Council approves array of purchases, grants and contracts; audits, rezonings and board appointments pass

The City of Muskogee on April 14 approved a series of procurement, grant, contract and personnel items across its finance and public-works committees and in a special-call council meeting. Most votes were unanimous roll-call approvals.

Key votes and approvals included a $720,000 purchase of a 2025 model fire engine from Banner Fire Equipment; acceptance of a $35,000 nonmatching grant from the Muskogee Medical Foundation to fund equipment and EMT training for the Muskogee Police Department’s medical support unit; and approval of an engagement letter authorizing Hood & Associates CPAs to perform the city’s fiscal year 2024 financial-statement audit.

The council also approved a $27,000 engagement of BKL Architects and Engineers to complete a feasibility study of the municipal building (to be paid from the 2019 CID fund), and authorized a $59,000 professional-services agreement with Holloway, Updike & Bell, Inc. to design stormwater improvements in the urban renewal area.

Other approvals included a memorandum of understanding with the Cherokee Nation Public Health and Wellness Fitness Partners program permitting Cherokee Nation citizens to receive subsidized membership at the city’s swim and fitness center (city to receive payment not to exceed $25,000), and a professional-services approval to accept payment for 50% subsidized one-year memberships as described in the MOU.

The public-works committee recommended and the council approved two rezonings after public hearings: Ordinance 42-53(a) rezoned 1507 East Umauge from C-1 local commercial to R-1 single-family, and Ordinance 42-54(a) rezoned 3720 South Cherokee Drive from R-1 single-family to RA residential agricultural. Both requests were described as conforming to the city’s 2013 land-use map and passed without public opposition at the hearing.

The council approved Resolution 30-25 to incorporate certain modifications to the city employee medical plan benefits and to execute Blue Cross Blue Shield and related program documents effective May 1, 2025. The council also approved a MOU with the Port Authority and an amendment to the industrial economic development capital-improvement contract consistent with the Scissor Tail project approvals made later in the meeting.

Honorary street names were adopted: Miller Street between Chicago and Pickett Streets was designated Clyde Brown Junior Avenue at the family’s request, and Honor Heights Drive between Oatlonkee Avenue and Buffalo Drive was designated LCDR William E. Hall Drive to honor a local veteran. The council reappointed Perry Hewitt to the Parks and Recreation Board for the 05/01/2025–04/30/2029 term.

The council convened in executive session on personnel and potential litigation matters; upon returning to open session the council approved the employment agreement with Kendall Francis as city manager. No additional actions were required on the litigation matter as reported out.

Several housekeeping items were also approved by the committees: committee minutes and claims lists were adopted, and purchasing-committee recommendations for claims were accepted. The council discussed public reporting and transparency for the proposed CIP sales-tax extension and directed staff to provide monthly and quarterly income-and-expenditure reporting for the next CIP initiative; no vote on a CIP extension was taken at the meeting.

Roll-call votes were recorded for each agenda item; where a roll call was read the members recorded their affirmative votes in the transcript.