Lawton City Council to consider leasing National Guard Armory to Lawton Community Theatre | News | swoknews.com

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Kathy Sanford, a registered nurse from the Cormanche County Health Department, prepared the dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during a recent vaccination campaign at the Great Plains Stadium. Health officials are asking the City of Lawton to provide temporary assistance during the vaccination process, and the City Council will consider this request at today's meeting.

The City Council will consider:

It is proposed to lease the National Guard Armory in Elmer Thomas Park to the Lawton Community Theater.

Designate city employees to assist in the COVID-19 vaccination plan coordinated by the local health department.

Revise the city’s 2020-2021 budget to reflect an increase in revenue and an increase of $2.35 million in expenditure.

Formulate council policies to manage the interaction between city government staff and council members.

When the City Council met today, the proposal to rent the National Guard Armory in Elmer Thomas Park to the Lawton Community Theatre and provide assistance to City employees to help the health department The proposal for the COVID-19 vaccine plan will be the top agenda.

The meeting will begin at 2 pm in the Lawton City Hall Auditorium, 9th and C, Southwest. This is the first regular meeting in 2021, although board members have already held two meetings at special meetings this year, including the swearing-in ceremony on Monday. Wards 6, 7 and 8 councillors.

In today's discussion, the Lawton Community Theater Management Committee made a proposal to lease, occupy and maintain the National Guard Armory on the north side of Elmer Thomas Park as its new facility. The approval of the council is the first step of the LCT plan to organize, draft the architectural design and raise funds to convert the armory into use.

The City of Lawton has had an armory since 2015, when Oklahoma released buildings after extensive remedial measures, including the removal of lead paint and asbestos. The city sold the land to Oklahoma in 1953 for the construction of the National Guard Armory. From 1954 to 2011, the 158th Field Artillery Battalion was the location of the battalion. Since 2007, the camp has been included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since 1966, LCT has been housed in the John Denney Playhouse in Northwest Bell. The theater has a total of 185 seats, with changing rooms, scene shops, clothing stores and storage rooms. However, LCT officials said the building faced challenges due to its insufficient scale and its location in the floodplain, which caused the water to flood several times.

LCT officials hope to have a larger position to expand the range of programs to include traditional theater performances and what they call sound children’s programs. They said that they also talked with other Lawton-Fort Sill art advocates, "and jointly envisioned an art gallery that would house the LCT and provide space for large-scale community theater events, youth field trips, and regional theater courses. "

Officials hope to use the armory for this purpose, and if the council approves the idea, LCT will develop a construction plan and raise funds for modification. Then, its officials will meet with city officials to draw up the details of the 50-year lease of the building. According to the letter of intent submitted by LCT managing director Chance Harmon to the city, LCT will have five years to realize its plan.

Council members will also consider a request from Brandie Combs, Regional Director of Oklahoma Department of Health, District 5 (including Comanche County) to help the state's current COVID-19 vaccine program, including in Comanche Comanche County at the county fair.

Comb noted the challenges faced by the program and has asked the City of Lawton to provide temporary assistance, which may include designating a "City Employee Selection Group" to help register and arrange appointments for vaccinated residents. Other assistance may come from areas such as answering phone calls and responding to e-mails. This assistance "will provide direct benefits to citizens who need assistance in arranging labor-related COVID-19 vaccination."

Council members will also consider revising the city’s 2020-2021 budget, increasing its revenue forecast by US$11.8 million, and allocating US$2.347 million to various departments for personnel services, materials, supplies, and other services and charges.

The change is a budget proposed by several city managers for the current fiscal year, which was set as a standby budget when the council approved it in the spring of 2020. Then, the income situation was not clear, and the municipal staff suggested setting a budget to comply with state regulations, while realizing that it would be adjusted as income increased.

That has already happened. Although the initial revenue was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on business activities that generate business taxes and other revenues for the city, economic growth and federal funds designated to Lawton through the CARES Act increased revenue. Today’s adjustments will add $1,425,407 in special funds (funds for specific purposes) in New York City, $433,604 in corporate funds (income from water, sewer and garbage), and $488,286 in general funds.

The council will also consider approving a new policy that sets the formal standards for interaction between council members and municipal personnel. This policy is an extension of the “except for the purpose of inquiry” stipulated in the city charter. Administrative transactions between the council and city government staff must go through the city manager. These regulations apply to all employees except the four employees hired and fired by the city council: city managers, city clerks, city lawyers, and city judges.

Among other things, the policy also stipulates that non-professional behavior, gestures, or language during interactions are prohibited and should be reported; election officials should not publicly criticize employees’ personal performance; any employee should not be Nominations, elections, or failures of the mayor or city councilor may work without support or opposition. City managers will invest in suspected employee violations of the policy; if a member of the board of directors is found to have been violated, the board of directors may take disciplinary action against the person.

In other matters, the council will consider:

• Approval of the construction plan for the traffic lights on Cache Road, Northwest 50th Street, McKee Enterprises. McKee is developing real estate at 4800 Cache Road (the former car dealership) and said that traffic lights are essential to making the commercial real estate viable. The City Hall approved the conceptual design of the light in July and instructed the developer to formulate a development plan to align the lights on the commercial property on the south side of Cache Road with Northwest 50 Street on the north side.

• Received a temporary right of way donation of 2,654.99 square feet from Republic Paperboard, which is essential for road upgrades. The city is planning on Neal Boulevard and Ard Street in the West Lawton Industrial Park. The city will use capital improvement program funds to upgrade roads.