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<v Speaker 1>Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.

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<v Speaker 1>It's time now for one of our two community connections

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<v Speaker 1>here this morning. We're going a little bit early today.

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<v Speaker 1>We have Aaron Kirkpatrick in and he is running for

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<v Speaker 1>the office of Ward for city counselor here in Bartlesville.

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<v Speaker 1>And welcome back. You've been here many times.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, good morning time.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm excited to be here, excited to get talk to

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<v Speaker 3>you and everybody else about I guess local politics for

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<v Speaker 3>the first time.

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<v Speaker 1>What made you want to jump into the waters.

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<v Speaker 3>Man, I've been thinking about it for years, but I

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<v Speaker 3>was in Mayor Copeland's district when we first moved here,

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<v Speaker 3>and of course.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought he's done a great job. Didn't want to

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<v Speaker 2>run against him.

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<v Speaker 3>Moved downtown several years ago, and Billy Roan was our

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<v Speaker 3>representative and I admired her.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought that she was phenomenal.

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<v Speaker 3>Unfortunately, she passed away suddenly earlier this year, and so

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<v Speaker 3>when that happened, I thought, Okay, I love what she did,

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<v Speaker 3>and there's an opportunity now to not run against her,

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<v Speaker 3>but instead just step in and run for the things

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<v Speaker 3>that I'm excited about that I believe in, and for

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<v Speaker 3>hopefully the future of Bartlesville.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a very positive outlook. Running for you're not although

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<v Speaker 1>there are others running for the same office. You're all competing,

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<v Speaker 1>but you're not running against each other. You're all running

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<v Speaker 1>for the goal.

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<v Speaker 3>Right And it's really common to hear people talk about, oh,

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<v Speaker 3>you're running into you're getting into politics, like you must

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<v Speaker 3>be angry.

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<v Speaker 2>What are you mad about? Who you know who ticked

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<v Speaker 2>you off? Are what are they doing that's wrong?

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<v Speaker 3>And I mean there's room for improvement and all those

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<v Speaker 3>kind of things, But for me, at least, the idea

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<v Speaker 3>that I'm going to get in because I'm mad about something.

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<v Speaker 3>So I've been leading organizations churches for almost twenty years now,

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<v Speaker 3>and what I can tell you is when you are

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<v Speaker 3>led by people who lead out of fear or anger

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<v Speaker 3>or frustration, that flows out to everybody else.

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<v Speaker 2>And the last thing that you want to be.

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<v Speaker 3>Is in a community that is run by anger and

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<v Speaker 3>fear and frustration.

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<v Speaker 2>It just becomes a very toxic place.

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<v Speaker 3>And what we want And one of the things I

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<v Speaker 3>think is great about Bartlesville is that it feels like

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<v Speaker 3>a community even though it's really large. You see the

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<v Speaker 3>same people at Walmart at the baseball field, downtown, eating

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<v Speaker 3>out on a Saturday night, whatever, And that sense of

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<v Speaker 3>community needs to be a positive, healthy place for people.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh indeed it does. So you've got your campaign started.

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<v Speaker 1>You're going to be in the big November election because

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<v Speaker 1>city council will be all in that as well. And

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<v Speaker 1>we've got, like you said, a beautiful community and you

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned improvements. What improvements would you like to see?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, one that's I've got one big one that I'll

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<v Speaker 3>tell you about it in a second.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's we'll build it. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, let's let's talk about some that everybody is really

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<v Speaker 2>concerned about. Right.

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<v Speaker 3>One that is on top of everybody's mind after the

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<v Speaker 3>last two years is water infrastructure. And everybody's seen their

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<v Speaker 3>water bill go up and that stresses people out. At

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<v Speaker 3>the same time, we all saw pictures of how low

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<v Speaker 3>our lakes got, our reservoirs got over the last couple

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<v Speaker 3>of years. So both like sustainable water infrastrutructure, but also

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<v Speaker 3>safe water at the same time, you want to make

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<v Speaker 3>sure the water you're drinking is water you want to

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<v Speaker 3>put in your body. And we got great people who

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<v Speaker 3>work on both ends of our water infrastructure, both treating

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<v Speaker 3>and getting it to us and also treating it on

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<v Speaker 3>the way out, but making sure that we have not

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<v Speaker 3>just a vision for the future, because we've had ideas,

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<v Speaker 3>but to continue.

