Durant City Council in a recent meeting approved projects to improve Main Street and drainage in that area and also a new water line.
The drainage project on Main Street is because of the problems with flooding during heavy rain and the street also will be improved from Fourth Avenue past Washington Avenue.
Funding is from the half-percent sales tax that was extended by voters.
Public Works Director Phillip Hightower spoke about the water line project.
“This is to put in a transmission line from Gerlach pump station out to the airport pump station where we can get adequate water pressure out east of town and where we can start developing out south on Ninth Street and out east of town,” Hightower said. “The water line that supplies that part of town right now is a 12 inch. It’s been like that since I came in ‘99. We’ve outgrown our infrastructure out there. This is needed badly.“ That project also is expected to begin next spring or summer.
The council approved a mutual aid agreement between the City of Durant and the Durant Independent School District.
Emergency Management Director Richard Ezell said he was redoing the city’s emergency operations plan and that the current plan mentions an agreement between the city and the school district to use their busses for evacuation during an emergency.
However, Ezell said he could not find written documentation for this agreement and Superintendent Mark Moring did not know of any either.
The city would reimburse the school district for the costs if the busses are used in an emergency. According to Ezell, busses were used about five years ago to evacuate people from King’s Daughters & Sons Nursing home when there was a natural gas leak.
The council approved a resolution supporting continued participation in the Durant Main Street program.
“The Main Street program is a great program,” said City Manager Pam Polk. “We work well together and do a lot of things.”
Main Street Director Stephanie Swicker said, “This is just showing the State of Oklahoma that we are working together as partners to continue to revitalize our historic district.”
Also during a recent special meeting, the council approved the purchase of two Dell servers in the amount of $31,930.00 each that are needed because of the recent cyberattack against the city.