Several capital improvement projects will start soon or are already underway in Chickasha.
For example, earlier this month the City Council awarded a $200,000 engineering contract on the f irst of a three-phase project to build a new sewer line from downtown to the east side of town “and then to the water treatment plant,” Mayor Zach Grayson said.
Phase 1 will entail preconstruction work on replacement of the troublesome sanitary sewer line “near and along First Street from Texas Avenue to Colorado Avenue, and along Colorado from First Street to Third Street,” a contract document relates.
Scott Vaughn, owner of Chisolm Trail Consulting, said the contract scope of services will include design values based on a 2013 en gineering study performed by Guernsey, contract administration services, providing a topographic and boundary survey of the project area, location of buried utilities, elevations of all known manholes in all three phases of the job, and engineering services to develop complete construction drawings and bidding documents.
Construction costs ultimately will reach $1 million, Grayson told Southwest Ledger.
The city also is awaiting almost $2 million from the federal government secured by Congressman Tom Cole for drainage improvements in Chickasha, Grayson told the Chickasha Economic Development Council on Oct. 14.
The mayor also reported that all variances for the city’s new water treatment plant were approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality, “so we’ll be going out for bids soon.” The construction project will be advertised for six weeks, City Manager Jim Crosby said.
CPS construction, streets, water main Chickasha public schools are preparing for $7 million in improvements that district voters authorized in a safety and security bond issue election in August 2022, Supt. Rick Croslin said.
At Lincoln Intermediate School, construction will include a new gymnasium and “safe room” for use in the event of a tornado, while Grand Elementary will get a library/media center and a “safe room,” too. Construction on those projects is expected to start “within the next 30 days,” Croslin told the Ledger on Oct. 14.
At Chickasha High School, spring break next year is the target for groundbreaking on renovations to the library, the drama room and DECA area. “Hopefully, all of these will be done by next August,” for the 2026-27 school year, Croslin said.
DECA Inc., formerly Distributive Education Clubs of America, prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
The City Council paid $639,106 from a capital improvements dedicated sales tax for street repairs at 17th and Grand, 13th and Missouri, 14th and Grand, and one other road project. The council also paid a $28,643 bill for construction of a water main.
Recruitment trip to L.A. generates several nibbles An Oct. 3 business recruitment trip to southern California has already produced several nibbles for Chickasha’s 284-acre airport industrial park, entrepreneur and business developer Chet Hitt told the CEDC.
For example, one manufacturer who said he would need a building of approximately 80,000 square feet has 200 employees in California and 200 more in Texas, Hitt said. “We’re hoping he will move it all to Oklahoma,” Hitt said, noting that the manufacturer has family in Edmond.
Another manufacturer who approached Hitt has 65 employees, and another has 35.
If any of those prospects bears fruit, “We’ll reach out to Canadian Valley Technology Center” for training, Hitt said. “This is a community project.”
On the trip to Los Angeles, Hitt was accompanied by Gov. Kevin Stitt, CEDC President Jim Cowan, Grayson, CEDC Chairman Ryan Posey, three representatives of CVTC and two representatives from the state Commerce Department.
Amanda Bertelli, a Chickasha Realtor, was in Southern California for 10 days in advance of the Oklahoma recruitment trip, “knocking on doors” of several businesses and explaining why it would benefit them to relocate to Oklahoma.
The Oklahomans came armed with a 32-page full-color magazine packed with photos of Chickasha and Oklahoma City and reams of data comparing the cost of doing b usiness in California versus Oklahoma.
Just last month Hitt announced that he signed the first company to relocate to the Chickasha Airport Industrial Park.
KnightTek founder Stephen Knight announced he will construct a 50,000 square-foot manufacturing facility to produce its innovative fire suppression system, designed to combat the growing risks associated with lithium-ion batteries. These batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles, e-bikes, laptops, and even smartphones, present significant fire hazards.
Last year KnightTek partnered with Redline Fire Solutions, a California- based company. Redline “manufactures my foam, and KnightTek has the exclusive distribution rights,” Knight told the Ledger.
He said he’s also considering a f ire extinguisher manufacturing plant on the 10-acre KnightTek site in the industrial park, “if I can get some government incentives and if the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance will help with construction.”
Redline relocated their business from Big Bear, California, to Pahrump, Nevada, before coming to Chickasha as its newest manufacturing/production home, Knight said.
Oklahoma’s business- friendly climate, competitive tax rates, and low cost of doing business were cited as key factors in the decision.
KnightTek will also work with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to apply for Quality Jobs Act incentives, and seek assistance from Manufacturing Alliance programs and grants.
Knight said they will utilize free on-the-job training and the workforce development offerings provided by Canadian Valley Technology Center, which has a campus in Chickasha. Spec buildings, TIF district plans In a related matter, Hitt said he intends to develop plans soon for one or more spec buildings in the industrial park.
“And once we get this tax increment finance district going,” he said, “ we will get some dirt moving after the first of the year.”
A Tax Increment District Review Committee will consider creation of a special taxing district that would encompass Hitt’s 284 acres near the municipal airport where he envisions development of a manufacturing and industrial park anchored by a power generation plant and a data center.
The City Council approved a resolution Aug. 18 that declared the city’s intent to evaluate whether to create a TIF district in and around the airport industrial park.
The city’s Tax Increment District Review Committee currently has seven members: Mayor Grayson, a Chickasha business owner; Mike Mosley, chairman of the Planning Commission; Dr. Gayla Lutts, superintendent and chief executive officer of the Canadian Valley Technology Center based at El Reno; Daryn Kirkpatrick, regional administrative director of the State Health Department, District 6 in Chickasha; Chloe Berry, executive director of the Grady Emergency Management Service District, Chickasha; Grady County Commissioner Ruth Bingham; and Chickasha Public Schools Supt. Rick Croslin, who was represented by Jennifer Stegman, assistant superintendent and financial operations director, at a meeting Monday at City Hall.
The committee met Monday to select three at-large representatives plus an alternate.
The at-large representatives will be Cooper Mosley (nephew of Mike Mosley), Brandi Winters and Christy Martin. Joshua Woods was selected to be an alternate.
Dec.1 at 1:30 p.m. was set for the next meeting of the review committee.