Speaker 1: Canine Atlas.
Speaker 2: Atlas has been with us I think right at ten years,
Speaker 2: maybe a little over anyway, or he's about ten years old.
Speaker 1: He's been with us for about eight of those.
Speaker 2: So Atlas is one of my very very favorite police
Speaker 2: dogs of all time.
Speaker 1: He used to be he's the one that doesn't bite you.
Speaker 2: It doesn't bite me. Yes, I mean he he'll buy
Speaker 2: it if they want him to, but he is. He
Speaker 2: is an amazing dog. And so but these these canines,
Speaker 2: they're they're invaluable to us, but they only working dogs
Speaker 2: only last about nine to ten years before you need
Speaker 2: to retire them. So he is getting to retire. And
Speaker 2: this is one of the few times that you'll hear
Speaker 2: me say that a law that was passed by the
Speaker 2: state of Oklahoma was a really good thing. And what
Speaker 2: they allow us to do is that they allow us
Speaker 2: to retire these canines and to transfer them to their
Speaker 2: own to their handlers. And so cities are prohibited. In fact,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about an auction we just had
Speaker 2: because cities are prohibited from donating anything, and so we
Speaker 2: can't donate dogs, cars, guns, none of that stuff can
Speaker 2: be donated to any other organization, agency or individual. This
Speaker 2: is one example. The state gave us permission to pass
Speaker 2: these dogs on.
Speaker 1: So Atlas was there.
Speaker 2: I got to wrestle with him one last time in
Speaker 2: the middle of the council meeting. So I'm sure that
Speaker 2: was the council was really excited to see me on
Speaker 2: the floor rolling around with a dog. But that's more
Speaker 2: me than this me. So anyway, wanted to thank Corporal
Speaker 2: Gonzales and to congratulate him and Atlas both. And so
Speaker 2: speaking of police, we also have a police academy coming up,
Speaker 2: so a citizens Police Academy. This for anybody who is
Speaker 2: interested in how our police department works. This is a
Speaker 2: fantastic opportunity. This is coming up. It starts on March
Speaker 2: twenty seventh. The deadline is actually March tenth, so the
Speaker 2: deadline for application is March tenth. Space is limited, there
Speaker 2: will not everybody will be able to get into this. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2: We we just have so much capacity to handle people
Speaker 2: in these things.
Speaker 3: So you got till the end of business today to
Speaker 3: get that in.
Speaker 1: Huh, look at that. You're right, You're exactly right. I
Speaker 1: don't even know what day it is. I got no
Speaker 1: idea what.
Speaker 2: Today, So yeah, March tenth, so hurry up, you got
Speaker 2: till five o'clock today to get in.
Speaker 1: And to be considered. And it'll start on March twenty seventh.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: And also so if anybody who has tried to use
Speaker 2: Johnstone Park recently, they will notice that Johnstone Parks closed
Speaker 2: at last fall. We did a lot of upgrades to
Speaker 2: the infrastructure in our parks and Johnstone Park of course
Speaker 2: was in use by Fantasy Land of Lights at that
Speaker 2: point in time, so they could not do it. So
Speaker 2: we've delayed that. So they're just they're they've gotten started
Speaker 2: on that. Weather permitting, we expect that it will be
Speaker 2: that those construction improvements will be completed by April f first.
Speaker 2: So let's let's hope for good weather and let's hope
Speaker 2: to get Johnstone Park back opened.
Speaker 1: It certainly will be.
Speaker 2: This is the improvements to the Ring Road, some of
Speaker 2: the sidewalks and paths.
Speaker 1: And things of that nature. So it'll be a night's
Speaker 1: upgrade to that park.
Speaker 2: And also another announcement, Operation Clean House is coming up.
Speaker 1: So and look at that, Tom.
Speaker 2: This is actually let's see, it hasn't happened yet, so
Speaker 2: I'm announcing something that isn't today.
Speaker 1: This is good.
