Meeting of 2001-1-18 Special Meeting

Month 2001-1 January

MINUTES

SPECIAL CALLED MEETING

LAWTON CITY COUNCIL

JANUARY 18, 2001 - 4:00 P.M.

WAYNE GILLEY CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBER

Mayor Cecil E. Powell, Also Present:

Presiding Bill Baker, City Manager

John Vincent, City Attorney

Brenda Smith, City Clerk

The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Mayor Powell. Notice of meeting and agenda were posted on the City Hall notice board as required by State Law.

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: G. Wayne Smith, Ward One

James Hanna, Ward Two

Glenn Devine, Ward Three

John Purcell, Ward Four

Robert Shanklin, Ward Five

Barbara Moeller, Ward Six

Stanley Haywood, Ward Seven

Michael Baxter, Ward Eight

ABSENT: None.

BUSINESS ITEMS:

2. Consider receiving presentations from interested parties concerning possible construction of an electrical power plant in the Lawton area and take appropriate action. Exhibits: None.

Mayor Powell said a list of 13 questions had been compiled for each of the three firms to address during their presentations. He said question ten should address the need for treated water, as well as effluent. Sequence of presenters was Smith Co-Generation, Calpine, and Energetix and presenters were asked to stay on the suggested topics in order and to keep the remarks to 20 minutes.

SMITH CO-GENERATION

Ted Banasiewicz gave a presentation for Smith Co-Generation, which is summarized as follows: Smith has been in business for 10-12 years, it is located in Oklahoma City and owned by Don Smith. Smith owns and operates a power plant in Oklahoma City which is the most reliable in the State and from an environmental standpoint, it is the cleanest burning power plant in the state. Smith is interested in building a power plant in Lawton. As far as the second question, primary and secondary services of the company, they are in the business of building, owning and operating power plants and the product is electricity, which is shipped through electrical transmission lines. One of the reasons they want to locate a facility here is access to a transmission system. Lawton has an excellent access to transmission to move the product out of the area.

Power plants require fuel, and the more options to move fuel to the plant, the better, and Lawton has a good, not excellent, but good access to fuel options. Power plants require a substantial amount of water and Lawton has access to that. A plant needs to have a community that supports what it is trying to do and Smith hopes to gain that support but if they get to know each other and the community does not want them here, they would graciously leave and not be part of the community.

Question four relates to benefits to the community, and a common question is whether building a power plant will reduce local electric bills. The answer is they do not know. In a new market for electricity, if you build a lot of new power plants and have an excess supply of electricity, prices would likely drop. The decision should not be made based on that part of the equation. Smith and the others expect to build a plant that would cost approximately $200 million to employ approximately 30 people on a full time basis which are very well-paying jobs. During the construction period of 18 to 24 months, approximately 300 people would be employed. Those are the primary benefits to the community and there are trickle effects associated with new employment.

The size of the plant is approximately 600 mega watts, although that is not a fixed number. Start up date is anticipated to be before the end of 2003. One of the primary aspects of building power plants in Oklahoma relates to Indian lands accelerated depreciation which is a huge benefit to companies trying to develop power plants.

Smith has no relationship with AEP Public Service Company; the only relationship the plant could have would be an agreement for that company to interconnect with Smith to move the product from the plant.

The amount of water needed would be about five mgd, and it would probably not increase, although the plant size is not fixed and that may increase or decrease. They tend to work in gallons per day, although many use acre feet as a unit measure, and five million gallons is approximately 15 acre feet. The current projections from their economists, if they are correct, the plant would operate a certain number of hours per year, which would turn that 15 acre feet per day to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 acre feet per year.

The plant is fully capable of using raw water, potable water or effluent from the waste discharge facility and it is very common for power plants all over the country to use water from those three sources. The primary use of water is for cooling throughout the plant so any of those water sources are acceptable.

There is concern about emissions and Smith submitted an application for an air permit to ODEQ showing, through analysis, that the plant will not have a significant impact on the quality of the air. They have also done all of the work necessary to show the plant will not have a measurable impact on the Wichita Wildlife Refuge and ODEQ has accepted that analysis although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing that analysis and may ask for additional information. Once they have had an opportunity to show in detail what the emissions from the plant would be, and to show that it would be using the cleanest technology available, much cleaner than the current power plants in the state, to include the one owned by Smith, and much cleaner than the plants in the area, not that they are doing anything they should not be doing, it is simply the advancement in technology since those plants were built. The greatest impact on Lawton's air quality is what happens in Texas on implementation of their state-wide program to reduce air emissions.

The power generated from the facility will be marketed to a wholesale market so there is no way to answer who will use the power at this point. Smith is not a large company, it contracts with large companies to market the power, and they are in discussions with a number of those companies who have indicated an interest in buying the power from these facilities, but what they will do with it and where they will re-market it could not be addressed at this point.

In terms of location of a facility, a site was selected on the east side of the City as they wanted to be further east from the Wildlife Refuge to lower the impact on the air quality of the Refuge.

Mayor Powell asked if question 13 was on the list regarding "discuss disposal of excess effluent discharge from the generation facility". Banasiewicz said he did not have that question and they did not have a plan in that regard; one option would be to contract with the City for treatment and discharge of the effluent by contract. He said the effluent from a power plant is not hazardous, it needs to be treated, and temperature and ph are concerns, as well as turbidity. Banasiewicz said the City's treatment facility is capable of handling this type of discharge; Smith can build its own treatment facility or contract with someone to do that, and then the discharge would be released into the environment either where it is currently going or to a different location.

Mayor Powell asked if Banasiewicz had further information that is not included in the topic list. Banasiewicz said the companies represented here are all very good at what they do, they are all good companies with good reputations for being able to do a good job. He said he did not know that there was a need for the City to select someone at this point in the process; all of the companies are trying to build a plant and all of them need many permits, and they might be successful or not in other areas, so the only advice he would have is to work with all of them at this point.

Shanklin asked if the Smith plant would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Banasiewicz said no. Shanklin asked if they have to have someone who wants to buy their electricity first. Banasiewicz said you have to sell your product to someone; their business plan is to have a contract to sell the power ahead of time on a multi-year basis and that company would tell them they would want them to operate at certain times. He said their economists have projected that the plant would run Monday through Friday, between 12 and 16 hours per day.

Shanklin asked if the effluent from the power plant could be re-used. Banasiewicz said the effluent will need some treatment before it is released into the environment. Shanklin asked if they could recycle it and use it again until after it is treated. Banasiewicz said that is correct.

Devine asked if they would put in their own transmission lines or how they would convey the product, if they would use PSO transmission lines or run new lines. Banasiewicz said they are not planning to build transmission lines, they plan to interconnect with the existing transmission system in the area.

Purcell asked if they wanted to start construction by the end of 2001 and Banasiewicz said yes.

Purcell asked if they would ask the City for a sole source supply of water, in other words the City could supply to Smith but not to anyone else, would that be one of their requirements. Banasiewicz said no.

