To beat the moratorium deadline, eleven businesses submitted OMMA Certificates of Compliance paperwork to the Pottawatomie County Board of County Commissioners. All were approved, and Emergency Manager Chad Lawrence said there were already more for next week’s meeting. The moratorium on issuing new medical marijuana licenses goes into effect on Aug. 1.
Those approved were Oaky Grown Cannabis Co., LLC, The Business Investment Group, LLC, Depunion Brands, LLC, Blooming Greens, LLC, Grand Growth, LLC, HashFoxx, LLC, Next Generation Bud, LLC (grower), Next Generation Bud, LLC, (grower), Nex Generation Bud, LLC (processor), Flavor Town, LLC, and Pottawatomie Production, LLC.
The board spent 30-plus minutes reviewing the recording of the Feb. 28 meeting. Dist. 1 Commissioner Melissa Dennis said when the public comments were removed from the agenda, she promised constituents to place items on the agenda to discuss when asked. Rob Morris has questioned the use of the money approved by the county for the IFYR (International Finals Youth Rodeo), stating the county provided an additional $25,000 for the event to throw a party. The county agreed to give a total of $75,000 to help with expenses to have the event.
After reviewing the recording, the board agreed that was not the case. However, a motion was made to amend the minutes of the Feb. 28 meeting to state that the money is to be used for maintenance and operations of the IFYR, and an accountability list of how the funds were spent will be provided to the county after the event.
The accountability list was requested when the funds were approved in February. The need for money to offset maintenance and operations costs was also discussed then. Shawnee Civic & Cultural Development Authority Chairman Randy Gilbert mentioned having a big production to celebrate 30 years of the IFYR. However, it is the 29th rodeo since COVID prevented the 2020 rodeo from happening.
A Memorandum of Understanding was approved and signed between the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the Pottawatomie County Board of Commissioners for professional engineering of bridge construction plans.
Shawn Howard with Citizen Potawatomi Nation said, “We have the Federal Highway tribal Bridge Program. And through the bipartisan infrastructure law, there are, over five years, millions of dollars available.
Circuit Engineering District 4 Program Manager Daniel Clements said, “This should cover environmental studies, engineering, survey data, and both surfaces as needed. So this will be no money.”
“I think it’s a great win on all parties,” said Clements. “So what this memorandum is, just for the board to understand that, where you have this money that the counties can go out for a quality based selection to hire or select the engineer. Then that firm will be under contract, that contract would be executed from CPN.”.
Continued problems with the A/C system at the county courthouse was on the agenda. Dennis said she asked it be added to the agenda to discuss going out for a bid for repairs. The county has been using 6L Mechanical. However, the continued problems with the antiquated system have been costly and are nearing the $100,000 cap, and it will now need to be bid.
In a previous meeting, the board approved having a mechanical engineer look over the situation and make recommendations. Dennis said, “We can’t get the mechanical engineer here quick enough.”
Thad Campbell, who provides maintenance to county buildings, said Friday, June 10, everything was working, but as of Monday morning, several units were clogged up and not working. When asked, he said the old pipes are filled with debris and stop up the screens to the individual units almost immediately. He said you could clean them one day, and 24 hours later, they are not working again. The entire system has been treated and drained more than once, and there are still constant issues.
The board approved a motion to go out on bid for repairs and will continue to work toward a more permanent solution.
Dale Superintendent Ky Wilkins requested approval for educational sales tax monies to be used to pay the plant liability insurance.
Wilkins said, “Our insurance has steadily increased, and we look to use our sales tax money for things that have a substantial amount of money, and it saves money for our general fund. We would appreciate it if we could use these funds to pay our plant liability insurance.
The board approved the request for $149,661.”
He said he believed the cost was $128,000 last year. However, there were some claims during the freeze last year where pipes froze and busted. He also said, “OSIG (Oklahoma School Insurance Group) is the only game in town for school insurance right now. They’re the only place we can get it right now.
The county approved the request.
The board will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting Monday, June 20 at 9 am at 14101 Acme Road.
