Chamber to hold Pickleball games at Civic Center

The Henryetta City Council gave their approval to the Chamber of Commerce to use the Civic Center for Pickleball games. Bruce Jones addressed the council on behalf of the Chamber asking for usage of the Henryetta Civic Center on Saturdays to hold the games, when the center is not in use.

The council was asked to waive rental and cleanup fees when the games are being held. With the great interest in the sport, Jones stated this would be one more entertaining thing to be done in the city.

Two, possible three portable courts would be set up from approximately noon un- til 5 p.m. Participation would be open to individuals wishing to learn the game or those who have played and wish to challenge others and improve their skills. The courts are free for use by the public on Saturdays.

“The idea on that is, again, my philosophy is if you build it, they will come,” Jones said. “The city center is being cooled and lights are available, whether anyone’s using it or not. And it’s just something else to do.”

The council unanimously approved the facility use.

Also given the greenlight by the council was the use of the property owned by the city next to the football field behind O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, during the Labor Day festivities.

The carnival usually sets up in the area along with vendors each year for the celebration that lasts several days.

Main Street use for the Labor Day festival and parade was included in the request. Shannon Frair of the Labor Day Committee was in attendance to speak on the upcoming events.

City Manager Ron Casey gave updates to the council:

• Crews installed 15 tons of asphalt last month.

• Fourth & Clegern will be closed down for a few days to install tin horns and safety rails in the area. “It could potentially be as much as four days for them to get that back open.”

• Street superintendents have been in touch with ODOT about their progress on Hwy. 75 and Main, with no projected closing date for crews to finish.

• Some street signs have been ordered and will be replaced on the north side of town.

• There has been an increase in some small water leaks last month. Crews will be finishing installation of new valves at 5th and Main.

• Elevated tower on Third Street was serviced last month and repainted and it’s back in back in service now.

• Wastewater project is underway with the installation of a 14 inch check valve that’s going to be installed in the rural water pump station, which will be contracted.

• Looking into purchasing porta-potties, but would also need to have a truck to be able to service them.

• Code Enforcement has done 47 abatements, along with four more identified to be added to the list.

• New signage has been ordered for Caboose Park, with work to be wrapped up and it is expected to be fully operational by the end of next week.

• “At the airport, ASAP Aviation Fuel Company has given us an estimated price of around $14,000 to retrofit a card reader on an old machine … I have a meeting on Thursday with the Corporation Commission on more rules and regulations out there. That I can report on for next month.”

Credit card payments are being accepted now, though Casey stated there were “a few bumps in the road, very small ones that we’ve worked through and we meeting with our IT guy along with Bruce on Thursday on our website, and what we’re doing to get that ready for our online card payments. And finally, our citywide cleanup that was last weekend, was probably one of the best I’ve been involved in. We have a lot of groups organizations, and a lot of good volunteers … I think that was a great success.”

– Councilmember Janna Duggan asked about the delay in citizens receiving their water bills late.

Mayor Michael Dickey said the type size on the bills had been increased to make those addresses more legible, but there is a problem with the card stock the bills are printed on.

“The card stock gets jammed in the machines at the post office,” he said. “We are looking into that issue.”

Dickety also noted that some received their bills late this month because of power outage for almost a week at the Tulsa USPS service center.

Anyone with issues on their water bills are asked to contact city clerk Donna White.

“If there is an exorbitant amount, we can set up payments,” Dickey said.

Other agenda items approved were:

• June: Financial Reports, Minutes of meetings during the month, and Claims.

• Year End Budget Amendments #23-11, #23-13, #23-14, #23-15, #23-16, #23-17 and #2318 for Fiscal Year 20222023.

• Payment to Bank of Oklahoma in the amount of $41,216.67 for 2015 Note Series monthly payment.

• Payment to AEP/ PSO in the amount of $31,491.59.

Under New Business, Councilmember Steve Sanford addressed a matter that caused him concern. During the last two monthly meetings, discussion was held and tabled about reviving the Parks board. The council member asked for it to be on the July agenda, and was told it would be on there.

However, when he received his information packet on Friday, the item was not listed.

“It was someone’s decision that it shouldn’t be on here,” Sanford said. “I don’t think that decision should be made anywhere else but right here. I’m not mad, because I’m new to this. But if the attorney is not here on vacation, and he doesn’t want it and then as a whole we feel we need him here to make that decision. I think the decisions will be made right here … And if the attorney felt that way, then maybe I should have been informed when I asked on Wednesday. I just feel like there’s a better way to handle that.

“And the other thing that I mentioned as a whole and being new, it’s hard to figure out what we can talk about what we can how we do it. Like again, our power is right here. I think there should be a spot for a general discussion. So that if we want to talk about our city or what’s going on, we should be able to at least take a minute and say, ‘Hey, who’s working on this or what are we doing about that’ we should be able to say something and say here where it’s not against the law, and we don’t have to worry about what we’re saying … The reason I ran is for the Parks Board and I ran for transparency, and I see that our social media and we talked about all the time and we’re working on doing things but they don’t know that. They don’t know that I say hey, what are we doing? I think we should be able to say it here so we can understand what we’re doing. And I don’t think it’d be a bad thing to have some kind of a get together as a town meeting so we can all talk and everybody can say something and it can’t be limited to a timeframe or something. I mean, if we’re going to try to figure out where we’re going and what we’re trying to do in this town, we should all kind of get on the same page and let’s figure it out.”

Mayor Dickey agreed that town hall meetings would be good and would look into whether that can be arranged.

A member of the audience also asked about the city’s Facebook page and how to inform the community. That item will also be looked into by city administration.