By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer
published Jan. 3, 2008

Growth in the Mustang community continued to boom during the last six months of 2007, as over 250 additional students attended class in the Mustang School District.

The district’s net assessed property valuation bloomed by over 12 percent — a sign of continued construction of new homes in the area.
As more people flocked to the area, school officials continued to update plans for the future.

Meanwhile, Mustang city officials grappled with questions related to fireworks, expanding the wastewater treatment facility and improving fire protection services to the area.

July

Redlands Community College students paid $6 more per credit hour in the fall after the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved the school’s tuition increase request in June.

Tuition is $88 per credit hour, up from $82 per credit hour — a 7.3-percent increase. The move puts Redlands at No. 14 among Oklahoma’s 25 public colleges in tuition costs. Community colleges overall requested an average a 7.7 percent tuition increase.

Redlands spokeswoman Meg Cannon said the school needed to increase tuition to cover rising expenses, such as fuel and electricity.
“We need to be able to maintain our level of service to students,” she said.

Just over $3 million remained in Mustang School District general fund coffers after one of its toughest financial years.

The amount represented 7.35 percent of the district’s general fund, which is just over $40 million. While the district didn’t meet officials’ goal of carrying 8 percent of the budget into the next fiscal year, Finance Director Kay Medcalf told school board members the district was in a stronger financial position than many other school systems.

While the district did finish the fiscal year with about $160,000 more in the general fund than last year, Medcalf said it is a smaller percentage of the budget in comparison since the fund has grown. Last year, the district carried over 7.75 percent of its general fund.

“We basically broke even, but right now we are in a declining fashion as far as percentages,” she said. “That’s something we want to look at.”

Oklahoma school districts were hit hard by a partially funded $3,000 teacher salary increase, which was mandated by state lawmakers in 2006. While legislators later provided supplemental funding, districts also took a hit when state lottery revenues came in $17 million lower than projections.

Serving pizza daily in Mustang cafeterias could eat away at efforts to improve students’ health, school board members said.

Child Nutrition Director Tammy Bales said kitchens have backed away from ordering higher-fat pepperoni and picking up lower fact thin-crust Canadian bacon, chicken and vegetable pizzas. So far, she said students haven’t seemed to notice the difference, and sales are still strong.

Pizza is served two or three times each week in cafeterias at Mustang’s middle schools and Mustang Mid-High, while it is served daily at Mustang High School.

Board Clerk Curtis Brewer asked if Bales considered scaling back pizza on the high school campus.

“It’s something fast they can grab and go outside with,” she said, adding most high school students eat outside the Commons Building. “We do have an issue with crowding.”

Receiving a $100,000 grant gave Union City fuel to a community-wide push to build a new fire department building.

Fire Chief Fred Allen said the department outgrew Town Hall, which it shares with Union City’s City Clerk and police department. The all-volunteer department has grown to 12 firefighters, and he said they need more space to house trucks and equipment.

“People want to help their community — that’s basically what it boils down to,” he said.

A $100,000 Oklahoma Department of Commerce community block grant was the final piece needed to allow Union City to start construction, City Clerk Gina Dickerson said.

“We are really excited,” she said.

The 7,000-square-foot station will be built on donated land on state Highway 81, across from the community prison.

Pounds of leftover beans were thrown out as about half the usual crowd lined up for the rescheduled 38th annual Mustang Firefighters’ Bean Supper.

Chief Carl Hickman said while only about 1,500 picnickers were less then usual, those who came complimented firefighters’ food and the fireworks show.

“Everybody that was there seemed to have a good time,” he said. “We had no problems. The fireworks show was success.”

Weeks of heavy rain flooding Wild Horse Park forced firefighters to reschedule their annual fund-raiser from June 30, Deputy Chief Roy Widman said.

The first phase in a citywide trails system was tabled by City Council members while they determined the appropriate budget amount.

City Manager David Cockrell said the move ensured city officials wouldn’t need to come back a second time. Mustang was one of 35 candidates out of about 90 awarded an Oklahoma Department of Transportation Special Projects Branch grant. The grant will be used to install the first phase of a multi-phase trail system connecting the Mustang community, and the overall plan calls for interconnecting the city’s trail system with others in the region.

