City of Lawton looking at revenue bonds to buy School House Slough upgrades

City of Lawton officials have a plan for buying improvements made by the former operator of School House Slough: issue revenue bonds.

That proposal will be discussed today by the City Council, acting in its capacity as the Lawton Water Authority. At issue is identifying a funding source to buy $2.875 million worth of improvements that Kent Waller made to the Lake Lawtonka concession area over the two decades he operated it. The lease between School House Slough Inc. and the City of Lawton specified the city would purchase any improvements that Waller left on the concession when he ended his lease, which happened Dec. 31, 2022.

City staff worked for months to obtain appraisals that set a fair market value for those improvements, announcing earlier this month the value was the average of three appraisals, or $2.875 million. In the meantime, the city also has initiated action to find a new concession operator for the largest of the city lake recreation areas.

According to the agenda commentary, city officials realized that requiring a new operator to purchase those improvements would limit the number of people who could afford to bid to operate the area. City officials said that also would perpetuate a situation where the value of improvements continue to increase as further improvements are made. The pending claim was settled by deciding the city would buy the improvements, which city staff proposes to do by having the Lawton Water Authority issue $2.985 million in revenue bonds. That is enough to buy the improvements and cover the cost of issuing those bonds.

Under that proposal, either the City of Lawton or Lawton Water Authority would own those improvements. City staff also is proposing that future lease agreements specify future improvements will become the property of the water authority or city.

In another water-related item, the council will return to an issue it has been discussing in recent months: new water recreation amenities.

The proposal will include a directive to city staff allowing them to advertise for a splash pad design and build process, to include a specific timeframe for the work to be done. In past months, the council has explored the idea of creating a new water-themed area within Elmer Thomas Park, with amenities such as a lazy river and beach area, located in an area that already includes the spray park and Playground in the Park.

Discussions also are expected to include the fate of the municipal pool on South 11th Street. It’s a popular feature for older youth in the community but one that has caused headaches in recent years because of the deteriorating condition of the pool. Earlier this summer, city officials said while general upgrades were needed for the aging facility, the major issue was a pool filtration system that wasn’t maintaining chemical requirements. While a new filtration system was suggested, experts also said the city needed to conduct a pressure test to identify leaking problems so those, too, could be repaired.