City Manager’s Report
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By Danny Delay
My staff and I are currently working on several projects to improve our city in every way possible. I am truly excited about our plans.
We received a total of 55 nominations consisting of 32 different people for our Citizen of the Year. We plan on awarding the trophy to this year’s winner during our council meeting on Monday, December 21.
Again, I want to give everyone a friendly reminder, that we are serious about cleaning up the City of Atoka!
Our Code Enforcement officer is currently going around to all places where existing violations are occurring to ensure the landowners are aware of the exact nature of each violation; what they need to do to correct it, and what the consequences will be if they don’t correct it.
Hearings are being scheduled now on some places, as we move forward.
We’ve had several instances where we have worked with citizens on a plan of action to correct whatever code violation was occurring, and we are always willing to work with anyone that is truly making an effort to correct the issue at hand.
Those that ignore their code violations will be subject to fines, hearings, etc. Our intent is to never have to reach this level; but if you continue to simply ignore your code violations, you leave us no choice.
We have given several folks much more time than we have to, and no progress is being made; requiring us to move forward to schedule hearings, have our police officers write fines, and start cleaning up the places ourselves, or bid out the cleaning up of properties.
These include, abandoned/junk vehicles, dilapidated houses/buildings, and places with trash, and overgrown grass, weeds, etc. So, please do your part as a citizen of the City of Atoka!
REMINDER: In an effort to assist our citizens in cleaning up their properties and getting rid of unwanted items such as trash, brush, etc., we will continue opening our transfer station the next two Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. through Saturday, December, 12.
If we have enough participation, then we will extend the Saturday openings further. If not, we will probably open once or twice a month through the winter months, and then look at opening it more frequently in the spring and thereafter. Feel free to call the Transfer Station anytime at 580-889-4022 to find out when they are open.
The Water Plant staff have made the necessary repairs to Trane #2, so that both Tranes are functioning properly. Crews are continuing the dirt work needed, as we begin the refurbishing project of our Water Plant.
The Water Plant is running on average eleven hours, and producing 450,000 gallons per day.
The Water/Sewer Maintenance Crew read meters, repaired water leaks, did locates, sewer taps, cleaned up brush, and continued digging up old water meters so that the new meters could be installed. We currently have 26 meters left to install.
The Wastewater Plant is continually working to reduce the sludge content and running well. Both, the 60 foot and 40 foot Clarifiers are running correctly. They will soon be wasting excess sludge from our digesters to our sludge trailers. Other routine maintenance has been addressed as needed.
The Capital Improvement Crew has helped with digging up old water meters that need replaced; helped read meters, work on water and sewer leaks, street sweeping, and several other assignments.
The Parks Crew are working on the under-pass renovation project, hung Christmas decorations, and other assignments as they came up.
The Atoka Police Department general activity report for the reporting period of 11/11/2020 through 11/30/2020:
The Police Department responded to 432 disturbance and “other” calls for service and related incidents/actions (this does not include traffic stops or traffic contacts).
There were 16 municipal prisoners booked into the Atoka County Jail and seven Municipal Court Arrest Warrant(s) served.
There were 24 Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation National Incident-Based Reporting System Offense Reports filed in the Municipal Clerk’s Office and seven Official Collision Reports filed in the Municipal Clerk’s Office.
There was one Emergency Detention (Mental Health). After initial evaluations and eventual medical clearances at the Atoka County Medical Center, the subject was transported to mental health facilities in Wagoner.
Chief Dodson continued to have weekly video meetings with a policy manual expert from Lexipol regarding the review and analysis of our existing Policy and Procedures Manual.
The project is progressing and remains on schedule. To date, he has thoroughly reviewed and amended thirty-eight different policies.
Monday, November 16th, and Tuesday, November 17, 2020, the annual TASER training and certification courses were held at the Atoka Police Department.
The training was a CLEET Accredited Continuing Education training course and was taught by our three TASER Instructors: Sergeant Jimmy Taylor, Patrolman Kalin Singleton and Patrolman Cody Poe.
Wednesday, November 18th, Chief Dodson met with Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) Engineers and Signal-Tek Technicians, regarding holiday traffic signal timing programs and remote monitoring access for our traffic signal systems.
Different traffic control timing programs and remote monitoring equipment was installed in all three traffic control systems that day.
On Thursday, November 19, 2020, a flaw with the programming at the Thirteenth Street intersection was observed, as southbound traffic was backing up for approximately seven or eight blocks during each traffic light cycle. Chief Dodson contacted an ODOT Engineer in Oklahoma City that afternoon.
He and his crew came to Atoka and installed an alternate program for that particular intersection system. No major issues were observed during the holiday period other than some occasional delays due to the volume of traffic exceeding the capabilities of the highway.
Monday, November 23rd, and Tuesday, November 24, 2020, Officers provided escorts and traffic control for four Department of Public Safety permitted oversize loads that came from Tulsa.
The oversize loads were routed around Liberty Road and Greathouse Drive before being routed back north bound on Highway 69 to the crossover onto Lake Road.
The oversize loads consisted of pairs of 116 foot long concrete bridge beams that were on specialized trailers.
The beams are being used in the construction of the new bridge at Lake Atoka Dam.
ANIMAL CONTROL:
The following numbers were reported from 11/01/20 through 11/30/20:
• Dogs that were picked up by the Animal Control Officer: 10
• Other animal contacts or warnings issued:One
• Dogs that were adopted from the pound: 18
• Dogs that were claimed by their owners: One
• Dogs that were euthanized: Zero
• Animal carcasses that were retrieved for disposal: Two
• Dogs that were being held in the pound: Zero
• Dogs that were properly registered according to City Code: One.
