Glenpool’s baseball fields dream now one step closer (published Aug. 8, 2013) By Wayne Clark Glenpool – It’s now official, the city of Glenpool will ask voters in October to approve an extension of a sales tax to allow the city to build a tournament-size baseball/soccer complex. On Monday, Glenpool Mayor Momodou Cessay requested the privilege of making the motion to approve a city sales tax of $.006 (sixty hundredths of one percent) to become effective on Jan. 1, 2017. The tax, if approved by the voters, will replace the current tax of $.00567 set to expire on Dec. 31, 2016. The council approved the motion on a unanimous 4 to 0 vote. (Councilor Tommy Carner was absent due to a conflicting business appointment.) The continuation of the existing tax together with the slight increase will be earmarked to support the repayment of revenue bonds with a proposed 20-year maturity date. The revenue bonds will be officially designated to be used for capital improvements of public parks and park lands, cultural and recreational facilities. While the ordinance has been publicized and designed to develop and construction of a Big League Dreams Sports Complex, City Manager Ed Tinker reminded the council that there is no existing contract with Big League Dreams. BLD generally does not enter into an agreement until a city has the ability to perform the contract. Tinker also announced there would be several public meetings to discuss the proposed bond issue. City employees would be available to answer any questions the public might have, but will not be in a position to take sides in the issue. The meeting dates and locations are all to be held on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. with the first scheduled for Aug. 27 in the Phil Frasier Court Room in the Public Safety Building on Elwood; the second in the Community Center on Peoria; and the third to be held in the Council Room on the 3rd Floor of the Conference Center on Oct. 1. Tinker also announced that former Glenpool Mayor Shayne Buchanan had volunteered to serve as the Chairman of the Committee to promote the passage of the sales tax for the revenue bonds. It is anticipated that Buchanan will probably chair or lead many of the scheduled public meetings. Additional comments following the Council meeting indicate the Glenpool Chamber of Commerce will also be involved in supporting the passage of the sales tax. Members of the City Council and others in attendance at Monday’s meeting were unanimous in their support of the issue. All voiced the opinion the proposed Sports Complex would serve as a catalyst for even more significant economic development. They believed it would benefit the community through increased sales tax and ad valorem (property taxes) which would benefit the school and create a positive environment for growth. This will be the third time the City has considered the feasibility of building a Sports Complex in the past few years. The first was a proposed Sports Complex that was considered in conjunction with a Cemetery in 2011; and the second was when Vision2 was under consideration in Tulsa County. Both of those proposals failed at the polls. Voters will be provided another opportunity to determine if they want a Sports Complex on Oct. 8.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 06:13:15 +0000
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