Monday the Allen City Council met for their regular meeting. All members were present, Josh Marshall, Melinda Haney, Rhonda Skelton, Braylee Dickerson and Dianna Brannan. City Clerk Kala Stephens and Town Administrator Calem Woodward, Police Officer Chad Vandeveer and other guest were also in attendance.

Guest Elizabeth Coble discussed the water standing in her yard plus her driveway damaged by the trash truck picking up her dumpster. Woodward acknowledged the standing water and said at the moment we are working on drainage but the drainage on Broadway will require an engineer’s study and grant money to correct. The crack in her driveway by the trash truck would have to be taken up with that company.

Next order of business was the raising of the water bills. As everyone knows everything has gone up, the electricity to run the wells, the chemicals to treat the water and the manpower have all increased in the five years since the last increase. It was suggested and agreed that in trying to keep everyone’s bill as affordable as possible there would be a $5 a month increase on the base rate going from $19 for the first 2,000 gallons to $24 dollars. The increase will take effect on the October water bill.

The rate increase also will also increase the odds of approval of a water grant the town is applying for.

On the topic of grants the town is applying for a sewer grant to replace some manholes in town. Woodward has submitted a SODA grant application for a skid steer and implements that go along with that. Woodward had said it would be very helpful in the cemetery, street maintenance and property cleanup.

Officer Vandeveer delivered the police report stating in July they had 9 arrests, 29 citations and 16 reports taken. Chief Minyard will be talking to the Choctaw Nation about Cross- Deputization with them since we are in their jurisdiction.

Fire Chief Dickerson reported that seven members attended the Swift Water Rescue class in Broken Bow in July and five of those will return to attend the advanced swift water rescue class in August. He also reported that new tires have been ordered for the engine and pumper. A total of 16 tires have been ordered. Those tires will be paid for through the Pontotoc County Fire Tax fund.

Woodward gave a written report of projects they have performed through the month. It was filled with a lot of mowing, water well issues, water line leaks and brush hogging. The month ended the Chickasaw Youth Worker program and Woodward was very pleased with the quality of work they did for the town. We were supplied with four workers from the Chickasaw Nation and one from the Choctaw Nation program.

In new business it was announced that the Nursing Home and adjacent lot have been donated to the Town of Allen. The employees have started cleaning the property. As of now there is no intended use for the property. Investigation into the state of the building and other options will be completed and reported. The Woodland Hills Nursing Home, which was opened in 1972, closed its doors in November 2015. A quick inspection looks as though there has been a water leak, some vandalism and, of course, deterioration due to its being closed. Any repair or razing of the building will be expensive, we will get some experts to look at the building and check on any grant funding available before any decision will be made. The town appreciates the generous gift and hope to use the facility / property to benefit the citizens of Allen.

It was reported that several grass and weed abatement letters were issued with about a half of the property owners responded with cleaning up. Next step for the others is a citation will be issued to non-complying owners. Three properties seemed to be abandoned as no property owner can be found. A discussion on the town cleaning the properties and placing a lien on the property was discussed. The issue with this is the town is understaffed and it takes all of their time keeping our property mowed and plus the abandoned property has hazards in the yard that could damage our equipment. If we hire outside company to clean the property the town is out the money for the service and may only get repaid when tax liens are cleared by the owners. In some cases that could take years. We will contact other towns and see what successful procedures they are using.