December city council meeting recap: Here is what you missed

The Bartlesville City Council was sworn in Monday night and got right to work approving and discussing new police radios, water conservation and other important issues.

But before work could be done, the council needed to decide who was going to be mayor and vice mayor. Both Dale Copeland and Jim Curd were unanimously reelected by the council to their respective roles uncontested.

Police radios

Matt McCollough, director of information technology, gave a lengthy and detailed report on the major need for upgrading the Bartlesville Police Department's radio system and dispatch center computers.

The current system is over 10 years old, and the new system will help fill in gaps in coverage and allow them to communicate more easily with other agencies.

Voters approved the $2 million for the project in the GO 2020 Bond, and with discounts and purchasing the radios through a state contract, the project will come under budget.

"The first big project that I started in 2018 when I came here was upgrading the radio systems, and here we are just now getting closer," said BPD Chief Tracy Roles. "It is all about officer safety, so anything we can do to put our officers in a position to be more safe I'm in support of. Obviously, this is a long time coming, and I really appreciate all the work that so many people have put that have put into this to get us to where."

The council approved the proposal to purchase the 800 MHz radios from Motorola and additional equipment unanimously.

Water conservation

Terry Lauritsen, director of water utilities, reported to the council the current state of Bartlesville and the surrounding communities' water supply.

Per his report, Bartlesville has been experiencing a drought for the last five months and is currently under an extreme drought for the last 30 days. The current water supply is at 69%, which puts Bartlesville in Stage 2 drought conditions.

Under Stage 2, the city would take measures to reduce the amount of water used and also educate the public on how to lower their usage.

"The winter months is usually just showering, but little things you can do as well are washing full loads of clothes, running a dishwasher with a full load and if you have a drippy faucet, just try to get it fixed," said Lauritsen. "Conserve water as best you can."

Community Development Director named

Larry Curtis was announced as the new Bartlesville Community Development Authority director to replace Lisa Beeman, who announced her retirement earlier this year. Curtis currently holds the same position in Broken Arrow but will officially start in Bartlesville on Jan 3.

Change in public comment procedures

In the only non-unanimous decision of the night, the council opted to adopt new language to define "citizen" for the purpose of public comments at city council meetings.

Now to be recognized for public comment, you must reside in Bartlesville or within 10 miles of Bartlesville City Hall.

This change appears to be motivated by recent council meetings when non-Bartlesville residents spoke during public comments.

Mayor Dale Copeland supported the change, agreeing that those who pay taxes and vote in the city should be primarily the ones who should speak on what does or doesn't happen in the Bartlesville community.

Vice Mayor Jim Curd disagreed with the change but was outvoted along with Trevor Dorsey.

"It's never been a problem within the six years I've had here, so I know it's a result of ... having outsiders in here yelling at us and things like that, but that's kind of what we sign up for so I don't want to limit that," said Curd.

Also approved was moving city council meetings to 5:30 pm instead of 7:00 pm.

Pending litigation

After entering into an executive session, the council voted to empower City Manager Mike Bailey to delegate authority to approve settlement litigation for pending litigation.

Currently, the city is in litigation for a grievance filed by a former police officer in both federal and state court.

Bailey has been authorized to settle both lawsuits for a combined amount not exceeding $100,000 at his sole discretion.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: December city council meeting recap: Here is what you missed