Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's
Speaker 1: time now for our City Matters program. It matters to you,
Speaker 1: it matters to the city, of course it does. And
Speaker 1: right now we have miss Laura here. How are you doing,
Speaker 1: young lady.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Thank you, well, super We got a
Speaker 2: house full.
Speaker 3: Today, we do.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 5: We've got lots going on at the city and so
Speaker 5: lots to share today.
Speaker 2: On with it all right, So the first thing.
Speaker 5: I wanted to talk about this morning was our Citizens Academy.
Speaker 5: So this is the final week of accepting applications for
Speaker 5: our second annual Citizens Academy. And so this is not
Speaker 5: to be confused with our Police Department Citizens Academy. This
Speaker 5: is the city wide Citizens Academy. So participants can expect
Speaker 5: to go to all the different departments within the city
Speaker 5: and meet city staff and really see where their tax
Speaker 5: dollars are being spent and how daily operations are going
Speaker 5: each day. And so we do tours of all the
Speaker 5: different facilities, including the wastewater treatment plant, the water plant,
Speaker 5: the police department, fire department. We go to all of
Speaker 5: the different departments and so it's a really great deep
Speaker 5: dive into city government and so.
Speaker 2: We encourage people to apply. And so if you are.
Speaker 5: Interested, you must be at least eighteen years of age
Speaker 5: or older. You have to meet one of the following criteria.
Speaker 5: You either have to be a resident of Bartlesville, employed
Speaker 5: full time in Bartlesville, or own a business in Bartlesville.
Speaker 5: And if you meet that criteria, we encourage you to
Speaker 5: apply at our website at Cityobartlesville dot org and you'll
Speaker 5: apply for the Citizens Academy.
Speaker 2: And it's a very short application.
Speaker 5: So the selection process or i'm sorry not the selection process,
Speaker 5: but the application process will end on the thirty first,
Speaker 5: so they have until Thursday to put in their applications
Speaker 5: and then the sessions will start on September fourth, so
Speaker 5: it's every other Thursday from one to five and it
Speaker 5: will last until November thirteenth, so we'll finish kind of
Speaker 5: wrap it up right before the Thanksgiving holiday, and then
Speaker 5: we will have a December council meeting graduation and so
Speaker 5: it's an exciting time and I encourage anybody that's interested
Speaker 5: to apply. We will select twenty participants this year. We
Speaker 5: try to keep the class smaller, a little more intimate.
Speaker 5: That way, it's easier to go through all the different
Speaker 5: departments and it's very informal. They have questions, they can
Speaker 5: ask those questions, and it's easier to do that when
Speaker 5: there's just twenty as.
Speaker 2: Opposed to a larger group.
Speaker 5: And then of course I do have to give a
Speaker 5: shout out to Tri County Tech because we partner with
Speaker 5: them on the transportation, so they provide all of the
Speaker 5: bus and the bus driver to take everybody on the
Speaker 5: tours into.
Speaker 2: All the different facilities.
Speaker 5: So yeah, that's what we've got going for the Citizens Academy,
Speaker 5: and again I encourage people to apply.
Speaker 2: You have them till July thirty.
Speaker 5: First, next up we have a golf course update. So
Speaker 5: I've got d Roadman here.
Speaker 2: He's our.
Speaker 5: Sorry working out our mics. He is our golf director.
Speaker 5: And so what's going up golf course do Well, a lot.
Speaker 3: Of things, a lot in a short amount of time
Speaker 3: to get open.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're just trying to get ready, trying to kind
Speaker 6: of going through our punch list, final detail stuff, you know,
Speaker 6: about three and a half weeks from our community day
Speaker 6: and then we're going to do a grand opening shotgun
Speaker 6: the following day, that Saturday.
Speaker 3: So we've got a lot coming up here.
Speaker 6: Pretty quickly, so we're trying to scramble to get as
Speaker 6: much done as we can before we get get the
Speaker 6: course back open again.