Canadian County Commissioners declared the county a disaster area as a result of May storm damage.

County Emergency Management Director Jerry Smith said the declaration would help the county be eligible for federal and state aid.
The federal threshold is about $272,000 in damage, and during the county’s emergency declaration May 4-11, damages were estimated at about $300,000, he said.

Canadian County did not meet the first threshold in early May, but Smith said aid officials eventually found more damage that pushed the county over the top.

Even if the county doesn’t meet the cut-off mark for federal aid, state help may still be available.

Mustang Creek was once the location of significant climatic changes in Central Oklahoma.

Don Wyckoff, archeologist and curator of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, said the drainage basin Mustang Creek occupies contains records of climatic changes over the past 10,000 years.

Archeologists know that between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago, the area was hot and dry, but somewhere between 4,900 and 5,500 years ago, there was a period of wetness, which produced grasses and possibly grazing bison.

Mustang Creek yielded a good soil sample, Wyckoff said, “and it’s one of the few places we’ve seen soil of that age.”

Mustang Creek soils date back at least 12,000 years, with recorded deposits from 12,000 years, 8,000 years and 5,000 years in the past. However, the creek is not the only local testament to times past.

Bits and pieces of history revealed itself beneath thousands of years of dirt in May when state scientists and researchers discovered bones in Canadian County.

Teams, including members of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society, Oklahoma State University soil scientist Bryan Carter and Oklahoma Museum of Natural History paleontologist Nick Czaplewski, unearthed an approximately 20,500-year-old mammoth on land about 15 miles outside of El Reno.

Drinking beer at Wild Horse Park during the July 4 festivities may be part of the fun for some people, but it had some Council members concerned.

However, if Council members banned the beverage altogether, it could cost the parks and recreation department revenue.

Mayor Jeff Landrith said he was shocked to learn it was legal to drink beer at the park. When he asked a Mustang police officer July 4, he said he was told it was legal as long as it wasn’t hard liquor.

But Parks and Recreation Director Justin Battles said a blanket ordinance banning all beer from the park at all times could hurt his bottom line. He said he has no problem with banning beer during the week of fireworks, but to ban it overall could cost his department about $5,000 in softball league revenues. Additionally, Battles said gate and concession fees would be cut in half, and that loss would extend for about eight weeks.

“If that was to happen, we could see a 40-percent drop in teams and revenue,” Battles said. “Just under half the teams could be going someplace else.”

August

Almost 90 percent of all Mustang middle school students scored proficient on last spring’s state tests.

Seventh- and eighth-grade scores inched closer to all students performing proficient, while sixth-grade scores slid 4 percent but still stayed at 90 percent of students meeting state standards, said Geoff Kingsley, secondary curriculum coordinator for Mustang School District.

“I think we are holding our own … we are still striving for perfection,” he said. “Our work is never done.”

County public facilities board trustees authorized Judge Gary E. Miller to seek contracts from architects for an addition to the juvenile justice center.

Miller said the approximately 8,000-square-foot facility would be used as office space, adding staff members have been “converting closets into offices.”

After speaking with two architects, Miller said he expected the cost to be about $130 per square foot, or a little over $1 million.
uFlashlights in hand, Chisholm Trails Addition neighbors patrolled their streets with Mustang police to show they won’t tolerate crime.

Together they set out from West Dorchester and North Remington ways as part of National Night Out, pushing east through the Chisholm Trails, Hunter’s Crossing and Hunter’s Glen neighborhoods.

In its 24th year, National Night Out is an effort to join residents, civic groups, law enforcement and officials in pushing for safe, healthy neighborhoods.

Strong relationships between neighbors can be a first step toward decreasing crime rates, said Mustang Police Sgt. Mike Adams.

“The small, little tidbit can lead to the biggest of busts,” Adams said. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had people call and say they just saw a kid walking around here, and we come out here and find burglaries and end up arresting somebody and getting people their property back. That’s what’s important to us.”

