The Lawton City Council intends to apply for a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics to finance “a study on improving air service at Lawton/Fort Sill Regional Airport.”
If such a grant is approved, the state agency will pay 95% of the cost of the pr oject and the City of Lawton will be responsible for the other 5%.
In calendar year 2023 the airport logged almost 21,000 operations (takeoffs and landings): 7,779 civilian and 13,192 military. During the f irst seven months of last year the airport logged 9,559 operations: 4,578 civilian and 4,981 military.
Enplanements at the airport have climbed steadily in recent years, totaling 39,336 in CY 2021, 41,890 in CY 2022, and 45,716 in CY 2023.
In other recent council matters:
• King Solution Services won a $4 million contract to replace 15,990 linear feet of high-maintenance 8-inch and 10-inch-diameter sewer lines at multiple locations in Lawton. The Houston, Texas, company was the lowest of four companies vying for the job, and its bid was 7.1% lower than the engineer’s estimate. The company was allotted 335 days to complete the work.
The project cost will be financed from a $25 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan, Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt said.
• The city’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget was amended with the council’s appropriation of $4,456,402 from insurance proceeds to the City-at-Large Construction, Improvements and Additions account. The insurance settlement was for roof repairs at Central Mall Plaza, which was damaged in the June 2023 hailstorm.
Those repairs “are nearly complete,” said Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager.
• The council approved an additional $19,111 for excess cybercrime coverage.
On Jan. 14 the council approved $180,015 for cyber liability insurance. However, the additional amount “was overlooked in the total,” said ITS Director Judy Franco. The extra amount will extend coverage to include cybercrimes such as basic funds transfer fraud, identity theft, hacking, and social engineering, Franco said, “thereby providing us with a higher coverage limit for addressing cybercrimes.”
• Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren was reelected Mayor Pro Tempore for 2025.