Commission Approves Plat for New Store

Sallisaw City Commissioners, at their regular meeting Monday, approved a planning commission recommendation that clears the way for the construction of Casey’s General Store.

Casey’s General Store is planned at the corner of Cherokee and Kerr Blvd. on Sallisaw’s west side. Two entrances to Casey’s will both be on Cherokee. In a letter to Casey’s General Store corporate headquarters in Iowa, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that “property contains no jurisdictional wetlands or other waters of the United States subject. . .” to Clean Water Act regulations.

City Manager Clayton Lucas said the property at one time was designated as a Migratory Wet Land, and that designation had to be removed before construction could begin. Lucas said, “The property is no longer designated as a Migratory Wet Land.”

The commissioners also took steps to make improvements at the waste water treatment plant. They approved a contract with Neel, Harvell and Associates for engineering services for the construction of a new flow equalization basin at the treatment plant. They also approved the purchase of a $100,000 track hoe excavator for heavy construction.

Lucas explained the excavator will be used by the city’s new five-person construction crew for improvements at the treatment plant and the landfill. Improvements at the treatment plant, required by the Department of Environmental Quality, will be two to three years in the future after the engineering for the project is done.

The construction crew is already working on a leachate lagoon, which catches rainwater runoff at the landfill. He said that by doing the work in house, the city has saved over $1 million. The city will also soon be opening a new cell at the landfill – Cell 8 – which will require a larger lagoon. He expects that by using the city’s own construction crew and equipment, the city will save about $2 million in the future.

The city has also organized a new tree trimming department and crew which includes three individuals.

In other business the commissioners:

-approved a resolution bringing the city’s ordinances up to date with the state’s;

-agreed to review the police department’s fines and bonds and possibly bring them up to date with the state's and with those of other cities of about the same size;

-approved a contract with A.C. Lawns of Warner for mowing services;

-accepted an offer of $296,559 from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation for a right-of-way for the project to widen U.S. Highway 59 north (this project will most likely cause the Sallisaw Chamber of Commerce to move from its current location as the right-of-way takes away the chamber’s parking at the corner of Cherokee and Wheeler); 

-approved an agreement with the State Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry for the department to build a new facility on the property it leases from the city next to the football field.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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