Purcell said infrastructure would be needed to get the water to the facility, and then back to the City's treatment facility. He asked if Smith would construct those lines or would they expect someone else to do that. Banasiewicz said they could talk about the various options, and that he had not heard from the City what would be desired. He said they had preliminary discussions with Ronnie Graves about the quality of the effluent and the amount, a potential path for a pipeline from the City's discharge point to their plant, as well as a second pipe back in the same trench to return the effluent, but those are just preliminary and he was not suggesting that was the only option but it was the one that struck them as being most attractive, and they would propose sitting down in a less public forum to discuss that.

Purcell asked what kind of fuel would be used to run the plant. Banasiewicz said natural gas. Purcell asked where they would get that natural gas and response was they did not want to say right now.

CALPINE CORPORATION

Andre Walker, Calpine, Houston, Texas, gave a presentation that is summarized as follows: William Taylor, also with Calpine, distributed information packets. Calpine was founded in 1984 in San Hose, California, which is currently the company's headquarters. The philosophy is to grow the company into the largest independent power producer to provide electricity for a new, evolving power market in the U.S. Regional offices are located in Pleasanton, California; Houston, Texas; and Boston, Massachusetts. It is a 100% public company, since 1996, trading on the New York Stock Exchange as CPN. Calpine's primary product is electricity; they have several co-generation plants that produce electricity and steam; the facility proposed here would produce solely electricity.

Calpine has one facility in Oklahoma, and another is under construction; they are trying to gain geographical diversity for reliability purposes and low cost operation. Lawton is the third largest city in the state, the infrastructure in place, the high voltage transmission system is attractive to them, as well as the availability of gas as there is a fairly large gas pipeline in the area they were planning to connect with, and the water needed for the facility.

Commitments could not be made as to the size of the facility or generation capacity; their thoughts were to produce a 500 mega watt facility costing $300 million. The plant would employ 20-25 permanent employees, operating staff and management, and would be based in Lawton. The facility would burn natural gas, which is relatively clean fuel and would reduce emissions. State and local tax base would be increased through their capital investment in their plant, as well as sales taxes and property taxes. Approximately 1,500 jobs would be created throughout the two-year construction period, and probably generate about 1,200 additional indirect jobs through expenses for food, hotels and ancillary services throughout the construction period as people locate to the area for construction.

Walker said on the time line for the project, being in early development, they are evaluating the market to determine the right time to enter. Calpine's focus and philosophy is to try and sell the power locally, in a regional sense, and anticipate when power is needed, not just when is the prime time for development. Walker said they anticipate a 2004 or more time frame; that would be the earliest they would anticipate and anything after that would be dependent upon the market.

Salaries for the operating labor for the plant with 20 or 25 employees totals about $1.2 million per year, and includes benefits.

Calpine has a relationship with AEP and PSO, AEP in the south Texas area, Calpine has generating facilities that are interconnected with CSW, and CSW and AEP merged and bought out, so they have an established relationship there. In addition with Calpine's generating facility in Oklahoma, they have approached AEP to purchase output from the facility and supply power to Oklahoma. No arrangements have been made for the Lawton facility as it is early in development.

On plans for the effluent water, initial contact was made with Ronnie Graves to discuss the possibilities of using Lawton's effluent water from the Wastewater Treatment Plant, taking approximately 4 to 6 mgd. A much smaller stream would be returned to the Wastewater Treatment Plant for disposal.

Calpine is committed to providing clean burning natural gas plants that will not deter or significantly impact the environment. Calpine would do its best to meet the air emission standards of the DEQ and they would typically do what is called best available control technology, if not better.

The power plant is anticipated to be located on the southeast side of town; they have optioned a quantity of land that would provide them a buffering area around the facility. The facility would occupy approximately 20 acres, and that is the facility fence line, and they have optioned enough land around that to provide a buffer between the facility line and the property line.

The power sold from the facility would be targeted to be sold within several regions in the southwest, although it could be transported elsewhere. Calpine has a marketing organization within itself located in Houston and they do market power across the U.S. but the primary focus is to try to get the electrons, when needed, in the appropriate market.

Calpine anticipated sending back to the Wastewater Treatment Plant between 1.5 to 2 mgd of water that would need to be treated, although it would not be hazardous, before it could be released back to the outfall discharge in Nine Mile Creek.

Calpine has been known to get very involved in communities in which they have power plants and would want to find the right solution for power development and power generation in Lawton and in Oklahoma. They look forward to talking to members individually as they progress in the development of the project.

Baxter asked how many mega watts Walker said. Walker said in the very early stages of development they anticipate a 500 mega watt plant, and that is a nominal number that could go up or down depending on what best suits the market.

Purcell asked about start up. Walker said the construction period is typically 24 months, and another 12 months of development time before that, so that was why they were beginning their development now and if things all fall in line and the marketing assessment is correct, they would begin construction 24 months prior to the operation, and with that date being flexible it could stretch out some period of time.

Purcell asked if Calpine would build infrastructure to the plant or ask the City to build it or negotiate an arrangement. Walker said it would take collaboration between the City and Calpine to determine the most appropriate way to keep costs low and not jeopardize the water; Calpine could include the cost within its construction budget and/or the City do so and Calpine could pay a fee to be negotiated with the City.

Purcell asked if Calpine would require a sole source contract for water and Walker said no.

Purcell asked where Calpine would purchase the natural gas. Walker said he could not say but there are some gas pipelines in the area and they are in discussions with those people to interconnect with those pipelines; it would be local and it is not too far from the site they have optioned.

Smith asked how much noise is produced from a plant such as this. Walker said at the fence line of the property it is 55 dba, and that is roughly equivalent to the conversation noise level when you walk into a restaurant; it is a low hum and not something that is easily heard or transferred a great distance and it is nothing you would notice as a loud noise.

Devine asked if the water being returned to the Wastewater Treatment Plant would be about the same as it was when it was transferred to the power plant. Walker said it would require treatment and a smaller quantity would be returned for treatment. Mayor Powell asked if there are guidelines that had to be followed. Walker said they must meet EPA standards. Devine said that would be the City's responsibility if it comes back to the plant. Walker said they would have to find a way for that to work.

Shanklin asked how much water they would need per day. Walker said between 4 and 6 mgd of water into the facility. Shanklin asked what makes the water dirty during the process and what does it come in contact with to require further treatment at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Walker said they put the water into the mechanical force draft cooling tower and that is just to cool the facility because it generates heat throughout the process; the water must be treated to prevent the build up of calcium or algae so what they use to treat the water with is what would need to be treated or taken care of before it was sent back to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Baker said Smith and Calpine both stated there would be no significant impact on air quality; will there be any visible emissions. Walker said when it is cold you will see water vapor coming from the cooling tower but it is pure water; there would be no discoloration and most times it would be invisible to the naked eye.

