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Good morning, good morning, good
morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome

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meeting this time now for city matters. It matters to you. Oh,

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it matters to the city. And
we've got the newest member of the City

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Council of representing today, Gwinn Sheppard. How are you doing. You're a

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young man. Oh fantastic. It's
a beautiful sunny morning and I'm back in

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the studio. Yeah. I told
Quinn we're going to give him his own

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mail slot here. But we're wearing
the City councilor hat today today. Might

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need a hat rack. Yeah,
there the many hats being presented. But

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today we had an interesting council meeting. Last night. Love got accomplished a

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lot, did it always does it
does. First of all, let's start

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out with the renaming of a street. Well, let's do that. Of

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course, we're all very aware of
the passing of City Councilor Billy Rohan in

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April, and Billy was very involved
in city matters and many of the things

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as well. And I have the
honor of been pointed to her seat.

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And so one thing I want to
have the audience snowbount today is over at

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Oak Park on the northern end is
the Oakwood Addition. It was intended you

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forty fifty years ago and it's never
accomplished. And so A billion and I

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sent together on the City Planning Commission. We also we are on two other

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committees together. But she was very
motivated because she lived at oak Park,

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loved the little community there, and
she and the City Planning Commission were very

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instrumental in working with Arcadian Housing to
bring what's going to be just a little

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over one hundred new houses in that
oak Wood audition on the north end of

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oak Park. So as part of
the development they're coming in currently doing all

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the infrastructures being done, everything had
to be brought up to code, all

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that kind of thing before any foundations
go down. So oak Park Drive is

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to go north on the west side, it's going to curve around to the

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east, go all the way out
to Virginia, so there'll be two access

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points off of Virginia into oak Wood. And on the segment just off of

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Virginia on the north end, it's
going to be called a segment is going

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to be Billy Roan Road like it
like that A lot that is really cool,

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you know what. Another couple of
things that Billy's going to be remembered

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for is the Veterans Memorial at the
Veterans Park. Yes, by time the

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park lived up to its name,
she was the real driving force behind.

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For those who don't know, there
is a memorial. It is nearly complete.

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There are a few pieces that their
delays, of course with some things,

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but there are seven flag poles.
There's going to be an American flag,

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m I a p ow flags of
five military branches and those were to

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be hoisted before the fourth of July. So the memorial, sorry, the

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Veteran Memorial the Veterans Park. People
go buy, they'll be able to see

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the flags that are there. And
then when the final signage and some other

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things are complete and it's a little
bit cooler, we're planning a dedication this

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fall and off another opportunity to recognize
Billy Rohan's impetus for that, all right.

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And she also was big on keeping
Bartleswielt beautiful very much, and so

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she was again kind of a driving
force behind Keep Bartsville Beautiful Committee is a

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new committee that she was engaged in
helping to form. It had its first

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meeting in the end of May.
The second meeting was actually just last week.

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And so by virtue of the hats
that Billy wore on the city council,

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I've agreed to adopt and be the
laison position for those various roles that

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she had. And so again a
lot of citizens may not realize that a

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city councilor also this is a laison
representative of the city on authorities, boards,

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committees, commissions, trusts. Billy
was on ten of those, including

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the city council. That's not too
uncommon for a councilor. And so I'm

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getting oriented to the keep Barsville beautiful. Of course I was on three of

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them with her already. I got
the area History Museum coming up, and

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so I'm getting an orientation to some
of these committees. But I just wanted

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to put in a plug for citizens. They have an opportunity to volunteer.

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You can go to the website,
go see laying up in these city offices,

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fill on an application, check the
boxes of areas you're interested in,

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and we want to sit as an
input to keep Barsveilt beautiful, not just

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an appearance, but in so many
other ways. Indeed, you know,

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before you got involved in kicking over
for Billy, you were on a lot

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of boards and commissions. You really
were very active, but you took another

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step. You got involved with this
citizens group that actually took classes on how

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a city runs, and then you
graduated as a counselor. I don't know

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that happened. That wasn't the flight. Yes, the city initiated Citizens Academy

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this year. It was Lois Anders. You know, we use a lot

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of acronyms in the city. She
is the backronom ACM. She's the assistant

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city Manager Los Anders and she was
really responsible for organizing, facilitating alongside our

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CFO or financial officer and city clerk
Jason Mnager. And we had six sessions

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about three hours three and a half
hours each, everything from what runs the

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city up in the office buildings downtown
to we got tours the police station,

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the fire station. Got to go
up in the bucket on the great big

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new fire You guys doing that would
go Bible. They're having too Oh it's

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they're having way too much fun.
Wells had a lot of things to learn.

