‘We’re outta money’

As a Professional Engineer, as well as being program manager for the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) Fund for the Eastern Oklahoma Circuit Engineering District, Monty Proctor is used to getting things done. Obstacles are merely temporary hinderances that impede progress. Address the problem, plot a solution and implement the plan.

But Proctor — and, by extension, the Sequoyah County Commissioners — are faced with an obstacle not easily overcome.

When Proctor addressed the commissioners at their weekly meeting Monday, his review of the CIRB five-year plan left the commissioners thunderstruck.

In the 15-year history of the CIRB, there have been 25 projects funded in Sequoyah County. But growing that number will not come without its challenges.

Proctor shared with the commissioners a status report and financials he presented at a recent district meeting. Then two words had more impact than any others.

“We’re broke,” Proctor told the commissioners. “With all the projects we have on program — this is statewide, now — all the projects that are under construction, and all the projects that are planned to be constructed, we’re outta money.”

Although dire when it comes to trying to figure out how to build and maintain roads and bridges in the county, it was not entirely unexpected. Recent budget cuts and spending caps by the state have county commissioners hamstrung. When the purse strings are controlled by legislators in Oklahoma City, local jurisdictions must find ways to make do with less … or without.

The CIRB fund status report from Feb. 28 revealed an end-of-the-month balance of negative $304,900. The fund started the fiscal year with a balance of more than $162 million. But encumbrances for unpaid design, right of way and construction contracts reduced that figure by almost $142 million, as well as not-yet-encumbered expenditures for future projects of almost $39 million. Federal reimbursement fund encumbrances are still outstanding, but at just over $18 million, the CIRB fund still comes up short as of the most recent accounting.

After delivering the bad news, Proctor put the onus squarely on the commissioners.

“That’s putting it in your hands to kinda go toward the capitol and have the fund raised or the caps raised or get us some additional funding. We have need,” Proctor said.

“As part of this process of updating the CIRB plan, I’ve provided a narrative, that was provided to the state auditor, to show what the process is, ’cause there was some concern that we just willy-nilly move things around or delay a project for one reason or another, so this kind of report gives you the narrative as to what’s going on with your particular projects as to why they’re hitting schedule or not,” he told the commissioners.

Despite the current budget shortfall, there are still construction projects on the commissioners’ calendar that must be completed.

“For the coming year for 2024 for Sequoyah County, for you to build the Muldrow bridge there by the school, and then for Highway 17 getting engineered and moved on, and then on Indian Road, the ER project STP, bringing that on, kicking that off, that’s what’s planned for the coming year.

“By the end of this five-year plan, there’ll be $41 million expended in Sequoyah County by 2031. The current plan that we’re putting forth is a $10.8 million plan over the next five years. You’ll see that the Big Skin Bayou bridge, construction shown in 2029, it’s a large-ticket item. It’s convenient to slide that one outside the window until we know the firm delivery, especially if it’s gonna get significantly complicated with environmental or something like that,” Proctor advised.

Then District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts wondered aloud and asked, “What if we get on the Cherokee [Nation] inventory and they throw some meat on the bone? Will that speed anything up?”

Proctor couldn’t answer definitively, but did acknowledge that what’s important to the county is also important to the Cherokee Nation.

“The reason we’re working together is that they’re allowed to expend money on a project when it reaches a certain maturity point, and we have in our program a number of projects that are there. And, yes, they have discussed bringing projects that aren’t on inventory — like this low-water crossing, but it has a history of death — so it’s important for them and it’s important for the county. The concern I have is that it is a large-scale project going across a major river, and you’ve got an alignment challenge ’cause you’re going around the mountain that’s on the west side, so however you line that up is gonna make a big difference in right of way and acquisition, so that’s why that one shows at 2029, ’cause we’ve still got some planning to do with that.”

The Highway 17 project north from Sallisaw toward Marble City, is a joint project which relies heavily on Sallisaw, which will need to take a major role because of the “complications of [the county] doing our work inside the city limits. Our scopes of work are limited in footprint or study,” he reminded the commissioners.

