WEBVTT

1
00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.039
Good morning, good morning, good
morning, and welcome, welcome, Welcome

2
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:13.599
to a Monday and it's City Matters
on K one fifty five degrees at nine

3
00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.920
thirty one. Tracy Rolls and the
City crew with us. Tracy, good

4
00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.719
morning, Now are you pretty good? Nice to have you guys with us

5
00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.679
on an eclipse Monday? Yeah.
Yeah, so Tom's not here, it

6
00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:29.839
has to be part of the eclipse. Yeah you think so? You think

7
00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:32.039
that has something to do with it? In might I don't know, full

8
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.479
moon. Tom can't come to work
on an eclipse. Yeah, some weird

9
00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:39.560
stuff happening Monday. Yeah, I
don't know. Yeah, I agree with

10
00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.719
you for sure. Probably just all
go home. Yeah, at least at

11
00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:47.320
least from twelve thirty to three h
seven or whatever. Yeah, the boss

12
00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:51.240
isn't here today, so I'm it's
not like he could tell us no.

13
00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.159
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe
that's an eclipse deal too. Mike Bailey

14
00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.159
and Tom might be together, that's
right. Yeah, that's that's that would

15
00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.359
be an interesting combination. Yeah,
i'd watch that, Yeah, I would

16
00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:04.519
to. I'd actually pay a little
bit, a little bit of admission to

17
00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:08.680
watch it. Not a lot,
but well, thanks for having us.

18
00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:14.680
We really appreciate you guys and what
you guys do for our community. I

19
00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:19.599
want to start off with some very
sad news and talk about the passing of

20
00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:26.599
councilperson Billy Rohan last Friday. She
was a true champion of the people.

21
00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:32.760
She really cared about this community.
Her and her late husband Tom were true

22
00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:38.439
public servants who really cared about making
things better, not just for a select

23
00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:42.599
few, but for everyone. And
so we will really miss Billy and her

24
00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:49.079
contributions not only to the city but
as friends of so many. And what

25
00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:56.239
she did for our community was beyond
words powerful and impactful. Her shoes will

26
00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.719
be very hard to fill on city
council and within our community. She gave

27
00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:06.599
so much to so many and really
cared about the advancement of so many causes.

28
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.599
So it's a sad day to have
lost such a great person. You

29
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:17.039
know, there's so few really,
really wonderful people in society today, but

30
00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:23.360
Billy was one of those people.
So she'll be truly missed in many ways

31
00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:29.520
by many people. And I know
her path the city government was kind of

32
00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.039
how a lot of city people like
it to be done. She kind of

33
00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:36.280
worked her way up through just getting
involved in you know, committees and stuff

34
00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:39.080
for free, and she kind of
worked herself into that role. She absolutely

35
00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:43.000
did. She did it the right
way, and then once she got to

36
00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:47.000
that position, she continued to do
things the right way, always kept a

37
00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:53.439
community first approach, really cared about
the community and wanted this wanted the City

38
00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:57.879
of Bartlesville to be the very best. So she'll truly be missed, oh

39
00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:06.800
question. So moving away from that
to more exciting news, the promotion of

40
00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:13.479
Laura Sanders to the position of assistant
City Manager beginning May the second. The

41
00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.080
previous or the current assistant city managers
at the assistant city managers at the bar

42
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:22.240
very very low for you, So
I have full faith and confidence that you

43
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:27.560
will exceed expectations that have been set, and I know that Laura will do

44
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:32.199
an outstanding job. The city staff
is very lucky to have someone like Laura

45
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:37.080
in the position that she's going to
be in, and most importantly, the

46
00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:42.319
citizens are very lucky to have someone
with the passion of Laura and the professionalism

47
00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:46.960
of Laura to take over that position
and really advance that position forward as she

48
00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:53.000
works alongside mister Bailey in doing what
we can to advance the city. So

49
00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:58.479
I'm very excited for Laura, very
excited for the city, very excited for

50
00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.280
the citizens because I know that that
you, Laura, will do an outstanding

51
00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:09.960
job. So congratulations to you and
I wish you all the best. So

52
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.639
a few announcements. April fifteenth,
at noon at City Hall, there'll be

53
00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:20.480
a public hearing in regard to the
wastewater Treatment Plant expansion project where citizens will