Baker asked if Calpine purchases water from the City, what type of contract term would they require for their project. Walker said they would need something for the life of their facility; they plan for the facility to be here in excess of 30 years and probably would not ask for a contract for that length but would ask for something significant.

Baker said on the effluent discharge, would Calpine consider treating that themselves and getting a NPDES to discharge that back to the stream instead of sending it back to the City. Walker said if that is something the City would require, they would look at it and would have further discussions to determine the best way to treat the water.

Haywood asked if it was a $1.2 million budget for 20 employees and what the salary range would be. Walker said he was not sure of the range of each job classification and some could be $50,000.

Haywood asked how many employees would be brought in and how many would be hired locally. Walker said their goal was to seek local talent as the first, primary source, although there may be a need to bring in people with special skills.

ENERGETIX

Todd Rogers, Energetix, gave a computer presentation and distributed information packets. The oral presentation is summarized as follows: Deborah Morgan and Ryan Stover were also present with Energetix, all are Oklahomans. Morgan is a graduate of Oklahoma State and the University of Tulsa Law School; Rogers and Stover are graduates of the University of Oklahoma.

Energetix was formed in August 1999 and is based in Oklahoma City. The foundation of their mission as a company is to provide economic development by means of energy project growth; the focus of developing economic development projects that use our abundant natural gas resources. Energetix gets involved in communities and become concentrated on becoming a good corporate neighbor; in fact, in the projects they have developed across the state already, they had found that being local was a huge advantage for the project development. Many times there are questions that arise on project development from community leaders or nearby land owners, and it makes a tremendous advantage when you have people that can be there at a moment's notice, answer questions and be able to communicate effectively in a timely manner.

The board of directors is chaired by Gene Rainbolt, Chairman and Founder of Bancfirst Companies, and Mr. Rainbolt's personal and business philosophy is a business is only successful when they become involved in the economic development of a community; that is why it is such a complimentary way for him to form Energetix because that is the mission of the company as well. The executive management is Ray and Cindy Mize; Ray has over 25 years of experience in the power development industry; Cindy has over 15 years of experience in the natural gas industry in project management. Mr. Mize was the lead project developer on the Smith power plant that was developed in Oklahoma City a few years back. The development team is Rogers, Morgan and Stover, and they had met many of those in the room already and they had been in the Lawton area for some time rolling their sleeves up and getting to understand the research on what development projects would be for this area.

Rogers presented a map and said for such a young company, they have already demonstrated a professional track record. The company has the Webbers Falls energy facility, which is an 825 mega watt plant just south of Muskogee in Muskogee County; the Redbud energy facility, near Luther in northeastern Oklahoma County; and the Thunderbird energy facility east of Norman in Cleveland County.

Rogers proposed bringing two projects to the Lawton-Fort Sill area; the first they are calling the Great Plains energy project, which would be located east of town. The second they are calling the Lawton energy project and it would be located in the Lawton industrial park. A slide was presented showing the time line for construction and operation dates of the projects, and Energetix is developing a portfolio of close to 3,500 total mega watts in the state and 600,000 lbs. of steam generation. The Great Plains energy facility east of town will be a 500 to 825 mega watt facility and they are currently researching the transmission in the area to see what the capabilities can be; they would like to be as high as possible; and this would be a natural gas fired facility. The Lawton energy facility is a co-generation energy facility that will produce electricity and steam in the same thermal-dynamic process. This would send steam to industrial park tenants such as Goodyear, Bar-S and Republic, and sell electricity to PSO.

The plant requirements for the Great Plains energy facility are land, access to transmission wires, and access to gas, much like the presentations made earlier today. They also need up to 8 million gallons of water per day, and they would look to contract with the City for the effluent water. An artist's rendering of what the facility would look like was presented; there is one similar to this being built in Oklahoma City in the Newcastle area. For reference, 500 mega watts could light up the City of Lawton ten times over. In regard to the Lawton Energy Facility, in the Industrial Park, they have already begun work there partnering with the Chamber of Commerce in Lawton to purchase 12 acres of land in the middle of the Lawton Industrial Park. They have done that for two reasons, the first reason being although the facility will have a minimal noise impact, the fact that it will be in the middle of the facility will allow the noise to be phased in to the rest of the surrounding environment so people not far from the area will not be able to hear any more noise than they currently do. The second reason for being in the middle is that it will be easy to send the steam to the industrial park tenants. Water would be purchased from the City, and natural gas would also be used.

A slide was shown demonstrating how the co-generation facility works; natural gas and air come into a turbine which spins and forms electricity which is then sent to PSO. Heat exhaust from the gas turbine goes into a boiler and when water is added to that, steam is created and steam can be extracted to be sent to the industrial park tenants. The steam turbine also spins to produce electricity, which is sent to PSO.

Energetix has been in contact with every member of the Lawton Industrial Park and they are very excited about the co-generation facility, very enthusiastic and supportive of them, and the tenants realize the significant cost savings. They are also designing the facility with extra capacity to allow the Lawton-Fort Sill area to be able to actively recruit new industries to the industrial park and it will give the Lawton-Fort Sill area a tremendous advantage because they will be unlike any other area in Oklahoma or North Texas; this will really be the trump card for Lawton-Fort Sill to recruit new industry to the area.

A slide was presented showing the limitations researched so far dealing with the gas delivery; the gas situation for the Lawton Industrial Park is almost max'd out, and it is not economically feasible to bring a large line into the Lawton Industrial Park. Energetix proposed to bring a large gas line to the Great Plains Energy Facility east of town and build a lateral line to the Lawton Energy Facility so the projects are linked and they must go hand in hand.

A slide was presented showing employment benefits and jobs. With the addition of two projects in the area by Energetix, the number of jobs will almost be double that of the other firms. There will be 50-60 permanent jobs which will range from the plant manager to very highly technical jobs and supervisory jobs. Construction jobs associated with the facility are between 800 and 1,400. The Center for Economic and Management Research at the University of Oklahoma performed a study showing total construction period jobs and the ripple effect, meaning jobs that might go into other industries such as natural gas and other goods and services, to be well into the thousands of jobs for those fields.

Benefits to the community would be that they expect to have a large amount of ad valorem tax revenue, and both facilities combined will have between $300 and $400 million of new ad valorem tax revenue for the community, which will help the schools, Great Plains Technology Center, and be overall good economic development.

Rogers said the members now know why they believe Energetix has the right strategy for economic development in Lawton-Fort Sill, the right team, and now is the right time. He asked that Deborah Morgan be recognized to present closing remarks.

Deborah Morgan, Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Energetix, said their current schedule contemplates ground breaking on both facilities in the fourth quarter of this year. Water is a critical piece of this puzzle; all the facilities need roughly the same amount of water from the treatment facility but the current discharge will only support one so it is an issue with regard to moving forward with water so that money and development and construction design, engineering can begin. Morgan said they touched base with the utility division last October requesting to begin formal negotiations on an option for the water to serve the facility and they are ready to move forward with those negotiations and enter into an agreement with the City.

