I'm not going to put it on the founders.

Plus, you know, you get a little bit.

And they're respects for that.

Yeah.

Like, okay, can't do this project.

Guess what?

So reminding myself.

Well, it's a science.

There he is.

There's a man.

Which ones are the easiest?

There's the man of that.

Right there, cancel.

This one's gonna be over.

All right.

Um's not gonna be here.

So all right, are we ready?

Okay.

All right, everybody.

Welcome to the city council conference for Tuesday, July 14th, 2026.

We have one item on the agenda, and it's continued discussion regarding the Lindsay Street water tower, and we have our utilities director and staff here to lead us in that discussion.

Thank you, Marion Council.

Uh Ken Gianoni came with us today.

Nathan's on vacation for two weeks, so he stepped up, it's gonna help me make sure to do the slides.

Um well, we had an awkward thing today.

I I thought of scenario A, B, C, what was gonna come in on the bids today when we opened them at two o'clock?

Well, we were sitting in there waiting for someone to show up, and we had no one show up for bids.

So for some reason, we scared off our bidders.

So we were like, oh no, what are we gonna do now?

So we've uh spoken to legal, and we need to it'll make us have to rebid it 21 days by rule if we go that path.

But we got some other thoughts too to go with that.

But we'll kind of show you from last week.

I'll I'll go with my slides here, but so we'll go over the bid.

No one showed up, kind of a path forward, kind of some ideas of what we have, and then the cost estimate of what we think it'll cost.

Still a guess, but the engineer weighed in after talking with different construction groups, and this is his best numbers.

So uh again, no bids received.

Um anticipate, we thought at this time of year, usually people don't want you painting tanks because they need them for peak season, summertime season.

But actually, some of the guys called back and said, actually, we're very busy.

We had like five bids, and in honesty, your bid had eight scenarios of what you might paint, and we had done that purpose because we thought we might pare it down and do part of it or try to make stuff that happened on cheap.

Um but he said that that was a negative.

So they had these other tanks where they painted the full thing, and this one was a partial and didn't know what where it was going.

So he said that worked against you, and he he put it at the bottom of his pile and ended up not bidding, and that was kind of the sentiment of uh the other two he heard from three of them today.

Um then the other thing is they did say they like bidding commercial, you know, with municipalities.

We have a lot of rules, regulations, bonds, so they just kind of threw that out also that they like bidding private jobs and commercial jobs better than they like bidding for us, but we always hear that.

Um so but what we're thinking is we re-bid it and we take out all the scenarios and just make it simple.

Um, don't really even advertise of uh maybe another group coming in and offering something on there.

I know we've talked, you know, still in our minds demo is an option, and I know Mayor, you don't love that one, and I get it.

Or the other option is to go on and instead of letting it sit there and rust and catching a lot of negative feedback that we're letting our utilities look bad, you know, out there on Lindsay Street.

We're proposing maybe we just paint it and just kind of put it on the mothball white, and the bid be really simple.

We'll we'll go on and get demo price because we need that to know what the NUA would need to contribute to someone else if it comes along how we're gonna do something else, but also the painting, just make it a two-coat system, give us a white paint job, and and let's be done for a minute.

And that way the asset is protected until we decide something we're gonna do with it in the future, or you know, just puts it on hole, keeps it safe.

I mean, we're asking for guidance here, but that's Ken and I were talking, just thinking.

Um, and no logos or anything, just keep it cheap.

And and so, and then that's where he came in with the uh the pricing on that.

He said about 400,000 is what he thinks the demo was.

The last time we bid it, it was like 320, 315 somewhere in there.

So we thought we were on the line for that, but uh Joe thinks it's gone up now with inflation.

He said he thinks about 400 would probably be a demo price, or you paint it for 500,000.

He thinks it would be that cheap if you go with the two coat system, just white make it simple.

So that's uh we're kind of looking for guidance.

Um we think that's the best way to go forward, but totally open to feedback.

Um, and the consultant, we're his item is number 22 on here, so I think we would still need their services regardless.

So I'd kind of like to keep that item on tonight, but the 23 definitely let's scrap that.

Um pull it off and you know, wait until we get a real bid.

Another thing we're looking at too is uh state bidding contract, maybe some other options to speed up that 21 day cycle.