54
00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:27.279
have the opportunity to discuss or to
hear and discuss the proposed improvements to the

55
00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.959
facility and some alternatives to the proposed
improvements, talk about cost, some environmental

56
00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:41.000
impacts or possible environmental impacts, and
just to really give their input on how

57
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:45.240
we're moving forward with that project.
It's a very big project, very important

58
00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:50.480
project, very meaningful long term for
our city. And so noon on April

59
00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:54.879
the fifteenth at City Hall, come
and let your voice be heard if you

60
00:04:54.879 --> 00:05:00.399
have concerns about or thoughts about,
not necessarily concerns, but any thing that

61
00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:04.040
you want to talk about when it
comes to the wastewater Treatment plant expansion.

62
00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.000
Also on May the sixth, and
we'll talk about this again at the end

63
00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:14.319
of the month, but May the
sixth is the free Yard Debris collection day

64
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.920
for the city. Place your items
at the curb and the city crews will

65
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:20.720
come pick them up. They're not
picked up with at the same time that

66
00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:26.759
normal trash services, So don't freak
out if you look out and your trash

67
00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:29.519
is gone but your yard debris is
still there. There will be another truck

68
00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:32.839
that will come around at a later
time to pick up that stuff. And

69
00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.000
again we'll talk about that at the
end of the month as well, just

70
00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:42.439
to remind people. So today we
have Laura who's going to talk about the

71
00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.120
Citizen's Academy, which we're very excited
about. She's going to talk about some

72
00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.680
openings on the city team, and
we're excited to get new people. We

73
00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:55.800
have a lot of change coming,
a lot of high level positions that are

74
00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.319
going to open up in the very
near future. So it's with that it's

75
00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.480
going to come from challenges, but
there's also going to be great opportunity.

76
00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:09.160
We have Chief Ikleberry here who will
talk about a very cool project or event,

77
00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.160
the block Party. We always have
a lot of fun with that,

78
00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:16.279
and then we'll get to hear all
about money with Jason and where we are

79
00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:21.600
with sales tax and all of that
sort of stuff. So Laura, again,

80
00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:26.879
congratulations. I'm very excited for you. I'm so happy that you were

81
00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.600
willing to step up into this position
and have the courage to do something that's

82
00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:39.519
kind of outside your comfort zone human
resources and assistant city manager or I guess

83
00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.920
in some way similar, but in
a lot of ways very very different.

84
00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.040
So thank you for having the courage
to do that and to advance and to

85
00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.680
continue the positive momentum within the city. First, I want to say thank

86
00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:59.160
you. I appreciate your kind words, and I'm excited. This is a

87
00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:04.519
tremendous opportunity and it's an honor to
even be considered for the position, and

88
00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:12.399
so I'm excited to serve the citizens
and serve our employees. And next,

89
00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:16.279
I want to talk about the Citizens
Academy. So we've talked about that for

90
00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:21.079
it's been a couple of months now
when this first started, and so we're

91
00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:27.000
excited to be able to start this
academy on April eleventh, which is Thursday.

92
00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:30.839
We've got our twenty participants that have
confirmed and are excited to start with

93
00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:38.720
us, and they will get to
see firsthand what city employees do and how

94
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:44.920
our different departments function, and so
our first session will be an introduction into

95
00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.040
government, so we'll take an opportunity
for them to get to know each other.

96
00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.680
But then they'll hear from our mayor, they'll hear from the city manager,

97
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:55.560
they'll hear from Jason on finance,
and then they'll also hear from some

98
00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:01.160
of our partners with the BDA and
visit Bartlesville. And then the next session

99
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:07.279
will be our public Safety session,
which they'll have an opportunity to meet some

100
00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:09.279
of our law enforcement officers and kind
of see what they do, and then

101
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.920
go to the fire station and see
get a glimpse into fire service. And

102
00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:18.720
then we've got our third session,
which would be legal, Municipal Court and

103
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:26.279
Public Works, so they'll get to
hear from our city attorney and our Municipal

104
00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:31.039
Court judge, Judge Gentias, and
then we'll do a rodeo what we call

105
00:08:31.080 --> 00:08:35.720
a rodeo at public Works, so
they'll get to see all of our different

106
00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.879
facilities out there and see some of
our equipment and you know, kind of

107
00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:46.639
hands on approach to that. So
all of these sessions are very interactive and