Speaker 2: So we have Operation Clean House and Keith handed me
Speaker 2: a flyer that has like a three.
Speaker 1: Font on it, so I'm going to pretend to read that.
Speaker 2: So Saturday April twelfth of so next month April twelfth,
Speaker 2: and it is from eight am to two pm. And
Speaker 2: Operation clean House, if you're not familiar with it, is
Speaker 2: essentially getting rid of household hazardous.
Speaker 1: Waists outside of explosives.
Speaker 2: Outside of explosives, they really don't appreciate it if you
Speaker 2: drop those off.
Speaker 3: We had to call in up Tulsa bomb squad.
Speaker 2: Yes we did, Yes we did. I think it turned
Speaker 2: out to be okay, but it did. It did put
Speaker 2: a kink in the operation. Sure, it slowed things down.
Speaker 2: So there's two locations, so it'll be the Phillip sixty
Speaker 2: six parking lot here in Bartlesville and then Washington County
Speaker 2: District two if you're familiar. If you're not familiar with
Speaker 2: District too, it is two miles east on ninth Street
Speaker 2: off of Highway seventy five. So they take different things.
Speaker 2: The District two building, they'll be taking used motor oil
Speaker 2: and a freeze, automotive batteries, car and pickup tires and
Speaker 2: then they will also be taking some appliances, assuming that
Speaker 2: they are certified free on free Phillip sixty six parking lot.
Speaker 2: This one they'll accept compact fluorescent bulbs, cleaners, Tocsin's yardcare,
Speaker 2: all of those things, pesticides, oerbicide, so all of that
Speaker 2: you can take to the Phillip sixty six parking lot.
Speaker 2: So take this opportunity to clean up your house a
Speaker 2: little bit and thank you, Keith.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: And now moving on, So last week, I guess it
Speaker 2: would have been just one week ago. We had regular
Speaker 2: council meeting for the month of March. It was a
Speaker 2: relatively short council meeting, which is always okay with me.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's okay with you too, always, although I
Speaker 2: believe you were.
Speaker 1: At that one start sending Nathan, I don't get to
Speaker 1: see anymore. Tom.
Speaker 3: You know I'm a little older.
Speaker 1: What are you in bed? Toms?
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, it would be tough for you to make
Speaker 2: a five thirty council meeting and have a six pm bedtime.
Speaker 2: So but council meeting relatively short. But there were some
Speaker 2: pretty interesting things that happen. So one of the things
Speaker 2: that the council did is they transferred some land that
Speaker 2: is in our industrial park to the Barsvielle Development Authority
Speaker 2: And the purpose of that is is that they're actually
Speaker 2: going to build a spec industrial building. And so this
Speaker 2: will be a building that when we start building it
Speaker 2: does not have a tenant. What we've discovered and we've
Speaker 2: we've entertained a lot of companies over the years.
Speaker 1: They come here and they are in a hurry.
Speaker 2: And by in a hurry, I mean they need to
Speaker 2: be moving in in a month. That happens quite frequently,
Speaker 2: and so if you don't have a building that suits
Speaker 2: their needs, then they move on to the next place.
Speaker 2: So this will be a little different strategy for the BDA.
Speaker 2: They typically build the suit. The idea here is to
Speaker 2: build one that is essentially an open box and then.
Speaker 1: If we're lucky, we have at least before it's constructed.
Speaker 2: And that way they get to participate in the final
Speaker 2: construction design.
Speaker 1: So anyway that will be happening.
Speaker 2: Another building that the BDA is currently building is out
Speaker 2: at the Barswill Municipal Airport. Actually in preparing to construct
Speaker 2: a very large commercial hangar out there. We are out
Speaker 2: of hangar space and there's a huge demand for that.
Speaker 2: So this gives us a great opportunity to develop further
Speaker 2: develop the aerospace industry in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. So I think
Speaker 2: both of those are great things. Look forward to seeing
Speaker 2: what comes of them. Council also approved a couple of
Speaker 2: street projects, so there was really just two of them.
