City Connection - Fall 2014

CITY CONNECTIONCITY CONNECTIONCITY CONNECTION Fall 2014

Half Penny Proposed for a Safer City — Details Inside

Holiday Updates Inside: Harvest Festival Barktoberfest Veterans Week Christmas Parade Holly Trolley City Holiday Schedule

Owasso is growing – fast. Our city was just recognized by Nerd Wallet, a consumer advocacy group, as the fastest growing city in the state based on population, employment, and income growth. This is without calculating the impact Macy’s and other upcoming development will have on our community. A year ago, a brand new Sam’s Club opened in Owasso and since then we have heard announcements of many new retail and restaurants to include a Sprouts Fresh Market (in planning phase), Raising Canes, Ichiban Japanese Grill, Bricktown Brewery, Whataburger, Hideaway Pizza (opening soon), Academy Sports & Outdoors (also in planning phase), and more. The growth doesn’t stop there. New apartments, housing options, and senior living centers are being added as well as medical and educational facilities. All this progress is exciting for Owasso, but we have to plan accordingly for growing pains. We are behind the curve in manpower in our Police, Fire, and Public Works Departments. I believe we are very good at performing well with less, but it is getting tougher…and customer service is suffering. We have to be able to respond to our customers by doing what we promise we will do – removing obstacles standing in the way of people celebrating their lives. So the question is:

“How are we going to sustain public infrastructure and services offered to Owasso citizens while keeping up with the growth?”

The answer: By increasing our sales tax rate by a half penny, we will be able to dedicate $4 million dollars* more to Police, Fire and Streets to add personnel and equipment. The additional revenue allows these departments to provide quicker response times and better customer service. The City of Owasso will ask the voters on January 13, 2015 to approve a ½ cent sales tax increase. This will change our existing city sales tax rate of 3% to 3.5%. The half cent increase will be dedicated to: ⇒ Police (35%) ⇒ Fire (35%) ⇒ Streets (30%) If this initiative passes, it will be a game changer for the City of Owasso. This will free up more money in the general fund and give more flexibility to all departments to grow with the city and improve our customer service to those we proudly serve. This half penny will take us from reactive performance in our responsibilities to proactive performance. How can you help? We want you to be informed on this initiative. Please visit / / / /http: www.cityofowasso.com 539 Half-Penny • Talk to family. • Talk to friends. • Talk to people around town. • Talk to voters in Owasso about how important this to sustain our city’s future. It is our duty and privilege to serve all of our citizens and visitors. If you have questions, thoughts or concerns for Owasso, please don’t hesitate to call (918) 376-1500 or email me directly at [email protected]. Thank you and Happy Holidays! *Sales tax revenue projection based on an estimated 3% increase in the city’s budget from FY 2014-2015 to FY 2015-2016.

A note from Owasso City Manager, Warren Lehr…A note from Owasso City Manager, Warren Lehr…

Inside This Issue of City Connection

Fall 2014

Proposed Half Penny Sales Tax Increase

Police, Fire and

Streets Perspectives Pages 4 - 6 Strong Neighborhood Initiative

Owasso CARES Bi-Annual Fall Cleanup Volunteers Impact Community

Page 8

Winter Holiday and Event Information

Next Door Owasso

Connecting Neighbors Online Page 9

Holly Trolley

&November 28th 29th

D , &ecember 6th 13th 20th 10 AM to 4 PM

Oct 25 11 am to 4 pm

The Owasso Police Department has always strived to provide excellent customer service. Over the years and through Owasso’s growth spurt, the citizens have come to expect a very high level of service. People expect rapid response to their calls. Whether it’s an ongoing emergency or a minor theft, the expectation has always been that Owasso’s police officers get to the scene quickly and provide a high level of service.

“We really look to the citizens of Owasso as ‘we are working for you,’” said Chief of Police, Scott Chambless. “If you are paying tax dollars it is very reasonable for you to hold us accountable and have those expectations.”

Chambless has been with the Owasso Police Department for over ten years. He was hired in 2004 as Deputy Chief of Police and promoted to Chief in 2013.

There is synergy where the public and the police work together to enforce the law and prevent crime. The department has a desire to work with the community not only react to crime when it happens, but also to prevent it before it happens.

