Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome
meeting this time now for city matters. It matters to you. Oh,
it matters to the city. And we've got the newest member of the City
Council of representing today, Gwinn Sheppard. How are you doing. You're a
young man. Oh fantastic. It's a beautiful sunny morning and I'm back in
the studio. Yeah. I told Quinn we're going to give him his own
mail slot here. But we're wearing the City councilor hat today today. Might
need a hat rack. Yeah, there the many hats being presented. But
today we had an interesting council meeting. Last night. Love got accomplished a
lot, did it always does it does. First of all, let's start
out with the renaming of a street. Well, let's do that. Of
course, we're all very aware of the passing of City Councilor Billy Rohan in
April, and Billy was very involved in city matters and many of the things
as well. And I have the honor of been pointed to her seat.
And so one thing I want to have the audience snowbount today is over at
Oak Park on the northern end is the Oakwood Addition. It was intended you
forty fifty years ago and it's never accomplished. And so A billion and I
sent together on the City Planning Commission. We also we are on two other
committees together. But she was very motivated because she lived at oak Park,
loved the little community there, and she and the City Planning Commission were very
instrumental in working with Arcadian Housing to bring what's going to be just a little
over one hundred new houses in that oak Wood audition on the north end of
oak Park. So as part of the development they're coming in currently doing all
the infrastructures being done, everything had to be brought up to code, all
that kind of thing before any foundations go down. So oak Park Drive is
to go north on the west side, it's going to curve around to the
east, go all the way out to Virginia, so there'll be two access
points off of Virginia into oak Wood. And on the segment just off of
Virginia on the north end, it's going to be called a segment is going
to be Billy Roan Road like it like that A lot that is really cool,
you know what. Another couple of things that Billy's going to be remembered
for is the Veterans Memorial at the Veterans Park. Yes, by time the
park lived up to its name, she was the real driving force behind.
For those who don't know, there is a memorial. It is nearly complete.
There are a few pieces that their delays, of course with some things,
but there are seven flag poles. There's going to be an American flag,
m I a p ow flags of five military branches and those were to
be hoisted before the fourth of July. So the memorial, sorry, the
Veteran Memorial the Veterans Park. People go buy, they'll be able to see
the flags that are there. And then when the final signage and some other
things are complete and it's a little bit cooler, we're planning a dedication this
fall and off another opportunity to recognize Billy Rohan's impetus for that, all right.
And she also was big on keeping Bartleswielt beautiful very much, and so
she was again kind of a driving force behind Keep Bartsville Beautiful Committee is a
new committee that she was engaged in helping to form. It had its first
meeting in the end of May. The second meeting was actually just last week.
And so by virtue of the hats that Billy wore on the city council,
I've agreed to adopt and be the laison position for those various roles that
she had. And so again a lot of citizens may not realize that a
city councilor also this is a laison representative of the city on authorities, boards,
committees, commissions, trusts. Billy was on ten of those, including
the city council. That's not too uncommon for a councilor. And so I'm
getting oriented to the keep Barsville beautiful. Of course I was on three of
them with her already. I got the area History Museum coming up, and
so I'm getting an orientation to some of these committees. But I just wanted
to put in a plug for citizens. They have an opportunity to volunteer.
You can go to the website, go see laying up in these city offices,
fill on an application, check the boxes of areas you're interested in,
and we want to sit as an input to keep Barsveilt beautiful, not just
an appearance, but in so many other ways. Indeed, you know,
before you got involved in kicking over for Billy, you were on a lot
of boards and commissions. You really were very active, but you took another
step. You got involved with this citizens group that actually took classes on how
a city runs, and then you graduated as a counselor. I don't know
that happened. That wasn't the flight. Yes, the city initiated Citizens Academy
this year. It was Lois Anders. You know, we use a lot
of acronyms in the city. She is the backronom ACM. She's the assistant
city Manager Los Anders and she was really responsible for organizing, facilitating alongside our
CFO or financial officer and city clerk Jason Mnager. And we had six sessions
about three hours three and a half hours each, everything from what runs the
city up in the office buildings downtown to we got tours the police station,
the fire station. Got to go up in the bucket on the great big
new fire You guys doing that would go Bible. They're having too Oh it's
they're having way too much fun. Wells had a lot of things to learn.
Now. I don't know how many citizens have been forty feet below the
ground in a lift station, but we have the experience of the wastewater treatment
plant and got a lot of reassurances of how our water is treated, not
just a wastewater but also the water plant that we're drinking water. And we
just learned so much. Or twenty students in the class, I think about
fifty applied and then they were looking for a really broad cross section of the
community who made application of the privilege of getting accepted onto that again not realizing
this transition would take place. But last night they had a graduation. We
all got a recognition, I got our photos taken and it was just a
really fun educational and we met a lot of new people. Yeah yeah,
and you got to see how the city works from the inside out. We
did, and a lot of people just don't realize until they're on the inside.
Some of those things that go on again us an overview, deep dives
in different areas, but again a motivation for people to consider serving on a
committee of some kind. Well, you know something, I see this having
a future that's got some legs in the last decades, an ongoing thing.
So it's going to be great municipal golf course. We know we've got the
pro Jerry he's going to retire. I don't know what he's gonna do.
He's still got so much energy. He's going to retire after thirty eight years.
But what's gonna happen to the municipal golf course. This is kind of
a tricky thing. A lot of people really don't know this. Yeah,
it's kind of like a few years ago when the city suddenly became managers of
an airport and had about four months to figure out what that was going to
look like for the city, you know, personnel, budget, all those
sorts of things. And so, yes, Jerry is retiring mid August after
thirty eight years. So I just want to take a moment to acknowledge his
dedication, his commitment, his service to not just the golf course, but
also to the city. And last night the city approved a company to conduct
a comprehensives to rategic review of the golf course. Because he was the golf
pro, he ran the shop, and some other aspects were like his business.