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<v Speaker 2>Most of everybody needs to understand this is I understand it.

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<v Speaker 3>Most of our struggle long term comes from actually dealing

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<v Speaker 3>with the Army, Corps of engineers and things at the

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<v Speaker 3>federal level.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's actually not stuff that we control a lot of.

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<v Speaker 3>And there's this what I think is a really backwards approach,

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<v Speaker 3>which is it's eventually it is cheaper to build the

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<v Speaker 3>new lake than to fix the ones we've got, and

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<v Speaker 3>that that is a logic that could only be thought

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<v Speaker 3>up at the federal level, right, I mean, at some

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<v Speaker 3>point it is better to be a good steward of

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<v Speaker 3>what you have and help it lasts as long as

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<v Speaker 3>possible than it is to go, well, I'll just use

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<v Speaker 3>it till it breaks and then buy something new. That's

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<v Speaker 3>a really poor way to govern anything. But that requires

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<v Speaker 3>ongoing conversations and just an unwillingness to quit when dealing with.

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<v Speaker 2>The federal government.

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<v Speaker 3>We ought to be every time it gets a Drought've

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<v Speaker 3>been saying this for ten years. Every time we hit

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<v Speaker 3>a drought, year. Why don't we put people out there

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<v Speaker 3>with backos and tractors getting the silt out of the lakes,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, and then taking them somewhere, putting a cover

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<v Speaker 3>crop and getting the heavy metals out of them. These

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<v Speaker 3>things seem like common sense solutions in the meantime, since

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<v Speaker 3>since the federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers

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<v Speaker 3>says not let us do those things. Now we're talking

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<v Speaker 3>about what building a pipeline to call lake drawing out

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<v Speaker 3>of it with you know, three or four other cities,

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<v Speaker 3>and also everybody's bill is going to go up dramatically

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<v Speaker 3>from something like that. On the back end, I want

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<v Speaker 3>to see make sure that as we do these these

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<v Speaker 3>big infrastructure improvements on our water treatment facilities, that we're

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<v Speaker 3>doing it in a way that is good for the

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<v Speaker 3>whole community and addressing one of the big problems that

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<v Speaker 3>we now know we have that prior to this we

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<v Speaker 3>hadn't focused much on, which is p fast.

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<v Speaker 2>These forever chemicals.

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<v Speaker 3>These forever chemicals are in all of our water supplies

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<v Speaker 3>at this point, and they're all linked to to a

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<v Speaker 3>host of issues, including like intocrend disruptors, meaning your hormone

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<v Speaker 3>levels get all jacked up and long term cancer.

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<v Speaker 2>So there are ways to remove that from the water supply.

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<v Speaker 3>The city council just approved an eighty million dollar overhaul

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<v Speaker 3>to our water our waste water treatment, which is a

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<v Speaker 3>necessary infrastructure investment, but it does not have that component

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<v Speaker 3>built into it that I'm aware of. So one of

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<v Speaker 3>the first things I did once I announced that I

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<v Speaker 3>was running was I met with Mike Bailey, or our

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<v Speaker 3>city manager, and said, hey, are you aware of this technology?

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<v Speaker 3>And I shared it with some videos and information with

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<v Speaker 3>him and said, this technology, as I understand it is

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<v Speaker 3>cheaper than what we're about to put in. It is

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<v Speaker 3>energy positive, not energy negative, which is energy is like

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<v Speaker 3>it usually accounts for something like forty percent of the

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<v Speaker 3>cost of water treatment, and then on the downstream of

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<v Speaker 3>that it removes pfasts, which I mean, that's just a

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<v Speaker 3>win win win as far as I can tell. So

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<v Speaker 3>it's this is a big one, like a big improvement

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<v Speaker 3>we like to see. Obviously we have, you know, ongoing

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<v Speaker 3>retail development downtown. I think that's awesome and want to

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<v Speaker 3>just do whatever I can do to help supercharge it.

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<v Speaker 2>The west side of town where my ward is. My

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<v Speaker 2>ward's actually it's huge.

