Lawton City Council members to discuss Ward 6 council seat, buying property for LATS transfer center

City Council members will receive an update on plans to permanently fill the Ward 6 City Council post and consider the idea of buying property for the proposed mass transit center when they meet today.

The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of Lawton City Hall, Southwest 9th and Southwest C Avenue.

During the meeting, Acting City Attorney Tim Wilson is expected to have “further discussions” with the council on plans for the Ward 6 council seat. That seat is one of three that will be on the municipal ballot Sept. 12. When former Councilman Sean Fortenbaugh stepped down in March, it triggered a city charter provision that specifies the council itself will appoint a member to a vacant seat only until an election can be held to allow constituents to make the decision.

Because a Ward 6 election already is scheduled to fill the new term that begins in January, Wilson has said that apparently means two elections for Ward 6: the new three-year term and a term to finish the unexpired term stretching from Sept. 12 to Jan. 8, 2024. In the meantime, the council selected Bob Weger to fill the seat until an election could be held.

In an executive session item, the City Transit Trust (a function of the City Council) will discuss the purchase and/or appraisal of property that would serve as the site for Lawton’s first indoor mass transit transfer center. That function now is an outdoor site on Southwest B Avenue, providing a site where residents can transfer to new buses once an hour.

A council committee created to analyze the situation has narrowed its search to two sites: the city-owned former police station site at Southwest 4th Street and West Gore Boulevard (the site originally selected in 2018 before the council changed its mind) and an empty one-time commercial tract in the 1200 block of West Gore Boulevard. LATS officials have said the Gore Boulevard site is large enough to hold the transfer center and the maintenance facility they also want to build.

In a related item, the transit trust will be asked to give city staff permission to negotiate with Wendel WD Architecture to design that transfer center and maintenance complex. That recommendation also comes from the transit committee, with the contract specifying work from preliminary design to completion of construction. The contract also specifies that if the former police station site is selected for the transfer center, the maintenance complex would be built at city-owned property at Railroad Street and Southwest D Avenue.

The council agenda also includes:

• Executive session items on an appraisal of Chandler Creek property at Lake Ellsworth, and a pending claim from School House Slough Inc., the legal entity that operated the School House Slough concession area on Lake Lawtonka until Dec. 31, 2022. City officials are working to determine the dollar value of improvements made at the concession by that operator, as they prepare to select a new concessionaire.

• A recommendation from the FISTA Development Trust Authority to expand that board by two members. That proposal would mean amending the trust indenture to include that change, as well as changing what had been the title of director to president/CEO, a new position filled by former Chamber President/CEO Krista Ratliff.

• An update on the status of the municipal pool. Council members had wanted the pool open this summer, but city staff said there are continuing problems with the facility. Professional pool companies analyzing the problem say a full rebuild of the filtration system and plumbing are likely, and they are working on quotes.