City Beat September 14, 2021

City Beat

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September 14, 2021

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News & Updates

Hillcrest Drive nears substantial completion

Contractor moves to have new road open to traffic by Monday

The long awaited Hillcrest Drive Rehabilitation Project is mere days away from being substantially complete enough to accommodate traffic on the new road — with contract crews taking advantage of a necessary closure to move the project "far ahead" of schedule, Director of Engineering Micah Siemers said this week.

"The contractor is moving much more quickly on this project than anticipated," Siemers said Monday. "We realize closure of the road for the past two weeks has been an inconvenience, but contractor Brent Bell Construction has taken full advantage of the opportunity provided by the closure and is very close to having the new road open for traffic. If all goes well, it will be opened up Monday."

While the project has been ongoing since April and detours have been in place in the immediate area throughout, this is the third week of a planned, full three-week closure of the road, with traffic detoured just west of the roundabout at Silver Lake Road and Price Road and on Shawnee Avenue near Bartlesville High School.

"The goal of closing the road completely was to construct the connection between the new alignment and the existing alignment at the Caney River in a shorter period of time than if we kept one lane open with the temporary traffic signals," Siemers said. "The contractor has exceeded our expectations for what could be accomplished by doing this."

He said the full closure has worked very well because contract crews have also been able to work on other areas that would have proven difficult if the road had still been open to traffic while subcontractors continued to work on remaining items at the river connection.

Siemers said contract crews constructed the connection at the river last week and laid the base lifts of asphalt there Friday morning.

"They have also been able to construct the Shawnee Avenue turn lane and connection and have the base lifts of asphalt there as well," he said. "This work was being completed while the concrete subcontractor was forming and pouring curb and gutter at the river connection. Also, while that work was ongoing, they have been working on grading the drainage ditch on the west side of the project and have sodded that area."

Siemers said workers began laying the top lift of asphalt on the entire roadway, including the river connection, on Monday.

"If all goes well, they will finish laying asphalt by mid-week this week, and the striping crew will move in to stripe the entire project this Friday," he said.

Street signage will be installed then as well, he said.

Siemers said at the end of the three week closure — slated for Monday, Sept. 20 — the new roadway will be complete and traffic will be opened up on the new alignment.

"Most likely we won’t even have to keep Shawnee closed after this phase as originally planned due to the amount of progress they have made," Siemers said. "At that point, the remaining work will be finishing grading and drainage between the new road and what will be left of the existing roadway that will be used for trail and generally cleaning up the site and moving towards completion."

Siemers said there may be some remaining work on drainage structures at the south end of the project, but the contractor can work on those areas via the old roadway/trail if necessary to avoid disrupting traffic.

"While I still don’t have a hard date for completion, they are on track to have this wrapped up well before we expected later this year," Siemers said. "It is likely they will be finished in early fall rather than towards the end of the year, assuming favorable weather conditions continue.

"The contractor, Brent Bell Construction, has done an excellent job manning the project and keeping progress moving to finish as quickly as possible. Thankfully the really wet conditions early in the project lifted and they have taken full advantage of good weather."

Sales tax revenue up nearly 15 percent

Sales tax revenues have hit another record month with September collections up nearly 15 percent over the same period last year, CFO/City Clerk/Treasurer Jason Muninger said this week.

The September Sales Tax Report, which reflects sales that occurred in July, indicates the City's sales tax revenue for the month totaled $1.86 million, well over previous receipts for sales during the same period, Muninger said.

"I don't believe we've ever seen even $1.7 million, let alone $1.86 million, for the month of September," he said. "This month alone was $250,000 above budget anticipation, and a 14.7 percent increase over the same period last year."

September is the third month in the City's fiscal year, which began July 1, and the third in a row to set a new record for sales tax collection. The July report showed a 8 percent increase over July 2020, and the August report reflected an increase of 10.3 percent over the previous year.

The upward trend is a continuation of the entire 2020-21 fiscal year, with the City ending the year in June 5.5 percent over the prior year’s sales tax collections, which was 11.2 percent over the anticipated budget.

"The trend is surprising but certainly welcome," Muninger said. "In our budget preparations last year, we expected people to exercise more cautionary spending due to the pandemic. And that could still well be the case, but either way, these collections show that more people are shopping locally, and that is always a good thing for the local economy."

Muninger said federal, as well as Cherokee Nation, stimulus dollars have also played a role.

"We're very certain stimulus money has played into this, so we're not sure of what effect it will have when that starts winding down," he said.

Muninger said cities across Oklahoma are seeing similar increases in sales tax revenues.

"In the past, there was a lot of leakage outside our area to other municipalities," he said. "That has changed, and in that way we aren't any different than our sister cities across the state."