Proctor also pointed out that Sallisaw has “the vested interest in the public safety aspects of their city. They should be taking the lead in that.” In his review of projects, Proctor said he has attached “a token sum of a million dollars on that project, just considering the section road that’s in front of the county facility there. There is some water issues there, there’s some transportation truck-movement issues there that need to be overcome. If you allow, that will make a major improvement on the highway and finish it out.”

An alarming balance sheet notwithstanding, Proctor assured the commissioners the current CIRB projects “are fully funded over the five years.”

The commissioners were provided a spreadsheet “that lists [the current projects] in their natural order, this is not your prioritization, this is just their natural order as they would fall out or as they would work through the process,” Proctor explained. “I’ve asked you to review a prioritization memorandum. This is what the auditor is wanting, for you to declare which projects of yours is most important or not. That’s gonna change from year to year because we go into construction. The goal here’s to have a project in construction in every district at any given time — best case is everybody’s in construction at once — so we wanna make sure we’ve got a project kicked off as one’s in construction, and then there’ll be one in the middle that’s in the middle of the process.”

Proctor recommended prioritizing the Muldrow bridge and Highway 17 projects, and then looked to the commissioners to determine a third priority project. Other projects on the horizon are for Swan Road, which must complete a study for the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental law enacted in 1970 that promotes the enhancement of the environment, among other things. Proctor noted that the Big Skin Bayou project has yet to kick off the engineering phase.

“Your plan is pretty even,” Proctor assured the commissioners. “The fair allocation’s around $10 million in a given plan right now for the funding we have, and you’re running right at 11, 10.85 (million dollars).”

The commissioners approved the CIRB five-year plan presented.

After the meeting, Proctor further addressed the reasons for the budget crunch, the limitations with which engineers are saddled and what it takes to build roads and bridges.

“We’re having hard times, right?” he asked rhetorically. “The governor said he has to do things to make the budget — we’re gonna cut here and move here and do this, they took part of this [CIRB] program. They capped it and how much money we can have to work with, so that means I can’t do as much ’cause my cap’s lower. Now [the governor’s] been re-elected on the notion that we had a windfall of the budget, we got all this money and all this stuff set aside in reserve and we’re gonna do all these great things. Put our money back in our transportation program. I’m not saying I want more. Put it back where it was, and then I can knock out and push in about $15 million in projects in this county. Right now, the even-Steven money’s about nine million bucks. I’ve got them funded at 10 to 11, because we plan for hope.

“We’ll get more money or projects won’t make so another one will. It’s kinda like you got multiple girlfriends. If she’s not ready to go to the dance, then I’ll call the other one, ‘You wanna go to the dance? You’re dressed, right? You wanna go? Let’s go.’ Because that’s the deal, we set these up and get ’em all ready to fall, and it’s the smallest little things that will delay a project — landowners uncooperative with right of way, you just can’t give people money; utilities, they’re difficult to move. The other current buzzword problem is the Buy American provisions of the federal transportation bill. Sounds good and patriotic, right? We wanna Buy American and do great things, but if we designate that money for utilities, that means every material that the utility provider uses has to be Buy American,” he said, pointing out that sole-source buying from non-American vendors creates a problem, one that can’t comply with the Buy American edict.

“I enjoy what we do, but we’re getting into an era of strict compliance. That is the new mandate, strict, 100% compliance. And if you don’t comply, you’re not gettin’ the money. And that is a change from what it used to be like.

“I can build a bridge and knock it out in half a million or a million bucks. I know that sounds like a lot, but I can’t get a road done for anything less than about a million and half or two million a mile, and they program four to six miles at a time. We only get about 10, 12 million dollars a year, so if I’ve got a project that needs six million bucks, then half of our money goes to one place.” Then he offers a comparison. “You got four kids and you’ve got an allowance to give out. You give over half of it to one of ’em, how happy are the other three? So we manage it so that everybody feels like they all get an equal-sized lollypop. The truth is, every lollypop that comes out is different — size, shape, color and flavor — everyone of them’s different.”