Some Tulsa County residents could vote on a “water in the river” proposal in October.
The Arkansas River task will get designs and cost estimates by May 1, hold public meetings in June and finalize the proposal in July. Task force chair G.T. Bynum said he wants it on the ballot for Oct. 13.
"If we hold a standalone vote on the river in October, that then allows us to consider the outcome of that vote as it relates to any other further Vision renewal," Bynum said.
If the proposal isn’t ready by Aug. 13, the cities involved in the proposal have until Sept. 10 to file for a November election.
A draft agreement establishing the authority that will oversee four low-water dams in the river is under review by involved cities' attorneys. INCOG legal analyst Darita Huckabee said the cities must be careful not to give themselves certain powers, such as withdrawing members.
"There's sort of a brick wall there between the two entities," Huckabee said. "That's for each others' protection against liability, for the ability to borrow money and incur debt."
State law requires an annual financial audit of the authority, but the involved governments can ask for more.
"We could require them to talk about, you know, their strategic plan, or their performance measures, or their goals or objectives, or anything the group deems appropriate," Huckabee said. "And we can build that into the trust indenture as an annual requirement in addition to the audit."
The trust agreement and funding proposal will be written and presented to the public after cost estimates are done.