Speaker 3: Very good.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So the community Day, everybody's invited to that. That
Speaker 5: will be from ten am to one pm. And what
Speaker 5: can they expect that community Day?
Speaker 6: We just want people to come out and we encourage
Speaker 6: them to do. They can come out and walk the
Speaker 6: course if they like, or just bring their putters and
Speaker 6: but on the few of the greens that are near
Speaker 6: the clubhouse, they want to walk out too far on
Speaker 6: the golf course, but they're more welcome just kind of
Speaker 6: check things out.
Speaker 3: Meet the new staff.
Speaker 6: Obviously, we have a lot of new faces including myself
Speaker 6: out there that people probably haven't met us before in
Speaker 6: our new staff as well, So give give an opportunity
Speaker 6: to meet some of the some of the golfers that'll be.
Speaker 3: Coming out and also meet us.
Speaker 6: And then we'll have food truck and drink and just
Speaker 6: let people kind of meal around and we'll have I
Speaker 6: believe the opening ribbon cutting ceremony as well that day
Speaker 6: as well to commenced the opening of the golf course.
Speaker 5: Yep. So again that is on August twenty second, so
Speaker 5: that is on a Friday, and it's from ten am
Speaker 5: to one pm, and everybody's invited to attend that. Come
Speaker 5: out and get you some food, bring your putters, put around,
Speaker 5: meet the staff, and we'll also have a live radio
Speaker 5: broadcast that day from the course, and so it'll be
Speaker 5: an exciting time for everybody to kind of see what
Speaker 5: the course looks like and to meet d and all
Speaker 5: of his staff.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 5: I'd seen some emails bouncing around that are new carts
Speaker 5: are coming in this week?
Speaker 6: Is that the Yeah, they're arriving today. In fact, they
Speaker 6: dropped off before I got here. So there, we'll have
Speaker 6: all the carts here by the end of the day.
Speaker 3: Then we got a uh, you know.
Speaker 6: We have GPS on the carts as well, so we'll
Speaker 6: take us a few weeks to get all that set
Speaker 6: up for the enjoyment of the golfers.
Speaker 1: So I have GPS available to put on my ball
Speaker 1: because I lose.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe out of luck on that unfortunately, I ask me.
Speaker 5: So with these I know that there is there's some
Speaker 5: benefit to having these GPS cards. Can you explain to
Speaker 5: us what what the GPS does for the cards or
Speaker 5: for the course and for the golfer as well.
Speaker 6: As far as the golfer just gives them a gives
Speaker 6: them pretty accurate gardage from where they are to the
Speaker 6: location of the pen and the center of the greens.
Speaker 6: And also for the golfers haven't played out there before,
Speaker 6: it'll give them a layout of the hole when they
Speaker 6: get into the t box somewhere, how far out the
Speaker 6: bunk their way bunkers are, and you know, so they
Speaker 6: can have a good club selection they've never played there before.
Speaker 6: As far as the golf course, it gives us the
Speaker 6: benefit of being able to communicate with the golfers each
Speaker 6: individual card or a Pacific cart. If we can get
Speaker 6: old somebody or there's implement whether coming, we can pull
Speaker 6: them in off the course. And also the main benefit
Speaker 6: it helps us control where the carts go as well.
Speaker 6: That way of say its car pass only that day
Speaker 6: we can control and keep the carts on the pass
Speaker 6: so the golf course doesn't get redded up from people
Speaker 6: driving off the pass very much. So that's one of
Speaker 6: the main benefits of having GPS is having the control of.
Speaker 3: The golf cart good.
Speaker 2: And then these are going to be the easy go
Speaker 2: electric or lithium.
Speaker 6: Yeah, lithium ion, which is kind of the latest and greatest.
