Well, good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome,
welcome in. It's time now home for it. City matters. If
it matters to you, it matters to the city, and we've got a
full house here today. We're trying to get our video working here today,
but we're having a little bit of an issue on that. But in the
meanwhile, we're gonna go with the audio portion of the program, and we
have Assistant to city Manager Tracy Rolls here with us, and he'll be pretty
much leading the conversation here today with us, and to introduce the cast of
thousands, if you will there, kind sir, Well, it's good to
know that we are audio well, never mind, Yeah, I was gonna
say, since I have a face for radio, the audio portion is really
really good for me. But I brought two other guys that will make the
video portion good for them. Our golf pro Jerry Benedict and our director of
our airport, Mike Richardson, are with us today and I'm filling in for
mister Bailey, who I was headed to the golf course actually, when mister
Bailey called me and said, I've got something better for you to do,
and I said, yes, sir, and here I am five minutes later
with you guys. Congratulations on your recent award. That's that's a big deal.
Congratulations a great job. I know that you put in a lot of
work getting to where you are today, forty two years in the making,
so just a couple just a few hours of work, but congratulations on that.
That's a full deal. Before I turned over to these guys to talk
about the airport and the golf course. Uh, two very fine resources in
our city, I might add, and I think resources a lot of people
don't totally understand the importance of, and so it's it's it's good for these
guys to be here to talk about the importance of our golf course and our
airport. You know, some people in Bartlesville may not even know that we
have an airport and what our airport is capable of doing, and what they
do actually do on a on a daily basis, and how important that is
to our community for many many reasons, such as our golf course for many
reasons, it's very important to our community. So I think it's good for
these guys to be here to let people know about the services that are provided
by those two things, and how cool it is to have both of those
in a community like we have. Last Friday, the police department held their
Finnyl form. That's their second one in two years. And I just talked
to Chief Eakleberry as I was coming in the room today and he said that
there were about a hundred people that attended the Fentnyl forum in person, and
then online there was another about four thousand people I believe that who were watching
online, probably because it was so hot that people didn't want to get out
of their homes, which I totally understand. I think that they probably made
the best decision not to get out in the heat. But that's a big
deal, not just for our community, but for anyone who took part in
watching that forum in some way. I think they had a panel of ten
people in a wide spectrum of professions from from the enforcement side to the treatment
side and everything in between, and so Chief Eachelberry said that it went very
well. And anytime that we have the opportunity to educate people about some issues
or problems in our community, and in this case, in our state,
the better off we are. Because the people of the city of Bartlesville certainly
deserve to know everything that they can possibly know about fentnyl, how it gets
here, how it's distributed, its effects in a negative way. You know,
fentnyl does have a medical purpose that is legitimate and it's prescribed by doctors.
And that's typically not the finnyl that we concern ourselves with the most.
It's the other stuff that people it illegally and oftentimes without even their knowledge of
what they are getting and putting into their body. So kudos to the Police
Department in chief Eachaelberry for putting that together and getting that information out there.
The other thing about the police department, as part of the strategic Plan,
the Bartlesville Next Strategic Plan that we have put together, we task the police
department in gaining information so that we can better put together a plan on how
we the city can be involved in addressing the issue of homelessness within our community.
And the police Department, through their Mental Health Corresponse Unit, has done
that and they found that in the city of Bartlesville there were at the time
fifty four unsheltered homeless people. Now that that is not the total number of
homeless that we have in the city of Bartlesville. That's only those people who
are unsheltered. For example, the people that you see sleeping in the park,
the people that you see sleeping are are living along the pathfinder. Those
are the unsheltered, not the people who couch surf or stay at the lighthouse
or some other entities that provide services for people who need those type of services.
But these are the people who are living in our parks and along and
along our our pathway in the city. With that information, that really gives
us a chance to see the scope of the issue that we have. Uh.
You know, there were a lot of rumors going on that we had
upwards of close to a thousand homeless people in the city of Bartlesville, and
I'll tell you unsheltered homeless people. That is not true. We don't have
a thousand people. There was also rumors that Tulsa and other communities were bussing
in hundreds of home homeless people at a time to our city. Again,
not true. Those are myths. And so through the work of the police
department and their data collection, we have really gained an understanding of the scope
of the issue that we're facing here and so now we can better assist with
those professionals in dealing with the problem and issue of homelessness in our community.
So very again, very thankful for Chief Eackelberry and his staff in gathering that
information so we can put together a plan that will help for our overall city
water. Let's talk about water. Everybody wants to talk about water. We're
still holding study in the mid seventies overall water percent wise for overall, so
that puts us keeps us in stage one. So no, nothing required of
people. We do ask, as we should always ask, that we all
are be mindful when it comes to conservation. And even if even if we're
at one hundred percent, I still think that it's imperative for all of us
to conserve when we can, not because the city's asking are requiring, but
just because it's the right thing to do. And so we're looking good.