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Now. I don't know how many
citizens have been forty feet below the

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ground in a lift station, but
we have the experience of the wastewater treatment

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plant and got a lot of reassurances
of how our water is treated, not

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just a wastewater but also the water
plant that we're drinking water. And we

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just learned so much. Or twenty
students in the class, I think about

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fifty applied and then they were looking
for a really broad cross section of the

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community who made application of the privilege
of getting accepted onto that again not realizing

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this transition would take place. But
last night they had a graduation. We

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all got a recognition, I got
our photos taken and it was just a

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really fun educational and we met a
lot of new people. Yeah yeah,

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and you got to see how the
city works from the inside out. We

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did, and a lot of people
just don't realize until they're on the inside.

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Some of those things that go on
again us an overview, deep dives

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in different areas, but again a
motivation for people to consider serving on a

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committee of some kind. Well,
you know something, I see this having

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a future that's got some legs in
the last decades, an ongoing thing.

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So it's going to be great municipal
golf course. We know we've got the

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pro Jerry he's going to retire.
I don't know what he's gonna do.

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He's still got so much energy.
He's going to retire after thirty eight years.

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But what's gonna happen to the municipal
golf course. This is kind of

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a tricky thing. A lot of
people really don't know this. Yeah,

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it's kind of like a few years
ago when the city suddenly became managers of

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an airport and had about four months
to figure out what that was going to

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look like for the city, you
know, personnel, budget, all those

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sorts of things. And so,
yes, Jerry is retiring mid August after

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thirty eight years. So I just
want to take a moment to acknowledge his

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dedication, his commitment, his service
to not just the golf course, but

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also to the city. And last
night the city approved a company to conduct

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a comprehensives to rategic review of the
golf course. Because he was the golf

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pro, he ran the shop,
and some other aspects were like his business.

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And then the city maintained the golf
course and facilities and the facilities out

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there, and so now the city
is rethinking its role in that. So

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they've hired a company at a very
reasonable right. We're very impressed with the

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company. Who is going to come
in and do sort of a strategic review,

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wasn't the best interest in the city
the improvements going forward. Of course,

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the project for the new Greens is
going to start in the winter months.

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There was approval last night for some
improvements to the building itself, some

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reroofing an extension porch. People can
go and read the notes, but a

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lot of stuff going out of the
golf course, and the golf course brings

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in a lot of revenue through tournaments
and various things that come here. And

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for those who aren't golfers, it's
probably a best kept secret, or for

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those to golf locally, it's a
great golf course. We had great amenities

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out there. And Jason Dockney,
those who know him, he's going to

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provide interim leadership at Adam's Golf Course. That also was approved it last night's

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meeting. That's great, that's great. You know that course we use it

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for the big United Way fundraiser.
You know, that's like a million dollars

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that goes into our communities for a
lot of different projects, and of course

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the tax money that comes in putting
heads in beds, and then you know,

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people buying gasoline or whatever they need
you dining. Yeah, that's a

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lot of things that help us out. We're going to the movies now with

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Buffalo Rome in the First Christian Church
puts the update on that. Well,

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the update on that is, you
know, it looks it appears to be

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dormant, and people know nothing's happened, but it's been about eight months.