Speaker 6: The old Avil battery days are pretty much becoming extinct,
Speaker 6: so the lithium ions will last up to fight over
Speaker 6: five years. So they go you can go over about
Speaker 6: twenty eight over twenty eight miles on a single charge,
Speaker 6: so they hold their charge for a very long time,
Speaker 6: so they're real nice and efficient.
Speaker 2: So again, community Day is August twenty second.
Speaker 5: The day after which is August twenty third, on a Saturday,
Speaker 5: we'll have our grand reopening shotgun that will start at
Speaker 5: nine am. It is limited to one hundred players and
Speaker 5: so these would be the players that we'll get to
Speaker 5: be the first to play.
Speaker 2: On these new greens, and.
Speaker 5: So we will have when can they expect to be
Speaker 5: able to register for that event.
Speaker 6: We'll have some information posted later this week as far
Speaker 6: as how they can sign up and get registered for that,
Speaker 6: So we'll get that here next few days and get
Speaker 6: that out to everybody.
Speaker 5: So then from the twenty fourth through the first of September,
Speaker 5: we will have limited tea time. So for those that
Speaker 5: want to play the course and maybe don't get an
Speaker 5: opportunity to do the shotgun reopening, they can maybe sign
Speaker 5: up for one of these limited time spots after August
Speaker 5: twenty fourth, and then we'll have a full reopening of
Speaker 5: the course on September second. So lots of cool things
Speaker 5: happening at the golf course and so we hope to
Speaker 5: see everybody there at the August twenty second event.
Speaker 2: And do you have anything else that you want to.
Speaker 6: Add or Yeah, we just look forward to having people
Speaker 6: come out and see all the changes.
Speaker 3: The staff and Jones.
Speaker 6: Plan, who was our contractor, did all the heavy lifting
Speaker 6: of all the stuff that's been done out there.
Speaker 3: They've worked really hard over these last several months or opening.
Speaker 6: Everybody won't come out and really enjoy all the changes
Speaker 6: at the golf coursing if it's a chance to meet
Speaker 6: everybody as well.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks Duve. So next up, I wanted to
Speaker 2: talk about the airport.
Speaker 5: And it's funny because these are kind of some they've
Speaker 5: got some really cool things going on at the golf
Speaker 5: course and the airport, and I get the benefit of
Speaker 5: overseeing both of those departments. So it's been kind of
Speaker 5: a cool experience to be able to see all the
Speaker 5: the changes and all the new things going on out there.
Speaker 5: So we've got Mike Richardson here, he's our airport director
Speaker 5: to give us an airport update.
Speaker 7: Thanks, Laura, appreciate it. It feels like a Monday man.
Speaker 7: It's it's a roaster out there again.
Speaker 3: Today it does.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we're really excited about a new hangar bill. It's
Speaker 7: been made possible by the BDA, the Bartlesbell Development Authority
Speaker 7: and a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics.
Speaker 7: They're funding forty percent of this project. No cab, so
Speaker 7: we're looking at about two point three eight million for
Speaker 7: the grant and about three million on the BDA side
Speaker 7: of it.
Speaker 3: This was.
Speaker 7: A project to develop on the new taxi lane and
Speaker 7: it's developing on the east side of the airport. It's
Speaker 7: going to be a one thirty large box with a
Speaker 7: thirty eight foot door opening. Could probably house an aircraft
Speaker 7: up to the size of about a Nimbryer one seventy,
Speaker 7: which was a pretty good sized aircraft.
Speaker 8: The uh.
Speaker 3: I wanted to talk to also a.
Speaker 7: Little bit about I got a question the other day,
Speaker 7: did you have any questions about the hanger?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 5: What do we have do re envision what we're going
Speaker 5: to use that hanger?
Speaker 7: For what Yes, So I was primarily designed as an
Speaker 7: m RO hangar, which is maintenance, repair and overhaul, So
Speaker 7: that was kind of the envisioning. Re envisioning of the
Speaker 7: east side development for hanger development would be support maintenance,
Speaker 7: repair and overhaul activities. We currently have an m RO
Speaker 7: on the field Phoenix Rising Aviation, and they're looking to expand.
