The Board Of County Commissioners approved the purchase of screening equipment for the Creek County Courthouse in the regularly scheduled February 13 meeting. The equipment will be purchased from U.S. Testing Equipment, LTD., Vancouver, Washington. The total cost of equipment and installation is $91,413 which will be paid through ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. Sealed bids were not necessary due to the fact that the purchase is through State and Federal bids. This means that the State and Federal Governments have already negotiated a price for the items purchased.
According to Undersheriff Joe Thompson, the Creek County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is responsible for security at both the Courthouse and the Collins Building, and the CCSO has been upgrading security at the Courthouse complex in phases, and the implementation of the new equipment is the final phase. “This is one of the last steps in modernizing our Courthouse security procedures.”
These security measures are similar to those used at Federal buildings, courthouses, and airports around the Country. There will be only one public entrance to the Courthouse, which will be the Dewey entrance. There has been discussion of converting one of the existing courtrooms into a conference room to eliminate congestion in the main entrance area and there will be a walk-through scanner and an x-ray scanner with a conveyor belt for personal items.
According to Thompson, the scanner will primarily be looking for metal objects but it can detect which type of metal is present. “It will know, based on the metal it’s detecting, which threat level it is.”
Along with the walk-through scanner, handheld scanners will be used if the walk-through device sounds an alarm.
An estimated time of completion of the project has yet to be established but it should be in service in the coming months and will be manned by Sheriff’s deputies.
Undersheriff Thompson emphasized that people will be screened in a timely manner so as not to unnecessarily delay entrance into the building.
In other BOCC business, Commissioners approved adding a section of Benet-Dairy road to the Road Maintenance System. This road has been recently paved per County Specs by homeowners along the road.
Chief Deputy Fred Clark discussed the application of a state grant for traffic safety for the Sheriff’s Department which the Board passed unanimously. Deputy Clark said that the department received $16,000 last year and the main thrust of the effort is distracted driving.
Commissioners then approved a motion to let for a sealed bid a 70’x175’x16’ storage building to be used by the Creek County Fairgrounds. Jon Keiffer, Creek County Fairgrounds Manager, said a rough estimate would be at least $100,000.
Commissioners passed a motion to approve signing a funding agreement with ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) for a bridge project on Slick Road. They also approved a claim form ODOT for a bridge over the Deep Fork of the Canadian River in District#3.
The board approved signing a memorandum of understanding with the Muscogee Nation to add a section of 161st near Highway 66, which had been improved by the Muscogee Nation, to the National Tribal Transportation Facility Inventory.
The Board passed a motion to create an Opioid Abatement Settlement fFund Maintenance and Operations account and directed the Treasurer to deposit funds into that account. Counsel Andrew Goforth said that the $62,000 received is the first of several payments to come to the County. He told the Board that this money comes from the settlement by three pharmaceutical forms, and that there will be other firms that will likely settle in the future. At this time, the legal firm administering the settlement has not yet established spending guidelines for the money.
Two utility permit requests from East Central Electric on South 241st St. West Ave near Dripping Springs Church were approved per Country Specs to lay fiber-optic cable.
A utility permit extension was granted to Tim Staton, which was first granted on October 24, 2022, to cross Kellyville-Slick Road. Jarrod Whitehouse said the contractor is due to start work on February 14,2023.
The Board of County Commissioners meets every Monday at 9 a.m. in the Collins Building.
