Durant City Utilities Authority in its meeting March 13, awarded a $31,377,000 bid to Drake General Contractors for the rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant.
The project is expected to begin before May 1 and will take approximately two years to complete, according to engineer Brandon Wall.
DCUA Trustee Danny Sherrer asked if the project was only for rehabilitation or if it was adding capacity.
“We are adding about 40 percent capacity over what you can treat now,” Wall replied. “It’s pretty substantiating in capacity.”
Mayor Martin Tucker said renovation would be a better adjective for the project than rehabilitation.
“But our goal was to rehab it because DEQ was pretty adamant that we rehab it and then while we’re there, while we’re mobilized and doing the work, it needs to be renovated for more capacity. So, we’re doing all of that at once, basically.”
Also during the meeting, trustees voted to request bids to lease oil and gas interests of about 34.99 acres owned by DCUA.
During the March 10 city council meeting, City Manager Pam Polk presented updates on the many capital improvement projects in the city. “We also have the Main Street project that should hopefully bid mid-summer,” Polk said. “So, that project goes from Fourth to 16th Street with street overlay, sidewalks, guttering, storm water. That project is about another $34 million to get that redone. We also have another $35 million project for a 24-inch waterline that runs eight and a half miles from Gerlach out to the airport. That one will probably bid early fall.”
Polk said the city received $3 million for the design and engineering for an air traffic control tower at the airport.
“That came from the state legislature, so thank you to our Senator David Bullard and our Representative Cody Maynard,” Polk said.
According to Polk, the city is in a partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to put a traffic light at First and Gerlach. She said water and sewer lines must be moved for the project. “So, a lot of lines to move, but to move this project along, we partnered with ODOT and they are going to do that work while they’re doing their work and the cost is about three and a half million dollars to move all of those lines, but it will be a zero interest loan for 10 years,” Polk said.
A $2.3 million bid for a new animal shelter was recently approved by the council, and Polk said that it will be built on the north side of the Multi-Sports Complex.
The city also has a project in the works for University Boulevard.
“We’ll be redoing the intersection at Seventh and 12th and a mill and overlay from Sixth Street to Bryan Drive,” Polk said. “That’s funded by a grant and other funding that we still have. We have a new transfer station on order. It should arrive sometime in May.”
Polk said she recently learned the city must comply with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality on stormwater permitting requirements.
“We met with WSB, an engineering firm here in town,” Polk said. “I think our deadline to start is June. Not sure on the cost of that yet, but it will not be cheap, but that’s a DEQ guideline, so we will have to do it.”
According to Polk, the FBI moved out of the upstairs offices in city hall, and the IT department is now utilizing that space.
She said the city is also going to do a rate study for all utility fees and look at a drainage fee, plus a code update on planning, zoning and future land use.
“So, that’s some of the bigger projects we have going on,” Polk said. “Ninety-million dollars in projects are going to start at the same time.”
The council awarded a bid in the amount of $569,820.51 to Freedom Oil and Gas for oil and gas leases on acres owned by the city. Elizabeth Callicoat spoke in opposition to the bids. Callicoat is an educator and founder of the Durant Green School program in 2016.
Council members approved a resolution establishing fees and costs charged by the city for services to require a $100 deposit fee for the Market Square Cafe.
Mayor Tucker presented a proclamation declaring April Fair Housing Month in the city. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability.
“It is the desire for the City of Durant to recognize those persons or groups who best create an awareness of the need for fair housing practices or otherwise promotes fair housing practices,” Tucker said, reading from the proclamation.
The council tabled appointing Teddy Gabbart and Nik Patel to the Durant Tourism Economic Development Authority and Tucker said it will be considered at a future meeting.