Speaker 7: We might attract an outside business that it looks like
Speaker 7: they have some interest in the new hangar, so we'll
Speaker 7: see where that goes. There's it's this taxi lane that
Speaker 7: was built into the east side of the airport was
Speaker 7: a fifty foot wide and a thirty five foot wide.
Speaker 7: The thirty five foot wide south was built mainly to
Speaker 7: support private hangar development. So we've got some interest from
Speaker 7: a few individuals already about building private hangar development. So
Speaker 7: we'll be developing ground leases to support those type of builds,
Speaker 7: projects and operations. I got an interesting call the other
Speaker 7: day from it was actually an email, not a call,
Speaker 7: but somebody asked about what is the benefit of the
Speaker 7: airport to the average martins Martinsville citizen, and I thought,
Speaker 7: you know, that's probably something that we should probably talk about.
Speaker 7: The airport is an economic driver connects to the national
Speaker 7: and global market as well through the ease of travel.
Speaker 7: The airport supports upwards of probably fifty to sixty employees
Speaker 7: pilot's mechanics line service, there's pipeline patrol. There's a numerous
Speaker 7: activities from different various groups supply in and out of
Speaker 7: the airport. The USDA actually flies up here and hunts
Speaker 7: coyotes and wild pigs during the ranching caving season to
Speaker 7: protect the ranchers animals. We have two ag sprayers on
Speaker 7: the field. The spray a lot of the local ranches,
Speaker 7: crops and things of that nature. Like I mentioned the
Speaker 7: pipeline patrol. Yeah, Conoco Phillips has resumed their shuttle operation
Speaker 7: and they're they're in UH two or three times a
Speaker 7: week every week. Aerial surveyors. The UH texture on Aviation
Speaker 7: is used utilized our airfield for hangar storage. Air EBAC
Speaker 7: is another big big user of the field. Vance Air
Speaker 7: Force Base, the T six, They do Sordi flights, They
Speaker 7: do approach instrument work on our airfield. So there's a
Speaker 7: there's just a and there's a lot of use for
Speaker 7: the airport that really doesn't get talked about. A lot
Speaker 7: and a lot of people don't really fully understand happens
Speaker 7: in Martinsville.
Speaker 5: Well, and even for myself spending more time out there,
Speaker 5: you see all the traffic coming in and out of that,
Speaker 5: you know that airport, and so I don't know that
Speaker 5: the average person realizes that there's that much traffic at
Speaker 5: an air a musical airport.
Speaker 7: I guess it's a really good place to flight train
Speaker 7: because we don't have a you know, tallso behind one
Speaker 7: hundred tales trying to take off, you can get in
Speaker 7: and you can get out. It's not a high traffic airport,
Speaker 7: but it's busier than you might think. A lot of
Speaker 7: charter service, cargo haulers doing tech stops from coast to coast.
Speaker 7: We're just in the right spot for amid continent refield.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's just.
Speaker 7: A lot of uses at the airport.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 7: I would like to say thank you to park Hill,
Speaker 7: our Airport Engineering Group, and the ODAA and the Commission
Speaker 7: for their continued support for Bartlesville Airport and a two
Speaker 7: point three eight million dollars grant that the project probably
Speaker 7: would not have happened if for not their benefits.
Speaker 5: So that's a significant investment into the airport.
Speaker 2: And the community as a whole. So we are very
Speaker 2: appreciative of that.
Speaker 4: All right, Is that all you got, Mike?
Speaker 3: I think so at this time.
Speaker 2: All right, well, thank you, thank you. Next up, switching gears.
Speaker 5: We're gonna we brought HR in the room, and I
Speaker 5: know that that's scary for some people.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's why we brought HR.
