For those who think that City Council meetings are boring, the Nov. 3 meeting would have been a surprise. It seemed that all the attendees were very concerned with doing the best for the city and its residents. Sometimes that concern put them at odds with the issues, but hopefully not at odds with each other.

It started out calmly enough with the Municipal Trust Authority (MTA) meeting. Council members approved the consent agenda, with some exceptions, which were also approved after some discussion. These exceptions involved a 2005 waterline issue and the loss of a pager by a city employee. Council member Don Johnson questioned why the city needed to purchase a new pager. He wondered if the employee should be required to do so. Personnel regulations regarding loss of equipment were briefly discussed and the council approved the replacement of the pager.

Perhaps in retrospect, it was Johnson’s consideration of city funds that set the tone for the evening.The consent agenda included purchase orders (PO’s) for the 2008-2009 fiscal year (FY) of $1000.00 and PO’s for FY 2009-2010 totaling $421,481.16. They also approved the write-off of uncollectible utility accounts from 2005 for $130,908.65. Janice Berryhill said the city’s debt collection is up 31%. People will now have 10 days to pay the debt, not the former 30 days.

Perhaps the best way to look at the next issue is to picture our community as being one big family. As with any family, many needs must be defined, prioritized and hopefully met. A family may come up against a looming situation, such as a leaky roof with rainy season approaching. Discussion will inevitably lead to patching the roof, or replacing it. Perhaps there are already patches upon patches and pots lined up to catch the drips. Maybe the best plan is to reroof, but how? Wait until enough money is saved to pay for fixing it before the substructure is ruined, or borrow money to reroof now? That is, of course, a simplification of some of the issues involved with Authority Resolution 2009-49. It would have established the preliminary approval of the Altus Municipal Authority (AMA)’s financing for leasing/purchasing equipment and construction of T-hangars at the Airport. This amount is not to exceed $1.8 million.The final approval was to have been discussed at the next City Council meeting.

But Council member Perry Shelton asked a pivotal question: “Why do we need to borrow this money?” City Adminstrator Mike Nettles explained that each department has needs and that some of these items requested were needed to keep up the city’s ISO rating. If proper equipment is not available to keep up certain functions, that will certainly count against the city’s effectiveness.

Many remarks were made on both sides of the issue. Shelton called for a prioritizing of items needed by the various departments. Asking why we were borrowing money to purchase budgeted items, Council member Rick Henry asked, “What do we need today?” Council member Scot Simco mentioned “Revenue is down.” “The State of Oklahoma lives within its means. Altus should to,” said Shelton. Attempts to table the discussion failed. Mayor Gramling offered to have a workshop on the issue. Members declined and also turned down having a special meeting on the resolution.

“Leasing equipment can be more expensive,” Nettles said. Various explanations were given on certain pieces of equipment including the sanitation scraper used at the landfill. The city may be spending more in repairs than if they purchased new items. The low interest rate of 3.73% for the $1.8 million was tempting, but the interest paid over 5 years ($200,000) would buy 10 trucks, according to Smiley’s figures.

Maybe the family could have made the leap for the equipment, but another part of the resolution concerned the construction of T-hangars at the Airport. The hangar issue is still a hot one in the Council, since the last Council voted to declare the large hangar as surplus and sell it to the Vo-Tech. Various items concerning the T-hangars, which are small ones used for long-term storage, were discussed. The $300,000 alloted for construction of these hangars seemed to topple any plans the family had for borrowing the money to reroof, and fill other family needs, so to speak.

Jack Smiley motioned to disapprove all three sections of the resolution and the Council voted to deny the un-numbered resolution.

The Council went into executive session and discussed confidential communications between the governing body and its legal counsel relating to two pending court cases, Oklahoma Industrial Finance Authority vs. The Altus Municipal Authority, and the First National Bank in Altus vs. Quartz Mountain Aerospace, the Altus Municipal Authority and the Altus/Southwest Area Economic Development Corporation.

