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The first seven months of 2021 is shaping up to be a good year for new construction in Bartlesville, with the City of Bartlesville issuing permits totaling about $24 million over the valuation of the entire 12-month period of 2020, Community Development Director Lisa Beeman said this week.

"Construction was slow in 2020, likely due to the COVID pandemic," Beeman said. "But when we look at all of 2020 compared to year to date 2021, our construction activity in the first seven months of this year is already $24 million higher in terms of valuation than all of last year. That is because of new commercial and new residential construction, with even more new residential construction expected to come in soon."

Beeman said that through the end of July, new residential construction permits show an average of 3,000 square foot homes with an average valuation of $285,000. She said permits have been issued for six new commercial projects and 18 new single family residential projects. Overall, 1,037 permits have been issued through July — compared to 1,597 in 2020.

"So, building activity is looking good. Our inspectors are staying very busy with the necessary inspections and trying to get these projects built and occupied as soon as possible."

Photo courtesy Vel Chuklanov, Unsplash

Sales tax revenue for August is up 10.3 percent compared to the same period last year, CFO/City Clerk Jason Muninger said Monday.

"Our August deposit was $1,911,343, compared to $1,732,491 for August 2020," Muninger said.

Muninger said the upward trend is likely due to increased local shopping and the issuance of federal and tribal stimulus funds.

"It's impossible to say exactly why our sales tax revenue has been consistently higher compared to the same periods last year, but the increases do coincide with the issuance of stimulus funds by the federal government as well as the Cherokee Nation," he said. "Bartlesville residents shopping locally has almost certainly had a big impact as well, a trend that we hope will continue well after the pandemic is no longer an issue."

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Meetings between negotiators representing the City of Bartlesville and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 200 resumed last week, and City officials say they are hopeful an agreement will be reached before the matter reaches arbitration.

The City is required to negotiate annual contracts with the IAFF Local 200, which represents firefighters, as well as the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 117, which represents Bartlesville police officers. While an agreement has been reached with the FOP for a 2021-22 Fiscal Year contract, negotiations for a new contract with the IAFF had stalled.

Following several weeks with no response to the City's last offer, City Attorney Jess Kane recently began steps to have the matter decided through arbitration. Arbitration is an adversarial procedure resembling a legal hearing in which both sides present their case to an arbitrator, who is appointed by both sides. If an agreement isn't reached by the time of arbitration, the arbitrator will render a finding in favor of either the City's or the union's "last, best offer." If the ruling is in favor of the union, the City has the option of asking Bartlesville voters to decide the final outcome.

Arbitration is set for Oct. 25-26. City and IAFF negotiators are set to meet again on Aug. 24.

Local schools will resume classes this week and Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles has a message for drivers: Beginning Thursday, there will be zero tolerance for traffic violations in or near school zones.

"There won't be any exceptions," Roles said. "Anyone who a commits traffic violation in or near a school zone will be cited accordingly. This is a 'no tolerance' policy."

Drivers should take care to avoid the following violations, Roles said:

"We understand it's an adjustment — we're all get used to not having to worry about school zones during the summer months," Roles said. "But it's important that we all slow down and keep our students' safety, as well as the safety of teachers and parents, top of mind as they begin their new school year."

Renovation of the Caney River Pump Station is set to get underway this fall — bringing the City's long-awaited Water Reuse System one step closer to completion, Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said this week.

In addition to obtaining additional water rights at Copan Lake, water reuse is one of the long-range measures the City is taking to help ensure potable water availability for the next 100 years.

Water reuse is made possible through the Oklahoma "Water for 2060" law, the goal of which is to consume no more fresh water in the year 2060 than was consumed statewide in the year 2012, while continuing to grow the population and economy of Oklahoma.

"The way to achieve this goal is through utilizing existing water supplies more efficiently and expanding the use of alternatives such as water reuse and other non-potable water supplies," said Lauritsen, noting that El Paso, Las Vegas and Phoenix have implemented reuse systems with good results.

"The law instructs the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, the regulatory arm of the State, to develop regulations and encourage water reuse, which allows cities opportunities for wastewater to be recycled and retreated for its public water supply. It allows the two systems to work together in a more cost effective, efficient and sustainable way that wasn’t possible before."

