City enters into agreements for engineering services, Perry appointed to Ward 1

The Tahlequah City Council, during an Oct. 2 meeting, authorized the mayor to enter into a Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant agreement.

The agreement, between the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the city of Tahlequah, would award a $733, 286 grant for a city-wide drainage study.

“We started out with the Hazard Mitigation plan and we got a grant for that, [we] saved the city $150,000 when we did that,” said Cherokee County/City of Tahlequah Emergency Management Director Mike Underwood.

According to documents on the agenda item, the general scope of the plan would look at the watershed that impacts Tahlequah.

“The base of the plan would be updated hydrologic and hydraulic modeling for all of the areas within the area’s limits. Once models have been created, the results from those models, along with public input and information from local staff, can be used to identify drainage and/or flooding problems within the area,” the documents stated.

While the federal funding is $733,286, the city is required to provide $81,476 in local matching funds.

“I think this study will go a long way to help our Stormwater program here in the city of Tahlequah,” Underwood said.

Compliance Coordinator Ray Hammons added that this study wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Underwood and former City Planner Taylor Tannehill, who now serves as city administrator.

The board gave its nod to enter into an agreement with GUY Engineering for services to East Allen Road, from the Bertha Parker Bypass to Grand Avenue.

The $302,706 agreement is to enter into the design phase of the project and Tannehill said it would expand the road from a two-lane, to a three-lane.

“This does include surveying and engineering as well as plan development. It does not include right-of-way acquisition at a point in which they developed 30 percent, 60 percent plans for our review. They’ll propose another agreement for right-of-way services,” Tannehill said.

The project is part of the 2013 bond issue in which close to $25 million bond issuance was approved by Tahlequah voters to fund 20 projects throughout the community.

Councilors approved a $150,000 agreement with Holloway, Updike, and Bellen, Inc. for engineering services for West Fourth Street.

“This will be paid out of the Street and Sidewalk Fund; it was not part of the bond proposals from 2013. This is in preparation to complete West Fourth Street,” Tannehill said.

Approval of an ordinance change to close a portion of Clay Street was granted by the board.

As part of the consent agenda, the council approved Mayor Suzanne Myers’ appointment of Danny Perry to fill the vacancy seat of Ward 1 until April 2025. Ward 1 Councilor Bree Long resigned from her post effective Sept. 6.

Perry was sworn in immediately after he was appointed.