Responsibility for underage drinking falls on the person in charge under a host ordinance adopted by City Council. A person is defined as anyone over the age of 16.

Mustang Police Chief Monte James brought the host law before Council after area residents asked that law enforcement take a bigger stand in preventing underage drinking.

This ordinance makes a person in control of a gathering or party — at least three people — where alcohol is consumed by anyone under 21 culpable for that crime, which is punishable by 10 days in jail and a $750 fine.

Eighty-five percent of students scored satisfactory on the Algebra I end of instruction exam, up from 49 percent in 2006. Secondary Curriculum Coordinator Geoff Kingsley said, while some of the increase to students’ and teachers’ work, state education officials also changed the benchmark for what is considered acceptable work on the exam.

Parents and children examined every nook and cranny of Mustang Centennial Elementary as the school opened its doors a day late.

Construction at the 65,000-square-foot elementary school came down to the wire, and officials didn’t receive an occupancy permit until 3 p.m. Aug. 16. Principal Neil Womack canceled the school’s first open house, which was scheduled for that evening and pushed back the start of school one day so teachers could prepare classrooms over the weekend. Children started the school year without a functioning media center, gymnasium or a playground.

Mustang’s Sunshine club brought home the Canadian County Free Fair blue ribbon for the best cookie jar and fancy cookies.
The prize is highly sought after among Home Community Educators groups, said Sunshine President Kay Turner.

“We are so pleased with that we could jump up and down,” she said.

Mustang’s Juanita Phillips made a stagecoach cookie jar to mark the Centennial, which faced similarly themed jars from Friendly Circle and Lamplighters HCE clubs.

September

Within weeks of asking Oklahoma children to write letters to U.S. soldiers serving overseas, Spencer Cluff was overwhelmed.

The Canadian County resident stacked boxes filled with letters throughout his family’s house, and after the teacher put several hundred dollars into postage, Cluff almost cried uncle.

But then, volunteers with churches and schools, including his wife’s and his own, stepped forward to help him sort through letters and find organizations to help them get to Iraq. That was three years ago, and Operation Kids for Troops is still pushing full steam ahead.

“I feel very fortunate for what I’ve been able to accomplish,” he said.

Cluff was honored for his work at the Canadian County Free Fair, receiving the 2007 Outstanding Canadian County Citizen award.

The 31st Annual Western Days Parade was Darrah McDaniel’s first, and she wore a giant grin from start to finish as it passed by.

The two-year-old, along with her brother, Trenton, 5 months, and her mom, Tiffani, live in Yukon and attend The Bridge Assembly of God.

“We spend a lot of time in Mustang and wanted to see what Western Days is all about,” Tiffani McDaniel said.

Darrah and her family weren’t the only non-residents to check out Western Days. Bill and Barbara McDowell of Phoenix were in the area when they saw a Western Days poster.

“We’ve been touring Route 66 and it looked like fun so we made a slight detour,” Bill McDowell said. “We’ve really enjoyed seeing Mustang.”

Mustang residents turned out in droves, some more than two hours early, to get a good place along the parade route. As the clouds lifted, parade participants waited in a long line down state Highway 152.

Mustang schools grew by 100 students in just the first three weeks of the school year.

School principals reported 8,240 students were attending class in the Mustang School District as they gave their back-to-school updates to Mustang School Board members. The district reported 8,140 students on Aug. 20. Since August 2006, MSD has grown by 268 students.

MSD Superintendent Karl Springer said if the 2007-2008 school year follows trends measured last year, schools will likely grow by between 35 to 40 students in the next few weeks and level off.

“We will probably hit 8,275,” he said.

Oklahoma City Councilman Lawrence McAtee said he has a vision for development of Ward 3, but Mustang officials and residents feared that vision did not include improvements to Sara Road.

In August, the Oklahoma City Council held a public meeting to unveil the city’s final proposals for a $830 million General Obligation Bond Program. Sara Road was initially included in the proposal but was dropped from the final plan.

“The original plan included widening and resurfacing portions of Sara Road from SW 15th to NW 10th Street,” said Robert Crout, chairman of the Mustang Chamber Roads and Legislative Committee. “To omit it from the project is clearly a slap in the face to Mustang.”

