Tulsa Public Works Committee Meeting - July 22, 2026
Tulsa Public Works Committee Meeting - July 22, 2026
The Public Works Committee convened at 2:30 PM on July 22, 2026, to consider several agenda items including an appointment to the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA), a condemnation resolution for a trail project, and multiple license agreements for fiber optic installations and a hospital sign.
Discussion Items
- Appointment to EMSA Board: A council member (speaker) presented his reappointment to the EMSA board, having served since 2013. He highlighted the shift from a contracted service (AMR) to an in-house operation, which improved performance metrics and cost control. He noted that EMSA now meets performance indicators, with rates not raised in a long time. Councilman Gilbert asked about qualifications; the speaker cited experience and the board's composition of healthcare professionals. The committee scheduled a vote on this appointment for July 29, 2026.
- Condemnation of Property for Tulsa Jenks Multimodal Safety Project: Paul Zachary from Public Works presented Resolution authorizing condemnation of property owned by Joram and Doris Lorraine Rochorgan at 0510520 Riverside Park. The city obtained two appraisals, with the higher at $2,065,500. The owner countered at $8.3 million without supporting documentation. The city attempted negotiations since December 2025 but moved forward with condemnation to proceed with trail work and road improvements (Riverside Parkway restriping, signal timing) funded by a RAISE grant. The committee discussed the project's scope and need for fee simple acquisition.
- Hillcrest Hospital Sign License Agreement: A license agreement for a monument sign at 8801 South 101st East Avenue, already erected, was presented to limit city liability. The sign is functional with good sight distance; no objections were received.
- Coxcom Fiber Optic License Agreements (Items 5 and 6): Two license agreements with Coxcom LLC were presented for installing fiber optic cable under raw water flow lines in Rogers County. Both require cables to be six feet below flow lines, with Coxcom assuming risk. The city will inspect installations; no objections were received.
Key Outcomes
- The committee advanced the EMSA appointment to a vote on July 29, 2026.
- The committee considered the condemnation resolution and likely approved it (no explicit vote recorded, but staff requested approval to proceed with grant-funded work).
- The committee approved all license agreements (Items 4, 5, 6) as no objections were noted and staff recommended approval.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. We're live. Good afternoon. And welcome to the 2 30 p.m. Public Works Committee meeting. I call this meeting to order. Agenda item number two, feel like in junior. We appoint me to the emergency medical services authority. Time expires June 30th, 2029. Attended five of seven meetings. Representing council just I want to get on the list originally. I think that's actually still a higher percentage. I was at a Tulsa City Council meeting when I missed the IMSA meetings. Excuses. It was either here or there. You made the right choice. Yeah, how long do I have? Do you want 10-minute version or 30 seconds? I really have appreciated the opportunity to serve on the IMSA board. I've been doing this since 2013. We've gone through a lot of change over that period of time, which everybody knows. And that is outstanding compared to even what the contractor, um, AMR and others did previously, and then um just right during COVID. We were down in the uh 80s and 70s. So very strong healthy organizations, just like Councilor Bingle said uh during his presentation. Um I do feel like uh very um I'm very humbled by the people sitting around the table because they are so sharp in the health care space, and we have former city managers, a lot of people who are providing health care to uh many people across our hospital systems across Oklahoma as well. So I appreciate being asked to serve, and I'm willing to continue. That was more than 30 seconds, sorry. Yeah, well counselor. Yeah, you must do all the heavy lifting by the brace on the right arm. Obviously, you've been on this for a long time. Um, what's changed since the beginning from the time you started initially on this to today? What would you say is the biggest change from then to now? Just contractor to really perform the the services ourselves. So there's um we were just paying a contractor, we wouldn't hire AMR or some other entity, and uh we would hold them to the performance measures that we put in place. Uh now we're holding our all the employees are are ours, and we're holding those employees to our measurement standards, and we just have a lot more ability to control the outcomes rather than relying on a third party to do it. And we've seen really, really spectacular results over the last few years. Since since Johnny came on, yeah, she had to write the ship. But um, yeah, if you look at all of our performance indicators that are out there, and our just our dashboard, it usually glows green. That's good. Yeah. Well, we appreciate I appreciate you. And we're saving a lot of money too. We haven't had uh raised rates in a long time, and you know, that's ultimately what our goal is to provide superior services at very low cost. Thank you for being willing to do it. Thank you. I know it's a huge or huge responsibility. I I um would put up the offer again if anybody wants to go on a ride along. Um we don't have to go sit in the hospital and walk around the corridors of the hospital to ensure that our implies are working there and then getting back in the field. Uh we can just go call the call so you can see what IMSA does on its own, then how IMSA relates and interacts with fire and police too. Do you have your badge on you?
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