Members approve $28,500 for tennis court resurfacing

Michael Dickey conducted his first meeting Tuesday as the Henryetta City Council met to consider several items on their monthly agenda.

Among the items discussed was the current installation of the playground adjacent to the skate park and railroad tracks on Main Street. Placing the project on hold to discuss an alternate location was listed on the agenda.

However, installation is already well underway at the playground, and moving it at this point “would be money illspent, I think … to move it at this point,” Dickey said.

Councilmember Jennifer Munholland added the city would have to get a bid from Benchmark, but added the area will be fenced so it should be secured.

A part of the original bid included the installation of a four-foot fence. City Manager Ron Casey added that the fence would have one pedestrian gate and a side gate that could be locked and unlocked for maintenance.

Councilman Vernon Van Meter asked about the possibility of a higher fence, possibly six feet.

“We can… but I can definitely get a price from them to upgrade,” Casey said.

Van Meter read a letter he submitted last week about the playground.

“My concern has always been about the child,” he said. “It’s a busy intersection. It’s a train crossing. It doesn’t have all the amenities that you need, I thought, for a park, a restroom.”

Other questions he spoke on whether the playground would be locked at night, playground hours, and whether or not there would be checks to ensure the homeless are not camping out in the area overnight.

Dickey stated some of the issues had been addressed already, including installation of additional lighting; along with hours of operations and/or curfew possibly being posted.

He added that there may be the possibility that Burlington Northern could install a higher fence along that portion of the area.

According to Munholland, one of the reasons the location was chosen originally was for visibility purposes due to traffic passing by. Other parks have received damage to equipment and been vandalized.

A fence would help with many of the safety concerns, Dickey stated. Casey was asked to look into the cost of a higher fence, and contact the railroad company about possibly adding fencing.

On a related note, Munholland encouraged citizens to call the railroad company when a train blocks traffic through town longer than 15 minutes.

“They are not supposed to be stopped on the track greater than 15 minutes, unless it’s an emergency, and then it’s unlimited,” she said. “We call them in, but I think if more citizens call in, maybe it would get them to start thinking ‘hey, we’re blocking this whole town.’” The council took no action on the matter.

A resolution on a Muscogee Nation proposal requesting the city to provide water service was approved.

The Muscogee Nation is building a housing addition for 11 residences on North Tutt Street. “They are willing to pay for everything involved,” Mayor Dickey said, “as well as providing the service line that would normally be our responsibility to pay for, they are paying for that as well.”

The Shack 2.0 was given approval to host a volleyball tournament on June 3 at Nichols Park.

The council approved a proposal by the Henryetta Tennis Association to resurface the downtown tennis courts.

Speaking on behalf of HTA, James McCullough stated about seven years ago, the downtown tennis courts were completely redone, however, they are in need of resurfacing.

The association asked the city for $18,000 from the city to help meet their goal of $28,500 to redo all four courts at the facility. Each court costs $7,125.

Munholland informed the council and those in attendance about the work of the Henryetta Tennis Association, and their care for the facility without seeking monetary help from the city.

“You are not even asking for the full amount to do it because you all always, always do your own fundraisers to get what you need,” she said. “I just want to say that is very commendable for what all you all put into the city.”

A member of the audience, who owns a business, commented that the tournaments brought into the city have helped the local businesses.

McCullough thanked them for the sentiments and added that Henryetta is slated to host the Regional High School Boys and Girls Tournament during the first two weeks of May, which is additional revenue coming into the area.

“We’ll be using all six courts at the high school in addition to the four courts downtown,” he said.

During the meeting, McCullough stated they would look at getting added to the schedule, and may be sometime during the summer.

Munholland made a motion that instead of $18,000, the city pay the entire $28,500, to “better benefit someone that’s bringing revenue into the city.”

Mayor Dickey stated that the funds could be taken from the General Fund or another fund instead of the Parks fund.

Following the approval by the board, a discussion continued about possibly adding more courts in the future.

“We need two more if we could get them at some time,” McCullough and his wife, Donna, who serves as president of the association, said.

Councilmember Janna Duggan suggested land owned by the city behind the Senior Citizens Center as a location for additional courts.

James stated that one of the issues they are facing is court users ‘chalking’ the surface for pickleball.

McCullough suggested that if there was an opportunity to install more courts, that a pickleball court be installed, to remedy the damage to the tennis court surface. He offered to look into the cost of constructing a pickleball court.

He added that the City of Tulsa is decommissioning 27 seldom used tennis courts, and switching them to pickleball courts due to the growing interest in the sport.

The Henryetta Chamber is hosting a Pickleball Tournament on May 20 at the high school gym.

In speaking with McCullough later in the week, he was ecstatic about the city’s support in covering the entire amount. He added that, due to the funds donated, the company tasked with resurfacing may be able to schedule it earlier than expected.

Other agenda items approved were:

• Consent Agenda: Financial Reports for March; Minutes of meeting held in March and Claims for the month of March.

• Payment to Bank of Oklahoma in the amount of $41,216.67 for 2015 Note Series monthly payment. Dickey explained that this payment is for note in 2015, approved by the council for $4.5 million dollars. The funds were used for equipment and capital outlay. The payment continues through June 2029.

• Payment to AEP/PSO in the amount of $27,067.74.

• Tabled closing a portion of East Broadway Street situated between Block 39 Original Town Henryetta and Block 56 Original Town Henryetta in the City of Henryetta, pending further research and discussion.

• Tabled acting on request by Ratilal Patel to annex the property into the corporate city limits of Henryetta, located near Dewey Bartlett across from the former Kellogg’s Firestone.

During the meeting of the Henryetta Municipal Authority, the board approved two items:

• Payment to OWRB (ORF-08-0015DW) in the amount of $37,962.14 for monthly payment.

• Payment of Invoice No. 222244-2 to Myers Engineering in the amount of $13,827.50 for engineering fees. (Replace Existing 750,000 Gallon West Water Storage Tank in vicinity of Lookout & 5th Street).