City Council wants funding to focus on improving Bartlesville roads
Bartlesville City Council asked the city to set aside park enhancements for now and focus bond funding on improving roads throughout the city.
After Monday's special meeting, council members and city staff held a workshop to discuss the 2023-2024 fiscal budget and the 2023 General Obligation Bond.
After receiving almost $30 million in funding requests from department directors, the city developed a four-year $17.6 million GO Bond proposal.
Micah Siemers, director of engineering, presented the council with three options for the 2023 GO Bond, each with varying funding levels for road improvements from $9.5 million to $12.5 million.
Most councilors wanted to invest as much bond funding as possible to address deteriorating street conditions around Bartlesville.
Yet even with most of the funding going toward streets, it's still not enough to address the backlog of repairs, Siemers said. The city estimates it would take $20 million a year in funding to reduce the backlog to almost zero while raising average road conditions in Bartlesville to an above-satisfactory rating.
Current average road conditions are rated poor, and the $12.5 million could push the city into an average fair rating, according to city staff.
"We have done a lot of good things; we have done parks projects and sports projects," Mayor Dale Copeland said. "We need to refocus on streets."
City Councilor Loren Roszel agreed. "We have fallen really behind on our streets. It's going to take a chunk of money to get ahead of that."
Councilors Billie Roane and Trevor Dorsey also expressed support for maximizing funding for roads.
While Vice Mayor Jim Curd supported road funding, he said he doesn't want parks projects unfinished since the city had significantly improved Bartlesville's amenities.
"Parks drive people to this town every single day," Curd said. "They are thankful for everything we have done to add that dimension we didn't use to have here."
Councilors also expressed support for using bond funds to improve the greens at Adams Public Golf Course but feel that expanding the Lazy River at the Sooner Park pool could wait. It would cost an estimated $2 million to $3 million for that project.
The council will vote on the 2023 GO Bond at their next meeting on June 5. Bartlesville residents will go to the polls July 3 to vote on the city's GO Bond proposal.
Park patrol unit
City staff also proposed adding two more police officers to form a park patrol unit that would address homelessness, a top concern among Bartlesville residents.
"The rise of homelessness has resulted in increased vandalization of public facilities and a fear of crime along Pathfinder Parkway." City Manager Mike Bailey wrote in his budget proposal letter. "While the City of Bartlesville is seeking to reduce homelessness proactively through partnerships and our mental health response team, it is also important that we address the public concerns and vandalization of our public facilities related to the growth in homelessness."
No objections were made about the additional officers. The council also will vote on the 2023-2024 fiscal budget at the next council meeting.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: City Council wants funding to focus on improving Bartlesville roads
