Lawton City Council to look at incentives for police chief, selecting site for LATS transfer center

Incentives keyed toward keeping the chief of police on staff for at least four more years, and a decision on where the city will build its first indoor mass transit transfer center will top the agenda when the City Council meets today.

The incentive proposal from Interim City Manager John Ratliff is designed to encourage Lawton Police Chief James Smith to stay at least through the 2026-2027 fiscal year by setting a series of yearly retention bonuses of $10,000 in year one (by June 30, 2024), $15,000 in 2025, and $20,000 each in 2026 and 2027. In addition, in the years Smith receives a satisfactory or better performance evaluation, he would be eligible for a 7 percent annual pay raise on his anniversary, plus any cost of living increase given to general employees for those years.

Ratliff has said the incentive package is necessary to keep stable leadership within the police department. Smith has led the Lawton Police Department since September 2012.

In an item related to law enforcement, the council also will discuss the need for a jail trust authority. Proposed by Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, the idea is to direct city staff to initiate the process to solicit Requests For Proposals from outside entities to guide the process of creating a trust authority tasked with managing and overseeing the operations of the city jail. Warren said the RFPs would give the city expertise from professionals and organizations, to help determine the advantages and drawbacks.

In its capacity as the City Transit Trust, council members/trustees will meet in executive session to discuss the appraisal and/or purchase of property for an indoor transfer center for riders who use LATS’ fixed route buses. That meeting begins at 1 p.m., prior to the council’s 2 p.m. session.

It’s a decision city officials have been debating for years, and Ward 4 Councilman George Gill said earlier this month the council would be ready to make a decision on the site for that transfer center and, potentially, a maintenance/storage complex. Council members already have accepted city staff’s recommendation to hire Wendel WD Architecture to do design plans for those complexes, starting with the transfer center, but said they first needed to select a site so designs are specific to that tract.

The council and one of its committees have been looking at various sites for that center in recent months, including a privately-owned commercial tract in the 1200 block of West Gore Boulevard and city property at Southwest 4th Street and West Gore Boulevard (the former Lawton police station).

The council also will meet in executive session on six items, including one that will allow for discussion of the hiring process and potential candidates for city manager.

Council members voted in June to hire the Texas-based firm Strategic Government Services to recruit a new city manager, a process the group has been debating since former City Manager Michael Cleghorn resigned in March. City Attorney John Ratliff has been serving as interim manager, and council members said he would continue to fill that role until a new city manager is named.