Public Works Director Steve Hardt spoke to the Council on the status of two road projects at its Monday, March 15th study session. He said that Canyon Road has been paved and is finished, and gave an update on the deteriorating stormwater bridge on South 33rd West Avenue.
He said that the City hired Guy Engineering to do the inspection and that the company is putting together a proposal for the design of a new bridge, because it will need to be closed.
Hardt reminded the Council that the ODOT representative who spoke at the last Public Works and Transportation Committee meeting, Bruce Martin, recommended that the City begin the repair process with a load rating, but that Guy Engineering took one look at the structure and said it would be a waste of money, as they could immediately tell that it needs to be closed and replaced.
Since the bridge is there for stormwater, and there has been so much new development in the area, it may need to be enlarged. Therefore a hydrology study will also be done, Hardt reported, to calculate how big the new bridge needs to be.
Hardt said he will coordinate with Sapulpa and Jenks school districts, EMSA, the Sapulpa Fire Department, the Jenks Fire Department, and the Tulsa Fire Department, so they will know which days the road will be closed and can reroute accordingly.
Mayor Craig Henderson asked whose final decision it is to close the road for repairs, and City Attorney David Widdoes explained, “It’s [the City’s] decision. Tulsa County is denying any responsibility for it, and it’s an emergency, so we will have to fix it. We’re prepared to fix it as soon as the design is finished.”
Councilor Lou Martin recalled that the ODOT Representative Martin said he would be sending out four letters about the matter—one to the City of Sapulpa, one to the City of Tulsa, one to Creek County, and one to Tulsa County, as all four entities have potential liability for the bridge. He asked, “What about Creek County?” Widdoes replied that “the goal is for the four jurisdictions to work on a Memorandum of Understanding about who will be responsible for each section of that particular stretch of 33rd West Avenue.”
Urban Development Director Nikki Howard reported on a new Community Development Block Grant from the Tulsa County Urban County Program for $151,324.68 to expand the downtown stormwater project. She said that the City will also use rollover CDBG money for the expansion before it begins the streetscape updates that are part of the GO Bond’s Downtown Master Plan. She said that the City has a new stormwater master plan to alleviate flooding, so they “definitely want to finish the intersection of Park and Dewey.” Additionally, Howard said that Hardt has a list of several different stormwater projects that can be started soon. This was unanimously approved at the regular City Council meeting.
Next, Howard introduced an application for Cura, a free medical clinic, to rezone 1500 East Dewey Avenue from Residential Multifamily to Office Low Intensity. The building is on the southeast corner of Dewey and North Moccasin Place, which is just east of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, and was formerly Oasis Adult Day Center.
She said that no changes will be made to the structure but interior updates and a new sign, and that the Planning Commission recommended the application for approval at its February 23rd meeting. The move will allow the clinic to have more exam rooms, more space, and more parking than their current location, in the small strip center by Walmart.
The Police Department was approved to give 30 days notice to their current cleaning company and to begin service with ProKlean of Oklahoma for $1,863.33 a month. Police Chief Mike Reed said that they have had several issues with the quality of work of their current cleaning company, whom they have used since November of 2018. He said that with the complete remodel of their building they need better than substandard care, and that ProKlean had the best rate of the two companies researched.
Widdoes said that the City has negotiated that with ProKlean for a 15-month term that would finish out this fiscal year and continue through the next fiscal year. He concluded that “even though the new company is more expensive than the current one, it’ll be a better contract. And if it doesn’t work out, the contract can be canceled with a 30-day notice.”