We've had some rain events that's kept us in an area that we need to
be in that we're more comfortable being in. We are still moving forward with
trying to develop a long term comprehensive plan to deal with our water issues and
so I'm excited to see where that goes and what that looks like through our
Water Resources Committee. So another update City Hall We've done a survey within the
employees in City Hall and have decided that starting on September the eighteenth, city
Hall will have new business hours. City Hall will actually be open Monday through
Thursday eight to five. So now we're open eight thirty to four thirty Monday
through Friday. The new hour starting September the eighteenth will be Monday through Thursday
eight to five and Friday eight to eleven thirty. So hopefully that will allow
some people to deal with City Hall business that they need to deal with before
work and after work. So we're excited about that. Also about city Hall,
it will be closed on Labor Day. City Hall closed on Labor Day,
which is September the fourth, in observation of that holiday. What do
we do with our trash? You know, same as always Wednesday. That's
right, those who are on Tuesday or Wednesday, it won't it won't affect
them. It's only those people on Monday. And that's always a good question,
what do we do with our trash? So hopefully that that answers that
and if you have any questions, obviously call City Hall and somebody there can
answer any questions that anyone may have. So with that, who'd I tell?
I told Mike he was going to go first. So Mike Richardson,
he's the director of our airport, and he'll visit with you guys a little
bit about airport and the great thing that we have going there. Thank you.
What a beautiful morning to start thinking about a fly in fall weather.
Tends to make me think about uh don patrols at daylight and from years past.
So what we're doing is a flying event. It'll be September the twenty
second and twenty third here at the Bartlesville Municipal Airport. It's a new event
at bringing back the essence of the great aviation events from the past. As
many of you will remember, we had the National Buy Plane Association Biplane Expo
from nineteen eighty seven to two thousand and nine, twenty three years. Had
a great run. It was run by a fantastic group of people, Charles
Harris, Charlie Harris, we called him Charlie, Virgil Gaydy, Betsy Kersey,
many many, many, many volunteers. Charlie was an excellent person to
organize volunteerism. That was a fantastic event, brought in probably seventy five thousand
people, over twenty years, fifteen hundred biplanes as far away as the East
Coast and the West Coast. Just several hundred families coming hundreds of miles to
Bartlesville to participate in that event and spectate for that matter. This event is
going to be hopefully similar in fashion. We'll have some biplanes at this event.
There will be different kinds of aircraft from kitplanes to military aircraft. We're
going to be doing a a parachute jump out of the DC three. That's
probably going to be one of the the biggest things. You'll get to witness
a static line parachute team jump out of the back of the DC three U
C forty nine as the military designation. It's a eighty two year old aircraft.
So it's amazing piece of living history to see, just as it was
done in Normandy, France in nineteen forty one. So it'll it'll be pretty
amazing to witness that. Well, Trains should be a celebrity jumper. I
could probably make that happen, maybe with a couple of weeks of training.
See how I volunteered. You like that. I appreciate that there's probably some
people that would jump on board for that for sure. You know, it's
amazing in all series, is that how in a plane that old can still
at number one get off the ground and fly. So that's that's a really
cool thing. It is amazing that, you know, it's still a flying
piece of history. It's meticulously maintained. We're really looking forward to the event,
you know, and being able to showcase one of the things that it
was very capable of doing. So we're also going to have some displays from
for that aircraft in the hangar. There will be another organization from I believe
they are from Sweetwater, Texas, and it's the Women's Air Force Service Pilots.
A lot of folks don't even realize they existed, but there were a
lot of women, as many as twenty five thousand women that were trained to
fly aircraft from the manufacturer to the different base locations across the United States.
They're also going to have some display and in eighteen six and a Steerman and
we'll be selling rides at the flying So it's a pretty unique opportunity to young
ladies. If you have an interest in flying, come out and visit with
these folks. Young or that doesn't have to be a young person. We
have people that are retired that learned how to fly, So take an opportunity
to come out and visit with these folks. It's a little bit of history
on the airport. The airport was originally built by Frank Phillips back in the
early nineteen twenties and later sold to the city for a dollar made a municipal
airport so everyone could benefit from the use of the airport. Very first corporate
flight department was formed ever by Billy Parker worked for Phillips Petroyum company, So
there's just a tremendous amount of history on the field. He was instrumental in
Art Gobel flew the first travel air five thousand. Wooler Rock was named at
Wooler Rock who got Frank Phillips to sponsor of the aircraft and then went on
to the dold Derby Air Races of nineteen twenty seven to win that race from
Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. Just amazing amount of history in the
in the airfield. So come out. If you're interested in looking more about
the fly in, you can go to fly or Bartlesville flyin dot com.
