WEBVTT

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

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It is time now for our City
Matters program and we've got to two

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representatives from the city. We have
Vice Mayor Jim Kurd also Billy Rone,

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City council Woman. Today we got
a lot going on budget obligation bond and

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we're gonna do some brushing up.
I guess we'll start off with that.

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Miss Rone, were great, I'm
happy to start off with Pat. Well,

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you know, last year we did
brush Up Bartlesville, which was a

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community collaboration with nonprofits and in the
city of Bartlesville, and it was very

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successful. So of course we're doing
our second annual brush Up Bartlesville and this

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week is our Homeowner Application Week,
and so I'll remind everyone what this event

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is and how this comes about.
This year, the young professionals of Bartlesville

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are assisting and really collaborating and being
our lead nonprofit and putting this together.

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The program is designed to assist Bartlesville
low income homeowners by offering exterior trim painting

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this year to those that are in
greatest need. And there is no financial

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obligation by the homeowner, but we
do request that they do some in kind

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just to be kind of a part
of everything that's going on, and that

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could be that's exactly right, that
can be fixing lemonade for the workers,

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or if they're interested, they can
get in with a paint brush. And

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so the property is inspected by our
neighborhood services. That's the city's part to

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make sure that it's safe for our
volunteers to go in and paint and it's

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not too deteriorated that we cannot paint
it. And then we also do a

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fundraiser to go along with that because
we have to buy the paint, and

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so the young professionals are helping with
that, and it's our buy a bucket

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campaign, and we have set up
a Bartlesville Community Foundation fund that is titled

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Brush Up bart as well, where
people can just make a donate. We

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made a cute little flyer that says
one buckets thirty bucks, and three buckets

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are hundred dollars and six buckets are
two hundred dollars. And it takes about

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three gallons of paint to do the
trim on most of the houses, and

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so we can do quite a few
houses if we get some application. And

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so that's what I'm here this morning
is because this is a homeowner homeowner application

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week and I'll be able to talk
here in a moment. And if you

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want to find out about that.
In the May twenty third City Beat is

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an excellent article that Kelly Williams put
together and it has a link on there

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where you can see what the requirements
are. Each home has to be qualified

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to be painted. There are several
different requirements. They're not tedious, but

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they're necessary so that we're all safe
and doing good things. And as I

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said, this week's our application week. Also, anyone can contact me.

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My cell number is nine one eight
by five nine to six three four,

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and I also have a City of
Bartlesville is my email address on the city

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council page ward for Council at City
of Bartlesville dot org. They can email

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or give me a column. I'm
happy to help them with the application process.

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We'll take applications this week that we
may extend if we don't get enough

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applications this week, but that we
feel we can take care of. That's

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pretty much what goes on, and
we give anyone in our community an opportunity

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to volunteer. The it's a very
simple task. You don't have to be

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an experienced painter to be able to
paint trim and it most certainly makes our

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homeowners happy. And so we did
four houses or five houses last year,

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and it was amazing to see not
only what a difference that made on the

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for the home and the neighborhood,
but also for the homeowner. It was

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it was quite something to see.
They're very appreciative. Great job. This

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is going to be a lot of
part of them. Huh, where did

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they application? They can get that
application for me, as I said,

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they can contact me and I'll make
sure they get their application taken care of.

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That's right, and those two ways. And as I said, and

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by the way, if you're not
signed up for city Beat, then you

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are missing out because you know,
if you sign up for city Beat,

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you know as much as Jim and
I do about what's going on in the

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city. So it's very simple,
that's true. Sometimes more very simple.

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So simple. Kelly Williams does a
great job with that. And you just

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go to the City of Bartlesville homepage
and right there on the bottom right hand

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you just sign up. It's free. It comes every just about every week,

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and you will be glad you did
all right, Thank you very much,

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Billy appreciate it. Thank you to
a wonderful program. So now viism

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occurred and sham. We went a
little long last day, but a lot

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of things got accomplished. We had
a lot to do last night. Yeah,

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between the budget and our CIP program
projects. And we had the BDA

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there, Barbles Development Authority was there, and then we also had the Bartles

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of the Visitor Bureau was there.
So we had a lot of things on

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last night. You invited everybody,
but we had it was it was a

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big group. So we got we
got through a lot. It moved along

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pretty quick quickly. We just had
a lot of things on the agenda last

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night. One of them was the
budget. We got the budget uh done,

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I'll tell you and Billy would certainly
agree. Uh. It's just a

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work of art in a lot of
ways, the amount of labor that the

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city puts into that. We have
a standard form, we've been doing it,

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so they just fill in a lot
of stuff. But every line item,

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everything is detailed within our budget.
It's six hundred pages. It's online,

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it's available for the public to read, and it really details every single

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department their staffing levels, their needs
for materials for things, and then it

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goes into all of our projects that
we're using when we passed bond issues and

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things like that for our CIP project. So we approved the budget last night.

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There's a total of about a thirty
five million dollar package and uh got

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it done and moved on to our
CIP projects last night. So we have

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bond money and we have we got
to have some projects done. We've spent

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a lot of money on roads this
year, about twelve million dollars on roads.