Speaker 1: One of them is Yale Drive and this will be
Speaker 1: Yale from Adams to Frank Phillips Boulevard. This will be
Speaker 1: a big project.
Speaker 2: Shouldn't that a big road that kind of is Yeah,
Speaker 2: it goes down the hill, it goes around, yes, it is.
Speaker 1: It is a it's a big road.
Speaker 3: Good luck.
Speaker 2: And there are also some connecting side roads that will
Speaker 2: be part of this, but primarily it's Yell Drive, so
Speaker 2: and it will be essentially a complete reconstruction and it
Speaker 2: will be really nice once it's completed. The other one
Speaker 2: is Madison Boulevard, and so this is of course Madison's
Speaker 2: in pretty good shape right until you get to Tuxedo
Speaker 2: and then north of Tuxedo it is essentially it's an
Speaker 2: old old county road.
Speaker 1: Yeah you still got bar ditches. It's really just a
Speaker 1: chip and seal road.
Speaker 2: So this will update Madison from Tuxedo to the Water Tower,
Speaker 2: and so it doesn't go quite to Minnesota, but it
Speaker 2: will go essentially to the north.
Speaker 1: End of Blanket Out.
Speaker 2: On the name of the park, it's the name of
Speaker 2: the housing edition there. Anyway, there is a there's a
Speaker 2: housing edition right there, park Hill. Yeah, it is park Hill, right,
Speaker 2: Look at that. Keith done that very often. I was
Speaker 2: actually right, and I hesitate. Now I tell you what, Keith.
Speaker 2: Keith knows every subdivision, every road in Bartlesville, I promise you,
Speaker 2: and he's worked on most of them. So but anyway,
Speaker 2: so that will go right up to that area. This
Speaker 2: is actually a partnership with the Delaware Tribe. They're they're
Speaker 2: going to participate in this in a fifty to fifty split,
Speaker 2: which allows us to construct this in a little different
Speaker 2: manner than what we had intended. We were it was
Speaker 2: really just going to keep the original footprint, and now
Speaker 2: we're able to widen, curb and gutter and do it
Speaker 2: and do it right through there. And so this will
Speaker 2: help to serve their complex, which is on the west
Speaker 2: side of Madison, and it will also provide access to
Speaker 2: park Hill on the east side of Madison. So really
Speaker 2: really excited to get both of those kicked off, but
Speaker 2: we just we don't we.
Speaker 1: Don't have a timeline on him yet. That was the
Speaker 1: award of bid.
Speaker 2: We'll go through some pre construction meetings and that will
Speaker 2: Micah Seemers will be back someday to tell us exactly
Speaker 2: when we expect those to be done. One of the
Speaker 2: other things that happened, and this is this will be
Speaker 2: a majority, a big part of our program. Today we
Speaker 2: did have an update on the Unsheltered Homeless Task Force
Speaker 2: and Rachel Shaller was there. I'm saying your name right
Speaker 2: right shoulder, God, it was both Scholer. Shall I know
Speaker 2: he's still I still don't know what Jason's last name is.
Speaker 2: I've got it right one time. Not he for twenty
Speaker 2: years and I still don't. I still don't know him.
Speaker 2: So I got I got Keith roped in the wires
Speaker 2: from that microphone there about drugg him out of his chair.
Speaker 1: That would have been awesome.
Speaker 2: So but uh so, Rachel Rachel actually gave an update
Speaker 2: to the city council.
Speaker 1: And Rachel is the CEO of Well all Right, Optional Director.
Speaker 2: Operational Director of Grand Mental Health, which means she's in
Speaker 2: charge of Grand Mental Health in Bartlesville.
Speaker 1: And is it it's not regional. It's just here, right,
Speaker 1: Washington count just Washington County and Bartlesville.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so Rachel serves on our Unsheltered Homeless task Force.
Speaker 2: We actually have also made former mayor that I've told
Speaker 2: I've told every mayor who's ever served, that's a permanent title.