Mustang High School student leaders urged Christian youth to be more involved in their school, as they gathered in prayer and song.

See You At the Pole is a nationwide movement in which Christian students pray for their classmates and school and worship before classes begin. The theme this year was unity, and Senior Joe Kidwell said he hoped other students heading to class noticed the crowd of more than 100 youth.

“There is a lot of desperation in this school right now,” he said. “Some people are so depressed they don’t know how to get out of it.”

Thirteen years in the United States has taught Dora Gonzalez just enough English to barely get by.

But now her child is struggling with a learning disability, she said she must learn more to understand the youth’s teachers.

“I never go to school, because I don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “Because all of the time — go, go, go. The job, spend all of the time.”

Gonzalez has spent most of her life immersed in Spanish, like the dozen other Hispanic mothers taking English as a Second Language at Mustang First Baptist Church. Many attend a Spanish language church, socialize with other Hispanic mothers and watch Spanish language television. ESL Teacher Carolyn Svoboda said in many immigrant households, the mothers are left behind as their husbands learn English at work and their children attend American schools.

“There is no reason for them to (learn English),” she said. “Especially because they want their children to know Spanish.”

A plan to construct an assisted-living center complex won City Council approval despite privacy concerns from a neighboring property owner.

Peachtree Village is a 70-unit assisted-living center with 17 independent living cottages, all designated for seniors 55 and up. The plan calls for the incorporation of the existing Peachtree Apartments into the plan with area being fully gated.

A sticking point in the plan was a request by Peachtree officials for variances from city code to gain approval for a wrought iron fence, rather than the privacy fence. Project backers also sought approval for the facility to have 80-percent brick facing, not the 100 percent dictated by city code. Peachtree representative Jeremy Howard said the requests were intended to give the community a more positive atmosphere.

uThe city of Mustang passed on an offer by developer Robert Crout to purchase the Pebble Creek Golf Course.
“I thought the city would jump on it as a park, and they declined,” Crout said. “I was amazed that they passed on it.”

The course was offered to the city under undisclosed circumstances. Mayor Jeff Landrith confirmed the City Council’s decision to decline Crout’s offer.

“It wasn’t that it was a bad offer,” he said. “It just wouldn’t have been in the city’s best interest with all of the other pressing needs that we have.”

In light of the city’s decision, the course is still in flux. Crout confirmed it is for sale for $380,000, but he hasn’t found anyone to buy it.

Crout closed the course for the season earlier than he had originally anticipated.

“It’s been a bad year for golf greens with all of the rain and humidity,” he said. “We need to start renovations before the weather changes, and we’ll come back out the first part of March.”

Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital is expanding its facilities to accommodate an influx of patients never expected by hospital administrators.

“We are handling about 20,000 emergency room visits a year,” Hospital president James Moore said. “We’re having to use outpatient beds to handle the overflow. Community response is greater than we ever anticipated.”

Groundbreaking on the $27 million project is scheduled for March 2008 and is expected to take about 18 months. When completed, emergency room beds will increase from four to 18, and the intensive care unit will double, from four to eight beds. Construction is planned to the south of the emergency room’s current location.

Integris eventually intends to add another floor to the facility’s east tower, he said, doubling medical/surgical beds, although the timing of this addition is unknown at this time. When the project is complete, the hospital will have created 40,000 square feet of new space and renovated 12,000 square feet.

Mustang School District’s 2007 Academic Performance Index held steady at 1335, inching up four points from 1331 scored in 2006.

State and federal education officials use API scores to measure academic progress made with in a district and at individual school sites. API is scored on a scale from 0 to 1500, with the goal of all Oklahoma schools scoring 1500 by 2014. A score of 1500 ideally would reflect that all of a district’s students are proficient in reading and mathematics.

Anonymity and cash could bring informants and tipsters out of the woodwork, helping Mustang police solve and prevent future crimes.

Police Chief Monte James needs seven volunteers to help form a Mustang Crime Stoppers program, a nonprofit organization that would offer rewards for tips that lead to an arrest in crimes ranging from misdemeanors, such as vandalism, to felonies including burglary, robbery and homicide.

