By John Dobberstein, Editor
The Broken Arrow City Council will be discussing a number of projects important to the city’s future on Tuesday night as the months wind down toward next year’s general obligation bond election.
A citizens committee is expected to share its recommendations at the meeting for propositions and projects to appear in the 2026 GO Bond election.
The committee, appointed in April, has been meeting for 15 weeks to discuss a project list with more than 330 requests and narrow it down to the final list, as the Broken Arrow City Council and city staff have also worked to finalize the package.
The committee considered the projects based on their benefit to citizens, impact to city operations, the economic impact and potential future development as the growth of the city continues.
The bond election is set for April 6, 2026. If approved, the bonds would not increase taxes, the city has said. City leaders will use internal reports and data, feedback from residents received at public meetings, and the results of surveys to compare to a running list of capital needs.
Projects will be selected based on various factors, such as priority, comments from citizens, business leaders and City Council members; availability of funding and desire to improve tourism and attract out-of-towners to shop, dine and spend time in Broken Arrow.
Residents are encouraged to join the City Council, city staff at one or all of three upcoming public forums to learn more about the hundreds of proposed projects and provide input on ones are most important to you. The forums are scheduled for Aug. 28, Sept. 3, and Sept. 25.
A presentation submitted Friday with the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting — slated for 6 p.m. at 220 S. 1st Street — shares the following list:
Proposition 1: Transportation — $190.5 million
Proposition 2: Public Safety — $64.6 million
Proposition 3: Parks — $54 million
Proposition 4: Public Facilities — $76.6 million
Proposition 5: Stormwater — $11 million
Proposition 6: Drainage — $9 million
Proposition 7: Tulsa City-County Library, South BA — $2.5 million
Proposition 8: Sports User Group (separate proposition)
For more information about the GO Bond Election next spring, CLICK HERE.
New City Hall
One of the projects being discussed Tuesday is potentially building a new municipal services building on the northeast corner of South Main Street and Washington Street.
The existing City Hall was built in 1970s and has numerous renovations and expansions over the last 50 years to accommodate growth.
The limitations of the existing facility started the process of evaluating department staffing goals, technology upgrades and security enhancements. The city analyzed whether to build the new facility or expand on the existing site on 1st Street.
A citizen initiative committee was also nominated to consider both options, and met 5 times to discuss what impact each site would have on the project.
The final recommendation from the committee is to build an entirely new building that would relocate all existing city hall departments, the City Council chambers, human resources department, One Stop Center and others to the new facility.
Clarifying the annexation process
As Broken Arrow continues to grow, city officials plan to give the City Council a “foundational overview” Tuesday of how annexation integrates new areas into the city, “with a focus on infrastructure implications, compliance with city standards and specifications, and the voluntary annexation and assessment district process.”
The issue of annexation has come into play recently as there are large areas of unincorporated neighborhoods in Wagoner County between the city limits and Coweta in need of municipal services.
The Broken Arrow and Coweta fire departments signed a mutual aid agreement earlier this year to improve coverage and response times, which could eventually result in lower home insurance costs due to a better fire protection rating.
The Whispering Hills neighborhoods in southeast Broken Arrow has had active discussions this year about annexing into Broken Arrow, after months working to obtain clear information about the process and potential cost.
The subdivisions were unceremoniously de-annexed from the Coweta city limits by the Coweta City Council in 2020.
A request to annex into the city would be a voluntary annexation case. Oklahoma lawmakers did pass legislation this year providing stronger protections for landowners if a municipality has chosen to annex their property.
In those cases, cities and towns must obtain written approval from a majority of affected property owners before annexing land.
If a city proceeds with annexation without majority consent, it must present a detailed service plan outlining essential services such as water, sewer, fire protection and police coverage. These services must be implemented within 10 years or the annexed land will be automatically removed from the city’s jurisdiction.
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