Alva Review-Courier -

Members of the Avard Regional Rail Park Authority met Tuesday evening with all members joining. In the conference room were Stan Bixler, Todd Holder, and Ed Sutter. Woods County Economic Development Director Neal Williams, Sonja Williams (former WCEDC director), and Woods County commissioner Randy McMurphy were also there while board members Allan Poe and Bob Firth connected via Zoom (a virtual meeting app).

After roll call and the approval of the last meeting's minutes, the board voted to convene in executive session to talk about finances. They took no action on that upon reconvening.

When public session resumed, Bixler said Northwestern Oklahoma University administration requested the rail park board write a formal letter requesting repairs to Garvin Road. Many students have voiced concerns about the road's poor condition, citing tire blowouts and flats. The university wanted to write a letter to Woods County commissioners asking if improvements to the road were possible, and hoped Avard Rail Park Authority members would submit a letter in conjunction with theirs.

Holder said he talked to commissioner John Smiley about the road, and Smiley's crew has already hauled some binding material and spread it on the road. It wasn't completed yet as of the meeting but was in the works. Sutter motioned to have Williams write the letter (in conjunction with the university's letter). That motion carried.

Moving on to the topic of infrastructure expansion, Williams said he hadn't heard back about warranty information on an estimate previously provided by Integrity Construction for work on the temporary building structure at the rail park. Bixler brought up the structure and said that he drove by the property and noticed the cottonwood trees' overgrowth. He said he was interested in having the trees removed and the surrounding fence work sterilized. The group decided to get a couple of estimates from landscaping companies.

In the finance report, total assets on the balance sheet of Aug. 11 reflected a total of $4,904,144.71 and total liabilities of $173,895. There is only one train that came in that hasn't paid yet, but payment is expected soon. Williams also said that train traffic is extremely slow, but everything else was business as usual.