Morgan said two areas were not addressed in the presentation; one was the question that was added, as well as their relationship with PSO AEP. She said they have been in contact with PSO officials in Lawton and within several weeks they would go to Ohio to meet with executives of AEP mainly to discuss how they could appropriately design the co-generation facility to add as much value to the PSO system as possible. Morgan said the co-generation facility must run 24 hours a day to provide steam so they must have someone available to buy the by-product, electricity, 24 hours a day, and they would have to work hand in hand with PSO in a partnership, not only in purchasing the power but in engineering and designing the facilities to best meet its needs. Energetix is meeting with a sister company of PSO to discuss what other services on the project they can provide; they would like to look at whether they could do some of the engineering construction and operation and they are open to that possibility and they have been discussing a whole host of arrangements in moving that project forward.

Morgan said on the effluent, there are a couple of different options for discharge; the water itself does not change, it has the same characteristics as the water you get so you get back as good a water as you give up. The only thing is a lot of volume is lost through steam and so the concentration of whatever is in the water magnifies so it is necessary to treat that water. In the Norman project they are purchasing effluent and discussing building a secondary pipe which they would pay for the infrastructure as well as an O & M charge on a plus cost basis to Norman to operate the facility. If they discharge to them, Energetix would build the return pipe as well. The options are the same and everyone will have to meet EPA guidelines with regard to air and water quality and the discharge can go to the river where the treatment facility currently dumps the water or we can take it directly to the treatment facility and pay the City to treat it.

Morgan said information on jobs, and this does not include benefits, but each facility would have a plant manager and that is between $120,000 to $150,000 per job. The facilities usually have five supervisors that are technical experts, chemical engineers, electrical engineers, and those salaries range from $75,000 to $90,000 and she assumed it would be the same for all of these facilities. The operators and other facility personnel would be in the range from $45,000 to $60,000. You also have administrative personnel, janitorial services, security, and a host of other jobs that fall outside of those 20 to 25 jobs everyone has mentioned here today.

Moeller said the industrial park to the west is in her ward and the noise level there is already beginning to interfere with the quality of life a half a mile from residences. She asked if the firm could insure the City that they would not increase that noise level at all. Morgan said on this facility for noise they would do the same thing they would do for other facilities which is study what the current noise conditions are in the area and match the engineering and design of the facility to blend in with those noises. Morgan said noise is a function of money; you can spend a whole lot of money and create no sound whatsoever, but you may lose the benefit of providing the facility at all because you lose the cost savings of the steam and the reason they are there to begin with, which is to provide the steam, but there should not be a noise issue with that; the location is directly in between Goodyear, Bar-S, Republic and Silver Line. She said as the noise goes out, it will combine with those other noises and there will be no significant difference in the noise level. Morgan said they know that is an important area of interest for residents and that they had dealt with it on other projects and had listened to the community on how to resolve those issues.

Shanklin asked if Energetix qualifies for the State economic development act where they create jobs and get certain benefits. Morgan said yes, the Quality Jobs Act, they do qualify for that. Shanklin asked if that meant their ad valorem would be delayed 10, 15 or 20 years. Morgan said there is a five-year exemption under that law but the State actually pays the taxes on behalf of the company so the revenue stream for the $3-$4 million in ad valorem taxes, based on the $300 to $400 million in-ground investment, is not affected. Morgan said Energetix does not pay it for the first five years.

Shanklin asked if Energetix needed three mgd of water in the industrial park. Morgan said yes, they would purchase water the same way the other industrial park customers do now on the industrial rates. Shanklin asked if we were capable of producing that water. Jerry Ihler, Public Works Director, said yes, and it will depend on the pressure they need whether it would be from the industrial high zone or from the 82nd Street system. Shanklin asked if this would precipitate the southeast water treatment plant coming on line at an earlier time if we are just going to have 35 mgd when we get finished with the plant improvements. Shanklin asked if we would keep the south plant as long as possible until it does not meet EPA requirements. Ihler said CH2M Hill will make a presentation next Tuesday. Shanklin asked if the south plant would be in the way of construction and Ihler said yes. Shanklin asked if the southeast plant would be on line in three years and Ihler said no. Mayor Powell asked if the Medicine Park plant capacity would be 40 mgd or 35 mgd and Ihler said 40 mgd.

Morgan said the water they would use would not be a total increment over what is being used now because they would be providing the steam operation for the surrounding companies so those companies would not be taking water for that purpose, so there would be a certain amount of offset.

Purcell asked who would construct the pipe to get the wastewater effluent to the power plant on the east side. Morgan said in Norman, Energetix is building the pipeline and securing the right of way at their complete expense, and Norman is discussing whether they want to take ownership of the pipe or if they want Energetix to pay an operation and maintenance fee plus some figure so they can control the facilities and maintain them. Normally Energetix constructs the facilities or agrees and pays for a contractor, third party that both agree on, to do the work, but it would be to City specifications and there would be a lot of latitude there, but it would be a complete cost to Energetix.

Purcell asked where they would get the natural gas supply. Morgan said there are several large basins in the southwestern part of Oklahoma, and many suppliers of gas; the issue is transporting it from where it is located to your facility. Morgan said they had been working with Reliant Energy in developing some strategies to allow them to bring the appropriate amount of gas to both facilities at the least cost. Morgan said they are looking at a pretty large investment in infrastructure and the large facilities can stand to take on some large amount of cost for infrastructure, but the smaller co-generation structure could not, so the lateral from the large gas line they would have to build either way would make the industrial park operation feasible.

Baker asked if construction of both plants would be concurrent. Morgan said yes. Baker asked if there would be 800 to 1,400 jobs during the construction phase. Morgan said yes, and they have met with Great Plains Technology Center to discuss training and personnel needs, and started that process; although you must bring in some people with expertise in building power plants, the vast majority of the actual construction work force comes from the local community, along with a lot of the products and services.

Baker asked if Energetix would be requesting to purchase 3 mgd in potable water for the west site. Morgan said she believed that would be the maximum daily quantity, and it would be somewhat offset by other industries not needing as much but it would not be a one to one offset.

Baker said he wanted clarification so there would not be a misunderstanding, and Ihler answered the question that we can supply the water, but he thought that would be contingent upon improvements to the pump station in the west part of town, which is part of the 2000 CIP and we are working on the project, which would be complete before the facility is built.

Purcell asked if the electricity would be produced only on a wholesale basis as the others stated. Morgan said yes, they are only involved in the wholesale market, which is different from the retail market. Purcell asked if it was feasible for Lawton to buy electricity from Energetix on a wholesale basis and sell it, or if that made any sense at all. Morgan said it could not be done under the current statutory scheme; currently PSO has the monopoly on providing distribution, transmission and the actual electricity. Morgan said they are looking to go to the wholesale market, and if Lawton is part of the wholesale market, it could contract for power. Purcell said when they attend meetings they hear of other states and cities that somehow generate their own electricity and sell it, which saves on the tax base and they make money from that. Morgan said Los Angeles does that, and there are many cooperatives in Oklahoma that own generation facilities and separate distribution systems, and she did not know what the marketplace would look like in Oklahoma in the year 2004. Purcell said it did not seem feasible to discuss it more.

