The City Council on Monday approved a proposal that will see the City’s Community Development Department assuming many of the duties currently performed by the Bartlesville Redevelopment Trust Authority.
The BRTA was established by the City of Bartlesville several years ago primarily to support the redevelopment of the city’s historic downtown. The main tool used by the BRTA were tax increment finance (TIF) districts. In particular, TIF 1 and TIF 2 were created to provide development/redevelopment funds to assist the downtown central business district and the residential areas adjacent to downtown.
Both of these TIFs have now expired, but the remaining funds collected during the term of these TIFs can still be used to fulfill the purposes for which they were collected. There is approximately
$4 million total remaining in the two TIFs. This, coupled with the fact that the BRTA executive director is retiring effective Dec. 31, resulted in the offer by City staff to provide administrative support to the
BRTA via contract in lieu of the BRTA hiring an employee directly.
The council voted unanimously to approve a Memorandum of Understanding, which outlines the following:
Governance
- The BRTA board will continue to provide governance and policy making decisions.
Executive & administrative services:
- City’s Community Development director will serve as BRTA’s administrative director
- City’s Special Projects manager will serve as administrative support
- City will hire an additional employee who will serve as the forward-facing contact and coordinator for BRTA projects
- Additional contract employees may be hired to provide specialized services if necessary.
Accounting & Finance
- City will assume responsibility for accounting and finance functions
Though approved unanimously by the council on Monday, the agreement must be approved by the BRTA Board before taking effect.