225 pages – that’s the length of the Alva City Council meeting packet for their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 21. The packet was posted online Friday evening, and councilmembers had the weekend to familiarize themselves with the contents. Then they went to their day jobs Monday followed by a 6:30 p.m. meeting.

Monday night’s agenda was long, and the meeting lasted two hours. That doesn’t count the brief utility authority and economic development authority meetings that followed. The meeting might have been shorter but there was a lot of lively discussion about nearly every item on the agenda.

In some ways, being elected to a local or county office is like teaching school. The general public doesn’t think about all the preliminary studying and planning and the homework involved. When they get into the classroom (or meeting) even the most meticulous preparation can be derailed.

We’ll provide some detailed coverage of the council meeting in the Friday and Sunday editions of the Alva Review-Courier, but I thought I’d offer a few highlights from the meeting to our larger Newsgram audience.

First, a new poster showing the swimming pool design was displayed. Mayor Kelly Parker said the design is 95 percent completed. Copies of the poster will soon be appearing around Alva. In four to six weeks, the city will be publishing bid notices. They are designing it so that local contractors and trades can bid on portions of the project. In contacting these local people, the city staff has been impressed that many say they want to donate labor or provide materials at cost. It demonstrates the amount of community support for the project.

The swimming pool / aquatic center wasn’t on the agenda, but Parker gave an update during the mayor’s report. The city has official notification that they received a $500,000 grant from Land and Water Conservation. That brings the total raised to $3.4 million. The projected price tag for the project is $5 million so more money is needed.

The city is applying for a TSET grant of $500,000, and they can apply for the same amount again next year. This grant is for “shovel-ready” projects. Since Alva has the engineering work done and a design prepared they are ready, giving them the qualifications for this grant.

Grants are not a sure thing so the city is consulting with a bond attorney on how to proceed in financing the remainder of the project, using the half-cent sales tax pledged to Parks and Recreation as the way to pay it off.

Last night the council also approved applying for an EPA Brownfield grant to abate the likely chlorine contamination of the soil from the leaking pool and pump house. If approved that $200,000 grant doesn’t come to the city but is used by the agency to hire the abatement done. This could save the city some project costs.

If you have questions about the project, Parker said to contact him, City Business Manager Steve Ford, councilmembers or Dr. Kay Decker who heads the swimming pool committee. They can also give your information on how to donate funds to the project.

Two items on Monday’s agenda needed to pass for the TSET application. Councilmembers passed a City of Alva Workplace Wellness Policy. Ford said the policy includes things like making sure any snacks available to employees are less than 200 calories. Mayor Parker said Ford is already doing this. “He offered me a granola bar,” said Parker. Councilmember Daniel Winters was concerned this meant no cookies or donuts allowed, but Ford said employees can bring in less-than-healthy snacks. The Tobacco Free Policy isn’t much different than the one approved some years ago by the council, but the latest version was approved.

Alva Water Superintendent Drake Lewis attended the council meeting. As he has in the past, Lewis came directly from working on a waterline so his clothing was covered in dirt. He said they’d been working “hot”, not the temperature, but the waterline. The water continued to flow while they worked to repair a leak.

The trust authority (same members as the city council) approved the purchase of a mini-excavator. It will work better than a backhoe getting into smaller areas like easements. Lewis said it would have been great to have on a recent waterline break on Apache where they were in danger of demolishing a $40,000 retaining wall on someone’s property.

The when the new excavator arrives, the backhoe will be relocated to the municipal cemetery.

As with the other meetings we cover, a video of the entire meeting will be posted on our website at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com. Just look for the Video tab. As I write this on Tuesday, the video isn’t ready and will take a long time to render and upload, but it should be available sometime today (Aug. 23).