Moeller asked if the water for the west site would compete with water pressure for the residents served by that segment of the water system. Ihler said the industrial park is served from the checkered tower at Goodyear Blvd. and Cache Road and that does not compete with the residents, but the industrial park from the 82nd Street tower has more available than the industrial tower. Morgan said they needed a dedicated line for water and would build it so they would not stress the infrastructure in place.

Baxter said on page 34 of the book provided by Calpine it says that in some places their company sells steam also. He asked if Calpine would be interested in doing both locations, as is the Energetix Company. Walker said they would be interested and have the ability to produce both steam and electricity.

Shanklin said Lawton is obligated to providing certain amounts of water to Republic Paperboard and they were using more water than anticipated. He asked if they were still doing that. Ihler said they are using about one million gallons per day. Shanklin said he thought the City was obligated by contract to furnish them a certain amount, and thought it was 3 mgd. Vincent said their anticipated load on the first plant was 800,000 gallons, as he remembered the contract, and the City guaranteed them up to 1.5 mgd, if he remembered correctly, but they have exceeded that.

Mayor Powell asked if Council desired to provide any direction. Shanklin asked how we would meet with the groups to make determinations, if a committee should be appointed or if there were ideas. Smith asked if an executive session item could be added to next week's agenda to discuss this. Vincent said he did not know it would qualify for executive session but he would check into it. Mayor Powell suggested it come back on the next Council meeting, an item in executive session if possible and if not, in regular session, but to bring it back to the next meeting for direction to be provided.

Devine said we would basically end up in an auction of who would pay the most for the water. Mayor Powell said you must take into consideration who is bringing the most to the community. Devine agreed that was part of it. Mayor Powell said it would be discussed next Tuesday night and after that, someone would contact the companies and either ask questions or tell them what direction the Council had given.

1. Discuss the relocation and purchase of property for Fire Station #5 and consider authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute a contract for the property if appropriate. Exhibits: None.

Baker said Council had previously discussed selecting a site for Fire Station #5, and ad valorem funds were approved by the voters to replace Fire Station #5. He said information had been sent out previously, and additional information had been sent out within the last day or two.

Don Barrington, Fire Chief, said the information had been submitted previously and that he and Chief Hadley are present to answer questions.

Shanklin asked if the land man had made a preliminary negotiation and if one proposed site was under contract, and if we know what those figures will be yet. Vincent said we have made preliminary negotiations pursuant to Council directive and we do have a signed agreement, however, the closing date on that signed agreement has expired. Vincent said he would anticipate they would probably agree to extend the closing date, and the price that was negotiated was within the guidelines. Baxter asked the guidelines of what. Vincent said Council directed they attempt to negotiate on the site on S 52nd Street at something not to exceed $80,000, and they attempted to negotiate and had reached a tentative agreement for $75,000.

Purcell said he did not recall agreeing to that and asked if we had negotiated for a price at the other site. Vincent said no, but Council made a motion at one of the meetings for staff to negotiate a contract for the site on S 52nd Street. Devine said he would like for that to be brought back and read to him because he did not know of a motion being made to agree to those prices. Vincent said there was a motion to negotiate a contract. Devine said it was not for $80,000. Vincent said not to exceed. Mayor Powell agreed it was not to exceed $80,000 and said at the next meeting a contract was presented in the amount of $75,000. Moeller said Council discussed that, put it on hold and asked the Fire Chief to go back and look at it. Vincent said at the second meeting after staff brought back the contract the Council put it on hold because there was further discussion on the site on the north side; there has never been any kind of approval of the agreement. Mayor Powell said he did not hear that being said, all he said was the price was $75,000.

Shanklin asked if we had contacted the people on the preliminary north site to see if they would sell and at what price. Vincent said we have some preliminary estimates on the north site, they have all been contacted but we have not negotiated an agreement. Baxter asked if he could hear the preliminary estimate number. Vincent said he believed it was between $320,000 and $340,000 for all properties total for the two acre tract immediately west of the golf course north of Fairway Villa. Mayor Powell asked if a price had been obtained for the site further north from that where there are five houses. Vincent said they did not receive direction to contact them, and they only contacted these two.

Moeller asked if that was within the guideline of what was allowed. Vincent said he was not given a guideline on the north site.

Purcell asked how much acreage is needed, regardless of whether it would be north or south, how much would be needed for the north site. Vincent said the price was for one house and the open area. Purcell said if it is three acres and we only need one acre, we do not need to buy the other two acres. Shanklin said it was an all or none situation.

Purcell said a study was done five years ago by the Oklahoma State Fire Service, who has no ax to grind in terms of location and they were only looking for a location in terms of the greatest safety and greatest number of citizens at the time it was to be built, and they took into consideration how we might expand in the future. He said we have our own experts in our Fire Department and they are all telling us where it needs to go. Purcell said when we went out for the CIP and the ad valorem, we told people where we were going to build this as part of that CIP issue; we put ads in the paper that said where we were going to build this. He said now, all of a sudden, after we do all this, it is true we might be able to find a cheaper place to buy the land, and remember that this fire station should last 25 or 30 years, and building it down south seems not to be the smartest thing to do after listening to all of the experts. Purcell said the number of runs that go north of Gore way exceeds those that go south of Gore; if you build it to the south, the 60% of all the runs that go north of Gore will have to go through the two school zones for Eisenhower Elementary and Eisenhower High. He said that made no sense to him; you are sending it a half a mile to a mile further down south when most of the requirements on the runs are north.

Purcell said another fire station would be needed to the south eventually when the population to the south gets bigger, and we need to plan for that without question, and he did not know if the right area would be 67th and Lee or somewhere in that general area, we would have to build a new fire station in the future. He said it seemed this fire station should be built where the greatest safety would be served. Purcell said if you are living in the north part of the city where this fire station supposedly covers and your house is burning or someone is having a heart attack, a minute is a long time. He said he did not understand why we were trying to build it to the south and wished someone would explain it to him.

Mayor Powell said on the CIP he did not recall ever telling anyone where the location would be when in fact we did not know where the location would be. He said he had never heard anyone say it would be one mile south of where it is right now, but had heard people say one-half mile south of the existing fire station. Purcell said from one proposed site to the other proposed site is approximately one mile, and from where it is now to the southern site is approximately one-half mile, and from where it is now to the northern site is approximately one-half mile.

Baxter said there are three school zones north of Gore on 52nd Street between Gore and Cache Road but there are only two school zones if they are going south. Purcell said if you build to the south, they would have to go through five school zones so we should not add two more school zones.

