Hennessey’s town budget for 2022-23 is $100,000 over expected income. Its utilities authority budget is off $80,000, Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman told town trustees at their meeting last Thursday.

A 10% rate increase for water and sewer customers and a 3% raise in sanitation service will go into effect July 1, the start of the town’s new fiscal year.

Unleaded fuel used on equipment and vehicles in the utility departments have gone up 36% over last year, Tillman told the board.

Parts and other supplies have gone up from 12-28%, she said before the board unanimously approved the rate increases.

“Everything is going up,” said Vice Mayor Clif Vogt.

“I had two bags of groceries for almost $200 and I didn’t even get any meat.”

24-7 dispatchers needed?

No action was taken after Trustee Harold Shaw questioned the need for 24-7 dispatchers when county E-911 operators could cover night shifts at no cost to the town.

“Everyone, including young children, know to call 911 in the event of an emergency,” said Shaw, “so why not have them call our officers?”

Kingfisher’s police department shuts down at 5 p.m., and 911 takes their calls (at no charge), said Shaw.

“In addition to ambulances, firefighters also respond to accidents, or when someone is unresponsive,” said Mayor Gritz, who is also the fire chief.

Problems with E-911

“The 911 call center has not always passed along information effectively,” Gritz said. “There was an eight-minute delay in EMS being notified of an accident...Eight minutes is a long time if someone is trapped inside a vehicle and needs help, or if there is a fire.”

Gritz said, “They tell me they will fix the problem, but it never gets fixed.”

“I’ve always heard that an officer is only as good as your dispatcher,” said Town Treasurer Shelley Burch. “My husband is an officer and I want someone to have his back immediately.”

An officer “needs someone on the other end who knows where places are located,” Gritz said.

Problems between town and county?

Trustee David Jones said he’d worked as a dispatcher many years ago and knew there had been some conflicts between Hennessey police and Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office that caused some “lack of cooperation.”

“I can’t speak to the dispatch problem,” said Acting Police Chief Aaron Pitts, “but we coordinate with the county fairly well. We go out making calls for them in Ike’s Acres, though it’s outside our jurisdiction…We do have problems communicating with them on their car radios though.”

“County is still on Motorolas (analogue versus digital),” said Gritz.

Gritz said that also came up during a recent countywide fire chief meeting because it’s a problem for the other fire departments that are all digital.

Pitts did say that he, and other departments, have had problems “finding people who want to be police officers. We have an opening right now.”

Effects of ISO ratings/keeping jail open

HPD has one dispatcher on shift at all hours with four full-time and one part-time dispatcher on the payroll.

E-911 has two dispatchers on each shift, but they are dispatching all 911 calls for Kingfisher, Dover, Okarche and Cashion, the board was told.

Gritz said if there wasn’t onsite dispatching, he didn’t know if that would affect the communications category on the town’s low insurance ratings.

Someone else said the town couldn’t continue to use the jail if there isn’t someone there 24/7 and Pitts was asked how often the jail is used.

“We don’t use it often,” said the chief, but had two this month and some months one, or none.

Jones said he wanted the number of jail stays included on the PD’s monthly board report.

Present at four-hour meeting

All board members attended: Trustees Richard Simunek, Vogt, Shaw, Gritz and Jones.