And then the city maintained the golf course and facilities and the facilities out
there, and so now the city is rethinking its role in that. So
they've hired a company at a very reasonable right. We're very impressed with the
company. Who is going to come in and do sort of a strategic review,
wasn't the best interest in the city the improvements going forward. Of course,
the project for the new Greens is going to start in the winter months.
There was approval last night for some improvements to the building itself, some
reroofing an extension porch. People can go and read the notes, but a
lot of stuff going out of the golf course, and the golf course brings
in a lot of revenue through tournaments and various things that come here. And
for those who aren't golfers, it's probably a best kept secret, or for
those to golf locally, it's a great golf course. We had great amenities
out there. And Jason Dockney, those who know him, he's going to
provide interim leadership at Adam's Golf Course. That also was approved it last night's
meeting. That's great, that's great. You know that course we use it
for the big United Way fundraiser. You know, that's like a million dollars
that goes into our communities for a lot of different projects, and of course
the tax money that comes in putting heads in beds, and then you know,
people buying gasoline or whatever they need you dining. Yeah, that's a
lot of things that help us out. We're going to the movies now with
Buffalo Rome in the First Christian Church puts the update on that. Well,
the update on that is, you know, it looks it appears to be
dormant, and people know nothing's happened, but it's been about eight months.
There's a lot of behind the scene things that go on before you actually see
something happen. And so last night there was approval of some steps that the
city Council had to take, and the anticipation is this month, within a
few weeks, they are going to close on the First Christian Church building and
then they can begin to take initiative for some of the development work. But
in the end, I want people to really watch the space about its development
because it's going to be a world class sound stage, it's going to be
a film academy. Very exciting things that are emerging there right in the heart
of what we call our arts district by the Community Center, the Price Tower,
Unity Square, and again that's going to bring film industry related programs and
projects and potential here to Bartlesville. Also some learning opportunity exactly yeah, that
is going to be fact. There's a movie being filmed in Bartlesville right now.
It's called Sarah's Oil Norvery Day. I didn't know that. Let's see,
we've got these things called bi annual wellness visits for our police officers.
It's all a part of an agreement. Can you kind of give us a
little bit of a dive into that. Yeah, thank you Tom for asking
about that. I don't know if people realize or appreciate. I mean,
we've lived different places. I'm personally not aware of a community that takes such
a strong interest in the well being, the physical, mental health, overall
wellbeing of first responders. You know, nine to one one dispatchers, police
officers, the firefighters, and there is a new level of agreement for wellness
visits for let me see, the police officers, first responders, island dispatchers,
peer support team members and police officers. Just use them as an example.
They encounter a lot of very stressful, difficult things that most citizens will
never encounter in their life. Can put a strain on their physical wellbeing,
their mental wellbeing, how they relate to fellow officers, families, and so
this city has been extremely proactive to ensure again the overall health and wellbeing of
our first responders, and not just for our first responders time, but there
is a relationship between the police Department and Grand Mental Health and that was been
at least over a year ago, maybe a couple of years now. Yeah,
to bring services to citizens when there may be a call out. And
it's just I've never heard of this kind of thing before in a community at
this kind of level. It continues to expand and develop and it can only
be good for Bartlefill because those who are keeping us safe are safe physically,
mentally, relationally in other ways as well. So I'm personally I'm very excited
about this additional benefit and help to those who are in very stressful, difficult
situations. We've got a community that's just the right size. It's kind of
like a goldly log zone for something like this, because we're big enough to
have a big fire department, a big police department, a big nine one
one responders and of course dispatchers and things like that, but we're small enough
to know who they are as people. There are friends, are cousins,
they're neighbors. They're the people we know and people we care about. And
even the people that they're dealing with, the folks that are out on the
street may have lost their way exactly. You know those are relatives and loved
ones of other people too, So it kind of signifies kind of what Bartlesville
is at its very core, this whole thing of coming together like that.
It's a it's a rare find. Like you say, you and I have
both lived in a lot of different places. This is not found just everywhere.
It's not found just everyone. So I just encouraged. It's like our
city leaders, our city staff, you know, the first responders we can
go through the list are all very approachable, and they are neighbors and friends.
You know, give them away when you see them going by, and
you know, appreciate the firemen when they're the ciremers are going down the street,
and just let them know how much and how grateful we are for their
service to us. Indeed, now we got the meetings and it's kind of
easy to follow. You just got to watch out for those Monday holidays.
Yeah, every first Monday five point thirty at City Hall, and September is
going to bump over to Tuesday because the Labor Day is on that Monday,
citizens can attend. We had a citizen last night, citizens to be heard,
presented something for thought for us. And of course everything is televised.
There are no secrets, nothing's hidden. Anything that we see, the citizens
see. And so I encourage citizens to go to the Citybarsville dot org,
sign up for city Beat, go to the packets. I don't know how
many know. There is now an app my Bartles filled. People can go
to have the hay Bailey button. They Bailey, all right, come make
a citizens to be her presentation and suggest that for the next media hate you
know what that's gonna be met with. It's gonna be met with a grint
and then it's gonna be a shaking hit and everybody on the council is going
again. But this is like the city in your pocket. You can learn
about not just services, calendars, programs coming up, decisions made by the
council, all kinds of great stuff there. Great Quinn Sippard, thank you
for being with us today. I'm here, thank you already