Speaker 1: And good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our City Matters programming. If
Speaker 1: it matters to you, it matters to the city, at
Speaker 1: least it should. Anyway, We've got our assemble to crew
Speaker 1: here today and Laura Sanders is the assistant city manager.
Speaker 1: What do we have going on today, young lady.
Speaker 2: Morning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, lot's going on.
Speaker 2: So just because it's a holiday week doesn't mean that
Speaker 2: things slow down for us.
Speaker 3: We were like.
Speaker 2: The energizer bunnies. It just keeps going and going and going.
Speaker 2: And so this week we do have some different schedules
Speaker 2: for the holidays, so most city offices will be closed
Speaker 2: on December twenty fifth and December twenty sixth, and then
Speaker 2: also again on January first and recognition of Christmas, and
Speaker 2: then the New Year's holidays. We are told that residential
Speaker 2: routes will not be impacted by this because both the
Speaker 2: Christmas holiday and the New Year's holiday fall on Wednesday,
Speaker 2: and that is not They don't run on Wednesdays anyway,
Speaker 2: so it's not impacted.
Speaker 1: This is great. You get them bones and ribbons and
Speaker 1: everything disposed of.
Speaker 2: Due time exactly, so every other thing's business as normal
Speaker 2: on both of those weeks. I was told that the
Speaker 2: commercial routes will be serviced on a different day because
Speaker 2: we still service commercial routes on Wednesdays, So those will
Speaker 2: be on December twenty fourth and December thirty first instead
Speaker 2: of on Wednesday. Okay, so we've got that going, and
Speaker 2: I do want to give an update because this has
Speaker 2: kind of been a hot topic. We've got our police
Speaker 2: department is hosting a flock safety forum and so that
Speaker 2: is on January sixteenth, and we ask all citizens to
Speaker 2: mark their calendars and plan to attend at six pm
Speaker 2: January sixteenth. It will be at the Oakwoo Lion Hall.
Speaker 2: They're on twenty two to oh one Silver Lake Road
Speaker 2: in Bartlesville. And if they have specific questions that they have,
Speaker 2: they can submit them ahead of time to bpd Q
Speaker 2: and A at Cityofbartlesville dot org and so you'll see
Speaker 2: that information coming out there. If you don't have CITYBAT,
Speaker 2: I would encourage residents to subscribe to City Beat because
Speaker 2: that's where you can get your information, and all of
Speaker 2: this information is out there as well. So if you
Speaker 2: go to our website at Cityofbartlesville dot org and put
Speaker 2: in your name and your email address. You will have
Speaker 2: city information sent to you weekly, so we do encourage
Speaker 2: people to do that. I'm going to pass it on
Speaker 2: to Kylie, she is our library and history museum director,
Speaker 2: and we're going to talk about the history of the
Speaker 2: library for those that don't have it.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah, so very exciting stuff.
Speaker 4: I know the history of the library, but it is
Speaker 4: exciting because Bartlesville's library is actually has a very robust
Speaker 4: history starting all the way back to eighteen ninety eight.
Speaker 4: So in June of eighteen ninety eight, Bartlesville established its
Speaker 4: first ever reading room by the Fortnightly Club, which was
Speaker 4: later known as the Tuesday Club, and it was in
Speaker 4: a storefront on East Second Street.
Speaker 3: Then in nineteen eight, the renamed.
Speaker 4: Tuesday Club public library room was open on Fridays from
Speaker 4: two pm to five thirty pm, so not a ton
Speaker 4: of time in that reading room, but it was available
Speaker 4: to the public, and the city decided to begin funding
Speaker 4: that with a maintenance fund of just two thousand dollars so, which.
Speaker 3: In that time was a lot of money to.
Speaker 4: Be able to afford books and materials in nineteen oh eight.
Speaker 4: Also in November of that year, the Bartlesville City Commission
Speaker 4: decided to request a twenty thousand dollars grant from the
Speaker 4: Carnegie Foundation for a library building, which we all know
Speaker 4: the Carnegie Foundation is who built most libraries in the
Speaker 4: United States. And then in January of nineteen oh nine,
Speaker 4: seventh and O. Sage was selected as the new library site.
