Council approves chamber funding

Purcell’s City Council gave its stamp of approval Monday night to continue as the major contributor to the Heart of Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce.

At its regular monthly meeting at the Community Room of the Purcell Police Service Building, the council approved $30,000 for the chamber remaining at the Diamond Level of donors.

The council approved a new ordinance for a refundable deposit to promote timely and accurate payment of city sales taxes.

The also voted to test lake water for E.coli from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

In other council business they:

• approved the rehiring of Dillon & Associates as the auditor for fiscal year 2022-2023

• approved a change order from Smith Roberts Land Services for the I-35 interchange project

• approved moving the swearing in date of the Division 1 council member from April 10 to April 25 at 5:30 p.m.

• approved the transfer of $500,000 from the ICS reserve fund and met in executive session discussing land purchasing and appraisal.

No action was taken on the executive session discussion when they returned to open meeting.

In the public works portion of the meeting, the trustees approved a meter tampering fee if citizens who have had their water cut off tamper with the meter to re-establish service.

In city manager Dale Bunn’s report he confirmed the I-35 interchange construction project is set to begin in 2025.

He reported the ribbon cutting for the new medical office building will be today (Thursday) at 11:30 a.m.

Bunn reported boring is currently ongoing on south Green Avenue for electrical lighting for the new lighting project.

All Roads Paving has had to go to another project but plans to have the base work done on the street in front of PMH by mid-May. Bunn reported curbing must be completed prior to asphalting of the street.

The Main StreetScape project is scheduled to be completed by November. Bids will soon be accepted so contracts can be awarded.

Bunn said Patrol Sgt. Josh Van Ort has been nominated for a state award for good conduct after helping to manage a situation with a mentally ill person. The incident ended with a non-violent outcome.

Officer Brayden Gulliver has been nominated for a state award for saving a life. After John Idlett and Gulliver attempted to pull over a speeder in a school zone. The driver sped off and a chase ensued resulting in an accident at Ladd Road.

Bunn said the driver was unresponsive and Gulliver gave CPR to revive the driver.

With two detectives on medical leave, Gulliver has been promoted to detective.