CHICKASHA — Concerns about plans for another TIF district and refrigerators standing outside with their doors open were aired during the public comment period of a City Council meeting earlier this month.
Mishelle Blunt urged the City Council to clarify the city’s policy on refrigerators with their doors left open. They’re a magnet for curious children who could inadvertently get trapped inside, she said.
Blunt said she informed Chickasha police about an open refrigerator at a local residence, but was told that was a code enforcement matter.
She asked the council to “please review the policies and procedures” about this issue.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch type freezers, clothes dryers, combination washer/dryer units, picnic coolers, ice boxes in campers, and old-style latch type refrigerators.
Most of the victims were 4 to 7 years old. In all cases, the doors could not be easily pushed open from the inside. Frequently the children were playing “hide-and-seek” and the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide.
When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child trapped inside. This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also prevented the child’s screams from being heard.
The Federal Refrigerator Safety Act requires that refrigerators be capable of being opened from the inside. However, there still are some appliances that do not have this safety feature, the CPSC noted.
Torry Wise said he heard the Chickasha Industrial Authority (CIA) “spent at least $45,000 on a contract or a consultant to help create another TIF [Tax Increment Financing] district” in town.
“We don’t need another TIF district,” Wise said. “We’ve given the CIA two tools to use for economic development. One is a sales tax and the other is the 8% hotel/motel tax,” which provides the CIA with “$600,000 to $700,000 a year for economic development,” he said. The City of Chickasha collects the receipts from the local 8% hotel/motel tax, retains 10% as an administrative fee and sends the other 90% to the Industrial Authority.
Chickasha already has one TIF district, along the south side of Grand Avenue.