Baxter said Council received information in their distribution box and he did not know if anyone knew how to do math. He said the bottom two pies on the right side, the percentage is not correct. Baxter said if you start with a number and increase it, the percentage will grow and it will not decrease. He said the last time information was brought to executive session, it showed zero population growth on the southwest corner of 67th and Lee Boulevard, but there are people who live there and those people might want that fire station one minute closer to their houses too. Baxter said the Chief should do the math because the percentages do not come out right.

Baxter said he did more research in checking staff's numbers on the maps and site plans from 1995 to the Land Use Plan of 2025; the population will grow to the south in Lawton, and that is what the numbers say. He said there is no sense in mortgaging our children's future for a $3 million fire station 20 years from now. Baxter said if we build this fire station at the south site, 20 years from now we will not have to build another station, or hire another chief or 12 more firemen or buy two more fire trucks to have another station. He said if you look at the logistics as to how far a fire truck has to travel from point a to point b to get to a fire, these zones the fire stations are currently running in can be moved. Baxter said to say that fire station four will do the last house on Ozmun on the east side of 52nd Street, and the truck at fire station five will go to the EZ Go Store at 52nd and Rogers Lane, those two buildings are 100 yards apart, yet you would send one fire truck to one and a different fire truck to the other. He said there is no reason why that little zone north of Sherwood Village cannot be moved to fire station four. Baxter said the guys are so paranoid about making a fire truck go to a different area that it is unreal.

Moeller said she really thought the routing of fire trucks should be left to the Chief and the firemen who do it; they are the experts, the ones that fight the fires, and have the response times. She said Council does not do those things. Moeller said you have approximately 500 houses in Sherwood, apartments all over the place, and there are a thousand people on the north side that are there who would be further away from the fire station; they are already there, it is not a case of they will be there, they are there now. She said Sherwood Village would suffer and it is in Baxter's ward. Baxter said they will be no further away from a fire station than they are now because fire station seven can work them or the people in Crosby Park Estates can go to fire station seven.

Moeller said there is a full mile missing on a map she was given. Mayor Powell said he would cover that explicitly in just a minute and there is not a mile missing; he said it was his document, he produced it and he knew what he was talking about.

Devine said when the new fire station came up, he made a suggestion and he was just an average working person and tried to keep the average working people in mind. He said his suggestion would be to give the $1.3 million back to the people and leave the fire station where it is. Devine said he made that suggestion when the location came up and asked what would be done with the existing fire station five location, and the comment was that it would be remodeled and leased out. He said if it can be remodeled and leased out, why would we want to spend $1.3 million of tax money when we can continue to use the fire station, and we could buy the two houses directly behind it and build a fire station on that site that was chosen years ago that has been perfectly good and very adequate until this date for everyone to use. Devine said the rebuttal he got was that there are too many workers' comp cases because you would have to build a two-story building to have the elaborate building they are wanting. He said he had checked and the workers' comp cases due to having a two-story building did not even come close to the other cases, and all of the big cities have two-story buildings because they do not have the ability to buy eight acres so they build it up and if it was that dangerous, they would not do that. Devine said it should be left where it is, and if needed, buy the two houses behind it and build a station there because it is in about as good a location as you could think of putting it now.

Purcell asked Baxter to explain the error on the lower corner of the map. Baxter said 14,237 units from 12,537 units, that comes out to be 17,010 units. Purcell said that is an increase and Baxter agreed. Baxter said on the south side, you subtract 5,552 units from 4,223 units, and that is an increase of 1,329, so how did the percentage go from 75% to 72% when you increased; the percentage cannot go down. Purcell disagreed.

Shanklin said the resolution the people voted on said there would be a fire station built in that perimeter; it did not designate north, south, east or west. He asked Vincent if that was correct and Vincent said yes. Shanklin said the 82nd Street fire station was constructed some time in 1978, and it was because there was a provision in the contract with Goodyear that we would provide a fire station. He asked Vincent if that was correct and Vincent said yes. Shanklin said that is two and a half miles from Goodyear, and the point is we were not too alarmed over this response time for this two and a half miles, and you can say it is open country and we can just whip right there to it but you have to come back, go to Goodyear Boulevard, and then go a mile. He said his point was he did not like the 52nd Street location, either site, and if anything, it should be further east but he did not know how to get one there unless you build two and we did not say we would build two. Shanklin said he did not think we needed to build a $1 million fire station; we just spent $150,000 right down there to the west of Central Fire Station and have not done a thing with it, and now we are looking at another $400,000. He said Lawton has not grown; our tax is flat and you will realize it come May when you look at where you will generate the funds and that he would not raise water to build a fire station or to give employees a raise.

Shanklin said he knew how the existing fire station five was built because he sold the steel on it; it was built by Pollock Construction he believed in 1964, from Duncan, Oklahoma. He said it was James Marshall's idea to pour a floating slab, the same as was done at the YMCA; those floors heave, the doors do not work and you think it is going to fall down but it is not going to fall down. Shanklin said the building is structurally acceptable and that he would probably just abstain because he could not sit by and build a million dollar building that has all of this pretty stuff on it; we just need a plain building that will do the job without the gingerbread and we are not a gingerbread town.

Mayor Powell said there was a handout prepared by someone in the fire department that he had requested some time ago, and the last time they were told that 63% of the runs went north. He said he got information on that. Mayor Powell said on the handout that shows the mileage, he checked it, wrote down the numbers, and heard a concern about saving lives and he would agree with that 100% and someone had talked to him about that, but the point being from 17th and Bishop to the 53rd Street fire station is 4.5 miles, and he would say the route he went, he was sitting at the entrance to the fire station and went north on 17th Street, intersected with Lee Boulevard and went straight west, at 52nd Street went straight north and unless the odometer on the Mayor's car is wrong, it is 4.5 miles, so when you talk about distance, that is distance. He said there is not a lot of pasture out there, there is some, but there are people living there whose lives are important, as all lives are important. Mayor Powell said from 53rd to 82nd Street is 2.6 miles, and the way he traveled there was he went north from the fire station to Columbia, took a left on Columbia, followed Compass around, went north on 67th Street and went left on Woodland Drive to the south edge of Wyatt Acres coming out to the road construction there to the edge of the fire station, and it was 2.6 miles. He said he double checked himself due to the construction so he went back and got trapped out there in the muddy land as he went west on Gore Boulevard, through the new construction, went right on the road they have temporary on, which is about 4/10ths of a mile south of the construction and it came out at 2.6 miles. He said then from 53rd Street he came back to the fire station again to check with the one on Cache Road and he traveled north to Meadowbrook, across Meadowbrook to 38th Street, north on 38th Street, took a right on Cache Road and recorded the mileage as 2.8. Mayor Powell asked Moeller what she was saying about a mile not being shown. Moeller said the drawing goes from Sheridan to 52nd but 38th Street was not shown. Mayor Powell said there was not a difference as far as the miles were concerned and 38th Street was not really relevant as far as anything they were talking about.

