Sooner Rd Improvements & Criminal Restitution

Sooner Rd.

I have heard from many resident in the community their desire for resurfacing of Sooner Road...Well it's  coming! This week the Council approved a cooperative plan that will bring much needed improvements in the form of a 1.9 million dollar project to improve the surface of Sooner Road from Reno to SE 29^th street, as well as sidewalk expansions.  The project will be a collaboration with the Federal, State and Local governments.  This stretch of road is rather interesting as Midwest City is responsible for maintaining the east side of the street and Del City is responsible for the west side of the street.  I am glad that through the collaboration with Del City we will see much needed improvements to the area.  The specifics from the Council agenda are at the bottom of this post.

Restitution

We had an interesting debate this week at the Council meeting.  It centers on the idea that if someone is convicted of illegal dumping that they should be required to to remedy the situation.  This could include paying the landowner for damages, cleanup, or physically cleaning up the mess themselves.  The council approved a plan that will allow this type of restitution at the discretion of the Judge.  While I am happy with the plan, I disagreed on making it optional.  I felt that an offender should ALWAYS be responsible for their actions.  State law has similar language but requires judges to have offenders provide restitution (not optional).  I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the future.

Sooner Road Project Details from Council Agenda:

The federal funds are needed in connection with the proposed roto-mill and overlay of Sooner Road, from Reno Avenue to S.E. 29th Street. The proposed project includes sidewalk expansion as well. The preliminary estimate for the total project cost is $1,940,655. This project will be funded by 80% federal funds, 20% local match. Midwest City and Del City are splitting the local match provision. Midwest City and Del City will be required to contribute $194,065.50 each to ODOT to cover construction costs as required with the 20% local match provision. Del City has submitted their payment for their portion of the project.”