By TRAVINA COLEMAN
During the regular meeting of the Tahlequah Public Works Authority Friday morning, members approved the $19 million budget for the new fiscal year.
Stan Day, TPWA general manager, said the process went smoothly.
One issue on the consent agenda brought about some questions.
Of the five rural water districts TPWA serves, Briggs is the only one currently complying with the monthly operating reports, according to Day.
“We used to have problems in the early ‘90s with water loss in some districts,” he said. “We had some that had nearly 70 percent water loss. Most of it was running into the ground. They paid for the water, but that puts stress on our part.”
Day said the operating report requirement is already in the district’s contracts.
“We approved the contracts for the amount of water they are getting right now,” he said. “But until they comply, they won’t receive any more allocations.”
The board also made a recommendation to start funding a reserve account for contract tree-trimming.
“It’s very important to keep trees out power lines,” Day said.
“We just don’t have enough man power in-house to get the job done. The board did not want to fall behind, so we needed to make sure there would be some funding available.”
Day said it costs about $150,000 for the tree-trimming.
“It’s preventative maintenance,” he said. “No one wants to have their service interrupted because of something like that.”
Other agenda items approved included the insurance carrier, OMAG and the contract with the gas authority.
