Mike Hefner addressed the November 2, meeting of the Oakdale City Council to discuss redistricting, which will need to be in place by next year. He stated every 10 years, the state requires lines to be redrawn following a census to make sure each election district is in balance should there be plus or minus five percent change in population. For example, Hefner noted District One is currently high in population, while District Three is low. He added for all four districts to be equal, each one would need 1,211 people. The plan, Hefner said, is to make the districts as equal as possible.
Hefner had presented three plans for the council to choose from, and the council favored plan three, which will not include any radical changes. Hefner said, with this plan, minor changes would be made and lines would be cleaned up so as not to have as much zig zag lines across the districts. This plan, he shared, would feature the least deviation and create a good balance.
Hefner told the council they could move forward with plan three, which would go into effect for the first election in 2024. An ordinance and resolution will be drafted for presentation at the December meeting, and once signed, it will go to the state. The council unanimously approved moving forward with plan three.
Attorney Ray Rush stated the ordinance for the sale of adjudicated land to Michael and Mandy Reed would need to be corrected and re-advertised due to an error in the property description on the deed.
Rush also discussed the request of Jerry Odom, who was not in attendance at the meeting, to abandon Fussell Street. Rush said he would need to do more research about the area to find out where the road is and if the road is dedicated to the city or if the city owns it. The area in question is from Beck Street to Cherry Street and is a piece of property Odom purchased from the city.
In other business, the council:
•Approved the minutes of the October 5, regular board meeting.
•Heard the financial report from City Clerk Paul Abrusley. He noted the fire and police department numbers are looking better, and Chiefs Chad Doyle and Eric Maricle are satisfied with where they are now.
•Heard the police activity report from Chief Chad Doyle. He noted there were 332 calls for service, 360 citations, 21 arrests and 26 vehicle unlocks, for a total of 739 activities for the month of October. He noted the 20-year-old roof at the new administration building will be replaced, as well as the flat part of the old roof on the old fire station, which has been leaking since Doyle has been in office. Doyle also stated the police department put in a lot of time, effort and man hours into security for the Oakdale High School 100th homecoming celebration. He noted this was one of the safest ones they ever had and everyone was satisfied with the security.
•Approved the chief’s recommendations to move Katrina Ford and Megan Aymond Maricle from part-time dispatchers to full-time dispatchers.
•Heard the monthly fire activity report from Samantha Giles. There were two structure fires, 10 medical calls, one jail call, four vehicle unlocks, two landing zone calls, four public assist calls, five fire alarms, one miscellaneous call and one grass fire in the city limits. Outside the city limits, there was one medical call for a total of 31 calls for the month of September.
