Council discusses city priorities

By Carol Cole-Frowe

October 01, 2008 01:23 am

— Municipal court and library facilities were some of the priorities discussed by Norman city councilmembers at a special session Tuesday evening at Fire Station No. 7's training facility.
Councilmembers discussed a long list of ongoing projects interspersed with other needs, prioritizing them into categories like high impact/low implementation projects and high impact/high implementation projects.
"We're going to address all these things in the next two weeks, right," said Ward 7 councilmember Doug Cubberley, in a joking fashion.
The City plans to implement a seven-member community policing oversight as the half-cent public safety sales tax starts being collected today.
Several ongoing projects are already well under way like creation of a stormwater utility and adoption of a master plan. The City's water plant is undergoing improvements, the compost facility is planned for relocation and there is work on the wastewater plant infrastructure.
Sidewalks were a lively subject of discussion paired with parking issues, when parking in driveways is reduced when sidewalks are put into neighborhoods.
Cubberley said issuing warnings when people block sidewalks with vehicles is a good way to educate the community.
"There are a lot of new people in this community. We haven't done a good job of educating them. Warnings are a way to educate them," he said.
Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said the City needs to provide more recreational opportunities to its aging population. Most of the City's recreation focuses more on youth activities like T-ball or soccer.
Ward 5 councilmember Rachel Butler was not in attendance, but sent her suggestion that attention be given to Sutton Urban Wilderness Park, which has several invasive species coming in.
Ward 2 councilmember Tom Kovach suggested a couple of charter changes, including changing council from hourly wage to stipend. He said he was concerned that the council could be in violation of federal laws because of how many hours they work and how much they get paid.
Kovach also said he wanted to modernize language on how department heads are employed, to give the city manager more control.
Ward 3 councilmember Hal Ezzell said he would like to revise the requirements for landscape bond for construction projects, making it easier for developers to put in landscaping while a project is under construction.
Ezzell suggested possibly not reading the consent agenda items at council meetings to help shorten the meetings. Most other cities post their consent agenda items, but do not read them aloud.
Rosenthal said she also wants to look into possible Lindsey Street widening.
"We've got to do something on that and it would be better to be proactive than reactive," she said.
Carol Cole-Frowe 366-3538 ccole@normantranscript.com