Speaker 1: Once you get it, it never goes away. So this is form.
Speaker 1: That's it. Whether you like it or not. It was
Speaker 1: your fault. You shouldn't have said yes. Now you're that forever.
Speaker 2: So Tom Gorman, Mayor Tom Gorman is here with us,
Speaker 2: and he also serves on the homeless task Force, and
Speaker 2: he had sort of a unique perspective in that he
Speaker 2: owns a number of multi family residential units here in Bartlesville,
Speaker 2: and so he sees another side the unsheltered homeless problem
Speaker 2: that we have in Bartlesville. But we have a really
Speaker 2: great task force that is I believe there's thirteen members,
Speaker 2: and then I think we have two non voting including
Speaker 2: one council member and one member of another nonprofit.
Speaker 1: Really diverse group of people.
Speaker 2: And I serve as staff liaison, which means that I
Speaker 2: take notes and I'm the least informed person in the room,
Speaker 2: and so I try to keep everything straight for them.
Speaker 1: That's all I can do. But it is.
Speaker 2: It is an incredible group of people. And I think
Speaker 2: we've met three times, right, and so, uh, these two
Speaker 2: were I think they volunteered to be spokespeople or god volunteers,
Speaker 2: don't you don't would call it that way. Tom volunteered,
Speaker 2: Rachel did not unvolunteer. So, but we appreciate both of them.
Speaker 2: This is an important issue in our community, and I've
Speaker 2: really I've been impressed watching the committee work and how
Speaker 2: much information really that has been gathered. There's a lot
Speaker 2: we had to first know. Uh, we had to know
Speaker 2: what the problem was, and we had to understand what
Speaker 2: it was that we didn't know. So with that, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna kick it over to you too, and I'll let
Speaker 2: you give everybody an update on exactly what we've been
Speaker 2: doing and what we found out.
Speaker 5: Well, Mike, I'll start by saying that I swore i'd
Speaker 5: never meet you like this again, but here here we are.
Speaker 1: Never say no, never say never.
Speaker 3: That's right, And.
Speaker 5: I agree with everything you said about the task Force.
Speaker 5: It's it's been a good group. I think there's been
Speaker 5: a very unbiased, you know, exchange of information, and it's
Speaker 5: been sort of empirical, you know that I so far,
Speaker 5: we haven't I'm probably the most emotional person in the room,
Speaker 5: uh regarded this issue, and I really appreciate everybody coming
Speaker 5: forward and talking about what can be a very sensitive
Speaker 5: issue in a manner that's that really moves forward the goals.
Speaker 3: I think of everybody in the room, I'm going to
Speaker 3: take exception with one thing you said.
Speaker 5: You said you're the least important person in the room,
Speaker 5: and I disagree, because the city has great ability to
Speaker 5: impact positively negatively the homeless population, or landowners or the
Speaker 5: service providers. And I mean it's it's evidenced in in
Speaker 5: your officer. I might get her her sergeant. I don't
Speaker 5: know what her title is, wrong, but Sierra Compton, that's
Speaker 5: in there. You know, she's obviously very dedicated to what
Speaker 5: she does and involved in the homeless population, and I
Speaker 5: think that speaks very well for the city. And you know,
Speaker 5: from some of the issues I've raised, she has reached
Speaker 5: out to me about how the police force and the
Speaker 5: city can better help property owners in dealing with some
Speaker 5: of these issues. And so, you know, I like your humility,
Speaker 5: but I'd just like to say that we've seen cities
Speaker 5: that have taken a hands off approach or let things
Speaker 5: happen that that I don't think is best for the
Speaker 5: citizens and taxpayers of the city. And I think that
Speaker 5: Bartlesfield's doing a pretty good job of not letting that
Speaker 5: happen here, and it's appreciated that I don't want to.
Speaker 4: Take all the time, and I just want a second
Speaker 4: that I tell people all the time that we're very
Speaker 4: fortunate to live in a community where we have so
Speaker 4: much involvement from the city and law enforcement and criminal
Speaker 4: justice when it comes to mental health and substance use issue.
