ALTUS - The city's representative on the Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission landed approval Tuesday night on the go-ahead for application for a $200,000 grant from the commission to secure land around Altus Air Force Base to prevent encroachment as well as for support of base missions.

Dr. Joe Leverett explained to the Altus City Council that the money, to be matched 10 percent by the city, would be used for purchase of land to provide a buffer zone as well as to prevent encroachment around the base.

He would also like to use some $20,000 of the grant to provide mission support at the base and support for instructor pilot recruitment.

Last year the commission provided $200,000 for infrastructure and joint use of the runway and expansion of the industrial park.

Leverett said he is confident the grant will be approved.

In other action:

- The Altus Municipal Trust Authority and city council approved authorization of an energy and water conservation program targeting some 290 fifth and sixth graders in the Altus School District.

The item was tabled at the previous meeting of the trust author-

ity and council Aug. 15 until it could reaffirmed by school officials.

Public Works Director Robert Stephenson said he had re-contacted officials in the district and that the districts director of curriculum, Nancy Evans, said she thought it made sense to “start dealing with the school kids at this time and start talking in terms of wise consumption of our utilities.”

The state, Stephenson explained, is experiencing an unprecedented increase in demand for electrical energy, and many towns and cities are either rationing or curtailing their use of water.

The program agreed to Tuesday, which is conducted by Resource Action Programs, is an educational effort that addresses the thought and processes of electric energy and water conservation as well as classroom activities and textbooks. Also, each student will receive energy-saving lightbulbs and water devices for use in their homes.

Funding for the program is not to exceed $10,000, $35 is to be allocated from the Trust Contingency for each participating student.

Altus, Stephenson said, currently has an ample supply of water. “In fact we're one of the premier cities in the state, in that past councils and past city leadership saw fit to go after a firm and adequate supply of water for Altus, and we have that.”

Oklahoma and the Central Plains, he said, have just gone through the first of two stages of drought conditions - an agricultural drought. And now, he said, the region is in the grips of a hydrological drought in which surface water supplies start diminishing and ground water supplies start drawing down.

If the city waits until it has to curtail water use because it is running out or is nearly out, “it's probably too late to start planning,” Stephenson said.

“What I would hope would not happen would be that the wonderful rain that we've had in the last week would not lull us back into a sense of security with our water supply,” he said. “I think we should pay attention to what we have and I think that we should use it wisely.”

- Economic Development Director Geno Redmon proposed in the “comments” section of the council meeting that Altus consider raising the hotel/motel tax rate in order to boost what he called “the kind of fund stream” that some other cities have to lure businesses into the community.

The current tax, set in 1984, is a 5 percent tax - 80 percent of which goes toward infrastructure, and 20 percent for tourism development. However, Redmon said, most of the proceeds from the tax currently goes to retire debts on a consolidated note for the water slide at the City Pool and improvements to the Civic Center and the Altus Public Library.

The 5 percent rate, he said, is one of the lowest in the state.

- the council approved an ordinance changing the zoning classification of the property at 1610 N. Main, formerly Carl's Jr., from “C-2” Convenience Commercial to “C-3” Community Commercial. The old Carl's Jr. is to be demolished and replaced by a Starbucks coffee shop and restaurant.