After returning to regular session, the Council voted to approve a “waiver of conflict” in having Charlie Geister represent both the Altus Municipal Authority (AMA) and the Southwest Area Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

The Council members approved final matters in the purchase of 250.50 acres bordering Altus Air Force base. There was no new business and the MTA

adjourned.

The regular meeting of the City Council followed the MTA meeting. Mayor T.L. Gramling said he’d need to present the Employee of the Quarter Awards for July, August and September at the next meeting. There were no comments from the public, but several people were in attendance for this interesting meeting.

Under the consent agenda, member Johnson asked that the agenda be approved minus the costs associated with attendance at “a bedbug seminar”. All other elements of the consent agenda were approved. After explanation that selected personnel needed to attend that seminar as continuing education for their competency, the council members approved that item. Purchase orders included on the agenda included those for FY 2009-2010 for: General Fund totalling $77,597.27, Workers’ Comp Fund for $8,651.74, Assurance Fund for $144,967.50, Airport Fund of $23,729.88, Hotel/Motel Tax Fund $14609.62, Capital Improvement Fund $297.40, Street & Alley Fund $819.38, Emergency 911 Fund $1,138.67, and the Cemetery Perpetual Fund $345.95. The PSA Dewberry claim was approved for 14% of the Altus City Complex at $7,421.15, which is paid for by sales tax revenues. The Nov. payroll for $364,927.50 and overtime for $7956.75 and additional overtime of $8,048.25 totaled $380,932.50 and was approved.

Monthly reports were received from the American Red Cross, EDC minutes, Main Street Altus, and Southwestern Youth Services, Inc.

The following resolutions were approved: Resolution 2009-49 concerning Supplement 28 to the city code, Resolution 2009-50, amending the FY 2009-2010 annual budget by $31,200 for a community warning system.The Council also approved to amend the construction contract with Timberlake on the Altus Municipal Complex due to substratum problems and the need for longer, deeper piers.

An un-numbered Council resolution that was to grant preliminary approval for the Altus Municipal Authority financing for T-hangars at the Airport was denied.

The Council went into executive session and when they returned 15 minutes later, denied both a tort claim filed by Dee Guthrie for medical and other damages, and a tort claim in the amount of $276.52 filed by Courtney Creveton for damage to her automobile.

The evaluation and raise for Dan Scott, Electric Superintendent was approved, to come in line with other department heads.

New business included a request by Harry Burcher for a yield sign, or other appropriate sign to be posted at Simpson and Hudson Streets. This information will be taken back to Chief Patterson in hopes an experimental sign will be placed there for a 90-day period.

Mayor T.L. Gramling had no appointments.

City Adminstrator Nettles gave his condolences to Jack Smiley on the loss of his father-in-law.

The City Council members comments and reports included:

Don Johnson congratulated the National Champions over 40 Firemen of Altus.

Jack Smiley thanked everyone for the flowers and cards, and kind expressions for his father-in-law’s passing. He then told Catherine Coke that a citizen had called and asked him if the city is not involved in the private prison, can the trust be disbanded? Coke answered the the trust could be dissolved, but with conditions: the beneficiary (the city, represented by the Council) and all of the trustees (of the Altus Correctional Facilities Authority) must agree, and there must be no indebtedness. “There are some hoops to go through,” said Coke. If all are in agreement, this must be presented to the Governor of the State of Oklahoma for his/her approval. Smiley remarked at hearing that, “We should be careful about forming more trusts.”

Scot Simco said he appreciated all the discussion on the $1.8 million. He hopes it’s settled and we continue to move forward. “The new complex looks great.” We have new lights on Tamarack, and we still need some more wire on the curve.

Rick Henry and David Brown had no comments.

Perry Shelton imitated the Breakfast Club’s panning of Council members by saying “Wow!”

The Mayor’s comment was along the same line. “Without the Mayor and Council they (the Breakfast Club) wouldn’t have much of a program.”

With laughter and some unsettled feelings, the family Council adjourned.