A trash cleanup effort involving the Henryetta Ministerial Alliance, First United Methodist Church and Lions club will be held the last weekend in April. Henryetta council member approved setting up eight to ten roll-off dumpsters to collect trash and debris in an effort to improve the looks of the town.
Part of that cleanup will include church members going to homes around town and picking up trash and debris too bulky for the homeowner to take to the dump sites. There will be no charge for that service.
The city is going to be working with Creek Nation Environmental Services to see if electronic items such as computers, printers and fax machines can be accepted.
City manager Ted Graham pointed out no hazardous waste such as paint, batteries or compressed gas cans can be accepted.
Also in April, the city will be closing Nichols Park for three days.
The Oklahoma Cross Country racing Association (OCCRA) will be staging a cross-country race through part of the south side of Nichols April 15-17. That will include the off-road track and trails area opened at Nichols last fall.
Mayor Jennifer Clason said OCCRA organizers, "were very excited about the park. They have dreams of what they can do here in the future."
She said the park has to be closed because of safety. You can't have people wandering around because you will get run over."
She explained OCCRA supplies all the personnel to staff the event with some 300-400 racers expected. They will also have campers to spend the weekend there."
The city is asking for help from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to resurface and rebuild Dewey Bartlett road and West Main.
"The Creeks have some highway paving federal grant money that they can use to do overlays or rebuilding roads," Graham said.
If funds are approved, the work would take care of West Main Street from the intersection with Dewey Bartlett east and all of Dewey bartlett to Cowboy Corner.
Council members went over a list of some 18 projects currently going on around town.
They include the splash pad, Nichols Park work, water storage tank rebuilding and sewer lines.
Councilman Ronnie Duke questioned a $2,529 expense claimed by Crawford and Associates. That money was for mileage and lodging by a Crawford employee staying at Glenpool while working in Henryetta.
"I called Frank Crawford and pointed out that persons as staying in Glenpool and not Henreytta even though we have motels here," said Clason. He took that off the bill. The original bill from Crawford was $13,969. That brought it down to $11,440.
Clason said she reviewed past billing from Crawford and Associates for a three year period.
"In 2013 we paid $34,000, in 2014 the city paid $118,000 and in 2015 we paid $107,000. Prior to that we were paying $30,000 or less each year."
The council spent nearly 90 minutes in an executive session.

See the full meeting video here.