Daniels Fields restrooms closed due to fire

A Monday morning fire at the Daniels Fields restrooms, located on Adams Boulevard near Silver Lake Road, caused extensive damage to the inside of the facilities. The restrooms will remain closed pending a remodel.

Restrooms at soccer field closed pending remodel

The restrooms at Daniels Soccer Fields, located at 2200 S.E. Adams Blvd., are closed indefinitely after a fire Monday morning completely totaled the facilities.

The fire is the second in recent days at City-owned park restrooms. Facilities in Johnstone Park, located near the Richard Kane YMCA, were also damaged but are being repaired.

"We were able to pressure wash the restrooms in Johnstone Park and should have it open by the end of the day," Parks Superintendent Bobby Robinson said this morning. "But there is extensive damage to the Daniels Fields restrooms, so those facilities will be closed until a remodel can be done."

It is unknown at this time when that will occur, Robinson said.

"We will need to get estimates on the damage and determine funding and manpower availability before we can say when the repairs can be made," he said.

The cause of the fires is under investigation.

Frank Phillips Water Line Project nears completion

The Frank Phillips Water Line Replacement Project underway along Frank Phillips between U.S. Highway 75 and Silver Lake Road is about two months out from being complete, Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said this week.

"All the pipe is in the ground, so all that remains to be done is flushing and disinfection, which will take approximately two weeks, and the tie-ins for all the services and the lines that we're replacing, which will take at least another two weeks," Lauritsen said. "We should be finished with everything in one and a half to two months.

The project, which got underway in February, involves replacing two 60-plus-year-old water lines with a 20-inch line. The line is one of the main feeds for the nearby hospital and for the City's "Hot, Warm and Cold" tanks.

Bellanca Fly-in set for September 18 at airport

The fourth annual Bellanca Fly-in will be held this month at Bartlesville Municipal Airport.

The fly-in is scheduled for Sept. 15-19 with the public portion of the event set for Sept. 18. The public event will be held 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $5.

Bartlesville Lions Club will hold its annual fundraiser lunch and — in celebration of 100 years in Bartlesville — will add breakfast to its fundraising efforts this year as well.

Your Questions

ODOT to start U.S. 75 project soon; Council clears path for cable service

By Kelli Williams

I saw on Next Door that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is going to start work on the $5.7 million Highway 75 project by Sept. 20 or Sept. 27. Is that true?

The $5,665,000 Oklahoma Department of Transportation project is a mill and overlay of U.S. Highway 75 from Road 2400 to just south of Frank Phillips Boulevard. The project is included in the State's 8-year Plan for District 8 and is set to begin in late September. City staff will meet with the contractor on the project this week to discuss details, including the exact start date, and upcoming lane/road closures. More information will be released as it becomes available from the contractor and/or ODOT.

Cable company query

(There was a) lengthy legal notice was in Saturday's newspaper. Tell me what this means. Is Sparklight selling to Clarity? Is Bartlesville going to have two cable companies? Since this is a non-exclusive permit, is there any assurance that the service will be any better than the current providers? Is there any oversight committee that the City has empowered to see that there is a level of service that the citizens can be assured that this will give us better service than is an improvement over the current provider?

This item was discussed at the Sept. 7 meeting of the Bartlesville City Council and got a unanimous vote of support from the council following the discussion. To watch this portion of the meeting, see Item No. 10 on the City's webcast.

Essentially, the council voted to authorize a franchise agreement with Clarity Telecom LLC that is similar to agreements the City holds with other utility providers, including Sparklight, which currently provides cable and Internet services in Bartlesville. The agreement approved Sept. 7 would allow Clarity Telecom, a subsidiary of Vast Broadband, to offer cable and Internet service in Bartlesville in exchange for 5 percent of the gross revenues for both services and from advertising.

While the agreement paves the way for the company to do business in Bartlesville, the City is not in any way associated with the business (or any other business holding a franchise agreement with the City) and, therefore, has no oversight of its services or customer satisfaction.

No word from Jimmy's Egg

I noticed the Bricktown Brewery is breaking ground in the parking lot area by CVS Pharmacy. My question is, have you heard anything yet from Jimmy's Egg?

The Bricktown Brewery construction (at the former Kmart site) will include space for a second business at the site as planned, but it may or may not be Jimmy's Egg. The restaurant had planned to occupy the space but hit "pause" on the project when the pandemic started. As of today, the Bartlesville Development Authority has not received any updated information from Jimmy's Egg about the location. For more/background information on this see https://www.cityofbartlesville.org/qa-bricktown-brewery-construction-set-spring/.

PSAs

Volunteer Opportunities

Board, Committee & Commission Openings

The City of Bartlesville has numerous boards, committees and commissions that are driven by citizen volunteers. All citizens are encouraged and welcome to apply.

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.

The City currently has the following committee/board openings: