Questions posed at City Council Meeting

A list of questions posed at the Dec. 12 Comanche City Council meeting by resident Annetta Garlinger along with the written responses by the city to the questions:

Question 1: City sidewalks - Why are they not complete? Also, corners and certain areas are a danger to pedestrians.

Response: "The City appled for the TAP grant which paid for the sidewalks. The sidewalk funds were managed by ODOT. ODOT hired the contractor and managed all the work. This project wa not handled by the City. We have reached ot to them for an update on the damages and safety concerns.

Question 2: Cemetery - Status of case filed with the police department on September 7, 2023

Response: "All claims were filed with the Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group. They handle all tort claims for the city. Mandi Ritchey is handling this case. We reached out for an update, their response was: 'I am waitng for all the claimants to respond before I can make a final decision. Hopefully soon. Claims are a process and can take a while to work esxpecially when I have multiples for the same thing. I can't proceed until I speak to all the claimants.'"

Question 3: Council member terms and how are people determined to fill vacant seats without an election? How do people just get asked? Who asks these people?

Response: Title 11, Section 8-109 of the 2022 Oklahoma Statutes outlines procedures for filling vacancies in elected municipal officers. Here is a summary:

A. When a vacancy occurs, excluding the mayor's office, the governing body must appoint a replacement by a majority vote of the remaining members. The appointee serves until the next general municipal election or term expiration, with a qualified successor elected. If the vacancy persists for 6- days, a special election must be called.

B. To be eligible for the appointment, a person must meet the same qualifications required for filing a candidacy declaration for the vacant office. These would include being a resident of the ward with a vacancy and a registered voter within the city limits.

C. Who asked Teresa to be on the council?

Question 4: If there is all this money out there for grants that are received. How do you keep getting money for all of these things except for what we need it for? Such as street repair, senior citizen meal assistance, tree trimming to help keep all trees cut of lines during ice and bad weather (preventative maintenance), water line repair to help clear up some water problems, etc.

Response: "Grants are very specific in nature. We try to apply for every grant that we are eligible for. They are very competitive, and we are not always successful. With that said, we have been very fortunate in recent years. Once awarded a grant you must spend funds within the designated parameters outlined in the grant or the funding authority. We do not have a staff grant writer; the city manager writes grants in his spare time. Also, there is usually a matching funds component to most grants and we try to focus on best leveraging practices and prioritize 90/10 or 80/20 grants over 50/50 grants to make city funds stretch further.

A. Street Repair:

a. USDOT - Transportation alternative grants for sidewalks, $785,000

b. SW Oklahoma Regional Transportation - Grant for street survey, $12,000

c. ASCOG REAP Grant 2023 - Street Repairs, $45,000

d. ASCOG REAP Grant 2022 - Street Repairs, $45,000

e. ASCOG REAP Grant 2023 - Street Repairs, $45,000

B. Senior Citizen Meal Assistance

a. 2017 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $16,666, may only be used for food

b. 2018 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $12,411, may only be used for food

c. 2019 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $14,390, may only be used for food

d. 2020 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $12,088, may only be used for food

e. 2021 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $9,700, may only be used for food

f. 2022 Community Expansion of Nutrition Assistance (CENA), $11,628, may only be used for food

C. Tree Trimming

a. There are hundreds of grants for giving and growing trees. We have not found any grants that help with trimming or pruning trees

D. Water Line/Water Quality:

a. OWRB REAP - Water Line Dead End Loop Project, $150,000

b. Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) - Water Plant Treatment Process Upgrades, $200,000

c. OWRB ARPA Grants - Water Tower Upgrades & Improvements & Dam Improvements, $1,000,000

Question 5: In November city council meeting - selling two properties in town as surplus because we don't need to be in the real estate business it was said. Then we are building hotels and buying property for housing and apartments. Explanation? The city owns certain businesses and properties in town and earning rent. Isn't that real estate also?

Response: "Oklahoma municipaities receive zero property tax to help with city operations. We are the only state in the nation faced with this problem. The Comanche Land Management Authority was created to help stimulate economic growth in Comanche and to help provide an alternate funding source to replace declining sales tax and utilities revenues that cities across the state are facing as the economy shifts to online shopping and better energy efficiency.

a. The purpose of the Authority was not to get into Residential Housing. Both properties in question were donated to the city/authority. The city has cleaned these properties up and feel they are viable, livable properties.

b. We have seen positive growth through the investments and improvements that were initiated through these types of projects. The City of Manford owns and operates a grocery store. Without them doing this, they wouldn't have one in their city. It is unconventional but allowable under state statute.

Question 6: The property on Church Street - now known as The Lab. How did this get sold? Was there bids taken for this property?

Response: This building was built with theintent of attracting new business utilizing USDA Rural Business Development Grant Funds. Initially we had planned to build a retail facility with two to four retail storefronts. When we were approached by "The Lab" to acquire the building we contacted the grand administrator at USDA. They approved the sale of the property since it met the goals of the program of rural development. There was a provision that all proceeds either be invested into another property or be returned to USDA. They were invested into the Opry project and all transactions are being reported to the federal government on their SF-424 form. This property wa snot subject to public offering due to the economic development provision. Had there been multiple parties interested we could have considered alternative options.

Question 7: There was a grant that was given to the Opry for business improvement which never got done because of family death and then the city comes up owning the building. How did that happen?

Response: The Opry never received a grant, they applied for a loan through the RBEG Program. The RBEG or Rural Business Economic Grant was isued to the City several years ago to help small businesses start or improve their businesses, this includes the building improvements, inventory, equipment, etc. The loan is available to any Comanche business at a fixed 2% interest rate with a maximum about of $26,000 payable up to five years. The city is obligated to report all activities utilizing these monies every six months to the federal government. All applicants musst complete an application and go through a review of the planning commission. Since the award, the city has helped fund 16 businesses, with only one default for Sara Garcia located at 301 Oak Main. Allan Wooten was awarded a lon on March 14, 2018 in the amount of $26,000. His final payment was made in full on March 2, 2022.

The City purchased the building on May 19, 2023 utilizing funds redirected from the USDA Rural Business Development Grant with approval from the USDA and City Council. This was a full year after the passing of the owner. The city made full assurances that there were no other interested parties before purchasing the property.

Question 8: Final Reports & Audits - financial reports seem vague. Where is the money that comes from all the rent from all the city-owned properties such as the flower shop, flea market, Field of Dreams, etc. How can the city people see how this is bringing in money for the city? When do audits occur and how often?

Response: "Oklahoma State Statute requires every municipality conduct, present and submit an annual financial audit. Failure to do so results n the withholding of certain state appropriate monies. The city has contracted financial consultant that reviews audits all finances on a monthly basis and has had clean audits presented every year by an independent third party auditor. This past year we also had a single federal audit that was triggered becausse we received over $750,000 in grants in one year.

All financial statements and audits are available through an open records request. Forms are available at city hall.

Fiscal year to date (since July 1) the city has received the following funds:

201 N. Rodeo Drive "Flower Shop" - $2,500

Chisholm Trail Trading Post - $8,194,02

Field of Dreams - $6,011.65