The Pontotoc County Board of County Commissioners met Tuesday at 9 a.m. in Ada with two resolutions on the same $200,000 back to back: one to void the engineering money it authorized a week earlier for a farm-to-market road, and one to authorize it again under a revised project number.

Item 6 of the agenda, posted Sept. 3, is "possible action to VOID Resolution #27-16, which authorizes $200,000 from County's CIRB funds to be used for engineering and geotechnical analysis related to Farm to Market Road, Project No. J3-9358(004)CI." Item 7 approves Resolution 27-19, worded identically except that the project number ends in "RB." CIRB is the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges fund, the state-administered account that pays for county road projects.

What the record says

Resolution 27-16 appeared as item 5 on the Aug. 31 agenda. The county's posted record does not name the road beyond "Farm to Market Road."

Resolution 27-16 appeared as item 5 on the Aug. 31 agenda. The county's posted record does not name the road beyond "Farm to Market Road."

The Ada News reported on Aug. 29 that the county and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation were working through a dispute over County Road 1570 west of State Highway 1, which the paper said was reconstructed in 2019 for $6 million and has failed since, and that one estimate put a new reconstruction at about $4.5 million. According to that report, the county wanted ODOT to fund the reconstruction without additional Pontotoc County CIRB funds, ODOT was willing to fund a majority of the project but could not set the cost split until design engineering was complete, and at a special meeting on Aug. 26 ODOT presented a 13-page draft project maintenance, financing and right-of-way agreement covering design engineering. The paper reported the board would decide on Aug. 31 whether to accept the agreement and had set a special meeting for 1 p.m. Sept. 23 on funding the reconstruction. The report named District 2 Commissioner Danny Davis, ODOT director of project delivery Daniel Nguyen and Circuit Engineering District 5 director Daniel Clements.

The county's posting does not connect the "Farm to Market Road" project number to County Road 1570; the two records stand apart.

Item 5 is "discussion regarding the possibility of extending the fourteen-day burn ban enacted on August 24th by Resolution #27-15," which if extended becomes Resolution 27-18. Pontotoc was among 53 counties on the burn-ban list Oklahoma Forestry Services provided to News 9 on Sept. 2. The U.S. Drought Monitor's county statistics for the weeks beginning Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 put 100 percent of Pontotoc County in D2 "severe drought" both weeks.

Item 9 is vendor quotes "for the hauling, construction, and electrical work for the Conex Building, which will be used as the 911 Building," an item carried over from Aug. 31. Item 14 is a fire-tax purchase request from the Pickett volunteer fire department for a skid unit from Vicars Powersports at $17,015; the Aug. 31 agenda carried a $24,208 gear purchase for the Allen department. Items 10 and 11 close out an opioid abatement grant, OAB-24-073, for the period July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026, and return unspent funds from two accounts, one for Ada homeless services and one for the specialty drug court. Item 8 disposes of two 2019 Dodge Promaster vans. Item 18 continues the county's quarterly personnel meeting with a purchase-card policy manual and a travel policy.

What it means for the county

If items 6 and 7 pass as posted, the $200,000 in CIRB money stays committed to engineering and geotechnical analysis on the project, now filed under the "RB" number. Per the Ada News account of the ODOT agreement, that engineering is the step both sides said had to finish before a cost split on reconstruction could be set.

What the record does not say

The agenda does not explain why Resolution 27-16 is being voided, or what the change from "CI" to "RB" in the project number signifies. It does not state whether the board accepted ODOT's draft agreement on Aug. 31; that is in the Aug. 31 minutes, listed for approval Tuesday as consent item 4.a.ii. The burn ban item is listed as discussion, with no proposed length.

What happens next

The special meeting on funding the reconstruction is set for 1 p.m. Sept. 23, per the Ada News. The board's regular meetings are Mondays at 9 a.m. in the county clerk's building at 301 S. Broadway; Tuesday's meeting followed the holiday. A 14-day ban enacted Aug. 24 runs to Sept. 7 unless extended.