WEBVTT

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Good morning, Good morning morning and
walcome Welcomelong. It was time now for

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our community connection. It's a city
matters here. We have his hunter in

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the mayor with is Dale Copeland.
How you doing there, young man?

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I am good Tom. It's a
beautiful day in the ville. Yeah,

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it always is. You had a
little bit of a late night last night,

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but you got a lot of things
accomplished. Buffalo shall roam in Buffalo.

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Bartlesville new group. Great idea,
kind of not one I would ever

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have imagined, but the more we've
learned about it, it sounds like a

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really interesting concept. Of course,
we know that all the different God this

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has been movie week here in Bartlesville, but with all the new things happening

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that it just seems to fit.
We had decided, you know, what

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can we do with the First Christian
Church. The church has been amazing to

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work with. They want the facility
to be retained and find some use and

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we've tried some things. The ideas
just didn't work out. They came in

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with this idea of a film academy
because we see the people that are in

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front of the camera, of course, but there's so many people, a

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lot more people I suspect behind the
camera. Everything from carpenters to electricians to

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jobs I don't even understand, and
where do they learn those skills. So

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they're looking at a film academy to
help train that. You know, we

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have a great Tricounty tech you want
to be a welder and electrician, but

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here's something that's focused on the film
industry that they want to run that.

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And then also they're going to build
a large sound stage that would be to

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the north of it. They had
their conceptual drawings last night of what that

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would look like and the whole thing
fits together. Upgrading the building, it

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needs a new roof. They're going
to do that first. Really investing in.

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The other piece that we liked is
the city had considered this is an

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important piece of bartlesviielle. This is
important piece of history. The church would

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like to see this retained even after
they're gone. What can we do?

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So the idea came out, well, if the city were to put in

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two million dollars, Buffalo Rome said
we'll put in at least two million dollars.

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So last night we were able to
go through several steps that are involved.

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This is not just a simple thing, of course, but one of

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the things was to form begin the
formation of what we're going to call the

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Bartlesville Film Authority. We have the
Development Authority, the Redevelopment Trust Authority,

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the municipal Authority. This would be
a group that would be tasked specifically with

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overseeing this two million dollars that is
matched dollar per dollar, not just going

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to give two million dollars, but
as they spend money, we would match

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it to upgrade this facility, to
repair and improve the structure. They had

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explained last night, they're looking at
insulation and wiring and led lots and lots

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of changes and upgrades to the building. And then north of that add I

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believe ten thousand feet of my memory
is correct tom stage, so that they

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will be able to do movies,
big movies which we think about that have

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have happened here recently, but also
commercials, YouTube videos, all the smaller

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things that every day we see.
Where do those come from? So this

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facility would have that. That couple's
well, I think with the Film Academy,

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because it's one thing to go and
learn theory. It's another to walk

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over here and be able to hands
on practice that and learn those skills and

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just add another facet to Bartlesville.
We have so many great things in town,

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but this is completely new from a
different place. So we did all

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the things that were necessary with that. One of the you know, just

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some smaller details. But the church
was concerned with what they call a columbarium

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that's in the north chapel that some
of their deceased members and of course family

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members are concerned. So we had
an agreement on how to deal with that

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as they redo the building. They
wanted a plaque that they're going to have

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created that notes that this was the
first Christian church for so many years in

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Bartlesville. So a lot of those
details we worked on and moved forward to

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make that happen. Very exciting.
The other thing I like is they very

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swift schedule. I think they're planning
to start this month and they plan to

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have it completed by the end of
December twenty five and have everything up and

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operating. Wow, it's they're busy. This ain't a slow boat. Now.

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They're ready to go, all right, well speaking, ready to go.

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Resolution to initiate the final trunch a
voter approved at twenty twenty g O

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bonds this after we disapproved by a
voter's acclamation. Right, Yeah, the

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you learn a lot. My wife
said, what's a trunch? Yeah,

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I was gonna ask you that.
Yeah, it's a French word. I

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learned. I didn't know that,
but I did learn that. I took

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French in high school, but that
was a long time ago. It means

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slice or part. So when we
approve a bond, that doesn't mean the

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bond gets sold tomorrow morning. So
the city will look at our debt and

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manage it so that we stay at
that fifteen mil leve. When you get

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your tax statement in a month or
so, it will show the City of

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Bartlesville, it might be fourteen point
ninety six or fourteen point eight, but

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about fifteen mils, so that we
stay constant. That's been golly decades that

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the city council is not threeful today. And so this tranch that was approved

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last night that will be sold before
the end of the year, is the

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last part of the twenty twenty bond
election. So that was approved in twenty

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twenty, we sold some, we
sold some more. This is the final

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and it just allows us to keep
getting the projects that were approved in twenty

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twenty completed. People say well,
you know, we passed that bond issue

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Tuesday. When are they going to
start. Well, it's a four year

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bond issue, so some things will
happen first, second, third, fifth,

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and unfortunately some happen three years,
four years later. The bond issue

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that was passed this week last week
on Tuesday, we go today. Really,

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I'm very pleased and very thankful for
our voters that turned out. The

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lowest approval was sixty eight point eight
percent up to seventy five point seven percent

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approval, so about a two to
one approval rating, which is very good,

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very strong. But that will allow
us when we sell those trunches in

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the future. I think the first
one will be sold probably next year sometime,

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to continue doing those list of things
that were there, streets, it

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improvements, a new fire station for
the west side. People don't realize that

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we have to have a fire station
on the west side. If a train

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we're going through Bartlesville at the time
there was a call, you can't get

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through and we want that rapid response
time. So having that station at Hensley

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in Virginia allows that. So this
will allow us to get that facility.