Over the past ten years…

* Owasso’s population has increased 46% * Police calls have increased by 71% * Auto Accidents have gone up by 141%

The Owasso Police Department currently has 32 officers in the Patrol Division and 6 detectives in the Criminal Investigation Division. There are four 12-hour patrol shifts. Eight officers are assigned to a shift but often times, only 5-6 officers are on duty due to absences for training, sick leave and vacation. This restricts our officers with the ability to respond to only about two serious accidents at a time.

Owasso has 1.45 officers per 1,000 residents. The national average is 1.70; the state average is 1.82; and the regional average is 1.90 officers per 1,000 residents.

Simply stated, the Owasso Police Department is significantly understaffed.

“The growth in the retail market has created a massive inflow of people and our call volume keeps rising. We are anticipating 18,000 dispatch calls this year. As more calls come in, our ability to respond to them decreases considerably,” explains Chambless, “What’s most important is that it’s not always the severity of the call. It’s having the ability to respond to the calls, whether there are traffic collisions, shoplifting or whatever the case may be.”

The frustration for Chief Chambless and the employees is the inability to respond to calls because of other more emergent situations. When the officers are stretched between calls, they worry about providing a low level of service because they are in a hurry to get to the next call. The Owasso Police Department knows the citizen is looking for better service and they want to provide it.

“Our ability to be proactive and preventative is directly tied to the number of officers,” said Chambless, “You have to have enough officers on the street to provide a high level of service to be able to show up quickly and to be able to spend time on a call asking the right questions and doing the right amount of follow up.”

Raising the current city sales tax rate from 3% to 3.5% would allow:

* Pro-Active Policing * Maintain low crime index with a growing population * Increase staffing levels * Add vehicles and equipment

A half-penny sales tax increase will allow Chief Chambless to hire additional officers over the next three years.

“When you hire people who have a true passion for doing a great job, have a great work ethic, and have a real desire to do the job right, they will take the resources they have been given as an opportunity to do things differently,” said Chambless.

It all comes back to customer service. Increasing funding and resources for the Owasso Police Department will provide Owasso’s customers with better service and safety.

Proactive policing and providing good customer service by Chelsea Levo

RROWASSO POLICE A ESTS

• Hire, Train & Equip New Officers Over the Next 3 Years

• Renewed Focus on Proactive Policing

• Crime Prevention

• Improved Customer Service

• Intelligence-Based Policing

CLOSING THE GAP

Fundamental needs for the protection of our community by Chelsea Levo

Growth in the community increases revenues for businesses and the city. Owasso Fire Chief Chris Garrett was hired in 2006 as Deputy Chief for the Owasso Fire Department. He was promoted to Fire Chief in 2012 and has observed many improvements in Owasso resulting from the city’s growth.

Rising costs of needs at the fire department indicate sales tax revenue in-creases need to continue, and a “bump” would not hurt.

One of the biggest challenges for the department with the growth is keep-ing up with the call volume.

“The calls keep up with or surpass the population growth rate to a point that when we add people, it usually allows us to come close to catching up,” explains Garrett, “but only for a very short period of time before we are overwhelmed again and we continue to be chasing that.”

The Owasso Fire Department currently has:

/* 54 Personnel (Firefighter Paramedics, Administrative Staff) * 3 Fire Stations * Fire District – 45 square miles * Ambulance District – 75 square miles

#Station 2, located on 76th Street has the largest call volume. The older parts of town and the assisted living facilities attract more calls and are a significant draw on the department resources.

Garrett said, “We love to take care of our aging population. They are a key group of people, but their health is lower and needs more of our attention.”

The clock is ticking as soon as dispatch receives a call for fire and emergency services. Standard operating guidelines require a five-minute response time. From the moment the dispatcher notifies the fire department of a call, they have sixty seconds to roll out the door, leaving only four minutes or less of travel time to the destination.

“Whether it’s physiological or clinical in nature, bad things start to happen at about six minutes,” said Garrett, “Time is our enemy.”

Based on the response time goals, the department realizes there are several areas of the district they are unable to cover in a timely manner.