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<v Speaker 3>It actually goes the west side of Highway seventy five

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<v Speaker 3>north of Adams, all the way through Oak Park and

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<v Speaker 3>then down to thirteenth Street. It's massive. But one of

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<v Speaker 3>the things that we are all feeling to pinch on

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<v Speaker 3>and especially in ward for, is the need for more

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<v Speaker 3>healthcare and quality healthcare and affordable healthcare. So this is

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<v Speaker 3>not something the city council does on their own, but

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<v Speaker 3>I'm friends with a group of people who have been

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<v Speaker 3>working behind the scenes to bring more healthcare options to

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<v Speaker 3>Bartlesville for several years. They made a ton of progress,

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<v Speaker 3>but eventually it gets to the point where you have

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<v Speaker 3>to decide, are there obstacles in the way for them

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<v Speaker 3>moving here?

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<v Speaker 2>Right?

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<v Speaker 3>Is there are you know, are there zoning restrictions that

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<v Speaker 3>need to be changed? Is there infrastructure that needs to

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<v Speaker 3>be negotiated or tax breaks?

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<v Speaker 2>Things like this.

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<v Speaker 3>We need these resources here yesterday, and I have been

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<v Speaker 3>working behind the scenes with these people to kind of

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<v Speaker 3>find out where they are and say, if I can

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<v Speaker 3>get elected, whatever I can do to help, I will

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<v Speaker 3>help do because we need those resources. And then lastly,

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<v Speaker 3>I would say one that lots of us are feeling

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<v Speaker 3>the pinch on is affordable housing and this is a

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<v Speaker 3>nationwide problem, but local is where we have the chance

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<v Speaker 3>to help, and.

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<v Speaker 2>We're part of the nation. Yes, so.

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<v Speaker 3>I have done some real estate development myself, some real

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<v Speaker 3>estate investment myself, and the downtown area is ripe for

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<v Speaker 3>fixing up old dilapidated structures, taking them down to the

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<v Speaker 3>ground and building new stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>We're seeing some of that investment go on.

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<v Speaker 3>But there was a plan that was actually recommended to

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<v Speaker 3>the city council I think over a decade ago that

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<v Speaker 3>suggested ways to improve or to increase the amount of

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<v Speaker 3>small housing that we had, basically making it easier for

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<v Speaker 3>people who own a house or own a piece of

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<v Speaker 3>property to build a free, outstanding building at a above

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<v Speaker 3>garage apartment or a tiny home something like that. We

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<v Speaker 3>have a lot of single people and like single moms

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<v Speaker 3>with kids, who if you get on some of the

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<v Speaker 3>Facebook groups here locally, are always asking I'm looking for

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<v Speaker 3>a one to two bedroom place for one thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 3>a month or less. It's really hard to find that

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<v Speaker 3>right now because we just don't have the inventory. Part

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<v Speaker 3>of the reason we don't have the inventory is zoning regulations.

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<v Speaker 3>That is something that city council can have a hand

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<v Speaker 3>in so directing the city planners and the city managers. Hey,

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<v Speaker 3>we want to see we want to make it easier

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<v Speaker 3>for people to develop the land they already own, to

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<v Speaker 3>increase the supply of affordable housing that we have, which

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<v Speaker 3>will which will then lower rent costs and ultimately it

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<v Speaker 3>may even lower mortgage costs.

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<v Speaker 1>You got a big video on your website, don't you.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, So I just it's it's on my Facebook page

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<v Speaker 3>aerin forward for Then I have a website which is

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<v Speaker 3>aerinforward for dot com, which.

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<v Speaker 2>Lays out what I'm about to tell you.

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<v Speaker 3>So it goes along with the affordable housing idea, and

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<v Speaker 3>I would encourage anybody to go check this out. I'll

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<v Speaker 3>tell you the details, but watch the video because it

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<v Speaker 3>lays it out really well. And then the website has

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<v Speaker 3>like detailed you know, deeper than I'm sure we'll get here.

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<v Speaker 2>So so here's.

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<v Speaker 3>A little background you need to know that will help

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<v Speaker 3>you get to as excited as I am by the

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<v Speaker 3>time we're done. So, when a piece of property gets

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<v Speaker 3>abandoned or gets dilapidated, people stop paying property taxes on it.

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<v Speaker 3>When that happens, the county puts a lean on that property. Right,

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<v Speaker 3>it's just a tax lien, and you have the opportunity

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<v Speaker 3>to come back and pay it, pay your back taxes.

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<v Speaker 3>But if you don't, after enough time, the county takes

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<v Speaker 3>possession of that land.

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<v Speaker 2>So what used to happen.

