Council approves routine finance and public-works items including park grant, sewer study, waste contract and shelter donation

The Muskogee City Council on Feb. 10 approved multiple routine finance and public-works items, including construction change orders and final payments, a park renovation grant application, a sanitary-sewer evaluation contract, a renewal of the city’s solid-waste disposal agreement and acceptance of a private donation to the city animal shelter.

Key approvals and amounts

- Swim and Fitness remodel (Project No. 2023025): Council approved change orders Nos. 5 and 6 totaling $10,464.60 for a new fire-alarm system that included horns, strobes, pull stations, duct detectors and a fire-alarm control panel; council also approved a final payment to ACO and Construction LLC for $32,190.13 to close the project. Staff recommended approval and said the new system passed inspection by the local fire department.

- Honor Heights Park (TSET grant application): Council approved submitting an $80,000 application to TSET (a “build” grant) to convert two tennis courts into six pickleball courts while retaining two tennis courts. The presenter said the renovation is roughly a $125,000 project and the grant would cover $80,000 of that amount; the Parks and Recreation Board recommended the application.

- CDBG waterline project (Project No. 2023008): Council approved change order No. 2 (a credit) for $2,445.17 related to an unused fire-hydrant assembly and approved final payment to Cook Consulting LLC of $390,014.46. Staff said the project replaced about 1,550 feet of 6-inch water line, added 16 fire hydrants and connected 39 residential services on Elgin Street.

- Tetra Tech sanitary-sewer evaluation: Council approved an agreement with Tetra Tech for $135,240 to perform evaluation services in the Haskell Boulevard sanitary-sewer basin. Staff said the work will include installing a flow monitor for 60 days at a manhole with known surcharging, smoke testing, line cleaning, TV camera inspections and mapping; funding will come from an OWRB loan for the clean-water side.

- Waste Management solid-waste disposal agreement: Council approved a renewed agreement with Waste Management of Oklahoma effective March 1, 2025. The agreement changes billing from a yardage basis to a per-ton rate; the city will pay $31.70 per ton (the presenter said rates are comparable to previous costs) and a state-required ODEQ tipping fee of $1.25 per ton applies. Staff also noted the city will receive approximately $1.81 per ton in royalty fees under the arrangement.

- Muskogee Davis Field event authorization: Council authorized the city airport manager (Drew Saffel) and the airport board chairman (Tyler Evans) to accept donations and sponsorships on behalf of the City of Muskogee to support the First Annual Salute to Service Day (previously described as a Warbird fly-in) at Muskogee Davis Field Regional Airport on March 15, 2025; presenters said the event will be free to the public and will include outreach by military recruiters and first responders.

- Donation to animal shelter: Council accepted a donation of $20,851.99 from the estate of Jack Bethany Jr. Staff said the estate gift will fund improvements at the City of Muskogee animal shelter including new flooring, paint, ceiling repair and technology upgrades.

Votes and procedure

Most items were presented by city staff, recommended for approval and passed on roll call votes with unanimous support from the council members present. Where staff identified funding sources (for example, the Tetra Tech agreement funded from an OWRB loan), staff noted funding availability during the presentations.

What this means

Approved projects will move forward to contract execution and final invoicing; staff will proceed with the Tetra Tech evaluation and return results and recommendations to the council as required. The Waste Management agreement resets the city’s billing basis from an estimated yardage fee to an actual per-ton charge, and staff said the change could be cost-neutral or beneficial depending on actual loads.

Council also accepted the interim city manager’s resignation during an executive session and, in open session, approved a motion accepting the resignation “effective April 20 fifth of 20 25” as recorded in the meeting transcript; the council did not provide additional public detail about transition steps during the open meeting portion.