Speaker 1: So thank you for that. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And Sierra is there not she she has Bartlesore Police officer,
Speaker 2: but she works in partnership with Grand Mental Health and
Speaker 2: so she has she actually has a partner that isn't
Speaker 2: that is one of your employees.
Speaker 1: And it's it's not completely.
Speaker 2: Unique to law enforcement to do this, but it is
Speaker 2: it is very unique in our area. I'm not aware
Speaker 2: of there may be one other There may be one
Speaker 2: other city in the state of Oklahoma that's doing this.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it is all all of the agencies in
Speaker 2: the city, and of course the police.
Speaker 3: Department take it very seriously, so I'll follow up.
Speaker 5: But the next thing that was surprising to me when
Speaker 5: the data came out about our homeless population. You know,
Speaker 5: when I got on this task force at a number
Speaker 5: of people reach out to me and say, what are
Speaker 5: you gonna do about the people getting bust in?
Speaker 3: What are you going to do about the people that are.
Speaker 5: You know, not Bartlesville Indigenous homeless people? And and you know,
Speaker 5: the data has been provided to us by Grand Lake
Speaker 5: and other nonprofit organizations here in town and the police
Speaker 5: department who support and deal with and try to improve
Speaker 5: the lives of the homeless populations. And the data all
Speaker 5: seems to point to the same total number amount of
Speaker 5: homeless people. And then you know, they go out, the
Speaker 5: police and Grand Lake, they go out.
Speaker 3: Do you call it a survey? What do you call that?
Speaker 4: So we have an outreach team and that's their that
Speaker 4: is their main job. They every day they're just going out,
Speaker 4: They're meeting with the unsheltered individuals and they just kind
Speaker 4: of keep track of how many times they come in
Speaker 4: contact with them. If they'll engage, they'll ask them some questions,
Speaker 4: and we just kind of track them. How are they doing,
Speaker 4: what resources do they need, what's their name, where are
Speaker 4: they from? Uh, you know, things like that. So we're
Speaker 4: just tracking as much information as they'll give us, essentially
Speaker 4: just so we can keep an eye on what the
Speaker 4: number is, what resources they might need, trying to link
Speaker 4: them to what those resources are, and things like that.
Speaker 1: So it's nothing high tech.
Speaker 4: I think it's simply just a spreadsheet where they keep
Speaker 4: their name and the information that they're asking them, and
Speaker 4: they updated as they go.
Speaker 2: And I think maybe the word we were looking for
Speaker 2: was a point in time count, and.
Speaker 5: That is something yeah, there is a yah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, point in time that's a little more hands on deck.
Speaker 4: So we have a housing department at Grand but they
Speaker 4: serve the entire agency, so our entire twelve counties. But
Speaker 4: they come to Bartlesville specifically one day a year and
Speaker 4: they do a point in time count, so they count
Speaker 4: how many unsheltered individuals they come in content with that day.
Speaker 1: And of course we don't just do it one time
Speaker 1: a year. And that was what you were saying, is
Speaker 1: that for us, it's an.
Speaker 2: Ongoing outreach, which which is appreciated, and it keeps us,
Speaker 2: it keeps us a little bit more informed. We can
Speaker 2: track the statistics a little bit better. I loved it,
Speaker 2: and the mayor said it. It was interesting to me
Speaker 2: to hear the percent of people who were from our area,
Speaker 2: and then it was even the ones that weren't from
Speaker 2: Bartlesville proper. We're largely from surrounding counties, or they had
Speaker 2: family here, or they had some connection to this.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think, and I know you all had those.
Speaker 1: You may even have those statistics handy.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I mean, we could write through the statistics.