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There's a lot of behind the scene
things that go on before you actually see

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something happen. And so last night
there was approval of some steps that the

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city Council had to take, and
the anticipation is this month, within a

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few weeks, they are going to
close on the First Christian Church building and

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then they can begin to take initiative
for some of the development work. But

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in the end, I want people
to really watch the space about its development

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because it's going to be a world
class sound stage, it's going to be

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a film academy. Very exciting things
that are emerging there right in the heart

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of what we call our arts district
by the Community Center, the Price Tower,

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Unity Square, and again that's going
to bring film industry related programs and

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projects and potential here to Bartlesville.
Also some learning opportunity exactly yeah, that

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is going to be fact. There's
a movie being filmed in Bartlesville right now.

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It's called Sarah's Oil Norvery Day.
I didn't know that. Let's see,

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we've got these things called bi annual
wellness visits for our police officers.

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It's all a part of an agreement. Can you kind of give us a

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little bit of a dive into that. Yeah, thank you Tom for asking

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about that. I don't know if
people realize or appreciate. I mean,

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we've lived different places. I'm personally
not aware of a community that takes such

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a strong interest in the well being, the physical, mental health, overall

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wellbeing of first responders. You know, nine to one one dispatchers, police

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officers, the firefighters, and there
is a new level of agreement for wellness

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visits for let me see, the
police officers, first responders, island dispatchers,

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peer support team members and police officers. Just use them as an example.

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They encounter a lot of very stressful, difficult things that most citizens will

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never encounter in their life. Can
put a strain on their physical wellbeing,

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their mental wellbeing, how they relate
to fellow officers, families, and so

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this city has been extremely proactive to
ensure again the overall health and wellbeing of

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our first responders, and not just
for our first responders time, but there

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is a relationship between the police Department
and Grand Mental Health and that was been

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at least over a year ago,
maybe a couple of years now. Yeah,

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to bring services to citizens when there
may be a call out. And

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it's just I've never heard of this
kind of thing before in a community at

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this kind of level. It continues
to expand and develop and it can only

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be good for Bartlefill because those who
are keeping us safe are safe physically,

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mentally, relationally in other ways as
well. So I'm personally I'm very excited

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about this additional benefit and help to
those who are in very stressful, difficult

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situations. We've got a community that's
just the right size. It's kind of

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like a goldly log zone for something
like this, because we're big enough to

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have a big fire department, a
big police department, a big nine one

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one responders and of course dispatchers and
things like that, but we're small enough

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to know who they are as people. There are friends, are cousins,

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they're neighbors. They're the people we
know and people we care about. And

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even the people that they're dealing with, the folks that are out on the

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street may have lost their way exactly. You know those are relatives and loved

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ones of other people too, So
it kind of signifies kind of what Bartlesville

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is at its very core, this
whole thing of coming together like that.

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It's a it's a rare find.
Like you say, you and I have

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both lived in a lot of different
places. This is not found just everywhere.

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It's not found just everyone. So
I just encouraged. It's like our

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city leaders, our city staff,
you know, the first responders we can

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go through the list are all very
approachable, and they are neighbors and friends.

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You know, give them away when
you see them going by, and

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you know, appreciate the firemen when
they're the ciremers are going down the street,

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and just let them know how much
and how grateful we are for their

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service to us. Indeed, now
we got the meetings and it's kind of

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easy to follow. You just got
to watch out for those Monday holidays.

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Yeah, every first Monday five point
thirty at City Hall, and September is

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going to bump over to Tuesday because
the Labor Day is on that Monday,

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citizens can attend. We had a
citizen last night, citizens to be heard,

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presented something for thought for us.
And of course everything is televised.

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There are no secrets, nothing's hidden. Anything that we see, the citizens

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see. And so I encourage citizens
to go to the Citybarsville dot org,

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sign up for city Beat, go
to the packets. I don't know how

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many know. There is now an
app my Bartles filled. People can go

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to have the hay Bailey button.
They Bailey, all right, come make

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a citizens to be her presentation and
suggest that for the next media hate you

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know what that's gonna be met with. It's gonna be met with a grint

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and then it's gonna be a shaking
hit and everybody on the council is going

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again. But this is like the
city in your pocket. You can learn

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about not just services, calendars,
programs coming up, decisions made by the

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council, all kinds of great stuff
there. Great Quinn Sippard, thank you

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for being with us today. I'm
here, thank you already