Speaker 4: The owners of that site were the Pembertons, and they
Speaker 4: donated two thirds of that land. It was eighteen hundred
Speaker 4: square feet and the donation was accepted by the city.
Speaker 4: And then in nineteen twelve, funding for the new library
Speaker 4: building was secured and contracts were signed for the construction
Speaker 4: of the new building, and twelve thousand, eight hundred of
Speaker 4: that came from the Carnegie grant, so we did not
Speaker 4: receive the full twenty thousand, but we did receive twelve
Speaker 4: thousand of that, which was significant, and through other private
Speaker 4: donations they were able to establish that first public library building.
Speaker 4: In March of nineteen thirteen, the Bartlesville Carnegie Library was
Speaker 4: opened and the library contained twelve hundred books.
Speaker 3: Twelve hundred.
Speaker 4: I will tell you what our now number is later on,
Speaker 4: but twelve hundred, which was a good number back then.
Speaker 4: And Miss Mabel blake Sey was the librarian who was
Speaker 4: our first librarian of our first established Bartlesville Public Library.
Speaker 4: In between nineteen sixteen and nineteen nineteen, Miss Myrtle Weatherhold
Speaker 4: was the librarian her annual book report.
Speaker 3: So every year, the once.
Speaker 4: You're established as a state library, a public library of
Speaker 4: the state of Oklahoma, you have to report your annual
Speaker 4: statistics to the Oklahoum Department of Libraries.
Speaker 3: So that was the first year that we.
Speaker 4: In nineteen nineteen was the first year that we were
Speaker 4: able to submit those reports. And at that time we
Speaker 4: submitted that there was a circulation of fourteen thousand, so
Speaker 4: fourteen thousand items checked out over that time period, we
Speaker 4: had fifteen hundred people with library cards in the area,
Speaker 4: and we had two cataloged books in the collection, so
Speaker 4: we had gone up just a little bit.
Speaker 3: In nineteen nineteen, Miss.
Speaker 4: Ruth Brown was hired as librarian of the Barlsvil Public
Speaker 4: Library and she held onto that position until nineteen fifty.
Speaker 4: Miss Ruth Brown was very famous in the library community
Speaker 4: and just in history overall. And we'll talk about why
Speaker 4: here in a minute. But while she was the head librarian,
Speaker 4: the Bartlesvil City Commission and the Library Board decided to
Speaker 4: move the library to the north wing of the Civic
Speaker 4: Center in addition to the East wing east.
Speaker 3: Side of the wing.
Speaker 4: It was approved by the City Commission in nineteen thirty one,
Speaker 4: and now the library contained twenty five thousand volumes, So
Speaker 4: we went up from two thousand to twenty five thousand
Speaker 4: in just a matter of you know, twenty years. And
Speaker 4: then in nineteen fifty, Miss Ruth Brown was accused of
Speaker 4: purchasing communist materials for the library and promoting integration, which
Speaker 4: was still very new at the time, and the City
Speaker 4: Commission asked that the library board fire Miss Brown. When
Speaker 4: they refused to do so, the city Council dismissed the
Speaker 4: board and fired Miss Brown on July twenty fifth, nineteen fifty,
Speaker 4: and a new library board was then appointed. So as
Speaker 4: a result of that accusation, the American Library Association's Intellectual
Speaker 4: Freedom Committee began working with Miss Brown. In addition, the
Speaker 4: Oklahoma chapter of that committee was created as a direct
Speaker 4: result of her case and then partially due to its
Speaker 4: timing during the height of the McCarthy era. The case
Speaker 4: received national attention and later a movie based on Brown's
Speaker 4: experience was made called Storm Center, and it starred by Davis,
Speaker 4: which you can check out from the library if you're
Speaker 4: interested in learning more about that. And then this is
Speaker 4: actually very interesting because I just received a call last
Speaker 4: week from the historic Circle Cinema that's located in Tulsa.
Speaker 4: They're going to be doing a new documentary the spring
Speaker 4: that will play at the Circle Cinema regarding public libraries
Speaker 4: in Oklahoma, and the Ruth Brown case specifically will be
Speaker 4: highlighted there with some new input from the American Library
Speaker 4: Association and people who held office and things. There will
Speaker 4: be some interviews included in that, and they have reached
Speaker 4: out to our library to ask us to be a
Speaker 4: part of it, so we're really happy about that. In
Speaker 4: nineteen fifty one, according to the new City Charter, the
Speaker 4: library became an administrative department of the city and it
Speaker 4: was subject to control the Library Board of six residents.