Mayor Powell said if fire station five is moved to the north, you would be getting close to five miles in between two fire stations and that just does not make sense. He said if projections mean anything, and if not we should tell staff to stop putting them together, but Council should have received the information he received from Deborah Jones this morning because he was sitting in a meeting when it was presented, and it is the 2020 population projection, and there are federal, state and local people who say this is important or we would not be doing it. Mayor Powell said if you will look at quadrant 16, quadrant 31, those are the projected two highest growth rates in the Lawton-Fort Sill community between now and 2025. He said they are bounded by 82nd Street on the west, Lee Boulevard on the north, 67th Street on the east, and Bishop Road on the south. Mayor Powell said quadrant 31, which is immediately to the right, skips 124 and goes to 31, here again, bounded by Lee Boulevard on the north, 52nd Street on the west, Bishop Road on the south, and 38th Street on the right; those are the two with the highest projected growth rates. He said these are in the area we would be moving away from.

Mayor Powell said in east Lawton on 92, 96, 97, 98, there are growth rates predicted but we have fire stations out there, although he did not know if it was adequate, but the only other large projected growth area was 13, which was straight north. He said if you see where the fire stations are located right now, it is on the door step of number seven, but if this means anything at all, you are moving further away from the projected growth areas. Baxter said moving it north would be moving it further away.

Purcell asked if the printed numbers were the increase in population projected for 2025. Mayor Powell said 16 is 507 and 31 is 2,780, but you have a difference, if you will look on over this 1,391, and 16 is 401 with a total projection of 1,792; the houses are a total of 599 houses. Purcell asked if the 2,780 in block 31 would that be the total number living there in 2025. Mayor Powell said yes; the increase is 1,391 and the other increase is 401 in 16, making a total projected of 1,792. Purcell said if you go north of that to block 30, which is still between Lee and Gore and block 29, you see a total number of people there, but look at the total number of people projected to the north in block 26, 27 and 28, it is many more. Mayor Powell said Council did not have the second page; there is already in 1995 there were 1,244 there and there is a prediction for increase of 1,673. Mayor Powell said what is relevant is the yellow, which you should be able to see some shaded in area, that is the projected growth rate. Purcell said using growth rate or numbers, north of Gore in 2025, according to the projections, in block 26 we have 4,660 people, and block 27 is another 2,000 so that is 6,600, and block 28 is another 2,200, so we are up to almost 8,900 people. Mayor Powell said those are not increases. Purcell said in 2025, according to the projections, there will be about 8,900 people. Mayor Powell said that was not correct. Baxter said blocks 26 and 27 are serviced by fire station four so you cannot use those to compare to the numbers for fire station five.

Shanklin said there are 45,700 people living west of Sheridan, north and south, and 25 years from now, there will be 53,900, which is 8,100 or 320 people per year. He said he was trying to say these figures are insignificant and the population would grow to the south, and we are talking about 320 people a year on both sides of Gore if it was equal.

Moeller said it was important to look at projections, but they are not there now and we need to take care of the people who are there now, and maybe fire station five should stay where it is and buy land for another one to the south. She said those people are not there yet, but we have people on the north who are there now that we need to take care of.

Mayor Powell said he appreciated that but the point remains that it is 4.5 miles between the existing station now and the closest one to those people to the south and southeast. He said he had an extreme concern for the people to the north but they have two fire stations in their proximity but these people have nothing for 4.5 miles in between.

Moeller said we should listen to the study and survey done by professionals.

Baxter asked Moeller, as a realtor, how many developments, neighborhoods, are being done north of Gore at this time and how many would be done in the next five years. Moeller said there will be as many done as there is land available and market for, there are two or three big ones going; the problem with a brand new one and it happened in Blye's Point and in Brentwood, you get it started, build four or five houses that sit there five years and it takes another five to ten years before they really start taking off, and that happened in Brentwood.

Baxter asked if Moeller thought construction would continue in Park Ridge. Moeller said yes, if they can get the soil problems corrected, yes.

Baxter asked that Council be good stewards of the taxpayers' money and not waste $265,000 by moving that station to the north.

Mayor Powell said he would like to open the meeting to public comment.

Randy Warren, 6513 NW Columbia, said the south location decreases response time by 45 to 90 seconds to hundreds of businesses and homes north of Euclid and it will require that other stations cover some areas now covered by this station, which could leave many areas in Lawton uncovered or poorly covered at certain times. He said that is only important when your house is on fire or when you are having a heart attack, and any other time, we will not care, but at those moments, it becomes very important. Warren said if you live in an area in the far north portion that is serviced by this station and your child is trapped in your home with flames and smoke rolling from the windows, the extra 60 seconds you would have to wait for the Lawton Fire Department to arrive would seem like an eternity and in that situation, you would be willing to pay any amount of money to speed things up.

Warren said consideration should be given to the well-being of the people currently living in that area, and this is not a cure for the problems of fire in the entire City but this is a replacement station for a station that is there now. He said the people in the north portion of that ward, and the two adjoining wards, are in a position to never be covered properly if this station is moved. Warren said there is a need for fire protection where the Mayor mentioned for areas such as Rolling Hills and Park Ridge, so we should go ahead and do what we told the voters we would do, which was to build the station north of the existing station, and then look at, in five years during the next CIP or ad valorem situation, build a station somewhere in that quadrant to cover the growth that will happen. He said we are talking about 2025 and this station will almost be out of its useful life when that time period comes and it will almost be time to replace the station again, much less acquire the coverage we need for the houses that will be here.

Warren said if it is a matter of money, he did not think we could do the citizens a good job, what he voted for and what everybody else voted for was a $1.3 million project they were told about, and there were discussions on the floor, where they use that fire plan as a method to convince the citizens that we needed that fire station. He said we held up the fire plan and said we needed to build a fire station. Warren said he did not think Council should ignore that plan and that the citizens did not intend for them to do that. He said you have the money, the citizens of Lawton gave it to you, and you have been given direction by that vote as to what they wanted done with that money so there should be no question. Warren said we need to serve some other people and there are mechanisms in place where that can be done in five years, or shorter if funds become available, but this is not about saving money, this is about doing something we told the citizens of Lawton we would do when he was sitting up there; we all sat there and said that; we did not say we would build the station at Euclid but we said we would build the station because the plan said we needed one and the plan said we needed one a quarter to a half mile north of the present station, and it plainly said that, there was no question.

Warren asked that all of these points be considered and he urged that the station be built where the experts show it should be built with the $1.3 million that the citizens gave you, and that would be in the north location.

Shanklin said the resolution said it would be built in that circle, and it did not say north. Purcell said the resolution may not have said it, but he had a copy of the newspaper ad and said he used that when he spoke to groups supporting the CIP. Purcell said the ad shows proposition four as being the fire station for $1.3 million, and the description was to relocate station five, currently at W Gore and 53rd St., the new station is to be a four-bay drive through facility in its new location, and the last bullet in the ad states that the OSU conducted a fire protection study using computer modeling and recommended the station be located north of the present location, and the community benefit was both citizens and firefighters working out of station five would be better served from a structurally sound building at an approved location. Purcell said that was what we talked about, and it did not specifically state in the resolution, but that was discussed here and that was put in writing in the newspaper, and he used that information, as did other Council members and the group, when they explained where that fire station would be located.