Speaker 5: I think it's more important if people want them to
Speaker 5: reach out and get the real numbers for a news article,
Speaker 5: or Kelly could distribute those. But I think the story
Speaker 5: that needs to be told is that the majority of
Speaker 5: them are Bartlesville Indigenous or Bartlesville Native, or they have
Speaker 5: a close tie to Bartlesville, and they're not transient. And
Speaker 5: from what has been told to me or told to
Speaker 5: the committee by the AGAPI, who feeds a lot in
Speaker 5: the data that they track, is that the ones who
Speaker 5: are transit are just that they may have gotten here
Speaker 5: by some means that we don't like, but they don't
Speaker 5: stay here, is what it's really looking like. So we're
Speaker 5: really dealing with people that are Bortlesfield based, and we
Speaker 5: need to have the compassion for those. And she took
Speaker 5: a little liberty talking about Grand Lake, So I'm gonna
Speaker 5: take a little liberty talking.
Speaker 3: About property owners.
Speaker 5: And I think a lot people that own property that
Speaker 5: are would have experienced this is that this is a
Speaker 5: new phenomenon to have people camping on your land without permission.
Speaker 5: It is it is a within the last five years phenomena.
Speaker 5: And this is you know, we've owned the same property
Speaker 5: that's been the same condition for over thirty years not
Speaker 5: had this issue.
Speaker 3: And so it's new.
Speaker 5: This this attitude that this is something that is allowed
Speaker 5: or acceptable and and and that's something the task force
Speaker 5: is working on. I think your city Judge Alan Genties
Speaker 5: is making some good work and you're going to work
Speaker 5: with your city attorney Just Caine, to try to work
Speaker 5: on some refining and maybe additional ordinances to give the
Speaker 5: city tools to uh, namely Keith. I think you should
Speaker 5: make Keith go out and clean things up, but of
Speaker 5: course in the finance department, I don't.
Speaker 6: Uh, but uh, that's right, yeah, But I think it's
Speaker 6: good to have have this give the city the broad
Speaker 6: city I'm talking about all all facets, you know, code enforcement, everybody.
Speaker 5: The tools they need to protect the citizens, taxpayers and landowners.
Speaker 5: And and this is it could be a simple a
Speaker 5: homeowner or what we've experienced more is a business.
Speaker 2: And this is one of the things that I really
Speaker 2: appreciated about in the committee has been that broad viewpoint
Speaker 2: that they've taken. The committee understands that there is some
Speaker 2: degree of accountability that we have to have. Well at
Speaker 2: the same time not forgetting the compassion that you mentioned, Mare,
Speaker 2: and so I really have appreciated that because everybody there
Speaker 2: is there with.
Speaker 1: An open heart.
Speaker 2: They're there to serve, but at the same time they
Speaker 2: understand that this is an issue that affects more than
Speaker 2: just the population that we're trying to serve. And so
Speaker 2: how do you balance the needs of want against the
Speaker 2: needs of the other. And of course that's what we
Speaker 2: call public policy, and it's never easy, but I appreciate
Speaker 2: you all assisting us with it.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you want to touch on it.
Speaker 3: You know, Aaron Kirkpatrick, or city council member, started this.
Speaker 5: Initiative I think what you'd probably call it and form
Speaker 5: the committee, and he has a framework called.
Speaker 1: Out of Homelessness yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Might have the word highway into I don't know, but anyway,
Speaker 5: it you know, it's and it was definitely a framework
Speaker 5: for the discussion. We'll see what happens with that document
Speaker 5: that he's he's put forward. But I'm I am heartened
Speaker 5: for the fact that the nonprofits who come to this
Speaker 5: from a serving the individuals and need perspective, they're still
Speaker 5: at the table talking, you know, and and and I
Speaker 5: really appreciate all them doing that because some of the
Speaker 5: things we're talking about don't exactly fit your mission and
Speaker 5: and uh and but but the fact that they're continuing
Speaker 5: to have the conversation speaks volumes.
Speaker 3: I don't know where it will end up.
