City Manager’s Report
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By Jayne Hughes
I always like to start this report off with the good news that has taken place over the past two weeks.
One thing is a $12,000.00 check we received due to a lawsuit pay out that the City was a part of due to being charged incorrect amounts by one of our workman’s comp insurance companies.
There may be an additional check but I have not heard of an amount or a date of delivery. As soon as I know something definite, I will communicate this to Council. The money has been placed in the General Fund and I look to use it on equipment and materials needed for the departments of the Atoka Municipal Authority.
Our Clean Up Week for the Citizens of Atoka went very well this year. I received very few calls with concerns from our citizens and we have finished picking up the brush and rubbish set out at curbside. In total we collected more than 53 tons of rubbish which is about four tons more than we did last year.
We do not measure the brush except for trailer loads and we had approximately 50 plus loads. This was a larger amount thatnlast year due to the storms that took place a few weeks before Clean Up Week.
Everyone in the Parks, Street, Transfer Station and Garbage Departments as well as some on the Water Department worked on our Clean Up Week. The City’s cost for this service includes more than 2000 hours in manpower and labor, fuel, materials, equipment costs and tipping fees for the rubbish.
The total expense to the City for offering this service was more than $50,000.00.
Like I have mentioned before we are in need of an increase in our Garbage and Transfer Station fees in the very near future. The City of Atoka has been covering increases in what they are being charged but we have not passed this increase on or increased the cost to our end users, the Citizens.
I want the City to be able to offer these excellent additional services to our Citizens, but we must be able to cover the cost of providing our basic core service, not mentioning the extra ability to provide the free Clean Up Week service to the Citizens.
We will be working with the Haynes Company in replacing the butterfly valve that controls the water delivery from the tower at the plant to town. This is what has been malfunctioning for years and we are almost within a week away of having it finally repaired.
This has to be in good working condition before we begin the needed multi-million dollar repairs at the Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The plant has been running on average of ninehours a day and producing about 430,000 gallons.
We had a Zoom meeting with Wall Engineering, Core and Main, and the contractors for the installation of the new automated water meters this week.
We have so many great things happening for Atoka, but these new meters are probably going to be what is the most improved for both the City and the Citizens. The Auto meters will send the meter readings for each location directly to the system at City Hall.
This will eliminate much of the human involvement, in the reading of the meters, which will reduce errors that could exist. So we will have fewer re-reads and experience almost 99% accuracy in water usage and the proper charges.
In speaking with other Cities that have gone to this newer technology I hear nothing but good things and how much their revenues over expenses have improved.
I look for this to be a smooth transition not only for our Citizens who will not experience any lack of water service but also for our staff. Staff will be trained on the new software programming and billing characteristics that will also save us time and expenses.
I will be updating you regularly as we continue on with these improvements to our overall Water System.
The Police Department went out on 19 Disturbance Calls and 180 trips out for other services not counting traffic issues which required Peace Officers. They issued 150 Citations and 35 Traffic Warnings.
In Addition to those services they booked 13 municipal prisoners into the Atoka County Jail. They also filled out 24 Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Reports and six Collision Reports in to the Municipal Clerk’s Office.
The Officers had to transport two mental health patients one to Muskogee, and one to Fort Smith, Arkansas.
I should have some additional information on the refurbishing of the basketball courts at both Johnson and the 45th Infantry Parks for the meeting on Monday, June 1, 2020.
The weather slowed the contractors this week but I have them scheduled to come to Atoka and discuss the projects in the next few days. This will be a fabulous improvement for our Citizens to use during the coming months of hopefully nice weather.
Phyliss Bates has been working on gathering sponsors for another Spay and Neuter Clinic. The sponsors have been most generous. Ameristate Bank, Atoka County Times, Atoka Veterinary Clinic, Donnie’s Paint & Body Shop, First Bank and Jamm Transit have all been wonderful to work with as Community Partners.
We all understand the importance of having pets spayed or neutered and this is a wonderful gift to our Citizens by offering this service at a tremendous discount.
