The Town of Meeker Board of Trustees adopted an ordinance establishing rules of decorum at public meetings at their regular meeting on July 20.
The ordinance was recommended by the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML), and Meeker isn’t the only town in the county to have considered or adopted it. Davenport passed a similar ordinance at its regular town board meeting on July 14. Stroud will be discussing such an ordinance at its City Council meeting in August.
Town Administrator Jeff Wilbourn stated in the meeting that it updates an ordinance that is already on the books. Trustee Aaron Head said he reached out to OMLon why they might need the ordinance and was told that the law in the Open Meeting Act didn’t really say much on disruptive behavior. Trustee Kenneth Massey confirmed that the ordinance would apply to everyone -- the public, the Board, city officials and so on.
The ordinance, as stated on the agenda, establishes rules of decorum for public meetingsandtownbusiness and prohibits disruptive, threatening, abusive or disorderly conduct during public meetings and while conducting business with the town. It will authorize the removal of persons who substantially disrupt official proceedings and provide for referral to law enforcement when appropriate. It also provides for severability.
It passed unanimously. The Board was almost split on an action item to seek out assistance from the OML on improving communication, resolving workplace issues and developing effective solutions. The vote to take no action came down to 3 to 2. Head said he wanted to discuss the item in light of recent issues.TownAdministrator Wilbourn stated, from his understanding, that the OML would provide educational services and guidance on conflict resolution.
The Board voted 4 to 1 to take no action on pursuing a potential sales tax increase for the Town of Meeker. Head said it made more sense to pursue other ideasbroughtupatprevious meetings before spending $7,000 to $15,000 on a vote, with Massey andVice Mayor Mike Orman saying they weren’t opposed to taking no action on this now. Most of the Board agreed to come back in the future to revisit the issue if other solutions didn’t prove fruitful.
The Board also voted to take no action on approving an engagement letter with Neleigh Murphy from INI Bookkeeper, LLC. A member of the community, Cody Brown, spoke during Citizen’s Comments, stating that he didn’t understand why the Board wasn’t looking to employ a local business for bookkeeping. The Board agreed to take no action on the item and instead to issue a request for proposals, and will consider hiring a local company.
Itpassedtheimplementation of a community volunteer program that would allow people to assist with Town projects, beautification efforts, cleanup activities and more, so long as they sign a release form. The Board also adopted a form for records requests from the OML.
The Board gave approval to Five Tool Management to research and apply for the Municipal Road Drilling Activity Fund Grant (MRDAF) and the PRO Housing Grant.
Meeker applied for MRDAF last year, but was not awarded a grant. GrantAdministrator Leslie Wilbournbelievedthetown would have a better chance this year. The grant would help to repair roads damaged by large trucks. PRO Housing would be used to help address housing barriers in Meeker.
A new storm siren the town received through the 80/20 grant has been delivered and will hopefully be installed soon.
The Public Works Authority approved an ordinance clarifying deposit rates for water, sewer and trash. It intended to go into executive session to discuss the employment of a part-time worker at Public Works, but could not do so as it didn’t include the name of the position being discussed on the agenda.
The PWA will hold a special meeting on Thursday to take action on this after posting a new agenda that includes information on what position is being filled.