Nov. 22—Attracting young families, promoting civic pride and improving infrastructure are top goals set by Muskogee City Council members following this week’s sessions.
Council members reached that consensus after meeting Tuesday night and most of Wednesday. The sessions were led by representatives from the Oklahoma Municipal Assurance group, which helps cities across the state with professional and leadership development, as well as their insurance needs.
There was no voting during the sessions.
City Manager Mike Miller said city staff will prepare a summary of the sessions and present it for a council vote at a Dec. 9 meeting.
“The council will review that and potentially adopt that as our strategic focus,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “Today it was just a discussion to bring back detailed notes and detailed strategy points.”
Rather than filtering through lists of specific projects, council members were asked to reach consensus on the three or four most important areas of focus.
They ended up with three:
— Grow by attracting young families and choosing Muskogee as a place to live, work and play.
— Building a sense of community pride through allocating and identifying resources.
— Improvement of water and wastewater systems, roads and city facilities.
Session facilitator Lori Mueller said a city needs housing, jobs and shopping to attract young families.
“These things can all come from the fact that this is our focus,” Mueller said.
Developing community pride was another focus.
Ward 1 Councilor Shirley Hilton-Flanary said residents expressed concerns about code enforcement. She said there aren’t enough workers to enforce city codes.
“They don’t have time to fine people who have five benches in their front yards,” Hilton-Flanary said.
Ward 3 Councilor Melody Cranford said residents could be encouraged to take pride in their gardens. She remembered knocking on doors in her department and saying, “I’ve got trash bags, I’ve got rakes, I’ve got things, I can help you.”
“You drive around Cherokee Elementary right now and all the fence lines are clear,” Cranford said. ‘I helped them. I said, ‘I’ll come back on Saturday,’ and I helped them drag their limbs.”
Ward 2 Councilman Dan Hall said the city should focus on modernizing water and sewer lines over the next five years. The city can then focus on improving streets and city facilities.
“We need to get our water and sewer lines under control and commit to a set number of meters per year,” Hall said. “You have to put in the water and sewer lines before you can fix the streets so you don’t have to tear up our streets again.”
Miller said the city needs to upgrade or replace aging city facilities, including City Hall and the Public Works Building, both of which are in poor condition.
Session facilitator Mike Bailey, Bartlesville city manager, said updated facilities create a sense of pride among city workers and residents.
Miller said the three objectives could help the council decide what goes into next spring’s half-cent sales tax election. A 40-member task force chooses projects to include in the election, subject to council approval.
“Nothing will be on the ballot unless you say so,” Miller told council members. “If there are issues that are a higher priority, this would be a good time to have that discussion.”