The response district is much larger than Owasso City limits. The size of the city limits land mass is about sixteen square miles, but our fire district is about forty-five square miles. Owasso’s ambulance district is almost seventy-five square miles. While the population is a little over 33,000, the fire department estimates the population they serve and protect to be between 50,000 – 60,000 thousand people. Compared to most city services occurring within the corporate limits, the Fire and EMS districts stretch far beyond it.

“The call volume in German Corner (N of 106th and W of 129th) represents 10% of our call volume,” explains Garrett, “and coming from Station # 1on Garnett, if traffic is light, they can only make it to Maple Glen within the five minute response time.”

Garrett said the response time could be shortened after Garnett is widened in the future, but that only raises the need for increased funding to complete the needed streets projects.

“It all weaves together. Widening roads and improving roads improves our response time.”

#If the half penny sales tax increase passes, the focus is on building Station 4. The department expects to locate that station in the German Corner area of Owasso.

The Chief says passing this half-penny sales tax would be a “huge bump” for them. It would allow them not only to expand personnel, equipment and facilities but also better serve and protect the citizens.

“This is monumental for us,” concludes Garrett, “The impact this will have on the community and the organization is fundamental to the success of the organization and the protection of the community.”

OWASSO EMS CALLS CLOSING THE GAP

• New Station to Serve Northwest Owasso Area

• Hire, Train & Equip Adequate/ Effective Response Force

• Maintain an Effective Fire & Ambulance Fleet

• Enhance Fire Prevention Outreach Programs

R RLimited esources = Slow esponse

qInade uate Facilities

Fire Service Area— q45 S uare Miles

EMS Service Area— q75 S uare Miles

Minimal Staffing per Shift

“Mustang” -- It’s a slang term used in the military for a com-missioned officer who came up through the enlisted ranks. It’s a respectable term, given with honor and received humbly. It means that officer has “walked in the boots” of his solders – been there, done that. In the Owasso Public Works Depart-ment, Roger Stevens is definitely a “mustang.” Roger has worked for the City of Owasso for 23 years. He started working part-time, during the summer while attending Owasso High School. When Roger was hired as a full time employee with the City, he began as a meter reader. Throughout his tenure with the City, he has worked in every area of the Public Works department. Seven years ago, he was promoted to Public Works Director. Owasso-bred, Roger remembers the small town Tulsa suburb from the late 1970’s through the 1990’s with little retail or busi-ness. “You could buy groceries at Safeway or Wells Grocery Store,” recalls Stevens, “We had to go to Tulsa to buy or do anything else.” Owasso is now a vibrant community with many options. As a result of a ten-plus year growth spurt, the Stevens family and many others have their needs met right here at home. The “funnel effect” has done great things for the Owasso economy but not without the expected growing pains. One of those areas where the growing pains are most apparent is in the city’s transportation infrastructure. Trying to maintain this area is the Public Works Department’s greatest challenge. “The cost of growth is hard to maintain, improve and rehab the streets with sales tax as our only source of revenue,” ex-plains Stevens. He is referring to the burden that all cities in Oklahoma face. Sales tax is the primary source of revenue that municipalities are restricted to use to fund core services. Roger leads with others at the City of Owasso with a standard of excellence for his department. It’s not about doing just enough to pass or get by; it’s about getting ahead of the curve. In 1996, a street assessment done by Poe & Associates recom-mended an annual $1.6 million investment for corrective road maintenance. This was the year the City established the Annual Street Rehabilitation Program. Over the last eighteen years, the actual amount spent on streets annually has averaged $365,000. “A half-penny sales tax increase will help tremendously with rehabilitation,” said Stevens, “and will help us catch up.” A half penny will produce about $1.2 million in the first year for the Public Works Department. About $1 million will go toward

the street rehab program, doubling its current budget. Some of the increase will pay for traffic studies and signaliza-tion to improve the overall traffic flow in the community. Necessary equipment is needed and can also be funded, such as a bucket truck to repair signal lights. Adding staff is part of the plan, too. “There are 1500 work orders in the streets division that have accumulated over the last four years. We have taken care of about 900 but there are still 600 open orders. The level of staffing in the streets division won’t allow us to address these needs.” At current staff levels, it takes six months to four years to an-swer some work orders. “If you want your sidewalk repaired in front of your house, it could take up to four years for someone to come out and fix it, based on the level of staffing we currently have,” explains Mr. Stevens, “The surrounding cities have two to three times the staff we have in their street divisions. We know we are understaffed based on our ability to respond.” If passed, the half-penny will allow the Streets Division to hire more staff, starting the first year. With rising sales tax revenue, it will allow the City of Owasso to build up the street maintenance, improve response time and improve overall traffic signalization and maintenance. Having some degree of influence in every area of Owasso’s Public Works for the past 23 years has earned Roger Stevens respect for experience and the citizen’s comfort in leadership. “The City is just like any other business. You have to increase rates with growth to provide better service. In order for us to continue to provide a high level of service, we have to have the necessary funding to meet a standard of excellence.”