Speaker 5: So I've got Robin Betts here, she's our HR director
Speaker 5: and she's going to talk to us about what's going
Speaker 5: on in HR, maybe some open positions that we have.
Speaker 8: Yes, and let me start, Mike, do you have an
Speaker 8: intern coming for this school year?
Speaker 7: That's another.
Speaker 8: Tell them just to smidge about the internship program because
Speaker 8: this I love, absolutely love that they do this.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so we we have excuse me, we have partnered
Speaker 7: with the Bartlesville High School for the city, probably longer
Speaker 7: than I have, but since we have been become a
Speaker 7: part of the city for the last three years, this
Speaker 7: will be our fourth school year with an intern and uh,
Speaker 7: it really provides a unique opportunity for a high school
Speaker 7: student to get some firsthand knowledge and experience in whatever
Speaker 7: interest that they might have going forward in college. So
Speaker 7: for us, it's Airport Operations FBO management, are airport management
Speaker 7: and or exposure to flight training and maintenance, so it
Speaker 7: really gives a unique perspective that you wouldn't get otherwise. Yeah,
Speaker 7: it's been really great. We've had some great, great kids.
Speaker 7: One of our interns is has gone on and he's
Speaker 7: flying in the ROTC program Shout out to the Jack
Speaker 7: Auschwitz at o Issu.
Speaker 3: So it's really.
Speaker 7: Really interesting to see where the possibilities can take our
Speaker 7: young folks.
Speaker 8: Yes, I'm sorry to put you on the spot on that,
Speaker 8: but when you were talking and then looking at job openings,
Speaker 8: it's not a paid position, but it's just so cool
Speaker 8: to me that we can partner with the high school
Speaker 8: and these kids get exposure to all kinds of different things.
Speaker 8: We have had one in our department each year too,
Speaker 8: and so that's a lot of fun paid jobs that
Speaker 8: we have posted. Let me go over those really quick.
Speaker 8: So for D at the golf course, we've got beverage
Speaker 8: cart server, which that one I find really interesting. If
Speaker 8: I was younger and wasn't working here, I would be
Speaker 8: applying to that job.
Speaker 4: It's very social.
Speaker 8: You're out there doing big events and the busiest times
Speaker 8: selling beverages off that cart. Greeting the public, getting to
Speaker 8: meet people, visit with people. Just it's great. Tips are involved.
Speaker 8: That's always actually eligible for tip it is which is
Speaker 8: very exciting. Yes, so that one's at the top of
Speaker 8: my list. It is a part time position, so benefits
Speaker 8: don't apply. The hours are going to be roughly what
Speaker 8: twenty hours a week max.
Speaker 4: Type of thing. It's great for a college student.
Speaker 8: They do have to be eighteen years or older because
Speaker 8: of the beverage server's license they have to have, but
Speaker 8: really good job if someone is looking for that part
Speaker 8: time work. We also have, for Larry Curtis over here,
Speaker 8: abatement officer in his department. That is the person that
Speaker 8: takes care of properties that need to be cleaned up
Speaker 8: and things like that. So that is opening up. I
Speaker 8: believe next Monday is when that person transfers to another department.
Speaker 8: And so we also have some maintenance worker positions the
Speaker 8: parks department. It's still mowing season. Bobby needs help out there,
Speaker 8: so parks for mowing, weed eating, all of that.
Speaker 4: We also have.
Speaker 8: Utility worker for water distribution and wastewater. Both are accepting applications.
Speaker 8: The water going in, the water going out.
Speaker 5: We all like that water so back to the parks
Speaker 5: when we actually have temporary and full.
Speaker 2: Time positions there.
Speaker 5: So if it's just a student looking for some work
Speaker 5: through the the busy mowing season, then we've got something
Speaker 5: for you. Or if you're looking for a full time
Speaker 5: job with benefits, we've got that too.
