.

“We will use Friday mornings for training and maintenance of buildings, vehicles and equipment,” she wrote in this month’s report.

Kingfisher, Others Making Change

Tillman wrote in last month’s report that several municipalities (including Kingfisher and Warr Acres) were going to four ninehour work days and a fourhour Friday.

She was also told that private companies, including Cimarron Electric, had gone to a similar schedule.

Tillman also wrote that she had the policy used by the City of Warr Acres if the board wanted to review it.

Waterline Project Payment Trustees approved a $17,380.60 payment to Grade Work Construction for its work on the Mitchell Road REAP grant waterline replacement project.

That amount includes a $13,000 change order for replacement of two fire hydrants in that area.

The original bid was $190,212 and below the expected budget, Tillman told board members at their June meeting.

The town was awarded a $160,000 REAP grant in January to help with the project and during that board meeting, Gritz suggested the need to replace a fire hydrant. There was talk of adding a second hydrant at a later meeting, but neither of those additions made it in the bid notice.

Other Business

The board took no action to “approve paying new Director of Public Works Salary 1/2 from Street Department Salary line item and 1/2 from Hennessey Utilities Authority either Water or Sewer line item.”

At the Meeting

All four board members were present at the meeting: Randy Bohnstedt, Gritz, Jones and Shaw. A fifth board member will be elected in the spring and the seats now held by Jones and Shaw will also be on that election ballot.

In the audience were Lezlie (Zielny) Hardin, Tim Riddle and Georgia and Logan Tillman.

The board’s next regular meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct . 8, at Town Hall.