108
00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:54.200
they'll get to meet our staff and
get to see exactly what it is that

109
00:08:54.279 --> 00:09:00.440
we do. The week four is
hearing from our communications department HR and then

110
00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.759
community development. This one should be
pretty fun. We've got a bus tour

111
00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:09.799
or we'll look at some dilapidated structures, we'll go by the center, we'll

112
00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:15.200
see some of our different things around
town. And then week five will be

113
00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.919
library and history museum and then another
bus tour where we're going to go to

114
00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.080
the airport and then water plant,
so Terry will be there to give a

115
00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:26.000
water plant tour. And then week
six is at the golf course, so

116
00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:31.120
we'll hear from Micah on projects there, and then we'll do another bus tour

117
00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:35.720
and this may be the most exciting
or not exciting one because we'll tour our

118
00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.320
wastewater treatment plant and then go to
the sewer lift station. So there's lots

119
00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:46.360
to see, lots to do,
and then of course we'll have our graduation

120
00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.799
ceremony at the city Council meeting on
July first. So we're excited to get

121
00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.519
this started and to show show citizens
what it is suckily that we do.

122
00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:01.200
And yeah, maybe in increase civic
iq I think that was the goal,

123
00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:07.840
is to increase civic IQQ. So
it sounds like lots to maybe smell definitely

124
00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:13.320
on Yeah, Week six is going
to be a fun one for sure.

125
00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.120
I think it's yeah, they may
need some viks or something. I don't

126
00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:22.639
know. So Lord, you hit
on something that that's very important. Is

127
00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:26.039
that's raising the civic IQ. You
know. I think as we look into

128
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:31.240
what the city does and the services
that we provide is one thing. But

129
00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.000
then to give people a glimpse of
some of the things that we don't do

130
00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:39.080
and why we don't do those things, and why the city is not directly

131
00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:45.960
responsible for some things, I think
will be very important because there's oftentimes citizens

132
00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.720
will say, well, why don't
you guys do X, And we have

133
00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:52.679
to explain to them that that's not
a city service, that's not a core

134
00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:56.639
function of the city. And it's
hard to make someone from the you know,

135
00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:03.240
someone who doesn't understand city government understand
the why we don't do certain things.

136
00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.399
So I think it'll be very very
cool look into maybe not just what

137
00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:09.519
we do and how well we do
it, but some of the things that

138
00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:13.759
we don't do and why we don't
do those things. So I think this

139
00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.519
is going to be a great idea. This idea was actually brought to the

140
00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:22.919
city by Laura after attending a conference
or a seminar that she went to.

141
00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:26.679
She came back and said, I
think this would be really cool, and

142
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.559
Mike and I both said yes,
absolutely, and have fun putting it together.

143
00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:35.240
Sometimes you have to watch what ideas
you might bring back because you may

144
00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:39.840
get tasked with something that you meant
for someone else. But that's right,

145
00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.919
it'll be very good. So let's
talk about jobs and how people can join

146
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.480
our team. Yes, so we've
got lots of opportunities here at the city.

147
00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.879
We've actually just closed our application process
for our fire chief position, so

148
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:58.279
we're excited to complete that process and
get us a new fire chief in place,

149
00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:05.000
with Chief Topping leaving May thirty first, the next big director position that

150
00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:09.000
we have to fill is our Library
and History Museum director, so we're accepting

151
00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:13.639
applications for that through April thirtieth.
And then, of course we've got some

152
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.039
maintenance worker positions available. We've got
golf, street wastewater and water distribution,

153
00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.919
and in preparation for our for summertime, we've got some golf seasonal part time

154
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:31.200
positions or full time also in the
parks department, so we usually try to

155
00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:37.080
ramp up during those times to help
during the busy seasons at golf and park

156
00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.679
and so we've got positions available in
both of those departments. So one of

157
00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:46.360
the things that I love about the
city is the benefits that we offer.

158
00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.440
We have excellent benefits, so we
have excellent time off, we have excellent

159
00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:58.120
medical insurance. But the best benefit
that I think that we offer is our

160
00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.240
zero card benefit. And this is
where employees that are covered by our medical

161
00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:05.919
plan can go get services at free
of cost to them. And so obviously

162
00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.399
there's a cost savings to the city
as well, but it's a win win

163
00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:13.840
for everybody, but especially that employee
when they go in and get blood work

164
00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:18.840
or they get MRIs or X rays
done and it costs them nothing to go

165
00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:22.480
do that. There's even procedures and
different surgeries that are covered at zero costs

166
00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:26.639
to the employee. So if you
are interested in a job with the city,

167
00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:33.039
we have one for you. I'm
sure go to Cityofbertlesville dot org.