Speaker 5: Well, we'll see, but but I I this has been
Speaker 5: a really good educational process, and I hope that in
Speaker 5: the end we can sort of push this out in
Speaker 5: some sort of broad based form that uh that you know,
Speaker 5: short enough that that people will read it and digest it,
Speaker 5: but with enough detail that they'll they'll understand the situation.
Speaker 3: A little better.
Speaker 1: I sure have.
Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, it's been It certainly has been very helpful
Speaker 2: for me. I'm very data driven, and so I like
Speaker 2: to understand a problem before we try to before we
Speaker 2: try to solve it, and I have appreciated the approach
Speaker 2: the committee has taken. I think that was a huge
Speaker 2: part of it over the first couple of meetings was
Speaker 2: to understand better the scope of what each of the
Speaker 2: agencies was dealing with. And so you know, we got
Speaker 2: the count, which was our outreach team had that and
Speaker 2: it was it's about fifty eight unsheltered people in Bartlesville.
Speaker 2: We realized that there are some in camps right outside
Speaker 2: of Barnsville, and since it was using Bartow police officers,
Speaker 2: our count didn't have them, and so it but I
Speaker 2: think you said it at the council meeting, the committee
Speaker 2: believes there's probably about one hundred unsheltered people right in
Speaker 2: our surrounding or using services in Barblesville. And so that
Speaker 2: is not an insignificant number by any stretch of the imagination, but.
Speaker 1: It's also not I don't think it's as bad as
Speaker 1: we feared.
Speaker 2: And the other revelation is the one the mayor has
Speaker 2: already mentioned that they were largely from here, and that
Speaker 2: matters because it's a different solution. And when people assumed
Speaker 2: that it was some outside entity that was sending them here, well,
Speaker 2: that has a solution, but it's very different than dealing
Speaker 2: with your own people who are experiencing homelessness. You can't
Speaker 2: keep them from coming here. You can't deal with an
Speaker 2: outside agency that's creating the problem.
Speaker 1: It's endemic to your own community.
Speaker 2: So I've appreciated that and it has allowed us to
Speaker 2: better understand what's going on. I plan to have you
Speaker 2: two back in the future, maybe in a month when
Speaker 2: I'm allowed to do this again. So call me, let
Speaker 2: me come back, yes, because I've really appreciated and I
Speaker 2: know that we are on the cusp of making some
Speaker 2: recommendations of the council. I appreciate both of you, not
Speaker 2: just for serving on the committee, but for also agreeing
Speaker 2: to be the spokesperson that is that's that's a difficult job.
Speaker 2: And Rachel, you did a great job presenting this to
Speaker 2: council and I do appreciate it. And tell your boss
Speaker 2: Josh that I said, Hi, I.
Speaker 6: Will, I will.
Speaker 2: I'll tell him I've really enjoyed getting to know him.
Speaker 2: So if people don't know, the grand has a new CEO,
Speaker 2: uh and he spent a lot of time in Bartlesville lately,
Speaker 2: and so it Bartlesville is clearly important to Graham, and.
Speaker 3: We appreciate you all for sure.
Speaker 1: Thank you all.
Speaker 2: Anything else you would like to add before I kick
Speaker 2: it over to these two.
Speaker 1: I got three minutes, says Tom.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want me to tell the audience that I
Speaker 2: have three minutes, but I have three minutes.
Speaker 1: I don't know how this thing works.
Speaker 2: Top.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to give me rules next time, you know.
Speaker 7: I'm just.
Speaker 1: So Keith, let's talk. We had a we had an
Speaker 1: auction on.
Speaker 7: We did, but you didn't missed it, so if you
Speaker 7: wanted to go, it's too late. YEA very successful. We
Speaker 7: got lucky the Wedther cooperated with us. I don't know
Speaker 7: the exist number, but I think there was over two
Speaker 7: hundred bitters, probably a big cards that were put out.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 7: The good part is we got rid of everything, so
Speaker 7: we kind of cleaned out the key.
Speaker 8: That was our goal.