Speaker 4: And then in nineteen fifty three, Herbert gene Winn was
Speaker 4: hired as the lead library and then served until nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty three. In nineteen fifty seven, so it was another
Speaker 4: year that we reported statistics to the state. Our circulation
Speaker 4: had gone up to one hundred and twenty thousand, and
Speaker 4: we had thirteen thousand, seven hundred library cardholders at that point,
Speaker 4: so a very steep increase. You can start to see
Speaker 4: as the timeline goes on, more and more people beginning
Speaker 4: to see the value of their public library here in
Speaker 4: Bartles Zone. In nineteen sixty, after failing twice, a bond
Speaker 4: election passed for the rebuilding of the enlarged and enlarging
Speaker 4: the library. In nineteen sixty October of that year, the
Speaker 4: Eticquotte Foundation extended a twenty thousand dollars grant for a
Speaker 4: self development center to be placed inside the library. The
Speaker 4: center contained a fine arts room, a reading lounge, and
Speaker 4: a information room. In nineteen sixty one, the Frank Phillips
Speaker 4: Foundation issued thirty five thousand dollars to refurbish the American
Speaker 4: Legion Room above the library into a community history room,
Speaker 4: and then in nineteen sixty two that same foundation gave
Speaker 4: another fifteen thousand to furnish the history room. Then in
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty four, so two years after that we actually
Speaker 4: were able to open history room, which now has become
Speaker 4: the History Museum, which is located in City Hall. In
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty seven, plans began for a new library facility.
Speaker 4: Nineteen eighty eight, the newly appointed Library Trust Authority took
Speaker 4: its first oath of office and was charged to design, build,
Speaker 4: and equip and maintain our public library. So in nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty nine, ceremonies to kick off the Build a Brighter
Speaker 4: Tomorrow campaign were held at the library. A bond election
Speaker 4: was held for the new library facility, and the bond
Speaker 4: called for the demolition of the old library and the
Speaker 4: Civic Center and the construction of a new library on
Speaker 4: the existing site. The project cost total four million dollars.
Speaker 4: Of the costs, one point five million was private donations.
Speaker 3: And the election passed pretty well.
Speaker 4: In nineteen ninety demolition began of the old library and
Speaker 4: the Civic Center, and then in nineteen ninety one, groundbreaking
Speaker 4: ceremonies began for the new.
Speaker 3: Library, the SI Facility, which is the library that we
Speaker 3: have today.
Speaker 4: In nineteen ninety two, the new Barlsville Public Library and
Speaker 4: History Museum it was still combined at that time, opened
Speaker 4: its doors to the public with a crowd of more
Speaker 4: than twenty five hundred in attendance. The building was designed
Speaker 4: by the firm mccroy Olsen Coffee Association and mister mccroy's
Speaker 4: final project It was his final project before he retired
Speaker 4: as an architect. In nineteen ninety seven, access to the
Speaker 4: Internet was made available can you believe it? I know,
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety seven, and then in April of ninety seven,
Speaker 4: we granted full graphic access to the World Wide Web
Speaker 4: and made six public terminals available where people could come
Speaker 4: in and actually surf the Internet in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 3: Which is a really big deal back then.
Speaker 4: It was yes that year our annual report to the
Speaker 4: Oklahoma Department of Libraries saw that we had a circulation
Speaker 4: of three hundred and eighty two thousand items, Our total
Speaker 4: number of library cardholders were twenty seven thousand, and the
Speaker 4: collection size had gone up to ninety two thousand.
Speaker 3: Materials in the collection.