This thing called buy board or the state bidding contract, and we're gonna see if there are already some paint uh tank painters on there that are teed up and have been through the state bidding process that we could just utilize that and not have to wait for the 21-day state bidding law.

Is that okay?

Customer grant.

I like the two coat system, and I'm curious if there still have been discussions about projecting the lighting, yeah.

So, how we were gonna do that.

We didn't put that in the bid because he said really different people bid do the lighting, and he was worried to keep costs down.

We were really going to try to keep the cost down.

He said you get the prime contractor do the painting, they would have subbed that to lighting and probably put 10% on top of it.

So he said, really be better if we want to paint it and then bring in and do a bid for lighting, and they get lighting guys to do that after.

I'm cool with doing it in two bits, and then with the lighting slash projection, just so you have clarity.

Is that you can project information or logos on it, or is it just regular lighting?

Just the LED lighting that you could colors and colors changes the colors.

So it could be like revolutions, and you just change it's like St.

Patrick's Day and it's all green or an earth day.

Okay.

Um, I'm for the two-coat system.

The extras like lighting and stuff.

That's what we talked about, maybe using visitor tax or some other non-NUA funding for it.

If whatever extra we wanted to do uh like that would come from some other okay.

I also do like the paring it down to just this and this, yeah.

Whatever we do with this other third party is with logos and stuff.

I mean, separate that's the way I've thought about it.

Is if the tower is just a base plain white color, then whatever comes along just be theoretically just put on it, right?

And then that way it doesn't look like it's rusting anymore, and right and um then it's that blank canvas for whatever comes along that we want to do.

Okay, council uh Steve.

Uh yeah, how long would a two-coat system last?

We're proposing the cheaper way the 10 to 15 year life on it instead of a 20.

That's it's good paint, but really to get the best 20-year paint cycles, you uh you blast it down to the white metal and put the big shower curtain around it.

That just make the expense go up.

So we're kind of doing and usually we really worry about that for a water, you know.

If you're gonna put water in it, we do the inside with NSF proved paints so it can touch water.

But this one we're just gonna do the outside, just kind of preserve it and not do the inside, not put on the shower curtain thing.

So he he said this would be like rollers and more paintbrush, very little spray because it didn't want to over spray it on the cars driving by.

And then you had mentioned too the potential for it to be put back in use if we keep it for um reuse spray water, whatever it be for Reefs Park, potentially for the golf course, other facilities.

There's a line of non-potable water that goes to OU's golf course right now, and they use it for their fairways, and that's not very far.

That's right, you know, by hair.

You could get a line going from there to continue up the road tracks, and how you use these tanks, why we thought that'd be uh favorable is you fill it slow with a little pump, and then you have 500,000 gallons in the air, and then when the sprinklers you want to turn them all on at night because you're not supposed to run when people aren't there and you want to run a bunch of water, you got a big high you know, high pressure volume of water, 500,000.

You can put an irrigate, and then you slowly fill it up the next day.

So it really kind of would work, but we did the did the math, and the piping was very expensive.

We don't own that uh easement through there.

That's OU's land going south of the yard, so it's just it didn't pencil out at this time, but it might in the future.

So that's what preserve it's that potential that option.

Council number grant.

Um we charge for giving green water.

Do we charge?

Yeah, we would need to, yeah, yeah.

And that's what yeah, we'd need to, and you'd probably need to make it advantage.

Like Fort Worth has that, and so they sell it cheaper than finished water, so that the companies will say, Oh, yeah, I'll buy that and put that on my lawns and not buy your high dollar goes on the water.

Do we have a rate or we don't charge current?

We don't have a rate.

That's that was part of the study too.

Plumber looked at it and said cost of all this pipe to ever maybe get paid back.

It's gonna be really high rate be more than your drinking water.

I think we were looking at like piping it to Hitachi, yeah, other some of these big manufacturing plants we have.

That's when it was like, okay, that's gonna be millions and billions of dollars.

Yeah, right.

You need agreements to be able, I mean, like you say, you even interested.

They they already get it, so they would be satisfied.

Um, we would just piggyback off that line going there if we could you know come from their tank up into our tank, and then we were thinking of running one down the road tracks kind of to uh highway nine and then going postal training looks like a big one.

The Saxon building used to be.