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<v Speaker 3>Is the county takes possession of you know, some house

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<v Speaker 3>that hadn't had its taxes paid, it's been abandoned, it's

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<v Speaker 3>you know, falling apart, the grass is grown tall, if

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<v Speaker 3>it's in city limits. The City of Bartlesville has been

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<v Speaker 3>on the hook for maintaining that land until it got

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<v Speaker 3>something got done with it. Okay, So we were out money,

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<v Speaker 3>out tax money to pay people to take care of

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<v Speaker 3>the property, and then the city or the county would

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<v Speaker 3>auction them off and the county would make the revenue.

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<v Speaker 1>Off of it.

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<v Speaker 3>So this year the state passed a law that allowed

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<v Speaker 3>the cities to take possession of these properties from the county,

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<v Speaker 3>and back in August.

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<v Speaker 2>The city council voted to do that.

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<v Speaker 3>But at that meeting, if you go back and watch

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<v Speaker 3>the discussion, they said, Okay, we're not really sure what

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<v Speaker 3>to do with these properties, but let's go ahead and

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<v Speaker 3>take them so maybe we can figure out something to

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<v Speaker 3>do with them in the future.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay.

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<v Speaker 3>I met with this city planner with the city manager

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<v Speaker 3>and kind of said, what's the plan here.

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<v Speaker 2>They said, we're not sure yet, but some idea.

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<v Speaker 3>Along the lines of will either auction them off or

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<v Speaker 3>will bundle them and sell them to developers. Okay, it's

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<v Speaker 3>not a bad idea, but it's not a great idea.

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<v Speaker 1>You don't know what you're get.

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<v Speaker 3>So I woke up at five thirty in the morning

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<v Speaker 3>a couple of weeks ago from a dead sleep. I

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<v Speaker 3>sat up in bed and went, oh, my goodness, I

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<v Speaker 3>know what to do. Like this is this idea is awesome.

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<v Speaker 3>So I called this idea the hometown hero Land Run. Okay,

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<v Speaker 3>right now, the city owns about a dozen of these lots.

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<v Speaker 3>They're just most of them are just vacant lots. My

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<v Speaker 3>suggestion is instead of auctioning them off, which in the

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<v Speaker 3>past has meant that maybe the neighbor buy it for

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<v Speaker 3>fifty to five hundred dollars and then just have a

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<v Speaker 3>double lot and you don't get it developed. Instead of

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<v Speaker 3>doing that, my suggestion is that we create a raffle

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<v Speaker 3>system for our teachers, police officers, and firefighters.

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<v Speaker 2>So the city owns these properties forget about selling them.

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<v Speaker 3>Instead, if you serve the city in one of these roles,

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<v Speaker 3>however many years you've served, you get an entry to

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<v Speaker 3>whatever drawings we do, to the raffles that we do

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<v Speaker 3>to potentially win one of these properties. So we all

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<v Speaker 3>wish we could pay these people more, and frankly, they

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<v Speaker 3>get sucked away from Bartlesville by cities or states that

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<v Speaker 3>will pay more than we can afford to. And it's

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<v Speaker 3>not that they're all just chasing money, so they're trying

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<v Speaker 3>to figure out how to make wise choices for themselves

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<v Speaker 3>and their families. So one thing that we can do

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<v Speaker 3>now we've got these lots, and so my idea is

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<v Speaker 3>ninety days out, we publish on our website. Hey, here's

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<v Speaker 3>the properties we have. Teachers, police officers, firefighters. You have

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<v Speaker 3>time to go look at these properties, meet with a

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<v Speaker 3>local lender to see if you can see or funding.

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<v Speaker 3>Meet with a local builder or developer to kind of

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<v Speaker 3>drop some plans how you will develop this property, so

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<v Speaker 3>that before the drawing happens, you can come to the

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<v Speaker 3>city planner's office and say, I want this piece of property,

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<v Speaker 3>Here's what I'm going to do with it, and then

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<v Speaker 3>you can enter into the raffle. You don't divide up

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<v Speaker 3>your entries or whatever it says, all in on one

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<v Speaker 3>property that you want to develop, because what we want

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<v Speaker 3>is for those cities to or those properties to move

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<v Speaker 3>off the city ledger back into private hands. Okay, this

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<v Speaker 3>is good for all of us, even if like myself,

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<v Speaker 3>I don't benefit from this, but my tax money is

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<v Speaker 3>no longer going to.

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<v Speaker 2>Keep up a piece of property.