The system will require the construction/installation of infrastructure that will consist of a pump station at the wastewater treatment plant and an underground pipeline transporting the water to the Caney River just south of the County Road West 1500 bridge.

"This will allow the City to utilize treated wastewater to augment the yield of the Caney River during periods of drought, which serves as one of the City’s main water sources," Lauritsen said. "We will pump treated wastewater upstream (of the) Caney River and allow it to blend with existing river water, then send it to the water treatment plant for further treatment and, from there, to our water customers."

Part of the reuse project includes renovation of the Caney River Pump Station, the City's original pump station, which is located in Johnstone Park.

A $1.2 million project, the renovation involves replacing all pumps at the station as well as exterior repairs. Contract company Crossland Construction will start work on the renovation in September or October, depending on administrative aspects of the project, Lauritsen said.

The entire reuse system is expected to cost around $8.2 million, which will be funded partially through grant funding but primarily with Water Capital Investment Fees. Implementation of the entire system is targeted for completion late next year.

In December 2020, Lime Scooters launched a program in Bartlesville that made electric scooters accessible to residents and visitors for recreation and local transportation purposes. Bird Rides followed shortly, with its program becoming active in February. Since then, nearly 2,500 rides have been taken on the scooters. Community Development Director Lisa Beeman shares the details in this week's Director's Cut.

Beeman: Reports from both companies indicate ridership has been consistently high in Bartlesville — with the exception of February, which, as you'll recall, was extremely cold and weather prohibitive. So, with the exception of an extremely cold February, ridership of electric scooters in Bartlesville has averaged 2,459 rides per month, or 79 rides per day, and 3,249 miles per month, or 104.8 miles per day, for both recreation and transportation use. In total, riders have taken 15,149 trips and covered 19,894.22 miles on electric scooters in Bartlesville.

Representatives of both Lime and Bird have said they are happy with the current operation of their programs and plan to continue to offer this service to the public.

Preliminary reports indicate people are using them for both. I have asked each company for the breakdown of the data collected to provide an overview of the average trips by day and time of the week, as well as more detailed information on routes, origins and destinations to the extent that can be summarized by each company.

Based upon ridership mapping, the greatest use of electric scooters is located in the downtown central business district and the surrounding area. But they are used in other parts of the city as well, and we know riders are utilizing the Pathfinder Parkway trail system to connect with other areas of town.

Bird and Lime each have contract employees who retrieve the scooters. After being recharged each night (as needed), the scooters are placed each morning in locations based upon an analysis of ridership demand and usage. They City doesn't have any involvement beyond allowing the companies to operate their programs here.

According to the Police Department, there have been no major issues — no accidents, injuries or citations regarding the use of electric scooters in our city. Early in the program, we did receive two complaints from people about riding electric scooters on downtown sidewalks, but the riders were unidentified. As a result of those complaints, the police were instructed to stop people who are riding on downtown sidewalks and issue warnings.

Both programs are free to taxpayers. In fact, Bird and Lime pay the City $200 per month to use our right of ways, so we actually make money from the programs.

Bartlesville got its groove on Friday at the "Salsa North of Tulsa" event held at Unity Square, 300 S.E. Adams Blvd. The event, part of the 2021 Sizzlin' Summer Series sponsored by the Bartlesville Community Center, featured free salsa dance lessons, music by Zodiac and Latin cuisine. Unity Square is maintained and operated by the BCC, which also handles programming for the park, and the Price Tower.

Operation Clean House will be held this year on Sept. 18. Items will be accepted between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. at two drop-off locations:

Board applications are located online and in the city manager’s office, located on the second floor of City Hall, 401 S. Johnstone Ave. Applications are kept on file for two years. To view a complete list, see Boards, Committees & Commissions.

For more information, visit the City's website, www.cityofbartlesville.org.

Construction Crew Leader - Water Department

Sanitation Collector II - Public Works

Fiscal Technician - Accounting & Finance

Maintenance Worker - Parks

Summer help - Parks

Building Inspector - Community Development

Maintenance Worker - Street Department

Police Dispatcher - Police Department

Wastewater Utility Maintenance Worker - Water Utilities

Water Distribution Utility Maintenance Worker - Water Utilities

For an application or more information, visit the City's website, www.cityofbartlesville.org.

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Kelli Williams, Editor

401 S. Johnstone Ave.

Bartlesville, OK 74003

918-338-4132