Baxter said if you did, then you duped the public because you did not bother to tell them that research was five to six years old. He said in reference to the Chief making a comment to the television station yesterday that 63% of all fires were to the north of the station's current location, he had information showing only 33% of the fires were to the north of the current location. Purcell said he did not quite think that was what it said, obviously the 27% that went west on Gore and the 30% that went on east on Gore, they either have to be north of Gore or south of Gore, and you have to add those numbers. Baxter said you can put the numbers wherever you want to put them. Purcell said 30% of those 260 fires where they went east, those 260 fires were not on Gore Boulevard, those 238 fires where they went west on Gore, there were not 238 fires on Gore, and they were either north or south of Gore, and the numbers are provided in this manner because they were asked to be provided in this manner, which way did you go when you pulled out of the fire station. Purcell said the numbers reported were how many fires were north of Gore and how many fires and other runs were south of Gore.

Mayor Powell said he asked for the information three months ago and received it this morning or this afternoon, finally. He said he asked if they went east or west when they pulled out of the fire station, or north or south, and he heard last night on TV that 63% of them went north, but only 33% of them went north, and he understood Purcell's point.

Glen Boyer, Great Plains Technology Center, 4500 W Lee Boulevard, said he appreciated their relationship with the City of Lawton firefighters and that they love fire station five which happens to be their coverage responding station. He said the persons and facilities covered and served by station five currently, GPTC has 300,000 square feet of classrooms, labs, shops and offices, which is the equivalent of 200 1,500 square feet houses; for the 2000 calendar year they had 19,000 students or clients served, 600 high school students, 500 elementary students. Boyer said many groups meet on the GPTC campus, and they had 550 public meetings of different groups on their campus in the 2000 calendar year. He said 44,000 persons were served by GPTC and the responsibility of fire station five, therefore, their preference would be that if a change were to be made, the response time to their campus not be slowed down.

Purcell asked Boyer or staff how many runs were made to GPTC during the last year, for fires or any other purpose, and that is the issue because it is a high value facility that must be protected. Boyer said several people had heart attacks and fire station five responded in those cases.

Mayor Powell said he hoped everyone had been able to express their thoughts. He asked for Council direction.

Devine said he would rather leave fire station five in its present location and give the money back to the taxpayers, but that was not being entertained.

MOVED by Devine, SECOND by Purcell, that we make a decision to place the fire station in Fairview Villa, to be built there and try to acquire the land.

Devine said we need to make a decision tonight so we can get started, the people have waited long enough and it is time to move forward, and the complaining has not gotten us anywhere in the last year.

Mayor Powell asked why the station at 17th and Lee Boulevard was closed. Baker said he thought it had something to do with the airport and asked the Chief to answer. Barrington said in 1976, station two at 17th and Lee was relocated to the north boundary of the airport to cover responses as a multi-purpose facility to cover the airport and the residential areas. Mayor Powell asked if regulations required a fire station in the vicinity of an airport and Barrington said yes. Shanklin asked if residential runs are made out of the airport fire station. Barrington said yes. Shanklin said he thought they had to be on stand-by 24 hours a day to cover the airport. Barrington said you do, there are certified personnel that respond to airport calls, and a crew for residential service.

Purcell asked if the coverage would be provided from 17th and Bishop that the Mayor was speaking of earlier. Mayor Powell said it is 4.5 miles between those two fire stations, and he was talking about measuring from fire station to fire station. Mayor Powell said if station five is moved to the north, right now it is 2.6 miles to 53rd and 82nd so that would turn into about two miles, and it would be further away, or approximately five miles from 17th and Bishop. Devine asked how far it was from Central Station to 17th and Bishop. Baxter said it would be about two miles. Devine asked why you would go from 53rd to 17th instead of going to Central, which would be two miles closer. Baxter said the point the Mayor was trying to make was we seem to have a lot of fire stations that are two to two and a half miles apart, with the exception of this one, and he was trying to get it closer in alignment.

Baxter said we made a big deal out of making fire houses safe houses for kids. He said a lot of kids walk up and down 52nd Street to and from that elementary school and high school, and he did not know of any kids that walked from Fairway Villa to either school but there are hundreds that live to the south in Country Club Heights that will walk by that fire station everyday and that could be used as a safe house for them but if you move it to the north, it would not be used as a safe house because no one would walk by.

Mayor Powell said the motion on the floor is to secure the land, and he asked if a price range was stated. Purcell said he did not think a price range should be given. Mayor Powell asked that Devine restate the motion. Devine said the motion was to accept, or try to purchase the property in Fairview Villa for the new location of fire station five.

SUBSTITUTE MOTION by Baxter, SECOND by Shanklin, that we relocate fire station five to the south site.

Mayor Powell said we had an original motion for the land at Fairway Villa, with a second, and we now have a substitute motion. He asked that the location of the south site be explicitly stated, south on 52nd Street north of the railroad tracks. Baxter said it is north of the railroad tracks and on the east side of 52nd Street. Mayor Powell said it is 702 SW 52nd Street.

Shanklin asked if we would be building a million dollar fire station. Baxter said we would be able to take approximately a quarter of a million dollars and pay back that note just a little bit faster for our taxpayers and not waste their $250,000 to $265,000.

VOTE ON SUBSTITUTE MOTION: AYE: Hanna, Shanklin, Haywood, Baxter. NAY: Devine, Purcell, Moeller, Smith. TIE VOTE, MAYOR POWELL VOTED YES, SUBSTITUTE MOTION CARRIED.

Vincent said we do have a tentative contract on that site, if the Council wishes we can go back and attempt to renegotiate or under the existing agenda item, the Council can authorize the Mayor to execute that contract, however, he did not know if the property owner would accept it at this time since we passed the closing date.

Shanklin asked how the vote came out. Devine said the Mayor broke the tie. Purcell said the Mayor wants it to the south, he broke the tie. Vincent said it was five to four. Mayor Powell said breaking the tie for it to be located to the south simply makes it a little different on this 4.5 miles and it is not taking anything away from anyone but makes it more equal for those people.

Devine asked Moeller if she told Council in executive session that this property could be bought for a lot less than $75,000 to $80,000. Moeller said it should be. Devine said he could not believe Council told staff to negotiate for not more than $80,000 for that property. Baxter said we did negotiate, it started out as $100,000 and we ended up with $75,000. Moeller said you can still negotiate some more. Devine asked why the guy would go down when Council had already voted to buy the property, and if anything, he would try to go up. Baxter said the eight acres of land is very much worth $75,000, compared to three acres at $340,000.

The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m. upon motion, second and roll call vote.