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"Alan has played a significant role in implementing several projects that have helped move our city forward in his tenure as Ward 4 councilor and vice mayor," said City Manager Mike Bailey. "His leadership in resolving a long-standing dispute involving downtown landscaping and the implementation of the City's transportation committee, which works to enhance City services for those needing more transit options, are only two of his many accomplishments while on the council.

"Perhaps most notably, he worked to pass funding for what became the Tower Center at Unity Square project and chaired the committee that oversaw the design of the park. These are in addition to his every-day work in representing his constituents and helping to lead our city through these trying months of the pandemic. I know I speak for all of us at the City in saying Alan will be missed on the council. We certainly wish him the best."

Extremely cold temperatures and several inches of snow over a four-day period last week presented some challenges for City staff in delivering City services, but overall everything went as smoothly as could be expected, City Manager Mike Bailey said Monday.

"We did have some obstacles we had to overcome to continue picking up trash, sanding roads and fixing waterline breaks, but City staff did a great job in keeping things running throughout last week's weather event, the likes of which we really haven't seen before," Bailey said.

Public Works Director Keith Henry said some pieces of equipment, particularly those with diesel engines, failed to start or run due to cold temperatures.

"They don't like the cold, apparently," Henry said. "We do a lot of prep work by adding fuel additives to our machines before cold weather hits, but we still had some issues this time around. But in the end we were able to serve our customers and did our best to get everybody taken of."

Bailey said Water Department crews also had issues when the pumps that are used to fix water leaks froze, slowing down leak repair work, and that some trucks had difficulty navigating the snow and ice.

"The lines to the pumps kept freezing, so there was that to deal with as well," he said. "But Street Department staff did a great job of keeping those areas treated until the lines could be fixed. And at one point we had to send a sand truck to lead a fire truck to the scene of a call they were responding to but couldn't get through the ice and snow. At another time, we had to send a sand truck to rescue another sand truck.

"These are not things we typically have to deal with, but this event was different than any we remember seeing in recent history, both in how cold it was and how long it lasted. It was quite an event, and one that I hope we don't see again."

Henry said that even though large amounts of sand and salt were used to clear roadways, the City still has a good supply.

"We typically stock 1,500 to 2,000 tons of material to treat our roads on an annual basis," Henry said. "We have already replenished part of our sand supply, and while we still have salt, it takes a little longer to come in than sand. We expect more salt will arrive soon."

Police Chief Tracy Roles said no fatality or serious injury accidents occurred during the event.

"We had some slide-offs and people getting stuck in the snow, but that's about it," Roles said. "We had very few collisions, which I think is due to the citizens doing such a good job of staying off the roads as much as possible, and because our Street Department crews got out and did a good job of keeping the roads clear. That really kept the crashes down."

A few City services were inoperable during the event, but for the most part, it was business — if not quite as usual, as close to usual as possible.

"We did have to close the recycle center and the golf course, mostly because no one wants to play a round of golf when it's 20-below with nine inches of snow on the ground, but otherwise, we kept everything up and running," Bailey said.

"I want to thank all the emergency service workers in Bartlesville for their performance last week, but I'm particularly grateful to the ones who work for the City of Bartlesville," he said. "Our employees did an outstanding job in making sure City services continued as seamlessly as possible despite what at times felt like insurmountable challenges. Their dedication, professionalism and hard work is second to none and greatly appreciated."

With the recent cold weather, many City utility customers have experienced a leak on their water service line. But thanks to the City's leak adjustment program, relief is available for customers with high water bills resulting from a leak.

Due to the historic nature of the recent weather, the City will provide several exceptions to the leak adjustment policy, including waiving good payment history, no leak adjustment within the last 12 months, and extending the window for requesting assistance to 25 business days from the date the leak was fixed, said Chief Financial Officer and City Clerk Jason Muninger.

“The leak adjustment policy forms are located on the City’s website, and the completed form with receipts can be either mailed to City of Bartlesville, attention Utility Billing, 401 S. Johnstone Ave., Bartlesville, OK 74003, hand delivered to the utility window on the first floor of City Hall or emailed to utilitybilling@cityofbartlesville.org," said Utility Billing Supervisor Tammy Hudgens.

For more information, contact the Utility Billing Department at 918.338.4224 or email utilitybilling@cityofbartlesville.org.

Actually, there are a couple of things going on that are seemingly related — and they are related (kind of), but mostly they're not related at all. Let me explain.

First, a little background. About eight years ago, the City implemented an automated meter reading system that allows staff to determine water usage remotely as well as access specific information regarding individual accounts, including water usage on an hourly basis and indications of leaks in the system — the most common cause of increased water usage, i.e., higher utility bill totals. Essentially, the system permits staff to view specific information related to individual accounts to better assist customers who have questions about their account or feel they have been overcharged.

Problems with the system began not long into the eight-year period but have substantially increased in recent years. Specifically, the City began seeing a relatively high rate of failure with the meter transmitters, a small part, called a node, that sits on top of the meter. These parts are under warranty (with two years left go) and the company, Mueller Water Products, has replaced them according to the agreement — albeit in a timeframe that has City staff, shall we say, less than impressed.

At one point, upwards of 30 percent of these transmitters were in a failed state while the City awaited the arrival of new parts from the manufacturer. With these transmitters out of service, the Water Utilities Department relied on the old-fashioned way of doing things: City staff began reading these meters manually.

Manual reading is mostly an accurate way of doing things, however inefficient it may be for the department having to provide the manpower to conduct it. But while mostly accurate, human error is always a possibility, which is why the City chose to invest in an automated system to begin with. Also, imagine tight, underground spaces with debris and dirt-covered meters that haven't been manually read for years. It stands to reason the human error factor could be increased due to this alone.

To account for errors, anytime a water customer with a manually-read meter contacts the City about their bill, an employee is sent back to the residence to re-read the meter. If the previous reading holds, nothing changes. If the previous reading was in error, adjustments are made accordingly to the customer's bill.

In all, 19,000 transmitter batteries have been replaced for the City's 16,000 meter system. In other words, the entire system has been replaced — and then some. Currently, 15-20 percent of the system's accounts are being read manually due to transmitter failures as the City awaits replacement parts from the manufacturer.

Which brings us to the question of what is being done to ensure this doesn't continue to happen. Two known options are to upgrade the existing system with the same company for an estimated cost of $250,000, or invest in an altogether new system — for a whopping estimated $5 million. (Worth mentioning is assurances from the manufacturer that the faulty parts have been improved and an upgraded system would not fail as the previous one did.) The money exists for the former, through Water Capital Fund fees, but would need to be identified for the latter.

How the City proceeds to remedy this situation will be a matter for the Bartlesville City Council. City staff is currently researching options to present to the council in an upcoming meeting. More information will be available at that time.

The Bartlesville Area History Museum will present “Search the ‘Ville,” a new series of history-based scavenger hunts and challenges, beginning next month, museum spokespersons announced recently.

For more information, see BAHM's Facebook’s events page.  

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

Construction Equipment Operator - Water Department

Construction Laborer - Water Department

Sanitation Collector - Public Works

Maintenance Worker - Wastewater

Maintenance Worker - Water Distribution

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