“It gives us those leads so we can investigate,” he said.

Crime Stoppers operates independently of the police department it supports, led by residents and business owners who serve on a board. Board members decide how to raise money and how to award it.

While his father Karl Springer leads the Mustang School District overseeing the education of over 8,200 Mustang youth, Army Capt. Nathan Springer is helping to build a school system and stable government for thousands of Afghanistan children and their families.

“He’s always really cared about our country,” his father said. “I’m just proud he’s chosen to serve in the Army.”

Nathan Springer leads a troop of 160 soldiers in the Hindu Kush mountains in northeastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Initially deployed to Germany, Springer and his soldiers were redeployed in May to become the farthest north coalition forces in the country.

As the war in Afghanistan enters its seventh year, soldiers are spending more time “nation building” than fighting insurgents. Springer said his soldiers spend over 90 percent of their efforts building roads, schools, medical clinics and electrical power and water plants.

November

A former Mustang City Council member was killed in a car wreck in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City Police Sergeant Gary Knight said Eddie Jay Dillard, 53, was killed in an accident near the intersection of Memorial Road and MacArthur Avenue in Oklahoma City. Dillard, a former city council member, was vice president of Security Solutions in Mustang, a company he started with his brother, Bill. Dillard and his family are members of The Bridge AG, and he was active in Mustang, Piedmont and Yukon activities.

Over a dozen Mustang youth have new clothes, and school officials said stronger self-esteem because of a local businessman’s generosity.

Starting last fall, Gary Huckabay and his family opened an account at their All-America Bank to benefit Mustang School District children needing clothes.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do for those children,” Springer said.

Officials have routinely spent several thousand dollars on youth each month using the account. Huckabay said he actually expected the idea to cost more than it has.

“I’m a little surprised there isn’t more need,” he said.

In comparison to other Oklahoma school districts, Mustang is considered to be an affluent area. The average household income was $60,663 in 2000, as measured by the 2000 census, or $16,293 above the state average. A quarter of Mustang students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, which is based on a family’s income, compared to 55 percent of students statewide.

However, Springer said there is hidden poverty in Mustang’s neighborhoods, and school counselors work to identify children who are in need.

“If we are not looking for them they have away of being invisible,” he said.

Canadian County Sheriff Lewis Hawkins took a small step toward a new jail when he presented a preliminary plan to County Commissioners.

Billy C. Knowles of the Tulsa-based firm of Bruton Knowles and Love prepared the plan. Knowles’ firm specializes in correctional facility design.

Hawkins recommended some minor changes to the preliminary plan, specifically reducing the number of beds, changing the location of showers contained in Knowles’ plan and creating two holding cells. The holding cells are needed when prisoners are taken to the county courthouse for hearings.

“He (Knowles) designed more beds than we asked for,” Hawkins said. “We asked for 250, and he said there are 302 beds on here.”
The design did not provide showers for each cellblock, which Hawkins said he would recommend.

Southeastern Oklahoma’s Lake Sardis could one day be a supply of water for Mustang as City Council members agreed to push forward with a plan to find ways to tap the body of water and pipe it back to central Oklahoma.

The latest step toward that goal came in the form of a resolution approved by Council members, which gave the go ahead to the Central Oklahoma Water Resources Authority to join with other central Oklahoma communities to form the Oklahoma Regional Water Utilities Trust. COWRA’s member cities include Mustang, Okarche, Calumet, Piedmont and Yukon, and was formed several years ago to find a long-term water source for Canadian County. Now, COWRA will partner in ORWUT with Moore, Shawnee, Oklahoma City, Norman, Edmond, Midwest City, Chickasha and Seminole in the Sardis effort.

“COWRA trustees gave approval to join the coalition to participate in a study concerning water resources at Sardis Lake,” City Manager David Cockrell said. “We need to determine how much water is available and how much it would cost to bring that water to the city.”
Determining the feasibility of the plan will begin with an engineering study that will cost between $500,000 and $1 million to complete, Cockrell said. Participating members will pay a pro-rated share of the cost based upon their 2000 census figures.