Speaker 4: So again, just continued growth, continued growth, and a lot
Speaker 4: of that really came from those private donations for people
Speaker 4: who started to see the number of library cardholders increasing
Speaker 4: in our city and believing that education was so important
Speaker 4: and access was so important, and began giving back. In
Speaker 4: spring of two thousand, the Bartlesville Area History Museum moved
Speaker 4: into its permanent quarters that the Phillips Annex. The library
Speaker 4: was awarded a Heismith Award for Outstanding Library program from
Speaker 4: the American Library Association. In twenty fifteen, we circulated four
Speaker 4: hundred and sixty seven thousand items and hosted forty four
Speaker 4: hundred and eighty eight programs with twelve thousand, five hundred
Speaker 4: people in attendance. So that was really the time frame
Speaker 4: where libraries started to become more than just a place
Speaker 4: to check out materials and to have books and do research,
Speaker 4: but a place where people could come and meet, to gather,
Speaker 4: to have programming, and to spend time with each other
Speaker 4: and be really a community hub. In March of twenty sixteen,
Speaker 4: a third meeting room was added to accommodate all of
Speaker 4: the groups and organizations that want to meet at our library,
Speaker 4: which is still extremely busy with meeting room groups. In
Speaker 4: twenty seventeen, a laptop bar was installed for the teens,
Speaker 4: so we went from ninety seven just having the internet
Speaker 4: to now bringing in laptops and Wi Fi and all
Speaker 4: those things. In twenty eighteen, our Library of Things collection
Speaker 4: was installed, which we've talked about here before, but items
Speaker 4: like sewing machines, telescopes, laminators, and musical instruments can now
Speaker 4: be checked out from the library. Eighteen thanks to a
Speaker 4: health literacy grant. The library now offers exercise classes, taichi
Speaker 4: and yoga classes year round. In twenty nineteen, a grant
Speaker 4: from Kannico Phillips created the Creative Corner, which has art
Speaker 4: supplies for crafters and teachers. And then in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: we had to close, like everybody had to close to
Speaker 4: the public due to the COVID nineteen pandemic. We started
Speaker 4: curbside right after that so people could come by and
Speaker 4: still check out materials. So there was that, you know,
Speaker 4: spatial awareness during all of that time, and we opened
Speaker 4: for limited services in June of twenty twenty. But today
Speaker 4: our library is thriving, and I'll give you a couple
Speaker 4: of updates. We just talked about all of those numbers.
Speaker 4: This is what our numbers look like today in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four. So three thirty six, three hundred and ten
Speaker 4: people have library cards today, which is pretty incredible when
Speaker 4: you take the actual population of Bartlesville is about thirty
Speaker 4: six thousand people. That means that our library services communities
Speaker 4: outside of just Bartlesville. You can pay to have a
Speaker 4: guest pass at our library. It's a yearly cost, and
Speaker 4: then people from outside of Bartlesville can also use our
Speaker 4: library services if they don't have libraries in their communities.
Speaker 4: One hundred and sixty two thousand, six hundred and eighty
Speaker 4: two people.
Speaker 3: Walked through our doors last year.
Speaker 4: That comes out to approximately forty eight people entering the
Speaker 4: library every single hour, So every hour that we're opened,
Speaker 4: there's about fifty people coming in and out of the library.
Speaker 4: Our collection contains eighty two thousand physical items and we
Speaker 4: saw a total circulation of four hundred and twenty thousand
Speaker 4: checkouts last year, which is really incredible. One hundred and
Speaker 4: eighty five thousand of those were e materials, So after
Speaker 4: the pandemic, we really put a lot of focus into
Speaker 4: having audiobooks, music, e reading, all of that available on
Speaker 4: line so that people had another avenue of accessing materials
Speaker 4: and learning.
Speaker 3: Also, our database collection.
Speaker 4: Is online as well, and that has been a trend
Speaker 4: that just continues to grow and grow. We also lend
Speaker 4: items to other libraries. Last year we lent out two
Speaker 4: hundred two thousand and four items to other libraries and
Speaker 4: we only requested two hundred and fifty six items.
Speaker 3: So we're part of a.
Speaker 4: Consortium where people from other communities, other states, even if
Speaker 4: they're looking for a particular item, they can go onto
Speaker 4: the consortium website, see that Bartlesville has that item, and
Speaker 4: they pay a fee and then that item gets sent
Speaker 4: out to them. Our customers can also do that. It's
Speaker 4: a way of just extending our collection beyond.
Speaker 3: The walls of Bartlesville Public Library.