We have a website up you can look at the If people like to be
a sponsor, we'd love to have you as a sponsor. But take a
look parking. It's gonna be ten dollars per carload per day, so it's
pretty nominal. We'll have food vendors, you'll see fly bys, military aircraft,
antique aircraft, byplanes, kitplanes, helicopters and uh give anything, are
you going to have anything more? People can go up there. There is
going to be some ride airplanes there. There is the Wasp for sure.
I know are going to have a ride in the Steerman. And if you're
a platinum sponsor on the World War two Airborne Demonstration side, I believe they
will take you up on Friday. So that's a platinum sponsor is a thousand
dollars. So we have lots of opportunities for sponsorship. I don't Mike was
tarking. Mike Bailey, the manager was dug in that as directors going up
look overlooking the city, how beautiful the city is up in the years,
I might I might like the ride up there. That might be an opportunity.
We'll have to check into that for sure, am I what what again?
Were the gates for the flying September twenty second and twenty third. The
gates will open at eight o'clock in the morning, and I think we'll probably
run until close till dark. So, and you mentioned a ten dollars parking
fee. Is that is that also take care of entry into the event or
is there another Yeah, the parking fee is the ten dollars. If anybody
would like to donate anything extra, the organization would appreciate that. We'll have
some people hollers moving folks. You'll come into the flying off of Sunset.
There's a if you remember from years past, those of you that are new
to the community are having We're just right off Sunset on Will Rogers, and
you'll take you There'll be plenty of signage there that shows you where the parking
lot is, just right there on the east side of the airport. We'll
have people parking folks, and we'll have people hollers moving folks. Might be
a bella hay on a trailer, but it'll save you a quarter mile walk
back to the event and then back out to the parking. So promises to
be a good event, and we'll have food vendors. I think it'll be
a good time. Yeah, it's so cool that we get to host something
like that. Just the history, like you mentioned, the history of our
airport and then the history that's going to be hit that fly in is pretty
amazing. So if people get the opportunity time, that would certainly be something
family friendly for people in the community or surrounding communities to take part in and
show some of the history, if not just Bartlesville, but of our country.
Oh don't worry, Marie is going to have a little thing that people
coming in from one hundred mile ra Oh, absolutely absolutely she will. She
always does a good job with that, and we really appreciate Marie and and
what she does. Mike, thank you and thank you for what you and
your entire staff do at our airport. There's so much that goes on out
there that I don't think people realize. And so if people are listening and
are wondering about our airport, I would encourage them to go out by there
and take a look and go visit with Mike and his staff and learn a
little bit more about that airport and the just the volume of things that go
on there. I never knew even living here for what you know as a
police chief for almost four and a half years. I didn't know exactly the
depth of what you guys do out there. So with the history of our
airport, you know, with being the first to ever have you know,
corporate flights and stuff like that, wouldn't this be a nice little designation for
like a historical marker out there. Oh? Absolutely, but absolutely yeah.
Yeah. The original terminal building is now sitting at will Rock. It's the
little cottage staff. It used to be right there at the hangar five in
the parking lot. But yeah, that's that was Billy Parker's corporate office,
the first corporate flight department. Yeah. Wow, that's cool, Thank you
very much. So Tom, now we'll talk about our golf course, Adam's
golf course, and with us is the pro, Jerry Benedict, and he'll
visit with us about quite a bit of stuff that's going on the golf course.
Yeah. Yeah, we'll get some big tournaments coming up and we're we're
working hard trying to do a facelift on the golf course over the next couple
of years. But tournaments that come to Bartleville, And of course I'm the
golf pro, so I'm going to brag on comportant a golf courses to the
city, you know, but it is very important, and we've got a
bunch of tournaments through the year that bring people into the city and it raises
a lot of money for donations to great causes the golf course does. The
big one coming up is United Way and the United Way tournament is a thousand
players, hundreds of sponsors. It's a big tournament. We're redoing the clubhouse
inside now thanks to Tracy, and it's help with the finances and stuff.