We thought someone anybody's uh irrigating and you know a varos and they've been talked to along that um we didn't really approach them with that because we did the uh consultant study, and it would look like you didn't have enough users to pay for that cost.

The other one too is back to the trails.

Trails was struggling for water back then also unless you're they were interested if we get a pipe over there.

I proved Sooner Village, which is just on the other side of highway nigh enough, Jenkins.

Um I don't know.

I just I know there's more development coming to that area.

And our ability to keep our eyes open for grants when you think about water reuse and the commodity, the value of a potable water supply versus not just discharging non-portable water into the Canadian, but yeah, how do we keep it circulating in uh Norman's water environment?

If a grant pops up and we can do some piping for an end user for that type of water, we'll jump right on it.

Um what agency might we find that kind of grant?

Uh water resources board.

So there could be some state agencies and could be some federal agencies.

Yep.

So that might be a federal ask in the future.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Um what is the cost of building a new water tower now?

We built one what five years ago, six years ago.

Yeah, we'd have to check to look now.

It's probably approaching a million dollars or something like that.

I would imagine two bucks a gallon.

That's where we're headed, yeah.

I mean, for years these big so say a buck a gallon, but no, I'm too old.

So too much.

Yeah, exactly.

Thank you.

That's correct.

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Steele.

Uh yeah, if uh a demo option did occur, do we get anything from like the scrap metal, or is that 400k include them taking it away?

That's kind of what's up in the last discussion.

We we would put in there that they could have that, so take it off the price because we'd want usually what we do on construction projects is you just make it go away.

We don't want to play commodities.

Give me your lowest price, whoever wins, you can have it, but we want the lowest price, and we want it to go away.

So, any idea what that scrap metal is is worth off that 400?

No, I mean until we bid it, right?

And we'll get their numbers because we're gonna tell them you can go sell that.

Okay, but between the two options, I would prefer the two-coat system just for the potential future use of it.

And the um said the demo all of a sudden, but or uh in regard to council member Bruce's question about that uh that uh that we had originally that 400,000 number includes the we think it does, and if it didn't, then that number would be bigger, is what right?

If we told them we wanted to keep the metal, we think they would charge more.

That they would charge more than that cost, probably okay.

But we were gonna specifically put those words in there that you get it.

They'll show us their math, Councilmember Kirby and then Bruce.

Just through experience.

You do not know unless you ask in your solicitation.

Yes, sir.

Just through experience.

Right.

We're gonna put it in there.

Councilmember Kirby.

Uh you said it was only the outside of the coating.

So what shape is the end side of the tank?

I mean, are we talking it's just rusting out ball?

Are we gonna be clogging pipes and pumps because of debris falling off on the inside?

So it's not we're not it's not in use.

Okay, so we got it capped off.

Uh, usually water towers they rust on the roof because the water under the water it doesn't rust, it's usually the vapor.

Um, this one we haven't been in there in a while.

And last time we left it full of water just so the wind didn't blow it over, it's kind of as a ballast.

And so we plan to fill it again.

We were talking, you know, maybe work with the fire department or someone to help us pump more water to make sure it has plenty in there just for weight.

So it's not hooked to a well or nothing right now to get up there.

No.

Okay.

All right.

Any other questions about that?

Councilmer Dixon.

I just say I'd I would support the two-coat system to preserve future use.

Okay.

So council, we will continue to move expeditiously.

We'll go through those state bids uh tomorrow morning first thing.

And if we uh are successful, you'll we'll schedule that next conversation, bring you current pricing, and uh bring you the uh option to execute and go forward or abandoned ship.

Okay, all right.

Um that two-coat system is that the whole thing, the legs, the everything.

Yeah, we had piecemealed and said we don't paint the legs, it's the bowl, you know, just trying to find price breaks.

But they said actually the legs are probably the hardest because the way they're constructed, their little patterns.

Yeah, so they said to power wash or clean that all out to make sure your paint adheres so you get a 10 to 20.

It's gonna be difficult.

Okay.

When do it all.

When Chris indicated that in the two-coat system, uh, just that white protective coating that it could be done with rollers.

We had several staff members volunteer to say, well, go roll the paint.

And then the risk management group said, Oh heck, no, meaning Dixon was gonna do it.

An open call.

You always want any of everyone to pay in the case.

I was wondering how hard it is.

We're uh paint though, so that's gonna be a bit like a church project.

