City of Tulsa News

City Employees Win Second Gainsharing Award

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 0:00:00 CST

Mayor Dewey Bartlett has announced the employee team that submitted the winning bid to retain maintenance and operations services at City Hall - One Technology Center, will be awarded their share of $43,514.08 in additional compensation for the Fiscal Year 2012. This raises the total savings for the City of Tulsa to nearly $250,000 during Fiscal Year 2012. It is the maintenance team's second gainsharing award for the year.

The maintenance crew won the OTC operations and maintenance bid in June 2011 through the City's first managed competition, bidding against private contractors for the same services. The OTC maintenance and operations team handles electrical, mechanical, plumbing and carpentry duties at One Technology Center.

Simultaneous with the managed competition process, the City also adopted a Gainsharing policy, wherein employee teams that win in managed competition can share up to 50 percent of the savings realized, if they perform the services at less the bid amount while meeting or exceeding performance standards.

The eight recipients of the City of Tulsa's second "gainsharing" award are: John Comer, Lisa Abbott, LaTysha Jackson, André Hughes, Terry Hope, Robert McGuire, Todd Mashburn, and Rhonda Newby.

"This is another gold-star day for the City. I am so very proud of our OTC maintenance crew for demonstrating their ability to work together as a team to find further efficiencies and savings at City Hall. It is a huge win-win, not only for the maintenance team, but for our entire organization," Bartlett said. "They have become a great example to other employees of what we can do when we work together."

Bartlett continued, "Our managed competition and gainsharing is transforming the way we perform city services and is allowing our employees to compete with the private sector. The program produces results and sends a clear message: if you compete, and win, there will be rewards for you. It is my sincere hope that the continued success of this team and the rewards they have earned this year will spur other employee groups to come forward with cost-saving ideas."

For a refresher on what gainsharing is, click on the following video that was produced by the Communications Department earlier this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmKY3dbRIX8

Three Months of Free Yard Waste Collection Begins Nov. 1

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 0:00:00 CST

As part of the City of Tulsa's new residential refuse and recycling program, there will be no charge for yard waste collection, to include organic or garden material such as leaves, grass, plants, branches and hedge trimmings, during the months of November, December and January.

During the stated months, yard waste that doesn't fit inside of a refuse cart may be bagged in transparent bags or bundled and placed at the curb. 'Green Waste' stickers are not needed during the three months of free service.

Regardless of service level, including backyard or extended backyard service, all yard waste must be placed at the curb by 6:00 a.m. on the customer's primary collection day.

Bagged yard waste placed outside of the refuse cart must be in transparent bags so that the contents may be verified by the hauler to ensure proper disposal at the City's green waste and mulch facility. Yard waste placed in non-transparent bag will not be collected. (The City of Tulsa has verified that transparent bags may be purchased at area Ace Hardware stores, Best Electric Hardware store, Home Depot and Lowes stores.)

Sticks and branches must be tied in 4'x 2' bundles and placed at the curb for collection.

Residents may also dispose of yard waste at no cost by taking the material to the City of Tulsa's Green Waste Facility located at 10401 East 56^th Street North. The site is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., excluding city observed holidays. A current driver's license with a Tulsa address is requested for admittance, and residents may drop off green waste free of charge year-round.

For more information about green waste collection or other City of Tulsa Solid Waste Services programs, please call (918) 596-9777 or visit www.cityoftulsa.org/trash.

Dream Keepers Honored

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 0:00:00 CST

The City of Tulsa Human Rights Department and the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission will hold its 15^th Annual Dream Keepers Awards dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Campus, Schusterman Center in the Learning Center Building, 4502 E. 41st St.

Admission is $10 at the door.

The Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission will present awards to 12 local and former residents of Tulsa for their contributions and achievements to the local community. The Commission will hold this event to coincide with the National Native American Heritage Month, which celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the peoples who were the original inhabitants, explorers and settlers of the United States.

This year's recipients are:

Jimmy and Eunice Wildcat, Kenneth Anquoe Lifetime Achievement Award
James Ryals, Lewis B. Ketchum Excellence in Business Award
Cara Cowan Watts, Charles Chibitty Family Community Contributor Award
Curtis Zunigha, Will Anquoe Humanitarian Award
Raymond Rogers, Rennard Strickland Education Leadership Award
Teresa Runnels, Perry Aunko Indigenous Language Preservation Award
Justin Giles, Moscelyne Larkin Cultural Achievement Award
Patty Beaston, Dr. Ralph Dru Career & Professional Award
Nancie Warrior Longacre, Jim Thorpe Sports Excellence Award
Charles Diebold, Red Eagle Sacred Circle of Spirituality Award
Richard Tilden, Roberta Gardipe American Indian Veterans Award

Mayor Kicks Off Employee Safety Program

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 0:00:00 CST

Mayor Dewey Bartlett has announced the City of Tulsa is embarking on a journey to improve its safety culture to reduce workplace injuries and lower worker compensation costs. The mayor, joined by Covanta Energy representatives, Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor, Mark Costello and City of Tulsa Department Directors, kicked off the City's Safety Culture Transformation Project, which will create a premier safety program for City employees.

Mayor Bartlett said, "Our safety and injury issues were first identified by the KPMG efficiency study in 2010. The report showed our worker's compensation costs totaled $27,432,499 million and our incident rates were twice as much as those in similar-sized cities like Oklahoma City and Wichita. We are working toward reducing these costs and are taking the safety and health of our employees seriously."