168
00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:37.960
Slash careers very good. It's a
pretty easy process. I think the online

169
00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:41.639
process is really good. And if
that doesn't work for anyone, they can

170
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:48.120
call city Hall and ask to speak
to to the HR department and Dana most

171
00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:54.360
likely will get them squared away and
pointed in the right direction. So it's

172
00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:58.559
a great, great team, great
team to be a part of, really

173
00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.879
professional. They care out the community, they care about the city. They

174
00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.480
want what's best for the city.
So anybody who's who's looking for a job

175
00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:07.799
and wants to be a part of
a tremendous team, I would I would

176
00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:15.519
certainly recommend do what Laura has has
advised and reach out. Thank you Laura

177
00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:20.240
for that, and again, congratulations
Chief ikle Berry. You guys got a

178
00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.279
got an event coming up, and
hopefully the weather will cooperate because there's some

179
00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:26.399
pretty good barbecue usually at that thing. We sure hope. So when we're

180
00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.440
we're always looking for more teams.
So we have the you're really up there

181
00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:35.000
high today than Jason and setting up
really high. This is normally how I

182
00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.639
said. Okay, and close to
the clips about snow, you gotta watch

183
00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:43.679
my eyes. Don't look at it. Don't look look at it, don't

184
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:46.679
look in it. Ya do we
have our bartem the police department, the

185
00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:52.320
annual block party. We've been doing
this now. I think actually I believe

186
00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:56.399
you started this back in uh your
maybe your second year here and uh it

187
00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:01.879
just keeps growing and we're excited about
that. We've got free food, so

188
00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.799
we'll have the police department'll be cooking
hamburgers and Trudy will be cooking hot dogs

189
00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:09.919
and we'll be giving those out.
And there will be a barbecue contest cook

190
00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:16.120
off there at the center there at
the Unity Square, and that's always a

191
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.720
fun time be DJ playing music there. And this year we're going to have

192
00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.639
a pettying zoo at the at the
at the park as well, with like

193
00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:30.240
forty plus animals, a lot of
animals, so this should be a lot

194
00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:35.840
of fun. Some inflatables for small
kids and large kids, and a little

195
00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:41.000
car show, and then we'll have
the drone operation. We'll show how we

196
00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:46.480
operate drones and fly the drone demonstrations. We'll have canine demonstrations, we'll have

197
00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.679
all kinds of emergency response vehicles there. Fire department will have some stuff out

198
00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:54.240
and we'll have our vehicles out swat
stuff out. So it should be a

199
00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:58.000
really good time. It's free to
everybody, and we just want everybody to

200
00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.440
come out and have a good time. It's gotten bigger and bigger over the

201
00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:04.960
years, and we're really excited about
that, and so we're looking forward to

202
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.159
it. We've got several sponsors that
have stepped up this year, partners that

203
00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:12.480
have donated to the cause. Helped
us pay for some of the things that

204
00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:18.559
we don't typically have in our budget
to pay for, and so we're thankful

205
00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:23.320
for the people like Bordswill, Print
Shop, Prices, Meat Market, Specops

206
00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:29.879
Firm, Foundation, Child Development Recognition
Place, Trudy. Trudy is a great

207
00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.559
partner for this community. I know
they do a lot in this community.

208
00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.960
Part of time, GJ and Karaoke, the Center, Walmart, Bordsville Public

209
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.519
Library. They're going to be given
away or having a book sale. They're

210
00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:45.960
also signing people up for the summer
programs there, so they're they're part of

211
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.000
this block party as well. So
we'll encompass the area from in front of

212
00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:53.080
the police Department from Adams to sixth
Street or Silas Street, and then we'll

213
00:16:53.080 --> 00:17:00.960
go east down down Silas to uh
Dewey and into the park and the community

214
00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:06.799
Center. So it's pretty good sized
space, a lot of stuff going on.