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And can I say, as a
citizen, thank you? Yes,

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yes, yes, So it seems
to be a very popular item. I'm

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more of a parks guy, but
we we've we've spent a lot on parks

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in the last several years and and
they look great. They do. They

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look great, and they've done a
lot for the city. But it's time

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to catch up on some roads.
And uh, we got a lot of

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that done last night. So Billy
and I put together a little package for

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some additional signs that we the council
was gracious enough to approve for us last

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night. We're gonna have some signs
at veterans. The second sign at Veterans

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Park, one at Earl Sears Park, one at Civitan, and one at

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Douglas Park. So we've got some
signs that will go in to kind of

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fit in with there'll be the exact
kind of the exact same signs that we

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put in our parks just recently.
I love those. It looks so big

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city but yet so ah we're at
home. Yeah, it's got that real

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cool look to it. It doesn't
mean. We've had cedar posts and railroad

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ties for the last twenty five years
and they've kind of outlived their usefulness.

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So those are good back in the
seventies and eighties, but we had a

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lot of we've had such a great
deal of compliments on so they we had

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a busy night, but the council, Uh, we all have our areas

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of where we pay attention to things, and we got through it very well

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last night. Very good. Now
I understand we're also going to do some

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pixing up of some of our facilities
too with this Geo bod sit a pass.

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Yes, we're gonna build a new
fire station was talking about of our

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Virginia and Hensley. That's a kind
of our oldest fire station that we have.

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It's still fairly useful, but it's
a little undersized and it's got some

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structural issues. So uh, we
felt like this was the best time to

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upgrade that. We've upgraded several others
in the past ten and fifteen years,

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so it was time to address that
facility. So Billy, also, you've

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gotten more neighbors moving into your pority. That building's got a new houses apart.

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Wow, yea, so this is
going to fit in nice. That

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was a nice one, d Ad
in there. We approve the BDA budget.

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Uh. Last night we had a
couple of new presenters. David Wood,

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who is the director there, has
been in the hospital, had a

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heart surgery and his home at this
time, so we had his counterparts there

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last night. They did a great
job. And then Maria Gus was there

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also presenting the budget for the Barswold
visitors. So well, they they bring

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new neighbors to town all the time, that bunch that they've been I think

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Batch Elder made a pretty good statement
last night. They normally addressed like five

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or six RFPs a year. They
had sixteen in one month come through the

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Oklahoma Department of Commerce, so they're
not all eldible they're not all fit.

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They don't all fit. At least
they know where we are. There's a

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lot of movement into the center of
the country right now, and people are

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looking for lower taxes and uh kind
of a easier way of living in larger

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cities on the east and the west
coast. So we're seeing a lot of

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activity in that way, seeing a
lot of people moved to town. We've

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given out thirty UM credits for new
home building within the city, so we've

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got thirty new homes that have been
built and we've incentivized those, and we've

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kept those people that built those homes
hopefully working here. We're in the past,

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we felt like many of them were
working and living in Tulsa and commuting

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up there. So we've got a
lot of great things going on to keep

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our city growing and keep people here. I've only been here a short while,

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but in that short while, you
know, we had COVID, but

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we still had like tons of places
come in that we'd command, you know,

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some folks with a little bit of
knowledge and a little bit of a

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go get it, like our friends
at Harrisop right down the road here.

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That's that's a company that said sorry
California, you ain't in and they caved

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here. A few others did the
same thing, along with some retail and

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some some restaurants and stuff like that, and uh, you know, it

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just seems like one by one,
you know, we're just putting in all

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the pieces that a lot of folks
said when they first got here, you

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know, bartle Bill would be just
a little bit better if well, we're

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getting that if put in that's correct. We really are. We're getting with

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between the furniture store. We're even
getting a new car wassh which here in

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the time of water restriction street with
this kind of a risky move, but

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where's this going? Building that in? And then we've christ went over several

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new restaurants that we've had in town, the new businesses. So those are

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all positive signs that people see our
community is growing and there are needs here

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and I think on a daily basis
we're addressing those needs as we go forward.

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Oh, very very good. This
really is Sometimes when the city council

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meets, people say, oh,
well, it says the mixed bag.

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Some people are gonna be upset and
some people are gonna say yippie. And

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so we're gonna walk out blood.
Man. Well, this is kind of

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a yippie all the way around,
because there's a lot of good victories that

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came out of this one last night. I think, oh, I agree

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one hundred percent all over the city
of something exciting that's going to happen all

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over the city. It's not concentrated
in one area. It is really spread

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very evenly, which is always a
win win. Then everyone can see what

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their tax dollars are doing, because
this is really the money that belongs to

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our citizens. And of course we
pass the slate for the GEO bond,

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but the citizens voted in in October, and so that's a kind of that's

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how we work in Okahoma, and
of course that's how we work in Bartlesville.

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Now, miss run, you were
telling me just before we begin here,

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more and more businesses are popping up
on the west side of town.