Bartlett added, "Our department directors will help us get there by developing and sustaining a successful program of safety excellence for employees. The next step will be gathering three focus groups of 'champions' who will help us develop specific programs to convey our overall safety messages to employees."

Covanta Energy, an internationally acclaimed renewable energy facility and one of the nation's biggest champions of safety and health will also be guiding the City of Tulsa through the process. Covanta is a part of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which recognizes outstanding efforts by employers and employees to achieve exemplary occupational safety and health policies, procedures and practices.

Matthew Newman, Director of Business Management at Covanta said, "I encourage the City of Tulsa to start their day with a focus on safety and then hard-wire it into employees' daily lives." Beth Hurley, Vice President of Safety and Health added, "We found that employee accidents at Covanta went down to less than one percent a year, due to employees being mentored on their safety decisions. This has helped us maintain a strong safety culture, which is one of Covanta's core values."

Special guest speaker, Mark Costello, Labor Commissioner, remarked on the states "D-plus" grade and how organizations must step up to establish a safety culture throughout the state. He said, "It's important to have a clearly defined safety and health system that actively identifies the 'root' causes of an accident. And it's equally vital to follow up with future avoidance change processes to embrace new information, data and safety committee recommendations."

The City of Tulsa's new safety transformation program will center on employees to save lives, enhance their quality of life, and create an enhanced working environment of pride, empowerment, productivity and efficiency. City of Tulsa Department Directors will assist in the establishment of a vision and in developing the project where they will monitor risks and act accordingly to ensure the sustainability and success of the program.

Bartlett emphasized the one thing the City is going to implement this upcoming budget cycle will be having every department pay for its own workers comp claims. "At the end of the day, we have to have employees go home as safe as when they came here. Many of us are doing a good job, but we all need to do it."

New Facebook Page Helps Find Lost Animals

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 0:00:00 CST

Tulsa Animal Welfare has created a new Facebook Page to help Tulsans find lost pets or help those who find animals search for their owners.

Citizens can post information and photos about lost or found pets in the Tulsa area. The page also includes tips, in the Notes area, about what to do before pets get lost and what to do when an animal is missing.

The page can be viewed at:

http://www.facebook.com/TulsaAnimalWelfareLostAndFound

Tulsa Animal Welfare also has its regular Facebook page, which has been online for two and a half years, with information about adoptable animals and helpful information about animal welfare issues such as spaying and neutering, de-clawing, food and treat recalls and responsible pet ownership. That page can be viewed at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Tulsa-Animal-Welfare

Animal Welfare Has New Phone Number

Tulsa Animal Welfare has a new telephone number. A recent change in the City's phone system prompted the change. The new number is now 918-596-8000. The TAW's FAX number remains 918-669-6273.

Sales Taxes Up 5.6 percent

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 0:00:00 CST

Mayor Dewey Bartlett said today that the City of Tulsa's sales tax revenue for mid-August to mid-September as reported by the Oklahoma Tax Commission, totaled $18,856,756, or 5.6 percent above the same period last year.

All of the increase is due to the change in rate from 3 percent to 3.167 percent. That 0.167 percent formerly went to Tulsa County and does not represent a tax increase for Tulsans The additional money goes to the Fix Our Streets program. For the fiscal year-to-date, the City has received $75,407,785. The money received for the month is 3.1 percent, or about $600,000, below budget estimates.

Use tax collections for the month are $1,849,146, up 14.4 percent from the same month last year and 12.3 percent above budget estimates. So far this fiscal year the city has received $6,939,000 in use taxes, up 11.5 percent from the $6,222,655 received for the same period last year.

City Finance Director Mike Kier noted that the sales taxes for the first four months of the fiscal year are essentially as estimated. He said that last year's October check from the Tax Commission included revenues to offset the August back-to-school sales tax exemption. This year the offset totaling $.4 million will be distributed in November.

For the first quarter of the fiscal year, General Fund revenues total $35,507,439; up by 4.3 percent from last year, but still about 2.5 percent below the amount received for the first quarter in 2008.

"Each month we are happy to see the sales tax revenues continue toward recovery," said Mayor Dewey Bartlett. "We have been operating for four years with less money and are just now returning to the sales tax revenue levels we had in 2008. We continue to search for ways to improve efficiencies and deliver services to citizens at lower costs."

Downtown Streetscaping Project Begins

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 0:00:00 CST

The Downtown Coordinating Council is kicking off Phase I of its Downtown Streetscaping Master Plan this week. Phase I will add landscaping and irrigation to six downtown locations.

These locations are Sixth Street and Kenosha Avenue, Seventh Street and Kenosha Avenue, Seventh Street and Southwest Boulevard, 12th Street and Denver Avenue, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue, and South Detroit Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street. This $392,034 project will be completed in the fall.

"Well-kept landscaping makes downtown more inviting and has a positive impact on citizens feeling safe and secure, similar to the effect of street lighting," said Downtown Coordinating Council Chairman Tom Wallace. "Studies have shown that planting and maintaining street trees in an urban area has a significant positive effect on property values, commercial property rental rates and retail sales."

Funding for this project has come from Tulsa Stadium Improvement District fees from property owners within the Inner Dispersal Loop (downtown Tulsa). In addition to paying bonds on ONEOK Field, TSID funds provide for downtown maintenance, marketing and improvement projects.

The Downtown Coordinating Council is an advisory board comprised of downtown property owners who provide support and advice for planning and management of improvement, maintenance and marketing of downtown Tulsa. The Downtown Coordinating Council works to actively develop downtown Tulsa as a vibrant center of commerce, arts, entertainment and education.

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