215
00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.400
Just encourage everybody to come out and
have a good time and participate with

216
00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:15.279
us. It's such a cool event, you know. One of the most

217
00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:18.480
interesting things that you know, when
we started this in twenty nineteen, one

218
00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:23.920
of the most interesting things that I
found was that how few people within the

219
00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:29.480
community had ever been inside the police
department. You know, it's their police

220
00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.759
department, and very few people had
actually been inside. And so there's a

221
00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:36.640
lot of cool stuff going on outside, you know, with the stuff that

222
00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:40.119
you mentioned, and it's really cool
and interactive and a lot of fun.

223
00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:44.759
But I think the most impactful thing
that to walk through and tour the producement.

224
00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:48.920
And I really appreciate your leadership advancing
now though we're pretty pretty close to

225
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:52.720
where we need in advance, so
we were always happy to have somebody to

226
00:17:52.720 --> 00:18:00.519
fill them when they when they occur. So we're moving forward and hopefully in

227
00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.079
a positive direction. You know,
our parks units field, our mental health

228
00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:07.640
units field and be out there doing
what we do best, I think,

229
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.200
and that's that's protector of citizens,
I think. I think one thing that

230
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:17.640
I think people need to really remember
is UH the Mental Health Unit and how

231
00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.880
you were instrumental in bringing that Mental
Health UNITUH to life. You know,

232
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:26.319
it was a concept that that we
had heard UH given to us while we

233
00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:30.640
were in Kentucky, and you brought
that back and really made that thing come

234
00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:34.759
to life. And I think that
it has been vitally impactful in a positive

235
00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:41.359
manner to our community. And I
and I'm in my new home. UH,

236
00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:47.839
they should probably expect UH to talk
about a mental health unit coming to

237
00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:51.799
them very quickly, because I think
it's that important, it's that impactful that

238
00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.279
we can provide that service. So
thank you for your for your insight and

239
00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:00.920
champion that UH dispatcher positions vitally important. We're actually actually we're for right now,

240
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.680
but we're hoping to increase that in
the near future, and so we'll

241
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:08.680
be taking applications for that. That's
a vital part of the community. They're

242
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:12.799
truly the first responders. They're the
other one's answers a call and he puts

243
00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:17.440
those out to all the first responders
and they get to hear some pretty crazy

244
00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:19.160
things, but they get to interact
with the public and they do a great

245
00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:25.599
job and they So we're trying to
grow that because the traffic through that department

246
00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:29.839
has grown tremendously over the last few
years, and so there's a lot more

247
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.880
people utilizing the dispatch center, the
nine one one center, be it please

248
00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:37.759
fire an ems and so we need
more mamping ore over there, so we're

249
00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:42.400
hoping to grow that so we would
be hopefully next budget cycle we'll be able

250
00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:48.440
to increase the number of people over
there. What's interesting is I think there's

251
00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:55.759
what twenty ish agencies that we dispatchize
about twenty five agencies through that center.

252
00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.960
So you talked about budget and you
brought that up to great segue. Actually

253
00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.799
that was rehearsed, by the way. We don't we don't do that for

254
00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.319
tom but we want to be nicer
for you, you know, So we'll

255
00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:11.240
talk to Jason about budget. We
are in the middle of the creation of

256
00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:14.960
the new budget stages, so we
should have that fucker wrapped up and hopefully

257
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:22.599
tomorrow getting it rolled out, printing
on Wednesday, and hopefully out to our

258
00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.880
council members either Thursday or Friday.
You know, one of the things about

259
00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:30.039
the budget that I really appreciate that
you guys do is is you guys are

260
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.160
very very in the city is very, very transparent when it comes to the

261
00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:40.200
budget. It's not just this is
the percentages that are allocated to each department.

262
00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:44.119
You put it all out there and
it's very transparent. So I really

263
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.680
appreciate the way that that's done.
I mean you've been through the process.

264
00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:49.119
In fact, everybody in here has
been through the process. We make you

265
00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:53.480
I don't want to say nickel and
dime, but pretty precise on what you're

266
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.720
budgeting for as far as items or
office supplies. Well, I mean it's

267
00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.559
down to that level of detail.
So h and that's open to any scisions

268
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.039
to come in and review or request. We can email that stuff to you.