Paving a standard of excellence by Chelsea Levo

R ROWASSO ST EETS PE SONNEL CLOSING THE GAP

• Substantially increase street rehabilitation program funding

• Hire, train & equip new street employees doubling current staffing level in next five years

• Purchase needed equipment

• Enhance traffic signal programming

YWITHIN OWASSO CIT LIMITS 252 Lane Miles

6-8 New Lane Miles Annually

38 Signalized Intersections

5 Employees

Over 350 Work Orders Annually

ROwasso CA ES Volunteers Impacting Owasso The Owasso Strong Neighborhood Initiative, OSNI, hosted its

ninth bi-annual Owasso CARES Day of Service on Saturday,

September 20, 2014. Every Spring and Fall OSNI organizes the

day of service with a goal of cleaning and beautifying

neighborhoods and Owasso. 190 volunteers participated in the

+half day event and contributed a combined 600 hours of

service.

This Owasso CARES Day of Service included volunteers from

local businesses Coldwell Banker, Home Depot, Gateway Mort-

gage, and TTCU-Owasso. In addition, members of Owasso First

Assembly Urban Soul youth, Trinity Presbyterian, First Baptist, Lat-

ter Day Saints-Owasso Ward, and Owasso Pentecostal volun-

teered, as well as Owasso families and residents. Owasso’s

McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A honored each volunteer with a

coupon for a free sandwich in appreciation of their volunteer-

ing efforts.

During the Fall-2014 event, volunteers trimmed and cleaned

out a green space in the area of 86th Street N at U.S. HWY169

hauling off 10 truckloads of tree limb debris, painted 107 fire

hydrants, cleaned out debris in drainage channels east of U.S.

HWY 169, painted restrooms at Elm Creek Park along with re-

striping two parking lots, and assisted residents in hauling items

to a dumpster that was provided. The impact this program has

had on Owasso neighborhoods and the community as a

whole, would not be possible without the generosity of volun-

teers.

The Owasso CARES program was developed through OSNI and is

led by a team of neighborhood leaders with the vision to bring

residents, volunteers and city staff together in a positive private-

public partnership. OSNI’s Owasso CARES has received awards

Kfrom eep Oklahoma Beautiful in 2012 for Environmental

Excellence and 2013 for the Innovation Award.

For more information about the Owasso Strong

Neighborhood Initiative or Owasso CARES Day of Service, con-

tact Owasso’s Neighborhood Coordinator at 918-376-1556 or by

email at [email protected].

City Holiday Schedule City of Owasso Offices will be closed on the following dates

Thanksgiving — November 27 and 28

Christmas — December 24 and 25

YNew ears — ,January 1 2015

Ding, Ding, Ding Goes the Trolley Owasso’s Holly Trolley Returns, Free For Holiday Shoppers The Holly Trolley returns to Owasso for its eighth holiday shopping season. This free service allows shoppers to park their cars and ride the trolley from one shopping destination to another.

The Trolley debuts on Friday, November 28th and continues Saturday, November 29th and on every Sat-urday through December 20th. The Trolley will run from 10 AM to 4 PM and will be an actual trolley car from Old Urban Trolley.

The Holly Trolley has twelve stops on its route through Owasso’s shopping centers: five at Smith Farm Shopping Center, two at the Owasso Market Shopping Center, and one stop each at the Owasso Land, Cornerstone, Owasso Town, Mingo Valley, and Tyann Shopping Centers. Look for the “Holly Trolley Stops Here” sign located in front of the businesses at each of the shopping centers.

For more information please contact Chelsea Levo at the City of Owasso, (918) 376-1518 or e-mail [email protected].