It was a short monthly City council meeting Monday night. The meeting dealt mostly with procedures and office openings in regard to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The last meeting the Emergency proclamation outlining closures expired on May 4th. For the most part those recommendation remained. City Hall and the Allen Public Library will remain closed until the 18th of May. Those locations will be manned and in the case of City Hall all business will be conduced through the drive-thru window.

Starting today the Allen Library will have a librarian on hand to help with book returns and check outs and delivery to the curbside customer. A list of books and videos to check out can be found on the website https://allen.okpls.org/. Remember that May is book return no fee month. So try to gather all the books you have around the house and return so others can have a chance at them and pay no late fee! The library is located at 214 E Broadway, Allen, OK 580-857-2933 and they maintain a current Facebook page with ongoing activities and information. A limited contact and social distancing procedure will begin May 18. At that time a limited number of patrons will be enforced.

The Allen park closure and the 10 p.m. curfew will stay in effect until the 18th of May. It is hoped that at that time those restrictions may be eased but we will be keeping update with current health spikes and recommendations from the State.

To insure that everyone has a chance to a speedy trial Allen Municipal court will convene on Monday, May 11. People needing to see the judge will wait outside the lobby of the City Hall and called in case by case so that social distancing can be achieved during the session.

Now to the big question about the swimming pool. The State Health Department is going to work on guidelines on the opening and operation of municipal pools during this pandemic. However the guidelines are not finalized and we can not and will not open until we are contacted with the new parameters to keep everyone safe. Checking with surrounding cities with pools they also have no timeline on when their pools will open and are certain it wont be any time soon.

So we are asking people to continue to social distance as much as possible, wash your hands religiously and when appropriate please consider wearing a mask.

In other business a list of surplus vehicles is gathered and we will be taking sealed bids until noon June 1st on the equipment. The bids will be opened at the board meeting that evening. If you have the winning bid, cash or money order must be paid before the vehicle can be taken off city property.

The Allen Police department reported the month of April has been steady with calls ranging from suspicious persons and vehicles, vandalism and burglary. Tickets this month include 2 expired tags, 6 speeding, 2 DUS, 2 possession of CDS (marijuanna), operating without a drivers license, 2 obstruction, 2 failure to have security verification, possession of meth., DUID, harboring a vicious animal, 2 destruction of private property, possession of vape, 2 burglary, inattentive driving, public into, 2 no security verification, Possesion of CDS - Hydrocodone without a prescription. The county added the Geosafe program to our vehicles which will provide GPS tracking so if help is needed an exact location will be pinpointed by county dispatchers.

The Allen Fire Department have been checking fire hydrants and also participating as storm watchers during severe weather events.

During the Allen Public Works meeting we officially announce the receipt of a $110,000 Rural Economic Action Plan grant through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to improve the authority’s wastewater infrastructure.

The authority will use the funds for rehabilitation to its sewer collection system. These improvements will include the construction of an 8-inch main line, the construction of four manholes, the establishment of a connection to the existing sewer mains and the reconnection of other service connections. The estimated total cost of the project is $129,999. The requested amount of the OWRB REAP Grant is $110,000, with the remaining $19,999 provided through local funds.