Speaker 7: We of course wanted to make a little money for
Speaker 7: the city and we did uh, but the main thing
Speaker 7: was to get rid of our surplus items automobiles, cars,
Speaker 7: trucks and anything else laying around we weren't using.
Speaker 8: So that went very well. Was happy with that.
Speaker 7: We haven't got rid of an old fire truck that
Speaker 7: we just had no idea what we were going to
Speaker 7: do with it was so old. It was I think
Speaker 7: a nineteen seventy four model, but I think somebody bought
Speaker 7: it and found a good use for it. We might
Speaker 7: find out locally. I don't want to throw anything out there.
Speaker 7: I don't know for sure, but we'll see if it
Speaker 7: shows up somewhere parade.
Speaker 1: It is a cool truck, but it does not new
Speaker 1: by any stretch.
Speaker 7: A couple things I wanted to mention real quick was
Speaker 7: the spring leaf and grass collection. We're just putting that
Speaker 7: out today. It's going to be the week of May
Speaker 7: the fifth through the ninth, so if you're familiar with
Speaker 7: that gives the residence in Bartlesville the opportunity to put
Speaker 7: up their mulching and their leaves, or if they've scalped
Speaker 7: their yard before a spring hits, it gives them an
Speaker 7: opportunity to bag that material set it out on the
Speaker 7: curb on their normal collection day again starting the week
Speaker 7: of May the fifth through the ninth. No commercial yard
Speaker 7: services is just for the private resident. You can also
Speaker 7: bundle your sticks and limbs up in four foot links
Speaker 7: and no more than fifty pounds and also set those
Speaker 7: on the curb out near your poly carts and we'll
Speaker 7: come around and collect those. So that'll be on our
Speaker 7: website also, But again it's coming up pretty quick May
Speaker 7: the fifth through the ninth. Another thing I want to
Speaker 7: mention real quick was in our parks department. It's just
Speaker 7: around the corner. We're gonna be mowing grass again. But
Speaker 7: we're looking for someone to spray mosquitos. So it's been
Speaker 7: an ongoing problem. We run a program throughout the summer
Speaker 7: to try to keep the mosquitos down and we really
Speaker 7: it's very hard.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's hard to fill that job.
Speaker 7: So if you're somebody looking for a part time job,
Speaker 7: it is in the evenings typically from probably five or
Speaker 7: six o'clock in the evening till eleven or twelve o'clock
Speaker 7: at night. Run five to six hours a night. Typically
Speaker 7: one person, if they work those hours during week, can
Speaker 7: spread the entire time. We can do the town in
Speaker 7: two weeks, and that's our goal to do and so
Speaker 7: we're looking for somebody to do that. So if you're interested,
Speaker 7: to go to the City of Bartlesville's website, there's a
Speaker 7: page there tab for jobs, and.
Speaker 8: Then if not. You can also go down to city
Speaker 8: Hall the second floor.
Speaker 1: Great way to serve your community.
Speaker 8: Try to apply there.
Speaker 1: No one likes mosquitos. We love our mosquito man.
Speaker 8: We'll help you.
Speaker 7: We've got to get a little license through the Oklahoma
Speaker 7: Department of Bag but we'll help you with that and
Speaker 7: get you through that process, and we'd be glad to
Speaker 7: have you come to work force.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks Keith, appreciate it. Hopefully we'll get somebody
Speaker 2: somebody in there in time. Jason thirty seconds House Sundes
Speaker 2: Town sales taxes up, use taxes up.
Speaker 3: You got much more talk to go any further?
Speaker 8: Ay, come my chop.
Speaker 1: I'm a use tax up thirty two percent, which is
Speaker 1: one hundred and three thousand dollars roughly. Sorry if I'm
Speaker 1: rushing through this off here, rush off. Sales tax is
Speaker 1: only up thirty thousand dollars one point seventy nine percent
Speaker 1: for the year.
Speaker 5: We're up half percent eighty five thousand, uh budgetarily we're
Speaker 5: up there in forty seven thousand, which is two percent.
Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna do it.
Speaker 8: Thank you for