Speaker 4: If we don't have something in our collection, a lot
Speaker 4: of times you can go on to our lending platform
Speaker 4: and find that and have it sent to you here
Speaker 4: in Bartlesville. In two thousand and twenty four, we also
Speaker 4: saw twenty thousand logins on our public computers and seventy
Speaker 4: two thousand Wi Fi sessions. So that's just kind of
Speaker 4: telling us that the computers are still important to have
Speaker 4: in place, but a lot of people are bringing in
Speaker 4: their own personal devices and we see that a lot.
Speaker 3: We have a lot of people who do.
Speaker 4: Remote work from the library, do remote school from the library,
Speaker 4: and they come in. We have lots of meeting spaces,
Speaker 4: lots of quiet rooms where they can sit down with
Speaker 4: their laptops, their phones and tablets and complete work that needs.
Speaker 5: To get done.
Speaker 4: We also hosted six hundred and fourteen programs with more
Speaker 4: than eighteen thousand people in attendance last year, some big numbers,
Speaker 4: especially for our library our size. We have a thriving
Speaker 4: literacy department with one hundred and thirteen active learners working
Speaker 4: with literacy tutors in our community.
Speaker 3: Many of these.
Speaker 4: Learners have gone on to pass their GED programs to
Speaker 4: get driver's license or other certificates, and even US citizenship.
Speaker 4: We've helped people work through their citizenship testing so that
Speaker 4: they can become voters in our community.
Speaker 3: And we have a seed library.
Speaker 4: We can come and check out seeds for your garden,
Speaker 4: and then once you've used up those seeds and you've
Speaker 4: grown incredible, delicious vegetables and wonderful plants, you can drive
Speaker 4: those seeds out and return them to your library the
Speaker 4: next season and we'll put them back into the collection
Speaker 4: and they just get reused and recycled and we continue
Speaker 4: to buy new seeds for that lending program. Like I said,
Speaker 4: we have a library of things, We have a three
Speaker 4: D printer, We offer exercise classes, weekly story.
Speaker 3: Times, so much more.
Speaker 4: And now we are at the point where we're looking
Speaker 4: at what's going to be our next three to five years.
Speaker 4: And so that's the next thing I want to talk
Speaker 4: about is our strategic planning. So the strategic plan currently
Speaker 4: for the library ends this January, So we want to
Speaker 4: know what the public wants to see.
Speaker 3: This library has adapted.
Speaker 4: From a teeny tiny reading room in a small storefront
Speaker 4: to an incredible thriving organization today, and we want to
Speaker 4: know what the next three to five years are going
Speaker 4: to look like. So we have a survey that's available
Speaker 4: on our Facebook page, which is you can just search
Speaker 4: Bartles of the Library on Facebook.
Speaker 3: It'll come up.
Speaker 4: It's pinned right there to the top. You can log in,
Speaker 4: you can take the survey. It takes five minutes.
Speaker 3: It's only ten.
Speaker 4: Questions, and it really digs into what are some things
Speaker 4: that interest you, What are things that you think would
Speaker 4: be beneficial to our community. What are ways that we
Speaker 4: can grow and continue to adapt to our community needs.
Speaker 1: You still have that card catalog desk?
Speaker 3: We have one with one. It's inactive.
Speaker 4: It's really more just for show, but it has all
Speaker 4: the death notices and it is in our local history section.
Speaker 1: I have to tell the kids and grandkids that was
Speaker 1: my search engine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is still pretty cool for historical purposes. You
Speaker 3: got to keep one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they call it hysterical because that happens.
Speaker 3: But that's the history of our incredible library. It's good
Speaker 3: to see the history of it.
Speaker 2: I didn't know some of that, and to see that
Speaker 2: transformation and see how much.
Speaker 3: We've progressed and grown, it's awesome. Is he ready incredible
Speaker 3: and we want to keep growing.
Speaker 4: So please go and take the survey and let us
Speaker 4: know you know what you want from.
Speaker 2: Your library in the next three to five years. All right,
Speaker 2: thank you, Kylie. So next up we have Chief Call.
Speaker 2: He's going to talk to us a little bit about
Speaker 2: holiday fire safety.
