ALTUS – The City of Altus closed on a $31.17 million loan Monday that will provide the municipality with operating funds to “jump-start” several capital improvement projects, City Manager Gary Jones said.
The funds borrowed from Trust Bank of Charlotte, N.C., will command a low interest rate of 1.69% over the 12-year life of the loan, Jones said.
One such project is renovation of the Linda Wiginton Aquatic Center’s indoor and outdoor pools. The City Council on Tuesday approved a contract of up to $280,000 with 505 Architects of Tulsa to prepare plans for $4 million in projected improvements at the facilities.
Those would include $1 million for renovations at the outdoor pool and $3 million for renovations to the indoor pool.
Improvements are to include an associated deck, lighting and site amenities, a prefabricated steel pavilion, replacing the diving board, new lifeguard stands at both pools, refurbishing the waterslide at the outdoor pool, replacing the filtration and circulation systems in both pools, installation of ultraviolet light secondary sanitation systems at both pools, and improvements to the bathhouse (such as replacement of all doors and frames, a new fire sprinkler system, and installation of a new HVAC system) and parking adjustments to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
HOUSING ASSESSMENT TO BE PERFORMED
Another major project on the drawing board is a housing development, especially for employees who work at Altus Air Force Base. The City Council on Tuesday approved a payment of $2,370 to LandPlan Consultants Inc. for a housing needs assessment, because Altus has a shortage of affordable housing.
The overall plan would cost an estimated $12 million and would include a sports parks and new housing outside the base, walking/jogging trails, and storm drainage improvements. Jones said.
In a related matter Tuesday, the City Council approved an agreement between the City of Altus and the ODFA for financing construction of a water main from the city’s water treatment plant to the Air Force base. The project would be financed with a $4 million loan from the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority (ODFA), documents indicate. The loan is expected to be paid off in “a little over a year,” city officials said.
In yet another related issue, the council voted Tuesday to lease tractors and mowers that will be used to maintain city property and to satisfy a five-year, $4.7 million grounds maintenance contract between the City of Altus and Altus AFB. The contract started November 1 and will extend through October 31, 2025.
TRAILS GRANT SOUGHT
The council voted Tuesday to apply to the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department (OTRD) for a $300,000 “recreational trails grant” to finance the first leg of jogging and walking trails envisioned throughout the community.
Altus residents endorsed a MAPS II initiative of which a significant and important project is renovation of the Altus City Reservoir and development of the surrounding area.
A pipeline installed recently enables fresh water to be pumped from Tom Steed Reservoir north of Snyder into the Altus reservoir, which encompasses 140 surface acres and was the town’s old water supply. The city plans to lower the level of the reservoir, construct a beach area, build trails around the lake, and construct picnic facilities and an amphitheater next year, Jones said.
The project is intended to” transform the area into a major public recreational attraction for the city,” officials report.
In doing so, City Hall “recognizes the need for safe, multi-modal access to the area,” and that development of recreational trails leading to the reservoir “would be one way to accomplish this.”
The OTRD has historically funded multi-phased trail work over multiple years, “so we will plan to apply each year until we achieve trail completion,” city officials said.
In other matters on the city’s agenda Tuesday:
EQUIPMENT BUYS OK’D FOR POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS
• The council unanimously approved the purchase of firefighting equipment that includes self-contained breathing apparatus airpacks, masks and spare bottles. Current equipment “is going to expire soon,” Jones said.
The $263,500 expenditure was included in the city’s capital improvements budget for FY 2021.
• M&B was the lower of two bidders for installation of new targeting systems at the Altus Police Department’s firing range, at a cost of $93,870.
The existing target system was built by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #120 in 1973. That 47-year-old system will be replaced with up-to-date equipment that includes control devices and control software, and construction of a block building for the police range. The work is to be completed within 60 calendar days after the contractor receives a notice to proceed.
REFS, SCOREKEEPERS FOR YOUTH SPORTS; METERING UPDATE
• The council unanimously accepted a bid from JVN Officials, in care of Jeremy Nieto of Duke, to provide referees and scorekeepers for all youth sports in FY 2021. They will officiate approximately 1,300 games “across all sports for the full year,” at an estimated cost of $135,000, the council was advised.
Officials will be paid $25 per game and scorekeepers will receive $14 per game, the contract stipulates.
“We have a vibrant youth program in Altus,” Jones said.
• Payment of invoices totaling $226,250 for the advanced metering infrastructure project were approved by the council.
Three years ago the Oklahoma Water Resources Board approved an $11 million loan to the Altus Municipal Authority from the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
More than half of the funds, $6,586,500, were earmarked for replacement of 8,000 water meters and 12,000 electric meters with automated water and electric meter reading equipment, and the balance was devoted to improvements of the town’s wastewater treatment system.
Installation of the meters started in December 2018, records indicate. “The electric part of the project is essentially 99% complete, while the water part is approximately 90% complete,” the contractor Nighthawk reported.
BIRD MANAGEMENT PROGRAM APPROVED IN DIVIDED VOTE
• The Altus City Council split over an agreement to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) $79,000 to continue a Canada goose damage management program at the city reservoir and a pigeon removal program in town.
“We’ve got geese that homestead at the city reservoir instead of migrating, which causes public health problems and interferes with flights into and out of the base,” Jones said Wednesday.
The APHIS program has been operated for the last three years and involves a full-time civilian employee and a full-time person from Altus AFB, the council was told.
Mayor Jack Smiley and council members John Womack, Doyle Jencks, Jon Kidwell, Perry Shelton and Dwayne E. Martin supported the program, but council members Patricia Blackman, Roberta Brady-Lee and Robert Garrison opposed the proposal.
Migratory populations of Canada geese in the nation’s Central Flyway are increasing, along with resident non-migratory geese, the USDA noted. “Damage management efforts will be instrumental in addressing concerns of both human health and safety and property damage ... and in alleviating potential wildlife strikes” for Altus AFB, which is adjacent to the city’s reservoir, the USDA said.
“This integrated management approach will benefit aviation safety, reduce damage to turf and property, improve human health and safety from aggressive geese in the parks, as well as creating a cleaner environment for park visitors,” officials said.
The APHIS program will “consist of the live capture and removal of resident Canada geese in the summer months when geese are flightless,” coupled with “harassment of migratory geese” from the city reservoir.
Altus also has “suffered from structure degradation as well as the human health and safety risk” from fecal accumulation of pigeons nesting/roosting in the city. Additionally, increased populations of pigeons “pose a potential hazard” to military aircraft landing and departing from Altus AFB.