Speaker 8: Absolutely they are looking for both on that one. So
Speaker 8: and then one more thing really quick. Our applicant tracking
Speaker 8: system that we use, it's been a little bit clunky
Speaker 8: and hard to navigate for both the applicants and for
Speaker 8: the hiring managers. We've spent a lot of time the
Speaker 8: last few months looking at different softwares out there. We
Speaker 8: have chosen one We've gone with Neogov. We'll be launching
Speaker 8: that in the next over the next two months be
Speaker 8: live with that. We'll do some testing in August, probably
Speaker 8: in live in September. That should make it so much
Speaker 8: easier for the applicant for that process. They'll be able
Speaker 8: to upload documents such as their resume, which currently they
Speaker 8: cannot do right now, and so that'll be really nice.
Speaker 8: But also for the hiring managers, they're going to have
Speaker 8: cleaner access to it, the ability to look at it
Speaker 8: real time and see as the applications are coming in
Speaker 8: and that kind of thing. It'll help facilitate the interview process,
Speaker 8: the setting up.
Speaker 4: We're really looking forward to that.
Speaker 8: And Karen Tanner, our HR manager's head, and that project up.
Speaker 4: She's been very busy with it, but we're excited.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think it'll be a better experience for everybody involved,
Speaker 5: applicants and have city staff as well, and so it's
Speaker 5: a win for everybody. So before before you step away
Speaker 5: from the mic, let's talk about benefits. One of my
Speaker 5: favorite benefits at the city is our zero Card and
Speaker 5: my favorite let's talk about that for a second.
Speaker 4: Yes, so zero Card is a medical benefit.
Speaker 8: Anyone that's enrolled in our medical plan is automatically enrolled
Speaker 8: in zero Card at no cost.
Speaker 4: Zero Card covers.
Speaker 8: Diagnostic services, MRIs, cat scans, lung scans, you name it.
Speaker 8: And it also covers most surgeries, not all, but most.
Speaker 8: If an employee opts to go through Zero Card through
Speaker 8: that network for the those services, it costs the employee
Speaker 8: absolutely zero, no deductible, no copay, no nothing. It was
Speaker 8: it's been a game changer for our employees that were
Speaker 8: milking an injury along maybe a knee, a shoulder because
Speaker 8: of the expense you go through traditional insurance, you're looking
Speaker 8: at fifty five hundred dollars out of your pocket for
Speaker 8: a surgery for something big zero card. It costs them
Speaker 8: absolutely zero. Our employees were on our.
Speaker 4: Fourth year of it. They are so much healthier now.
Speaker 8: We've had so many people go get those things repaired
Speaker 8: and fixed and going through the process and we see it.
Speaker 8: We've seen happier, healthier employees, and that is to me,
Speaker 8: it's a game change and benefit.
Speaker 2: Absolutely we've got well.
Speaker 5: And it's a win for the city too because it's
Speaker 5: at a reduced cost and so we pay directly instead
Speaker 5: of going through the insurance company. And so it's also
Speaker 5: a win for everybody involved when it will use the
Speaker 5: zero card, and so I always want to share that benefit.
Speaker 2: So, if you're looking for a job and you want.
Speaker 5: To work someplace that's a fun work environment that's got
Speaker 5: excellent pay and benefits.
Speaker 2: The city is the place for you.
Speaker 5: And so you can go to Cityofbartlesville dot org and
Speaker 5: there's a careers I believe it's careers or Job Opportunities
Speaker 5: button that you can select and apply through there.
Speaker 4: And so if you have.
Speaker 8: Any trouble with that feel free to give us a call.
Speaker 8: Our numbers there on that website too, so we'll walk
Speaker 8: you through it if you're struggling with it, because we
Speaker 8: understand it's a little hard to use sometimes.
Speaker 5: And it'll be better in a couple of months. Absolutely,
Speaker 5: just hang with us. Okay, Well, thank you, Robin, thank you.
Speaker 5: So next up we're switching gears here to community development.