Speaker 5: Yes, good morning, So we just want to start off
Speaker 5: with reiterating the importance of smoke detectors, especially this time
Speaker 5: of year. So usually, on average, more than twenty two
Speaker 5: hundred people die from unintentional home fires, and almost two
Speaker 5: thirds of these fire deaths occur in homes with no
Speaker 5: smoke alarms or with smoke alarms that don't work. So
Speaker 5: a smoke alarms warning can reduce your risk reduce your
Speaker 5: risk of dying from a fire by almost half. So
Speaker 5: it's important you need to check your smoke detector batteries
Speaker 5: twice a year. The batteries need to be replaced at
Speaker 5: least once a year and smoke detectors do have a
Speaker 5: shelf life, so ten years we recommend as the industry standard.
Speaker 5: After ten years, they need to be replaced. Even if
Speaker 5: they're working fine. That just make sure that they're up
Speaker 5: to date and they're going to give you the most
Speaker 5: advanced warning that they possibly can.
Speaker 6: So a few other.
Speaker 5: Things that we'd like to talk about this time of
Speaker 5: year is Christmas trees. If you have a live, fresh tree,
Speaker 5: those were intended to be watered. If not, they will
Speaker 5: dry out and they become a pretty substantial fire hazard.
Speaker 5: We see a lot of that if they don't, if
Speaker 5: they're not proper really maintained, they will dry out and
Speaker 5: they can easily catch fire. So we want everyone to
Speaker 5: just remember that in this time of year, just be safe. Additionally,
Speaker 5: with space heaters when it starts turning colder. You know,
Speaker 5: space heaters aren't intended to be plugged into extension cords
Speaker 5: and they're not intended to be used in close proximity
Speaker 5: to something that's flammable. So just try to be safe
Speaker 5: with your space heaters if you use a space heater
Speaker 5: to stay warm this winter. So we just want everyone
Speaker 5: to be safe. The Fire Department does have free smoke detectors.
Speaker 5: If you need one, you can give a fire department
Speaker 5: a call on the website contact informations on the city's
Speaker 5: website for that. If you can install it, we will
Speaker 5: come out and install it for you. So we just
Speaker 5: want to try to make sure everyone's safe this time
Speaker 5: of year for the holidays.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you. Sometimes we become complacent with stuff like that.
Speaker 2: It's a good reminder to check our batteries and make
Speaker 2: sure that we have those.
Speaker 3: Smoke detectors save us. All right, well, thank you.
Speaker 6: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Next up, I've got Terry Lortz and to give a
Speaker 2: water update.
Speaker 6: All right, good morning. I'm going to try to keep
Speaker 6: it brief.
Speaker 7: We only have a few minutes here, but we did
Speaker 7: have a Water Resource of Committee last committee meeting last Thursday,
Speaker 7: and at that meeting we gave them an update on
Speaker 7: several options that the city is looking into for our
Speaker 7: long term war supply. So we're gonna flash back just
Speaker 7: a little bit a year and a half or so
Speaker 7: that we had a fairly significant drought. Actually it was
Speaker 7: the second worst drout in the record of those basins,
Speaker 7: and so we were able to weather that through, but
Speaker 7: that just continued to remind us that our supply is
Speaker 7: something that we are continuing to work for and work toward,
Speaker 7: and so we have continued that effort previously and we
Speaker 7: are still continue that to this day. So on the
Speaker 7: update with the Water Resources Committee, they were really looking
Speaker 7: at four items in detail, and one of.
Speaker 6: Those is Call Lake. So, if people.
Speaker 7: Have been following our water supply journey, Call Lake is
Speaker 7: a lake that's in western Osage County. It's a very
Speaker 7: very large lake, has a tremendous amount of water rights available,
Speaker 7: but it's unfortunately about sixty miles away from US.
Speaker 6: And so we.
Speaker 7: Hired an engineering Companys two Engineering, to look at some
Speaker 7: costs to build a pump station and a pipeline to
Speaker 7: get waterfront Call Lake to the city's Lake at Hudson.
Speaker 7: And so that costs range from two hundred and fifty
Speaker 7: two million to just over three hundred million.
Speaker 6: To purchase the storage rights.
Speaker 7: And to build the pump station pipeline to convey that
Speaker 7: water to us. How that correlates to you and me
Speaker 7: as far as ratepayers. If we did the cheapest option,
Speaker 7: which is two hundred fifty two million, that would likely
Speaker 7: increase our water bill by just under one hundred dollars
Speaker 7: a month, so a fairly substantial cost that the customers
Speaker 7: would have to bear if the city went forward.