And that the two-coat system is that compatible with uh the third party and what they are interested in doing.

Yeah, it sounded like then the rest of it would be if someone wanted to paint a logo on there and then put a clear coat over the logo just to make it last longer.

Okay, hopefully, we'll clear coat, we'll just go simple, easy, yeah.

Okay, so uh the mayor will indicate that those other items have been pulled and they'll come back to you at a future data.

Also, direction on that.

Should I stay with the consultant as far as doing a bid and and moving with inspection and because kind of what I'm thinking is anyway, we're just gonna go paint it regardless of any offers that come down the street.

That way we got it painted, it's sitting there and we'll stop the complaints and the you know from it deteriorating further.

That's that's our thinking.

Yeah, and I think if it's a blank canvas and this other option falls through, then maybe I think caveat though.

I'm thinking that 500,000 number, if it's a million, I might come back to you and say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then we may take those volunteers with rolls.

Yeah, for sure.

Councilmember Graham.

I would um just put you know, and on the radar.

Could we develop a gray water rate?

If um yeah, is Rap Towers still working on this tour?

They can do it, or plumber is I think they're pretty experienced in it on reuse water, but no, we could do an RFP and get it the best consultant to do some proposals on it.

I'd like to plan for a future where we're expanding our ability to charge for gray water.

Sure.

Okay, if nothing else, sometimes your water systems they kind of help subsidize that lower rate, you know, just so you don't you know your drinking water plant now is not having to ozonate and make all that high quality water for someone to put on their lawn.

So somehow they kick in some money to make sure the purple pipe non-potable system works.

I don't know what that balance is, but we could maybe have them look at that.

Yeah, what's fair?

Yeah, I'd be too council Bruce.

Do we have a lot of purple gray water system?

No, to OU.

Just one.

Yeah, yeah.

We we've talked about it.

It's been some in our former plan.

We were had talked about how we're gonna need to go up your rate.

I mean, gotta have a cost recovery component to it, and then a cost of uh preserving the potable supply for to what to what to those assets, yeah.

What are the pipes?

Yeah, we have a plan of how to lay them out, and you lay to so many customers so you get a little bit of payback.

But you're gonna lose four or five customers that you're gonna build your rate from.

And probably your rate's gonna be a theory just because you want to do good for recycling water.

Yeah, so you might give a 70% of your normal rate or something just to try to incentivize them to do it and just start start the system.

Hopefully, we can subsidize through a grain or something like that to not your water resources.

Definitely a long-term thing for us to be thinking about though with water sources and what the council member Dixon.

Um, I was just gonna point out the the OU correct me if I'm wrong, they paid for all the infrastructure to get the gray water to the golf course, right?

Right, like they just like hooked up to the don't they use the wells, the arsenic wells and no no, they they do use our wastewater just can't be able to do that.

They did invest in a big storage tank out there piping.

I'm not for sure if they pay for the piping, but but if it breaks now, they do fix it, so they're maintaining it for sure.

Cool, and then yeah, but we're working on that agreement.

Um it's making it more fair before, seemed like we were doing everything for cheap cheap, and now we're trying to get a little bit of cost recovery, and they understand they're saying, yeah, that's that sounds more fair.

I think we do use OU's non-portable water at North Base, so they've got some wells out there that for the truck wash not habitable, but yeah, we wash garbage trucks with it.

They were they used to be kind of well known for watering the sidewalks on campus a lot, and uh and people would ask what you know, and I remember them talking about well, this the water is not potable.

That probably shouldn't be watering the sidewalk, but the water is not potable, so we're not wasting their north wells, they repiped, it goes down Barrie, comes down Lindsay, goes down Chautauqua, down Timberdale.

That line brings all that well water from North Base to that they use for irrigation.

That's their non process.

We we partnered with them when we replaced our water line because there used to be leaks along Barrie, so we would always say it's your line.

They said no, it's your line.

So we did a project together and replaced both of them.

So they're all new all the way down to Timberdale.

And and OU was their they were their own water supplier, they were independent before 2006, right?

And then lost all their wells to arsenic.

Yeah, regulations additional arsenic, but a lowering of the federal regulations.

And we lost several too, but they lost all of theirs.

And that's how OU became Norman's biggest water customer.

Any other questions about the water tower or anything?

Okay, well, look forward to hearing back.