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That's exactly right. And of course
one of my favorites is this new contemporary

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you shaped like a little shopping Yeah, a little shopping area. They actually

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have some retail, yes, and
it is just I just think it's great.

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And I just all of a sudden, they started seeing something really nice.

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Signs in the windows, and I'm
like, going, well, this

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ain't your usual, but by golly, there's cars here. That's exactly right.

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I'd encourage everyone to stop in there
and say hello and take a look.

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But there is a little shop there
that has some of the cutest things,

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and then there's a pet shop and
they're getting ready to expand and have

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a dog car wash right out there
in the uth. So it's just really

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a fun little place. And then
of course Jim I can't think of his

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sweezy he is actually is putting in
an office area over on Hensley, and

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so no, he doesn't. And
so we are still waiting for a pizza

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place to say, hey, I
want to be over there, because I

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guarantee you even if they just had
drive through pizza, they would be very

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successful because we have of course,
we have Murphy's and we have Sawnic which

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is downtown and I'm hoping I'm not
leaving somebody out that serves food over there,

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but but we most certainly that would
be exciting. So any entrepreneur out

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there that's interested in putting in a
pizza place, we would love to have

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that on the West Side. But
you're right, and you know, we're

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working now and expanding the Veterans Park. A lot of people don't realize where

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that is. It's right there at
Frontier Pool kind of behind it. Well,

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we're going to be able to expand
that anna towards Frank Phillips, putting

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in that. We've been working on
that and raising money to put in our

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flagpoles for our services, and they'll
be all front most of Frank Phillips,

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so it'll be very visible to the
community. So taken on that task and

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found some foundations and some grants and
so so you're gonna city. It will

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help clear the area and make it
available, and then we'll get the flagpole's

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construction and we'll get our new sign
up there right on Frank Phillips. So

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it'll be a great addition to the
community. Well, it'll look really great.

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They're perfect, and then we'll all
recognize where the Veterans Park is and

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we can begin to do some things
there. It is White Road Cemetery.

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Part of this is that city.
Yes, yes, it is, I

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understand. We're coming up on July
eighth, it turns one hundred years old.

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Something. Maudsleyum anyway, Mausleium Park
cemetery been there a little in a

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very long time. Yea, but
yeah, I heard they're coming up on

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a big to do so but I
think you know, passing the budget,

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and I give so much credit to
the city administration for putting all this together.

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It starts months and months ago.
And then I'm extremely proud of the

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City Council as we've all worked together
for the past several years. They always

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been a great edition. Lauren's been
a great edition, the mayors and a

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fantastic job. And then Trevor,
I'm just pleased to be a part and

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proud to be a part of a
group of people that all work together.

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We certainly have occasionally we have our
differences, but we all have our mind

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on growing and expanding our community and
making it a better place for people who

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live. Well, I'll tell you
what the job well done on this budget

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and the GEO bond. This has
been a improved in principle. Yes,

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we've we've got the framework for it
and it'll go out for the they'll put

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it together and we'll pick a date
at our next meeting for the bond issue

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in October. I think we've got
that schedule. Jim. It works right,

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TB tent over pin for you.
That's right. Everybody can put it

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on the calendar kind of sort of, but it has to be official.

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And voters have in the past just
been so gracious in their support of our

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bond issues because about those, we
just wouldn't be able to continually improve our

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city and fix the things that need
to be fixed. And they've supported that

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along with the quartercent sales tax for
the BDA. You know, no community

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has really what we have in the
way to drive our economic development like we

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have. And I think it's proven
itself over certainly under David Wood's uh done

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a great job. And in the
past it's done great, but we've just

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come to a point where we're really
utilizing those services better and better every day.

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We have a lot of new people
who moved into town over the past

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few years. Does this raise your
taxes? Taxes? Our middle levy remains

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the same. We continue roll it
into another bond issue, so nothing continue.

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Okay, It's exactly right, because
all of a sudden you hear some

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new folks coming in town say,
I just left New York City. They're

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going to raise that No, they're
not going to raise tax No, And

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welcome to the land of Freedom.
I will just say that if you're coming

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here from New York City, you
get to live, you get to breathe,

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you get to say hi to people
and meet it. You can tell

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me your opinion, and I do
not get upset. I welcome the information

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and so much different. I had
to tell my friends, said I grew

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up near the Chicago area and said, I'm in a cool place. It's

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called Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and said, what's it like down there? Is

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it folks come up to you and
they say, Hi, how you doing,

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and they actually mean it. On
the back of little room Buggy.

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We're really experiencing that here, and
I think the council and the City of

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Staff have really done a great job
of leadership to present our community well at

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the state level and certainly on the
national level, to be an attractive place

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for people to relocate a business here
or just come here and live and retire

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here. We've had people here and
moved from San Antonio, from Austin,

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Texas, from California, from Chicago, from New York. We've had people

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from all over the country find this
place and come in here, and and

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they're invested in the community at different
levels. They want to be on committees.

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They want to be a part of
what we're doing and be a part

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of our successes that we're having right
now. All right, hey, thanks

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for being with us today