Davis awarded over quarter million dollars in federal funding

By Alisha Thompson
A Monday holiday changed the October council meeting to Tuesday, Oct. 12. All councilmen were present for a meeting that could make Davis a “Film Friendly City” and a request to clear title issues for a property at Turner Falls Park turned into a lengthy discussion that will proceed into next month’s council meeting.
Davis City Council
Councilmen passed Resolution 579 ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act Funding.) City Treasurer/Clerk Susie Suther said that the City will receive a total of $505,000 after an application was submitted for the funding. To date, $252,900.90 has been paid to the City of Davis. Suther said there are lots of requirements to spending that money and she does believe it will qualify for the new Waster Water Treatment Plant. The Department of Environmental Equility (DEQ) recently accepted the City of Davis’ plan for the new plant costing $15,525,00. Suther said in a year the City will receive the remaining $252,900.90.
Resolution 580, ironically fitting for this area, will allow Davis Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Monica Popkess and Davis Social Services Director Stacey Harness to complete the paperwork to become a “Film-Friendly Liaison” and place Davis on the list of cities in Oklahoma for producers to look at to film music and movie projects.
The City of Davis will work with a collection agency to collect an outstanding total of $170,000 in uncollected court fees and fines. Suther said the collection agency adds a 35% fee to the total of the outstanding fines so the city pays nothing to the agency. When someone is issued a citation and they are found guilty in municipal court, they have 10 days to pay the fine. If the offender is from out of state, often times the fees go uncollected.
Ordinance 12-2021 was amended to add staff and adjust insurance bonds for City employees that deal with large scale operations and money.
Ordinance 13-2021 was amended to change local alcoholic beverages ordinance to update the ordinance to mirror county and state standards including: definitions, location of package stores, wholesalers and mixed beverage establishments; hours of operation, underage persons not permitted in package stores or license premises and possession by underage persons are among a few of the changes made to this ordinance.
Both ordinances can be found in this week’s edition of The News on pages 8 and 9 and the City’s website at www.davisokla.org under the Govern tab, then Meetings Agendas, Minutes & Documents and finally by searching the ordinance in the Davis,OK MuniDocs tab.
A list of vehicles, equipment and supplies was approved to surplus. In the event that items from this list will be removed, they will be presented for removal from the list at the November meeting.
The 2022 Holiday, City Council Meetings, Planning Commission and Volunteer Fire Department meeting schedules were approved for the upcoming year.
Davis Chamber of Commerce President and Christmas Committee Chair Stachia Hunt addressed the council regarding changes the Christmas Committee made for Christmas activities in Davis. She said the Christmas Committee has chosen to separate the Christmas Parade from the Soup and Chili Cook Off and Cookies with Santa. The parade is Tuesday, Nov. 30 and the Soup and Chili Cook-Off is Friday, Dec. 10.
She said over the years the events have grown and gotten really large giving business owners on Main Street a choice to participate in the Cook-Off or the parade, not both. Hunt said the parade has suffered and by separating the events that the Chamber can make them both great again. She said that the Chamber wants to be involved with Turner Falls Park Christmas activities in the future and even mentioned a possibility of a trail of lights in the park.
The Chamber wants to expand on what’s going on on Main Street and pull people in from other communities. “That is our goal is a Chamber,” Hunt said. “To get more people into our businesses and patronizing our county. We really want to see Main Street start to grow again.”
Davis Municipal Authority
The Williams brothers want to sell Turner Falls Inn located inside Turner Falls Park but there are title issues that will affect the sale. For the family to be able to sell the property, the family is requesting the City and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation vacate roadways in and near the property including Sulphur and Purcell Avenues and Arbuckle Scenic Highway. Suther said that this request will go before the planning board on Oct. 25. “There are encroachment issues on Lot 3, it’s a tiny issue. The buyers want no issues,” Suther said.
This request does not require a vote of the people to sell or lease the property. “That is not where we are headed at this time,” said Suther. No decision was made on that issue.
Trustees approved Resolution 581 to approve a request for a formal study for the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer.
A recent application currently pending with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to take a large amount of water, that is said to be outside of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer, for agricultural purposes could affect the aquifer’s water supply and Turner Falls Park. City Attorney Mark Melton said that it would take about a billion gallons a year if grated.
The last major study that was done on the aquifer was 2009. There have been no studies done on the central or western section of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer. The study yielded a maximum amount of water that could be taken from this study of from the aquifer. “The City’s best investment is Turner Falls. We need to know more about it, how do we protect it?” Melton said. “This application would take more water off this side of the aquifer than what they are taking off the other side of the aquifer if this thing goes through.”
This council meeting can be viewed in its entirety on the City of Davis – Oklahoma Facebook page. The next Davis City Council meeting will be Monday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Davis City Council Chambers located at 306 South Third Street.