Last Updated on September 6, 2023, 10:14 PM | Published: September 6, 2023
BETHANY, Okla — On Tuesday, the Bethany City Council considered saving the city some financial stress and kept tabs on city projects, some to repair emergency damages. Here are the key points of the meeting:
- City Manager Elizabeth Gray secured a $100,000 grant to pay for a portion of the NW 23rd and Council road water line emergency.
- City engineers delivered a report on the current state of Bethany’s water resources and were approved to bid for Cecil Mendenhall Park Restroom improvements.
- The July 4th Freedom Festival proposal sparked a long discussion, however, no changes to the city’s approach were approved.
July NW 23rd and Council Road water main blowout
In July, substantial rains expanded or caused movement to the soil under a water main at NW 23rd and Council Road causing a blowout that created a large hole in the street and in the soil down below street level.
The rushing waters from the high-pressure main washed out some storm drains down from where the blowout occurred requiring repairs not only to the main but to the drainage pipes as well.
It was one among many around that same time in the OKC metro.
City officials held an emergency meeting a few days later to ratify funds to repair the collapsed pipe, totaling over $329,900.
Gray was able to apply and secure a $100,000 emergency grant from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, saving the city nearly a third of the total expense.
Ward 2 Council Member Steve Palmer congratulated the City manager for her efforts.
“I want to compliment her publicly, to the extent that she’s always looking for grants and alternative means to fund infrastructure.”
City engineer’s infrastructure report
Currently, Bethany city staff is working with TEIM Design to get several water-related infrastructure projects done around the city.
Steve Manek representing TEIM had good things to say about the state of Bethany’s improvements.
The CDBG waterline project on Halloway Avenue is “substantially complete,” and should need only a month or so for cleanup and sodding to finish the project off.
The ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funded water meter project is slated to start construction sometime this month, as materials and backend software have been prepared.
The goal of the project is to replace several of the city’s aging and inaccurate mechanical water meters with ultrasonic meters that can be read remotely.
Gray clarified that this is only phase 1 of the ultimate goal, which is to “get this whole town with automated meters.”
Other projects focused on drilling new water wells (ARPA funded) and a 20-year capital improvement project to revamp Bethany’s aging water system.
July 4 Freedom Festival expenses evaluated
Bethany’s July 4 Freedom Festival is one of the town’s premier events, but many on the council question the city’s role in financing and coordinating the occasion.
A motion that was unanimously passed in 2021 (see meeting minutes at the end) is now being questioned by some on the council who think that the City’s involvement in the event is more than it needs to be.
Jeff Knapp, Bethany’s Vice-Mayor, proposed a resolution that would repeal the 2021 decision and limit city involvement, “[supporting] city staff with the ability to provide for an annual parade and fireworks to celebrate Independence Day.”
Knapp would later clarify that this proposal was to whittle down the city’s involvement in the fireworks and parade and have volunteers and other organizations take care of the rest.
Over the years, the event is known to have hosted several food trucks, car shows, arts and crafts booths, and even a petting zoo and magic show.
The city had country music legend Kenny Rogers perform in 2005, a notable “disaster” according to several council members.
The first act of the council was to suspend the discussion time limit, which was voted against by three members of the council including Mayor Lloyd.
Palmer read the entirety of the 2021 resolution and disagreed with Knapp’s proposal to repeal it.
“[The resolution is] pretty specific to me, I like that outline, I think that that works and that’s the resolution that’s being asked to be changed.”
Later, Palmer said that the city could delegate the festival better if they could just “get together and communicate.”
“This council needs to sit down and figure out what they wanna do… this is an opportunity to allow us to do that.”
Ward 3 Council Member Kathy Larson agreed with the sentiments of Knapp’s proposal and advocated for the city to scale back its influence on the festival.
“Scale back down, there’s plenty of other activities in the metro area on the 4th of July.”
— Ward 3 Council Member Kathy Larson
“Scale back down, there’s plenty of other activities in the metro area on the 4th of July.”
“I think we should do the fireworks, and we should do the parade and ask the [non-profits] to go ahead and do anything else.”
Just as Larson initiated the motion for a clarified version of Knapp’s original proposal, Palmer asked for her to amend her motion to include some sort of workshop with the aforementioned nonprofits to see if the idea was feasible for them.
Council Member Larson rejected Palmer’s request.
Palmer promptly stated, “Well for that reason, I think I’m going to vote against this because we need a workshop.”
Ken Smart, Ward 3 Council Member Ken Smart sided with Palmer and didn’t feel like the council had enough information to vote on the proposal that night.
“I just don’t feel like we have enough information to even vote on [this] right now.”
The council’s disagreements were sure to make an impact on the final vote.
Council Members Smart, Powell, Palmer, and Plank all voted against the proposal.
Lloyd, Knapp, and members Larsen and Magirowsky voted for the proposal.
A 4-4 tie vote meant that the proposal failed, and the city’s involvement in the July 4 Freedom Festival laid out on the 2021 motion will continue to stand.
The Bethany City Council plans to meet again on Tuesday, September 19, 2023.
Bethany-City-Council-Minutes-06-01-2021_230906_181921
Damian Powell is our government reporter for the smaller municipalities in the OKC metro such as Moore, Norman, Bethany, and Warr Acres. Damian is studying Political Science at the University of Oklahoma.
