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Oklahoma County planning staff seeks $50,000 to finish master plan update
Summary
Planning staff told the county budget committee that a $215,000 contract with a consultant would complete a long‑overdue master plan update and asked the board to place a $50,000 reserve transfer on a future agenda to encumber the work.
Eric Brandt, a planning staff member, told the Oklahoma County Budget and Evaluation Team on April 8 that the county is moving to the consultant phase of a master plan update and needs an additional $50,000 to encumber a contract that Brandt said would complete the work.
Brandt said the update builds on outreach already completed, including a mailed survey to property owners in the unincorporated county. "We sent out a survey to a thousand property owners in an unincorporated county, and we got back approximately 245" responses, Brandt said. He said the consulting work now under review would cost about $215,000 and would cover the remainder of the project, including additional public meetings and planning commission review.
The planning staff described the approach as iterative: Brandt said the survey results would form the foundation for additional public meetings in each district and for planning commission review before the BOCC would consider certifying the plan. "This process would probably take us a year, maybe a year and a half to get the plan created and get it approved," Brandt said.
Budget board members asked about timing and funding. Brandt said planning had built savings from permit and application fees over recent years and that in‑house work on the outreach reduced the consultant price. Several members signaled support for using one‑time reserve money to finish the project, and the committee directed Brandt to submit a formal agenda item to the clerk (Cassie) recommending a transfer of $50,000 from the general fund reserve to the planning commission to encumber the contract.
No formal vote to approve the transfer occurred at the April 8 meeting; the committee asked staff to place the transfer on a future BET agenda so the board can consider a formal recommendation to the budget board.
Brandt identified Guernsey and a consultant name transcribed as CHSterngy as firms involved in the procurement process and said the county had reviewed several bids before deciding to move forward with the current consultant offer. He also described additional public outreach steps and repeated that the contract price would cover the entirety of the process so staff "wouldn't be back for more."
