City Honors 25-year Employees

Six Sallisaw employees and officials were given 25-year Service Awards at the Sallisaw City Commission meeting Monday. Receiving the award are, from the left, Terry Deese, John Owens, Police Chief Terry Franklin who worked for the city before being elected police chief, William Downs, John Stewart and Carl Poindexter. The awards were presented by Mayor Jim Hudgens.

During the meeting, the commissioners voted after much discussion to locate the city’s new splash pad at Jay Reynolds Park, because the park already has restroom facilities and a parking lot. 

Acting City Manager Keith Skelton presented the commissioners with reports on splash pads in other communities, and pointed out the City of Sallisaw has received a $149,576 grant for the city’s splash pad, and that grant must be matched by the same amount, which the city has available. Skelton pointed out that Owasso has a splash pad with a total of about 6,000 square feet that cost $300,000. But he added restrooms will cost an additional $75,000 to $100,000. That was one of the deciding factors in building the splash pad at Jay Reynolds Park where restrooms are already built.

Skelton also suggested the city visit with the Planning Design Group of Tulsa, which assisted with the Sallisaw Sports Complex, for the engineering and design of the splash pad.

The commissioners tabled a decision on doing away with the residency requirement for city employees, and asked City Attorney John Robert Montgomery to review the laws about employee residence requirements.

The commissioners approved portions of an agreement with Rural Water District #4 in order to allow the water district to place a water line through city areas. Commissioners did not approve the water district’s request for easement assignments.

The commissioners also:

-approved the low bid of $24,946.32 by Gray Brothers Equipment Inc. of Poteau for two Kubota mowers;

-approved an agreement with Garver Engineering for $31,000 for improved lighting at the airport;

-approved terminating the contract with Retail Attractions LLC, which costs $3,000 a month;

-and took no action on hiring a search firm for the purpose of hiring a new city manager.

Interim City Manager Skelton told the commissioners that the water tests at the city’s water treatment plant were within the required limits, and that city hall will be closed Feb. 19 for the President’s Day holiday.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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