Councilors approve HIC agreement, officers recognized with life-saving award

The Tahlequah City Council, during a Monday, Aug. 5 meeting, approved an agreement between the city and Help In Crisis to expend up to $150,000 for services to support residents.

City Administrator Tayler Tannehill said he was pleased to offer the memorandum of understanding for HIC and the city.

"To give Help In Crisis $150,000 of [American Rescue Plan Act] funds and in return, they are going to construct a new facility with a minimum of four beds and reserving two of those beds for Tahlequah citizens or referrals from the Tahlequah Police Department," Tannehill said.

HIC Executive Director Laura Kuester said they actually found a property that would allow them remodel four to five units for transitional housing for the clients HIC serve.

"This will allow our clients that come through our shelter to move into a place of their own for up to a year, with all of their expenses paid and wrap-around services. That's the biggest barrier that survivors of domestic violence face is 30 days in the shelter is just not enough," Kuester said.

In other business, the board took no action with an amended quote from Hellas for the expansion project of Anthis-Brennan Sports Complex. During a July 19 meeting, Council approved the mayor to sign a memorandum of understanding with Cherokee Nation to sell Phoenix Park and received a $7 million donation that would go toward construction of four ball fields.

During that same meeting, Council gave its nod to the negotiation of an agreement with Hellas for the project in which the proposed bid was $11,150,929 for the ball field expansion; $8,698,700 for baseball fields; $2,452,229 for softball fields.

Tannehill said an amended quote was provided to the Council Aug. 5 for review and some of those changes included the removal of scoreboards and the masonry backstop, adding dugouts back into the quote, and lighting for the soccer field was moved from an alternative bid to a base bid. Tannehill said they also asked that fencing be added back to the proposed batting cages.

"That total amount has come to an even $11 million," Tannehill said.

Ward 4 Councilor Josh Allen advised that he wanted to remove landscaping, concession/restroom, ticket booth, shading, and seating and dugouts from the initial proposal.

"I'd like to have a new bid submitted with those line items taken out. I'd like to open that up for competitive bidding so our local companies and everybody in this area can have an opportunity to help us save money" Allen said.

David E. Fisher, Hellas business development manager, informed Allen that those items items were competitively bid and had to meet the 21-day advertisement that's required by a municipality.

"Part of our deal being a turnkey construction company first of all would be a timeline for doing this. For instance, we're shovel-ready for your job. You signed a contract and in two weeks, if the Corps of Engineers would let us get on site, we'll be here and we'll put a shovel in the ground," Fisher said.

Fisher explained that should the board put those items out for competitive bid, the city would have to put together specs and a request for proposal, bidding documents with qualifications, and advertise that for 21 days. He added that once a full-scope review is done, it would be at least two months to get those five items awarded.

"And then you still have no guarantee your pricing will be any better than what we would have got through TOPS," Fisher said.

The board discussed that matter for a significant amount of time before they agreed to look more into those details. The proposed quote from Hellas is good for 30 days before it's off the table. Mayor Suzanne Myers said they'd call a special meeting within that time.

Police Chief Nate King recognized officers Richard Berry and Bruce Gower with life-saving awards for their performance while on duty in June.

Berry was dispatched to a residence June 11 for medical assistance after an infant was found unresponsive with no pulse. Berry administered CPR before EMS arrived and revived the child. To his knowledge, King said the baby survived the ordeal.

Gower responded to reports of a disturbance June 12 wherein a woman opened fire within five feet of the officer. King said the officer used exceptional tactics and was able to take the woman into custody without injury.

What's next

The next Tahlequah City Council meeting will be sometime before the Sept. 2 monthly meeting.