The Sulphur City Council on June 9 voted to ratify an existing cooperative endeavor agreement with the State Division of Administration that secured $5,000,000 for local water‑system projects. The council’s action formally authorized Mayor Dana Hay to sign the document retroactively, a step staff said is meant to document and disclose an earlier execution of the contract.

The matter surfaced during a public hearing after staff said the city applied in September 2021 and was later awarded the grant. Resident Wendy Wingate said she found it "pretty strange" that the city would be "backdating something all the way back to 2022" and asked whether the state would accept a retroactive ratification. Wingate also tied the grant to a rate study that preceded recent increases in water fees, saying residents had not been adequately informed.

City legal counsel Mister Austin told the council the action should be framed as a ratification, not a backdate. "The word backdate is inappropriate," he said, adding that a public ratification makes the prior execution transparent and reduces the risk of misunderstanding about dates or intent.

Staff and residents also discussed whether the grant requirement had prompted the recent rate study. A staff member and multiple speakers said the rate study was required to qualify for the grant, but staff emphasized that the state award itself is a reimbursement for approved projects and is not itself the mechanism that automatically changes customer rates.

After questions and brief debate, the council moved, held a roll call and the chair announced the motion carried, formally ratifying the cooperative endeavor agreement and authorizing the mayor to sign the necessary documents.

The council did not specify new project start dates during the hearing; staff said some work already has been paid for and that failure to ratify could require returning the funds to the state. The next procedural step is staff implementing the ratified authorization and continuing work on the projects identified for the grant.