City Council to consider proposals to lessen costs of aquatics center, Southwest 38th Street projects

Proposals that would lessen the cost of the Elmer Thomas Park aquatics center and designate a cheaper repair option for Southwest 38th Street will go to the City Council today.

Proposals from city staff would designate funds remaining in the City of Lawton’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation to the aquatics center, while also recommending reductions in project construction that would trim $705,049 from the $19.9 million cost.

The council awarded the construction project to Miller-Tippens Construction this summer, and the contractor is on site doing preliminary work. But, city engineers also said they would conduct “value engineering” to reduce the project’s cost. A change order to be considered today would trim $705,049 by eliminating paving (city crews will do that work) and change the framing materials in the concessions building to wood. Additional items are being considered include removing air conditioning from the restrooms/changing rooms and changing building pad requirements based on existing soil conditions.

Approval of the first change order would take the construction contract to $19,194,951, said Interim City Engineer Mike Jones. Additional savings will be brought back to the council.

While city staff had expected to take the entire cost of the project from the 2019 Capital Improvements Program, their suggestion to use the balance of funding remaining from the city’s ARPA designation would leave CIP money for other projects. That ARPA fund has a remaining balance of $6.75 million, which must be encumbered by Dec. 31 under federal guidelines.

Council members also will consider a recommendation from Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, who chairs the council’s Streets and Bridges Committee, to add Southwest 38th Street to a list of roads that will qualify for rehabilitation rather than repair.

The section of Southwest 38th Street between West Gore and West Lee Boulevards had been designated for a complete rebuild, but Gill has argued the road easily meets the criteria for mill and overlay, a process that grinds off the top layer of asphalt then applies a new layer. That process allows for some concrete rebuilding, a technique that has been used on other roads in the mill and overlay program, such as Northwest Ferris Avenue.

Gill said mill and overlay could be done for significantly less cost than a $20 million rebuild. More importantly, mill and overlay takes much less time, about six months versus about two years for a complete rebuild. That time frame is part of the reason the idea was supported by the Streets and Bridges Committee, because of the effect closing traffic lanes on the busy north/south arterial would have on adjacent entities, including Cameron University.

No funding has been identified for what is projected to be a $5 million project, with city staff noting council approval merely allows the m to continue building a list of streets waiting for the next round of mill and overlay, once funding is identified.

In other business, the council will look at approving a special event designed to clear abandoned shopping carts out of the city. Businesses have said the carts have been stolen by homeless people and others.

The proposal from city staff would allow people to set out abandoned shopping carts with their bulk debris in November, with no records kept so residents would receive “amnesty” for any carts they set out. Those carts will be stored at the Public Works yard, and commercial businesses will be allowed to pick them up, at no cost, in December and January.

Some major businesses have said it is cost prohibitive for them to search out and pick up abandoned carts themselves, which is why city staff is recommending there be no fees, “allowing for maximum participation and building better relationships with businesses across the city, according to the agenda commentary from Public Works Director Michael Watrous.