Speaker 5: We've got our community development director Larry Curtis here and.
Speaker 2: He's going to talk to us about maybe.
Speaker 5: Business licenses, code enforcement, all things community development.
Speaker 9: I guess I was supposed to talk about community development.
Speaker 9: Oh okay, okay, I thought I was here talking about
Speaker 9: something more interesting, though, I'm caidding. So one thing I
Speaker 9: want to talk about first and foremost is that some
Speaker 9: citizens may have seen a few changes around the city.
Speaker 9: Most notably, I think the biggest thing that has been
Speaker 9: kind of eye catching has been.
Speaker 3: Along Nuada in Silver Lake.
Speaker 9: For those that are passing that intersection on daily basis
Speaker 9: will definitely have seen some orange colors out there.
Speaker 3: Shout out to o issu.
Speaker 9: I have to regretfully say that as an ou grad,
Speaker 9: but I will say how wonderful it is to see
Speaker 9: the wildflowers going up. So that was a Keep Barsweld
Speaker 9: Beautiful Initiative. That is a new committee that was created
Speaker 9: by council last year and has been in existence for
Speaker 9: about a year now, and they have they started off
Speaker 9: by creating some ideas and short term and long term
Speaker 9: goals that they have for the community, some immediate ones,
Speaker 9: one of those being planting of wildflowers. And so at
Speaker 9: that intersection, the committee got together, went out there, dug
Speaker 9: up a small area of that of that triangle intersection
Speaker 9: and planted wildflowers. And we were, you know, hoping to
Speaker 9: have a growth and see green this year more so
Speaker 9: than seeing flowers.
Speaker 3: We just didn't really know how it would be.
Speaker 9: But it has really if you get a chance to
Speaker 9: go by there, it's just blossomed out there. And so
Speaker 9: that initiative really showed something that was easy, quick and
Speaker 9: really added something beautiful to that corner. In addition to that,
Speaker 9: KBB got a donation from Phillip sixty six to plant
Speaker 9: some trees, and through their working internally reviewing ideas, they decided,
Speaker 9: you know, unfortunately, we had the tornado that went through
Speaker 9: in May of last year that took us some trees
Speaker 9: along Washington or Highway seventy five, and so they decided
Speaker 9: to plant those along with more trees along that intersection
Speaker 9: of Washington and Frank Phillips Boulevard. And so that'll actually
Speaker 9: be through a partnership with Up with Trees, which is
Speaker 9: a nonprofit based out of Tulsa. And what's so great
Speaker 9: about that is that Up with Trees will come out,
Speaker 9: they will prepare plant them. They are trees that they
Speaker 9: know will work at those intersections. We got approve finally
Speaker 9: wonderfully from O DOT to go through and plant those
Speaker 9: and Up the Trees will actually come out and maintain
Speaker 9: them for three years and they will provide maintenance associated
Speaker 9: with them, so if the tree dies, will replace it.
Speaker 9: They'll water them, take care of them, all those things
Speaker 9: associated and make sure that they're well established. And so
Speaker 9: really excited by that. We'll see those going in in
Speaker 9: October roughly or fall this year. Because we missed the
Speaker 9: spring growing opportunities, they'll be the fall that they'll be planted.
