Ponca City Board of Commissioners Regular Session Held

The Ponca City Board of Commissioners met in regular session on August 14, 2023. Mayor Homer Nicholson called the meeting to order, which was followed by the pledge of allegiance. Commissioners Robert Bodick, Garrett Bowers and Kelsey Wagner were present.

Consent Agenda

Under the Consent Agenda, the City Commission approved the minutes of the Ponca City Board of Commissioners regular session held July 24, 2023; a resolution appropriating money for the payment of claims against the City of Ponca City, Oklahoma; and a proposal from the Holtzen Engineering Group for engineering services associated with the planned streetscape improvement project in the Central Business District in the amount of $40,580.00.

Reports

Under Reports, City Manager Craig Stephenson reported that AMBUC Pool and Wentz Pool will only be open on the weekends starting August 13, 2023 thru Labor Day, September 4, 2023; annual hardwood floor maintenance at the RecPlex will take place August 28, 2023 thru September 4, 2023; Ponca City Energy’s customer satisfaction survey will be included within customer utility bills and available on the City of Ponca City’s website (www.poncacityok.gov), Facebook (City of Ponca City, OK), Twitter (twitter@PoncaCityOKgov;) and Instagram (@cityofponcacity); Ponca City Public Schools will start August 24, 2023 with 64 new teachers and an increased police presence at school zones; traffic will increase on South Avenue, near the refinery, as Phillips 66’s turn-around will soon begin with approximately 1,800 contractors; and the Ponca City Area Chamber of Commerce’s Party at the Palace fundraiser will be held at the Marland Mansion on August 18, 2023.

Public Hearing

A public hearing was held and the City Commission approved an application and interlocal agreement by the Ponca City Police Department for grant funds from the fiscal year 2023 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant in the amount of $18,267.00. This is a cooperative grant between the Ponca City Police Department and the Kay County Sheriff’s Department. The Ponca City Police Department will receive $13,700.25 for the purchase of 55 Black “Zak Tool” entry tools, 55 “Res Q ME” seat belt cutter/window punch tools, 1 Blackhawk Special Ops Entry Ram, and 4 XPR 3500e Motorola VHF Portable radios w/ remote speaker mic. The Kay County Sheriff’s Department will receive $4,566.75 for the purchase of 2 Motorola XPR 7350e digital/analog VHF Radios and 2 Vista body worn cameras w/ 2 charging bases.

New Business

Under New Business, the City Commission approved Change Order No. 1 to Stuever Dirtworks, LLC for the Street Improvement Project and Concrete Pavement Reconstruction of Prospect Avenue, from Union Street to Broughton Road in the add amount of $2,280.50 and the final payment in the amount of $150,897.22. Change Order No. 1 reconciles all final quantities for the project and results in a net increase of $2,280.50 to the contract. The one-year maintenance bond period will begin upon approval of the final payment. To encourage the contractor to complete the project as quickly as possible a $2,000.00 per day bonus/penalty clause was included in the contract. The original contract time allotted for the project was 40 calendar days. Four extension days were approved resulting in a final total contract time of 44 calendar days. The project was completed and opened to traffic on day 36 of the project, 8 days ahead of the allotted time. As such, the contractor has earned eight days early completion bonus of $16,000.00.

PCUA (PONCA CITY UTILITY AUTHORITY)

PCUA Consent Agenda

Under the PCUA Consent Agenda, the PCUA Trustees approved the minutes of the PCUA regular session held July 24, 2023; a resolution appropriating money for the payment of claims against the PCUA of Ponca City, Oklahoma; and an amendment to the agreement with Pictometry International Corp, dated October 27, 2020.

New Business

West Grand Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation

The PCUA Trustees approved the final change order, acknowledging final acceptance and authorizing final payment to Horseshoe Construction, Inc., for the Ponca City Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation West Grand Phase I Project, in the amount of $121,658.88. Horseshoe Construction submitted the final pay request for this project to rebuild multiple sewer lines centered on West Grand. This was in an effort to eliminate infiltration of stormwater into the sanitary sewer system, which can cause overflows in the system. The original contract with Horseshoe Construction was approved on December 15, 2022 for $678,633.00. The as-built contract amount is $627,351.10, a deduct amount of $51,281.90, or 7.6%. This was primarily due to fewer customer taps than expected, fewer street repairs than expected, and the City performing the final camera inspection in-house.