Students struggle daily with Mustang High School’s growing pains — too few parking spaces, not enough classrooms and a library that is too small to meet the school’s needs.

When the campus was built, Superintendent Karl Springer said there was no way school officials could have envisioned Mustang today, the seventh-largest high school grades ninth-12th in the state. Mustang High School alone is growing with 1,718 sophomores through seniors attending class in August, an increase of 47 youth since August 2006.

The school’s 620-space student parking lot, library and Bronco Field were designed with a 3A high school in mind, he said.

“There was no way they could possibly imagined things would get this big,” Springer said.

School officials studied Mustang High School’s needs and planned to hire an architect to help them seek solutions that Springer said they hope will create a “21st-century school.” Voters are expected to consider between $18 million and $19 million in bond projects mostly for the high school in a spring 2009 election, with construction following in 2010 and 2011 if the issues are approved.

City Council members voted to back a lobbying effort to convince state lawmakers to OK a sales tax rebate that could help fund local road and bridge repairs.

Council members unanimously passed a resolution backing the plan by the Oklahoma Municipal League to lobby legislators to return one-half of each cent of sales tax paid in an area to that municipality.

City Manager David Cockrell said the move would allow the state to make an investment in each city, which could fuel economic development.

“This year the city plans to spend $380,000 in road improvements,” he said. “If the Legislature passes the one-half cent rebate, our share would be about $760,000, which would give the city over $1 million in annual road repairs.”

Mustang High School’s 2007 Relay for Life fund-raiser won national recognition for the second consecutive year.

The event, held April 20 on Bronco Field, raised $60,000 for the American Cancer Society, placing Mustang in fifth place in per capita fundraising among U.S. high schools with 1,000 or more enrolled students for the second year. Mustang’s relay also ranked in first place for the second year in the ACS High Plains Division, which includes Texas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.

Mustang’s Relay for Life has grown from $15,000 raised in 2003 in its first year. In 2007, over 500 people volunteered as team members taking turns walking the track. Together, they raised an average of $37.36 per student, or $17,000 more than in 2006.

Over $11,000 was raised by Mustang schoolchildren and the community to replace tattered U.S. flags used in patriotic celebrations.

About half of donations were received from children, said Harold Manaugh, American Legion Post 353 past president.

“It has been a wonderful development,” he said. “If there is anything we need in America today is a regeneration of patriotism, Americanism, love for our flag and love for our country.”

Donations far exceeded expectations, Manaugh said, adding volunteers can buy and maintain over 125 flags to expand the “Avenue of Flags” to stretch two more miles, from Clear Springs Road to Morgan Road on state Highway 152.

Long after state Centennial celebrations are only a memory, Canadian County residents will have two permanent memorials to the occasion.

Canadian County officials in El Reno and the city of Mustang prepared for installation of Centennial clocks, the only two locations in the county that will have state-sponsored icons. While the clocks are similar, Centennial Clock project director Jeff Bezdek said there are significant differences.

“Each clock is unique to its community,” he said. “While some of them may look alike, each has its own personality, from the color to the chimes to the surroundings.”

Denae Mortenson beamed as she remembered her husband Chad’s grin when he heard their baby girl’s first cry.

Her own smile faded a little as she ran her finger over Jayden Faith’s small hands, knowing they won’t clutch Chad’s finger for at least another three months.

Through a videoconference, Marine Reserve Sgt. Chad Mortenson watched their first child’s birth Nov. 7 from Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. Because Jayden was breech Denae Mortenson had to have a cesarean section, and she said she was scared.

“It was more than comforting,” she said. “I could look over, and I saw him right there on the screen — he was encouraging me.”
uCity Council voted to accept applications for the vacant Ward 5 seat, after former Councilman Joe Conner’s surprise resignation. Conner announced in October he would not run again to have more time with his family.