But I'll kind of go into that in a little bit, but I wanted
to talk about the United Way I call it. It told me not to
say this, but the largest golf tournament in the world in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
That is number of players a thousand players for four days. People say,
just say close to the largest. I've researched it, and I think
it's maybe the largest number of player wise. That's pretty good for Bartlesville,
and all the restaurants, all the hotels will all be busy and full,
and it just brings an awful lot into the city. As the other golf
tournaments do do twos. I think there's like over three million over three million
dollars worth of business that comes into the city that four days, and they
raise the United Way raises over a million dollars, and then there's another at
least a million dollars from the other tournaments that are raised or causes. So,
you know, it's very important to have a good golf course in the
city, a public golf course. It brings people here, it keeps people
here. It it keeps people here that are working here and may want to
live here, and so it's a lot of different reasons, but it's very
important. We're going through the clubhouse and we're we're read to doing it and
kind of get a facelifted on it for this h for all the East tournaments,
especially the United Way here. If we're in a real hurry this last
month to really do it, Tracy has orchestrated some some things for us that
the city's doing. We've painted the complete inside and carpeted the inside. It's
really pretty. It's really looking good. And the outside and we're doing the
patios. We're replenishing the patios and just lots of little things where the entranceway
is being redone and stuff. So you citizens come out even if you don't
play golf, come out and and take a look at the golf course and
the clubhouse. We'd we'd love to have you, and you even take a
cart and buzz around if you want to look at the golf course. I
want to mention the Mitch Lucas and the maintenance division of the city how how
good they have been. Judd Ernst and Joel Holstrom and Noah I don't know
its last name, but and several other guys and the maintenance really done a
great job work worked hard. And also the public Works with Keith Henry and
they've been out there doing all kinds of works and worked there and stuff.
So I mean Jeff Beck and Tony Ballard, several other guys with the with
with that division. It's been really helpful to us. And I'm just impressed
at how hard they work, along with my staff, the Jody Shahan,
the superintendent. I mean, there's been a lot of hard work going on
out there in the heat and stuff. So we're very precative. Also,
the city has helped us, and the Lion Foundation has helped us. Lion
Foundation has promised us over a half a million dollars this time and they've done
it so many times for us, really been a great help to us.
But we're gonna completely redo the greens and can reconstruct the greens. We've hired
a Randy Heckencamper as a architect that we've hired as working on this, and
we got some great plans for the golf course. We hope that it will
start and we think it will June first of next year, and and if
this all goes like it's supposed to, we'll be we'll be closed June,
July and August for construc auction, all those all those vehicles moving around stuff
and redoing the greens. It's a pretty good project. And then we'll recede
the greens in September, early September, we hope to, and then we'll
have temporary greens in front of the regular greens until that until those greens grow
in which we hope to be around them first of May of next year.
So we got some great plans for the for the golf course. We're we
got really looking good out there. So when you do the greens, I
want to make sure that everybody heard this right. You're gonna have the machinery
out there for about ninety days, but once the machinery is clear, you'll
reopen, but with temporary greens until the other women's come back up and make
correct Yes, okay, I just want to make sure I heard that.
Yeah, And these will be uh bent grass greens. You know, they've
had a lot of golf courses around here have gone to Bermuda greens and they
got devastated last year. They put brand new greens in Bailey Ranch Sand Springs
Course, uh, brand new greens in spent a little major a lot of
money and then lost their greens because of the winter. We lost a lot
of grass last winter two from the cold weather and stuff. But it's come
back really well. The golf course has our golf course and we didn't lose
our greens because we have bent grass. We're just a little too far north
for Bermuda greens, so we're staying with the bent grass greens. And they're
gonna have the driving range OPENO. We got brand new range balls out there
now and the golf carts are good shape and stuff. So we're ready for
ready for the big tournament here. Crazy. It all means economy get back,
It does it, It really does, and you know, you you
hear from community members about how kiddos don't have much to do here in Bartlesville.
But one of the things they do have to do that's underutilizes our golf
course. Oh yeah, and what a tremendous asset that golf course is to
our community. And there will be some green renovation question on the upcoming gaol
bond that that would go along with the foundation. The Lion Foundation donation to
fund that. That jail bond, of course, is on October the tenth,
and you will see green improvements on that gel bond. The other thing
about the United Way tournament, the over million dollars that that tournament raises stays
in this area. Uh, it stays here to benefit those agencies that that
benefit the citizens of Bartlesville. So that's that's a very very important thing it
does. It does stay home. It doesn't go with those thousand people to
wherever they came from to get here. So that's why it is so important
that we do a good job at our golf course because we want that tournament
to continue for I guess this is the twenty year anniversary anniversary to go twenty
more years at least and then go beyond. So excited things happening at our
golf course, a lot of exciting things happening in town. It's always good
to be in Bartlesville. Tom, thank you for everything that you do,
and we appreciate you taking the time for us to be here. All right,
I tell you what, this has been an excellent show our City Matters
program. You here twice sometimes three times a month right here on GAY one,
the one you dressed. But we always try to keep everybody at breast
of what's happening in our city. Things you might know, things you might
not know, things you might have questions about, we try to get them
answered. Here. Stay tuned. We've got our news coming up here at
the top of the hour. Were looking for a high today of a sunny
eighty eight sounds baldy, doesn't it. I remember when eighty eight used to
be warm. Now it's kind of like, wow, where have you been
eighty eight? All right, stay tuned, and we've got our news coming
up at the top of the hour right here on K one. Thanks for
listening to one hundred of professional but paid presentation at fourteen hundred K one