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<v Speaker 3>In fact, it will then be developed, which will help

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<v Speaker 3>the city because it'll start getting property taxes back off

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<v Speaker 3>of that and these people can build a house that

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<v Speaker 3>they can afford.

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<v Speaker 2>Now this is important.

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<v Speaker 3>As part of this part of the hometown hero land run,

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<v Speaker 3>I would add a stipulation that whatever building you built

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<v Speaker 3>the primary residence there.

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<v Speaker 2>Must be owner occupied for ten years.

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<v Speaker 3>One of the challenges we have in a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>our neighborhoods is that they are especially in the downtown area,

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<v Speaker 3>it's actually more it's owned by people who rent them out,

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<v Speaker 3>so they're occupied by renters. And what that does when

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<v Speaker 3>you own a bunch of these things, you tend to

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<v Speaker 3>kind of check out. You just collect the rent checks

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<v Speaker 3>and you let the property so slowly fall apart. That

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<v Speaker 3>hurts everybody's property value. It hurts everybody's standard of living,

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<v Speaker 3>It increases crime and blight in the host of other things.

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<v Speaker 3>So when you build this property, for the first ten years,

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<v Speaker 3>it has to be owner occupied. So you can build

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<v Speaker 3>it and live in it, or you can build it

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<v Speaker 3>and sell it. Right, so you can develop the property,

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<v Speaker 3>make a nice profit off of it, sell to somebody

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<v Speaker 3>who's going to live there, and that's good for the neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 2>Right. So if you build and live in it.

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<v Speaker 3>When a police officer, firefighter move into a neighborhood, the

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<v Speaker 3>whole neighborhood becomes safer, So that benefits everybody. When you

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<v Speaker 3>have owner occupied properties, that benefits the whole neighborhood because

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<v Speaker 3>you begin to invest in that community, You keep up

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<v Speaker 3>the property, you take.

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<v Speaker 2>Care of it, so even if they sell it, it's

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<v Speaker 2>still going to be good.

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<v Speaker 3>If a teacher moves in on the neighborhood, she begins

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<v Speaker 3>to get to know or he begins to get to

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<v Speaker 3>know the families the children that are involved in the

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<v Speaker 3>school district, which can make it and invest in those

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<v Speaker 3>communities too. We want our people to put down deep

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<v Speaker 3>roots in these neighborhoods. At the same time, it increases

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<v Speaker 3>property value. So literally everybody in those neighborhoods benefits from

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<v Speaker 3>this program along the way. The way I look at it,

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<v Speaker 3>it benefits the individuals who win the raffle, It benefits

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<v Speaker 3>the neighborhoods where these people move in, It benefits the

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<v Speaker 3>local economy, and it benefits the city government, and it

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<v Speaker 3>decreases the tax burden for the rest of us taking

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<v Speaker 3>care of these properties.

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<v Speaker 2>It is a win win. One more idea, just to

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<v Speaker 2>put a cherry on top, I think that we do this.

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<v Speaker 3>The Bartlesville Redevelopment Trust Authority already has a policy like

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<v Speaker 3>this in place where if you use city funds to

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<v Speaker 3>upgrade your property to build those kind of things, it

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<v Speaker 3>must be done with local labor.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the same thing would apply here. At least

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<v Speaker 2>I would like to see the same thing apply, or

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<v Speaker 2>at least.

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<v Speaker 3>Some percentage of the contractors that you use to build

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<v Speaker 3>a property must be local labor, which then goes to

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<v Speaker 3>stimulate the local economy, but stimulates the local economy.

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<v Speaker 2>Without any of us paying more taxes.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, okay, where can we find this on your website

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<v Speaker 1>and on your Facebook page? Tell us where your website is?

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<v Speaker 3>So Aaron four fr Aaron for Ward four the number four,

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<v Speaker 3>okay Aerinforward four dot com, there's a tab up there

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<v Speaker 3>that says hometown Heroes Land Run. And then if you

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<v Speaker 3>just search on Facebook for Aaron for Ward four, you'll

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<v Speaker 3>find my Facebook. It's that video went live at eight

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<v Speaker 3>point thirty yep. Share it with all your teacher friends,

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<v Speaker 3>all your police officer friends, all your firefighter friends, and

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<v Speaker 3>if you know people in Ward four, I'd love it

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<v Speaker 3>if you'd encourage them to check it out.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, Aaron Kirkpatrick, thank you for being with us.

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you,