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Just all the pieces that were listed, but it was approved, and I

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really want to thank the voters that
turned out and allow us to move forward.

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And it's now all about the water, water, water, water or

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lack of water. These were not
cany Kansas. They turned off the public

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bathrooms. There are communities around us
that have more serious concerns than we do

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have concerns. We have very bud
there are others that are with us.

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It's a long standing drought and as
you recall, Tom recently updated what we

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learned from our experience over the last
year. We modified the ordin that's just

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slightly and now, for instance,
we are in phase two. If you

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have an even numbered house number,
you can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

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We moved that to the weekend.
People said, well, it's great to

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be able to water on Friday,
except I'm not home. I'm at work.

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So day you water Tuesday, Saturday. If you have odd numbers,

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you water Wednesday and Sunday. I
got the report yesterday day. Our water

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supply is at sixty point eight percent. We're very close into going to phase

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three. But the good news is
the new ordinance included a trigger that said

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we will not change the rate structure
if our people can use less than five

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point five million gallons per day.
Oh there you go. Well, last

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week it was at five point two
eight, so there would not be a

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rate increase now to move that forward. If we go into phase three,

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which is very possible being at sixty
point eight, that we would drop to

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fifty nine, then that target drops
to four point seven five million gallons per

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day. But again, if we
can voluntarily conserve, then we have a

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situation where the city Council does not
have to look at a rate change because

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everyone is doing what the rate change
was intended to do, get everyone to

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use less water if we do that
voluntarily, so we really are encouraging people

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to come together. We're going into
the cooler weather, water usage should drop

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normally, and if we can get
down to four seven five, then we'll

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continue to just leave the rates alone, which is what we would prefer to

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do. And praying for a good
old el nin yo snow. I am

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seeing if the Farmer's Almanac knows what
they're doing, and they seem to be

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good a lot of the years.
They're talking a colder than normal, but

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also a much wetter than normal,
so hopefully that will work. Now on

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the other side, of that,
the Water Resources Board continues to meet and

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look at long range. We're not
gonna be able to do this by next

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month, But what are the options
that are affordable? I mean, it's

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it's the old deal. With money, you can do anything. Two hundred

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three hundred million dollars is a number
that is hard to wrap your head around.

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I can't. Yeah, it's just
a huge number. And when we

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distill that down to what does that
cost you and me? It's a big

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number. So what are our best
options for water supplement? More water?

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We've looked that drilling in this aquifer
that's just west of us that I didn't

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even know existed. I don't think
hardly anybody yet does that provide not all,

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but a portion that it's close by? What about getting with the core

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to get more capacity at Copainne that
when we continue to work on I have

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confidence there. What about getting them
to change the conservation levels If they hold

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more water in the lakes, then
we have that extra cushion. What about

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caw hugely expensive but a lot of
supply. What about to our south?

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So we're looking at a call it
a laundry list of options that we might

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do. What would they cost and
what would they provide us. And we'll

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continue to work on that and put
that together with what we're already doing improving

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our systems to keep us strong.
And we got a little cleanup coming up

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here. And if people wonder about
why December and I got a tree that

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reminds me, whye December, he
doesn't start to lose anything, tell about

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then it's always hard to know.
Tom. If we do it in November

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and the leaves drop and all of
that, great, But what happens,

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to your point, is quite often
I picked up my yard, we have

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the yard debris, the sticks,
the twigs, the leaves looking good,

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and then it doesn't get cold,
and my tree decides to dump all of

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its leaves the week after pick up. So we're going to do this in

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December. If you pick up your
leaves and things this week are in the

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middle of November, bag them,
put them aside, and then when this

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comes around, it's the week of
get it right through the eighth. Yeah,

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so your normal day. And I
think the record it was like one

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hundred and thirty bags. Obviously a
house with lots of trees, but oh

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I saw that just a mountain of
leaf bags. Don't put them on your

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trash cart. Put them nearby,
because that truck will not pick them up.

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That's an automated truck. But a
truck will come by on your normal

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day. So if your day is
Tuesday, put them out Monday night when

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you put your cart out, and
they will pick them up that next day,

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even if it's not at the same
time they empty your car. Don't

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call city hall when they pick up
your poly cart and you say, hey,

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you forgot that, not no,
no, it'll pick them up by

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Thursday. Call city Yeah, they'll
get you. But you can imagine watching

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lots of things to pick up,
so it can take a while to go

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around, but they will do that. There is absolutely no charge, and

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we do that once in the fall
and once in the spring. Very good,

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alright, he was, I tell
you what. We packed a lot

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of information very well going on in
town. There's a lot of good things

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going on in town. So save
water. Be happy for living in an

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amazing community. Glad to see you
this morning. Glad to see you.

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Yeah, it's a good day.
It is. Ladies and gentlemen. You've

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been listening to City Matters with Mayor
Copeland right here on Okay, what