Alva Review-Courier -

The office is freezing one day and sweltering another with no way to regulate the temperature. That's what staff at the Alva City Hall has been experiencing recently. The Alva City Council experienced the sweltering part during their Tuesday, Jan. 17, meeting.

Alva Business Manager Joe Don Dunham said the city has heating and cooling issues at both City Hall and the Professional Building across the street. The heater/boiler system in the municipal building is being evaluated for recommended repairs and estimated costs. He thinks that could be in the $20,000 to $30,000 range.

According to one evaluation of heating and cooling at the Professional Building, the 13 units range in condition from very good to unsafe. The unit for Suite J (ENJ Financial office) is considered unsafe, and preliminary estimates were $11,500 for replacement. However, the city found a local company who can replace the unit for about $700.

New Police Chief

Dunham announced that Benjamin Orcutt was selected from five applicants as the new chief of police for Alva. Orcutt had been assistant chief and then served as interim chief following the retirement of Gary Sanderson.

Five applicants were interviewed. Dunham said two were from out of state (North Carolina and South Carolina), one was from Grove, and two (including Orcutt) were local. The candidates were interviewed by Dunham, the personnel committee chairman and the public safety committee chairman.

Southwest Water Pressure

The city is still working on a plan to fix the issue of low water pressure in southwest Alva. Recently a purchase order was approved to have Sidewinder Utility Locators do line location of the water lines running from the storage tanks to the pressure pump. That was to start on Jan. 12, which was right before the predicted ice storm. Dunham was unsure Tuesday if that company started or had to delay because of the weather.

Myers Engineering will also perform a topographical survey to prepare for piping changes and tank construction.

CDBG Grant Surveys

In preparing to apply for a CDBG grant, the city is working on a required survey to determine low to moderate income status of Alva's residents. Survey letters were mailed and are starting to be returned. If the city does receive enough replies, staff members will have to make phone calls to complete the survey. The CDBG grants are based on the number of low to moderate income residents in smaller communities.

The grants may be used for water/wastewater projects, demolition projects and street projects. Alva can apply for up to $450,000.

Airport T-Hangar Project

The foundation is ready for construction of the new T-hangar building at the Alva Regional Airport. City employees have some leveling of dirt and cleaning of the concrete left to do. The city is awaiting the delivery of the building which will then need to be erected by the building company.

Ice Storm

Like everyone else, the city was prepared for the predicted ice storm last weekend. Dunham said the water well field was without electrical power for two or three hours. However, the city never needed to switch on the standby generators because water pressure continued to be good.

The street department crews did not have to provide any special treatment of the streets since temperatures stayed high enough to keep the rain from freezing on roadways.

Dunham said the city was picking up tree limbs from residents and hoped to have those finished by the end of the week.

House Bill 2531

Dunham said he's monitoring House Bill 2531 in the state legislature. The bill addresses the collection of sales tax for the state, counties and cities on internet purchases. Dunham said the majority of city managers in the state don't believe the bill goes far enough. He said there were "no teeth in it."

Dunham said the bill would require companies making internet sales to provide purchasers with the amount the purchaser owes in sales tax. However, it would be up to the purchaser to send that amount to the state tax commission. Dunham said he would favor a law more in line with one established by the State of Colorado.

Mayor's Report

Mayor Kelly Parker administered the loyalty oath to new Alva Police Officer Kyle Fuller. Parker explained this was being done at the request of new Police Chief Ben Orcutt who wanted to see it become a tradition. Several members of local law enforcement attended the meeting to witness the oath.

Mayor Parker and Councilmember Brandon Sherman will be attending the Mayor's Congress in Guthrie Jan. 19-20. He said HB-2531 is one of the topics to be discussed. He recommended council members become informed about the issue and take a stance.

Parker said he would be making a presentation to the Alva Tourism Committee on Wednesday about establishing a sub-committee for advertising and promotions.

Electronic Council Packets

Dunham spoke briefly about the previously discussed possibility of changing from distribution of paper copies of council packets to exclusively electronic distribution. Currently, council members receive packets by email but are also provided with printed packets that are delivered by police officers. Dunham said at times the packets cannot be delivered if the council member is not there to receive them.

The estimated cost of production to the city is $2,388 annually. Dunham said the startup cost to provide electronic delivery is estimated at $4,341. That cost would include the purchase of tablets to be checked out to each council member and paying a service such as Dropbox that the council members could access.

Dunham said he applied for some surplus tablets from OMAG but the city wasn't able to obtain those. However, they were able to get a couple of surplus laptops.

Dunham said some council members indicated they'd prefer to use their own tablets so the city might not need to purchase as many. However, it was later pointed out that any tablet used for city council business was subject to state open meeting and open records laws so that should be considered.

The council voted unanimously to accept meeting agenda and information via electronic means exclusively.

Other Business

Bryce Benson was the only member of the council who was absent. The council approved minutes of the last meeting, claims of $116,652.83 and payroll expenses of $104,604.31.

The Alva Utility Authority met after the council adjourned, approving minutes of the previous meeting, claims totaling $45,568.20 and payroll expenses of $26,590.83.

The Alva Economic Development Authority then met, approving minutes of the last meeting, claims of $314,508.49 and payroll expenses of $5,464.57. Included in the claims was the fall scholarship bill for Northwestern Oklahoma State University totaling $295,114.72.