CBD Code Compliance Incentive Program

The PCUA Trustees approved a financial incentive in accordance with the CBD Code Compliance Incentive Program to Lionelli Properties, LLC for the rehabilitation of the “Combat Syndicate”, a building located at 305 South Pine Street. The Central Business District is unique in that the buildings are constructed to the property line and many are multi-story in height. There are also common walls separating the individual buildings within each block. These buildings were originally constructed with minimal regard to exits, protected corridors and other life safety provisions that are commonplace in newer buildings. As a result, a fire started in one building can quickly spread to the adjacent buildings and an entire City block could be destroyed. These historical deficiencies make it difficult to utilize the available downtown floor space to its maximum, especially the upper floors. Today, the Central Business District remains underdeveloped and underutilized because improvement projects or changes in the use of the buildings often fail to even get off the ground due to the cost of code compliance. In many instances where a change of use is proposed or a building has remained vacant for a long period of time, the Fire Code will mandate the use of a fire suppression system as part of the life safety code compliance. An example might be a change from retail to a restaurant but more often, it is the use of upper floors for commercial purposes. It is the mixture of occupancies and the presence of multiple floor levels that oftentimes mandates the use of a fire suppression system. The cost of fire suppression is significant but in the Central Business District, the cost is much greater because the water main is located either under the street or sidewalk. In order to install the fire line into the building, the street and/or sidewalk must be excavated and replaced, adding significant cost to the process.

This past February, the PCUA approved a resolution that establishes an annual fund set aside in the amount of $240,000.00 specifically to assist downtown property owners who wish to improve their property to make way for a new occupant or a change of use that triggers the mandatory installation of a fire suppression system. The cash incentive is 50% of the cost to install a fire suppression system up to and not exceeding $60,000.00. PCUA will pay the incentive after the improvement project has been completed and a Certificate of Occupancy has been issued to the building owner. Staff received the second application under this program for the building located at 305 South Pine Street. Although not situated along or near Grand Avenue, the property is zoned Central Business District, and as such, is eligible for funding. The very large two-story structure was most recently utilized by a moving, transfer and storage company for many years and before that, as a warehouse for goods that were off loaded from rail cars. In September of 2022, Combat Syndicate moved to this location after purchasing the building. Since the building was not sprinkled, the second floor could not be utilized at all and the maximum occupancy was limited on the first floor as well. The Building Inspector and the Fire Marshall worked with the owner to set occupancy restrictions so they could still operate on a limited basis. The application was submitted with three bids from licensed fire protection companies and a bid from Sober Brothers for the fire line. Potter Fire Protection’s submittal is the lowest and covers all the requirements as outlined by the 2018 International Fire Code. The total quoted cost for both the fire suppression and fire line is $57,472.00 with a requested financial incentive of $28,736.00. While completing the review process, staff checked to determine if the owner is a current customer of Ponca City Broadband and that was confirmed.

Garver Master Agreement

The PCUA Trustees approved a 2023 master agreement for professional services with Garver, LLC. PCUA requires professional engineering and project management services at various times, and particularly in the case of emergency repair projects which does not always have time to request qualifications from multiple firms. An existing Master Service Agreement exists between PCUA and Garver LLC, but it needed updating to meet certain requirements for procurement when using Federal funds. City Staff issued a Request for Qualifications for qualified engineering firms, with responses due by June 27, 2023. Two firms responded. A review committee scored each response and Garver was selected as the best qualified candidate.

Garver Sanitary Sewer Improvements

The PCUA Trustees approved Work Order No. 1 to the master agreement with Garver, LLC., for professional services for sanitary sewer improvements in the West Grand Phase 2 Project in the amount of $75,990.00. This project intends to rehabilitate approximately 3,400 LF (linear feet) of 8-inch sanitary sewer line and approximately 11 manholes in the area located near West Highland, between North Lake Street and North Pine Street and between Overbrook Avenue and West Hazel Avenue.