Speaker 6: With that project all alone.
Speaker 7: So not able to get any partners or maybe any
Speaker 7: other type of financial assistance to defray.
Speaker 6: Some of that cost.
Speaker 7: So a pretty large price tag, which we always knew
Speaker 7: was the case, but this gives us some real tangible
Speaker 7: numbers and up to date numbers as far as what
Speaker 7: that cost would be. We also looked at the aid
Speaker 7: of a Musa aquifer. So that's an aquifer in central
Speaker 7: Osah County. It has a tremendous amount of water rights
Speaker 7: available with it, and we were able to find a
Speaker 7: study that the USGS completed in two thousand and six
Speaker 7: regarding the.
Speaker 6: Yield of that aquifer.
Speaker 7: And unfortunately, it's a fairly shallow aquifer, so it's only
Speaker 7: two hundred feet deep in the area that we're looking
Speaker 7: at about senty feet.
Speaker 6: To the water.
Speaker 7: But it has a relatively low yield, so it just
Speaker 7: won't produce that much water. Twenty five wells will give
Speaker 7: us about one point four million gallons of water a day,
Speaker 7: and so we are looking to get between ten and
Speaker 7: sixteen million gallons of water a day to facilitate our
Speaker 7: water needs what we're projecting over the next hundred years.
Speaker 7: So that's something that would certainly help, but it's not
Speaker 7: the kind of the end all solution for us.
Speaker 6: The aquifer option does cost.
Speaker 7: Just under thirteen million dollars, so again, it's a very
Speaker 7: expensive option to move forward with for one point four
Speaker 7: million gallns of water a day that is available to us,
Speaker 7: and that would trying to find my note to as
Speaker 7: far as what that would cost us to move forward
Speaker 7: as far as the ratepayer, I think that's around about
Speaker 7: twelve to fifteen dollars a month that that would increase
Speaker 7: our cost to pay for that system. To pursue. Water
Speaker 7: rights in Oklahoma are somewhat unique in that groundwater rights
Speaker 7: you either have to own the land or lease the
Speaker 7: water rights from the current landowners. So in Osage County
Speaker 7: we don't own very much land, if any, so that
Speaker 7: would require us to lease water rights from about seven
Speaker 7: hundred acres of land to facilitate that option. So it
Speaker 7: sounded good initially, but as we get more into the
Speaker 7: numbers and looking more at the you know, the actual
Speaker 7: details of how that would be implemented, it seems to
Speaker 7: be less and less of a viable option for us
Speaker 7: to move forward with. We are also looking at two
Speaker 7: of our current water supply lakes, which is Hulea in Copane.
Speaker 7: So Copan is a lake that is up north of
Speaker 7: us by the town of Copan. It does have some
Speaker 7: water rights that are available currently they are right now
Speaker 7: being reserved by the Town of Copan. We did have
Speaker 7: some good news here as of last week and that
Speaker 7: we've been working through the federal government through legislative action
Speaker 7: to kind of compel the corp of Engineers to sell
Speaker 7: those storage rights at an affordable rate for US. So,
Speaker 7: before the legislation was approved this past week, the cost
Speaker 7: for US to purchase US two million gallons worth of
Speaker 7: water day was around eleven million dollars. With that legislation,
Speaker 7: which still has to be signed by President Biden, that
Speaker 7: cost could be just about a half a million, so
Speaker 7: of fairly substantial savings that we can realize assuming that
Speaker 7: the President does execute that bill, which we've been told
Speaker 7: by the federal delegation is anticipated to take place this week.
Speaker 6: But if he fails to sign.
Speaker 7: That then it will die when his term expires, So
Speaker 7: he has to be the one that signs that they
Speaker 7: can't just hold over to the next president. So we're
Speaker 7: hopeful that he signs that, which everybody anticipates that he will,
Speaker 7: and then there will be some time that will transpire
Speaker 7: before we're able actually to secure those rights, but we're
Speaker 7: hopeful that will be within the next year to two
Speaker 7: years to facilitate that.
Speaker 1: All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to do it
Speaker 1: for our City Batters program today. Thank you very
Speaker 6: Much, thanks for listening to one unwombed profession