A Mustang High School student was diagnosed with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, school district officials said, making their fight to keep clean facilities and promote good hygiene among students more important.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, was first identified in hospitals and long-term care facilities in the early 1960s, mostly affecting patients with other medical conditions. Thirty years later, health officials started seeing MRSA skin infections among otherwise healthy people who had never spent time in hospitals, said Epidemiologist Becky Coffman, who works in the Oklahoma State Department of Health Acute Disease Service. The bacteria believed to have mutated due to the improper use of antibiotics had made a leap into the general population, she said.

MRSA infections may appear as pustules or boils which often are red, swollen, painful or have pus or other drainage. These skin infections occur at sites of cuts and areas of the body covered by hair.

While MRSA should be taken seriously, Coffman said in healthy people it usually isn’t a killer. In fact the human immune system can usually overcome an MRSA skin infection, just like any other staph-related boil or pimple with proper wound care.

“In most healthy people, with incision and drainage and good wound care — keeping it covered … it will heal on its own,” she said.
uMustang City Council approved a $727,000 contract with the city’s contracted engineering firm for its services in the construction of the city’s new wastewater treatment plant, despite reservations expressed by one member of the Council.

Ward 4 Councilman Keith Bryan cast the lone dissenting vote against accepting the contract with Garver Engineers. Ward 2 Councilwoman Kathleen Moon was absent.

Bryan said while he had no doubt about the quality of Garver’s work, he wanted to explore other options. He said it was not required by the city charter to go through the bid process in this case — Garver is the city’s contracted engineering firm — but no attempt was made to see if another firm could provide comparable services for less money.

“They might be the best, most economical choice for the job,” he said. “I just think we should have taken some time to make sure of that. It’s up to the Council to make sure we save the residents’ money, and I don’t know that we’re doing that with this contract.”
The contract, which was amended after the recent special meeting of the City Council, provides for “base engineering services” in connection with Phase 1 of the plant. Garver has also proposed that it provide additional services, which would add about $184,466 to the fees approved by the Council.

City Manager David Cockrell suggested the city look at the additional services and see if some of that work could be done by city staff. Those services include site surveying, preparation of a sludge management plan, operations and services and see if some of that work could be done by city staff. Those services include site surveying, preparation of a sludge management plan, operations and start-up and $99,400 for a resident project representative.

“I don’t know if we have the ability to provide those services ourselves,” he said. “But, my recommendation is that we treat these on an item-by-item basis, rather than lumping them into the fees Council votes on now.”

While fees paid to Garver — if it is contracted to provide the additional services - are anticipated to total about $911,466, Cockrell said that sum is not guaranteed.

December

Oversized wooden scissors in hand, Charlie Byrd, age 102, and Principal Neil Womack cut a red ribbon draped between across Mustang Centennial Elementary’s entranceway.

“I’m going to ask him to help me chop this thing,” Womack said to Byrd before hundreds of families gathered in the school’s entrance hall. “All right, and we are open.”

The crowd cheered and clapped. While the school’s classrooms opened to students over three months ago as school started, children have spent most of Mustang Centennial Elementary’s first semester with construction workers in their midst. The school started the year without a functioning cafeteria, playground, gymnasium or media center, but slowly those services have opened to students.

Womack told crowds there are still small tasks to finish, but largely the first phase is finally completed.

“This is the result of you all’s support of our school board’s decision to build a new school,” he said. “As you can tell, it is an absolutely phenomenal facility — it gets better every day. You’ll notice a knob missing here or there. Occasionally you may see some things we will be making adjustments to as the contractors finish their work.”

More than 100 bicycle riders will pedal out of Wild Horse Park this summer to help fight diabetes.

The 2008 Tour de Cure bikers will speed out of the Mustang park June 28, spreading across four courses through Canadian and Grady counties’ roads to raise money for the Oklahoma City American Diabetes Association, which supports research and education efforts.

Jeff Johnson, Mustang School Board president, was the only person who filed to run for board position No. 3. Since he drew no opponents, Johnson will retain the seat he has held for a decade. The position is a five-year term.

Temperatures inched above the freezing mark as electrical crews and city maintenance workers battled to restore power to more than 4,000 residents in the Mustang area caught in the grip of an ice storm that hammered most of Oklahoma. At the power outage’s peak, more than 600,000 Oklahomans were without electricity.