269
00:21:04.119 --> 00:21:07.640
It doesn't matter. I mean,
we're we want to be as transparent

270
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.720
as possible. These are public dollars, and we do hold ourselves to the

271
00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:17.480
accountability to the public for the thriftiness
I think of their public dollars. So

272
00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:21.799
anytime anyone has questions, they couldn't
either stop by our office on the first

273
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.799
floor City Hall. Our emails are
all on the city website. So they

274
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.519
got any questions concerning that, we're
more than happy to get them information.

275
00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:32.559
And to me, that's a citizen
wants to be plugged in too. So

276
00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:34.640
if they want to be plugged in
and know what's going on in their government,

277
00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:42.119
then we encourage that. So anyway. Sales tax use tax another part

278
00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:47.200
of today's topic. Sales tax down
a little bit down one point four percent.

279
00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.720
Still a great month. I mean, you look at we've had go

280
00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.440
back to twenty two was a twenty
two percent increase over a month, and

281
00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:00.240
then last year was about a one
percent increase, and then we're by one

282
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.799
percent down. So really really still
a pretty good month for the year.

283
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:07.000
We're setting flat. We're point zero
three percent up, which is about six

284
00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:11.839
thousand dollars from what we collected last
year. So considering that pretty flat,

285
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.160
we budget conservatively, so we're over
budget by a little more than two percent

286
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:18.039
four hundred thousand dollars. So budgetarily, we're sitting in a good spot.

287
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.920
But it just goes back to our
conservative approach here and y're out to make

288
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.440
sure we have enough money to fund
all the things we're doing, not to

289
00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:30.640
not be aggressive and overstate revenues and
then find ourselves in a bond use tax

290
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.519
got Really the first month, it's
a comparable month a month last month with

291
00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.480
our first time we had a month, but being the first month, it

292
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:44.759
had some estimates and some prepays the
show up there's really it's probably about a

293
00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.200
month and a half. So our
first true month a month we up three

294
00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.319
point nine percent, roughly thirty thousand
dollars, you know, for that month

295
00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.000
and for the year. We budget
way conservatively on this as we had no

296
00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:59.960
real history. We're already two million
dollars over budget on this line, probably

297
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.200
about two point five million over budget
by the end of the fiscal year.

298
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:07.200
So good was good to get that
institute and get that going. I mean,

299
00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:11.759
if you look at that four million
dollars that's probably two to four million

300
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:17.359
dollars every year we've been losing since
we haven't had this tax implemented. So

301
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:21.240
it's just more things we can do, more police, more fire, more

302
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.000
parks, more everything, and it
just helps us provide a better product to

303
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:32.400
the citizens. So anytime that we
can increase our service to the citizens,

304
00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:36.359
I think that is a win in
what city governments are supposed to do in

305
00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:38.359
the direction that we want to go. So thank you. And this is

306
00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:44.599
a fairness tax to in my estimation, because it brings the online market more

307
00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.839
fair with your local market, because
that was something they were getting to to,

308
00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.920
you know, a tax deficit there, so they were getting the competition

309
00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.640
wasn't equal. So it's a good
move. It's good for the city and

310
00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.759
good for the citizens. Well,
thank you, and thank your staff.

311
00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.440
I know that you guys are super, super busy this time of year getting

312
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.319
things together, so we appreciate I
thank It's vitally important for the success of

313
00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.799
our organization. So thank you.
Thank you guys for taking time out of

314
00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:17.440
your day to be here. Thank
you Evan for filling in for Tom.

315
00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:21.039
And and I say, this went, this went pretty smooth. Thanks.

316
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:22.559
So, yeah, I did a
lot. I feel like I really pulled

317
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.759
my weight here. Yeah. But
the thing sometimes we have to we have

318
00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.599
to focus our successes on did we
fail or did we not? And you

319
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.200
did not fail. This was true. I can I can usually get that

320
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.279
done. So we got it.
We got it taken care of. Now

321
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:38.920
if we can just survive the day
and what's to come for the day,

322
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:41.920
and I think we're gonna be okay. Sounds good, guys. We appreciate

323
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.799
you coming in. Thanks so much. City of Bartlesville City matters Right here

324
00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:51.839
on K one fifty five degrees,
we're just about to ten o'clock. Let's

325
00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:55.279
take a look at the weather from
the news on Sex and Stephen Narrian's as

326
00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:57.319
we could set for that eclipse here
in just a couple of hours. Steven

327
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:02.000
some nice temperatures expected for our Monday, but of course all eyes on the sky