City Council to consider approving Mueller as judge

The Guthrie Public Works Authority and Guthrie City Council are set to meet for their regular scheduled meeting Tuesday evening.

In the July 5th meeting, the Council will consider both the approval of Sheri Mueller as the City of Guthrie Special City Judge and a declaration of a disaster emergency proclamation for the tornado that came through in May. In addition, they will consider a contract with Atlas Paving in the amount of $25,000 and adopting the consolidated Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The Council is expected to convene for an executive session for the purpose of discussing the purchase or appraisal for the old fire station on the west side of town along with the park barn.

With the vacancy of the special City Judge, the Council will need four votes to approve Mueller, who has served as the Alternative Judge in the past and despite the same last name as City Manager Matt Mueller the two are not related. The appointment of a special City Judge would allow a third option to exist to that any potential conflicts of interests can be avoided.

The approval of the Declaration of a Disaster Emergency Proclamation will begin the process of reimbursements for costs of the May 24th tornado, that FEMA declared as a disaster for public assistance.

The Guthrie tornado has played havoc on the City with damaged equipment and will seek to increase the contract work with Atlas Paving by $25,000 to include repairing the base work on the three areas of Lakewood Dr. that were originally scheduled in the Street CIP as the City’s portion of work and declaring an emergency because of the hazardous condition of the road. City Attorney Randal Shadid recommended it to the Council to declare it an emergency in addition to increasing the contract.

The first resolution the Council will take a look at is the approval of adopting the consolidated Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan for the City of Guthrie fulfills the requirements of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program as outlined by FEMA. The Plan provides guidance for the City and participating jurisdictions’ hazard mitigation activities for the next five years and ensures that the City of Guthrie and participating jurisdictions implement activities that are most effective for mitigating natural hazard events.