Speaker 9: In addition that some citizens may have not noted at
Speaker 9: a couple of intersections, most notably at Keeler and at Johnstone,
Speaker 9: some plantings went in into the planters downtown and so
Speaker 9: you know those planters were put in a number of
Speaker 9: years ago. They've had some maintenance issues associated with them,
Speaker 9: most notably the water systems have broken, but some of
Speaker 9: those have been fixed, and so KBB took the initiative
Speaker 9: to do some plantings out there. I know some citizens
Speaker 9: may think that they're kind of looking a little ragged,
Speaker 9: but the plantings that are in there are really supposed
Speaker 9: to be planted this year in order to really start
Speaker 9: growing next year. So it takes a little time and
Speaker 9: some initiatives out there, and so the plantings wouldn't place,
Speaker 9: most notably on the south side of frank Phillips, and
Speaker 9: they're established as a little sign in the planters that
Speaker 9: people can go to and read about KVB, about it
Speaker 9: and about their initiatives associated with that. Some additional activities
Speaker 9: that citizens will see over the fall is that the
Speaker 9: committee is looking to replace twelve of the benches that
Speaker 9: we have downtown. They're actually owned by the city. We
Speaker 9: went through and did a evaluation of all the benches
Speaker 9: that are owned by the city and what statuses they
Speaker 9: are in, what it would cause to replace them, and
Speaker 9: things along those lines, and so KVB will be looking
Speaker 9: to replace all twelve.
Speaker 3: This fall.
Speaker 9: They will be at their next meeting, which I believe
Speaker 9: will be tomorrow, they will be looking to make a
Speaker 9: decision on what kind of benches to go in and
Speaker 9: we'll pull the trigger on that and then get those
Speaker 9: ordered and then hopefully have those in this fall. But
Speaker 9: in addition to that, they are very much interested in
Speaker 9: also doing some type of murals in the downtown area,
Speaker 9: working with potential artists and or people who want to
Speaker 9: donate funding for that, and of course building owners not
Speaker 9: just downtown but throughout the city. There could be opportunities
Speaker 9: throughout the city for this, and so they're exploring that
Speaker 9: opportunity most Sooby. They're looking over on the west side
Speaker 9: along along Atoms near Highway WON twenty three to kind
Speaker 9: of show a location that would be kind of coming
Speaker 9: into the city over on the west side. So they're
Speaker 9: kind of looking into those elements as well. But they're
Speaker 9: also looking at opportunities for partnering with the park's board
Speaker 9: about doing some lighting or other initiatives along those areas,
Speaker 9: and then also partnering with nonprofits to do cleanups. They
Speaker 9: actually did partner with one group, Lighthouse, to help a
Speaker 9: citizen that had and working with our co enforcement team.
Speaker 9: There was a citizen in an overgrown yard and our
Speaker 9: co enforcement team had identified it. The citizen had reached out,
Speaker 9: and that citizen is an older citizen, much older citizen,
Speaker 9: and just was not able to do it. And so
Speaker 9: by partnering with nonprofits, we were able to partner them
Speaker 9: together to help alleviate that issue while also taking care
Speaker 9: of the issue at the same time. So really KBB
Speaker 9: is really taking an initiative to reach out and get
Speaker 9: these things done. Another thing I'll talk about our department
Speaker 9: is it is that time of year again. It is
Speaker 9: a new fiscal year for the city, which means that
Speaker 9: we are having to deal with business licenses, and so
Speaker 9: it is important for us to get out there and
Speaker 9: let everyone know. We've been reaching out for all of
Speaker 9: our businesses that are currently that will registered us. They
Speaker 9: got an email and so it's important for them to
Speaker 9: come through and get re establishing them with their business license.
Speaker 9: One last thing that I'll add before turning back over
Speaker 9: to you is that I'm very excited that Amanda Yamaguchi
Speaker 9: will be joining our team. She is currently the Planning
Speaker 9: and Development manager for the City of Broken Arrow, but
Speaker 9: she will be joining our team on Monday, officially, really
Speaker 9: excited for her to be joining us. Very sad that
Speaker 9: Micah or Micah Snyder not Seamer. Sorry, don't want to
Speaker 9: scare anybody, Snyders. Yeah, I had to leave us due
Speaker 9: to family moving out of town, and so we're just
Speaker 9: really excited that Amanda will be joining us and she'll
Speaker 9: be doing a fantastic job for us.
Speaker 5: All right, So I said, lots going on at the city.
Speaker 5: If you're just now tuning in you can. I'm going
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Speaker 3: All right, thank you very much. Once you get