Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's
Speaker 1: a part two of our community connection. Today we have
Speaker 1: His honor of the Mayor, Jim curR in with us,
Speaker 1: and boy, I tell you, we always we always get
Speaker 1: somebody who had a short night the following day after
Speaker 1: after the City Council being last night, we talked a
Speaker 1: little bit about the strateg plan A little yeah, like
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we sure did. We had a lot to
Speaker 2: discuss last night. A lot of great things happened last night.
Speaker 2: We passed budgets for our Bartletool Development Authority. We passed
Speaker 2: a budget for our city at Bartletill Course, which we'd
Speaker 2: have been working on for a couple of weeks now
Speaker 2: and got that passed, and then passed a budget for
Speaker 2: our Visitor Development Group too. So we had these are
Speaker 2: you know, the city being the center hub of it all,
Speaker 2: and then these other agencies at work tirelessly for the
Speaker 2: city every day, down to the BDA and Visitor Bureau.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: That's great to have him in front of us telling
Speaker 2: their story, telling the highlights and low light of the
Speaker 2: year for us.
Speaker 3: So it was a great meeting.
Speaker 2: We got a lot done during the meeting and we
Speaker 2: got some property annexed into the city. The city's going
Speaker 2: to ask you, but we grew a little by twenty
Speaker 2: seven acres. And but for our seamen's plant Lincoln Electric
Speaker 2: out there, it's going to be a that's going to
Speaker 2: be just a great new facility for the city of
Speaker 2: Bartlezila and for the jobs that'll come with it.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: We kept a home grown business at home too.
Speaker 2: We did, we expanded a homegrown business, and uh, I
Speaker 2: think that's always a highlight because we like to feel
Speaker 2: like we're trying to attract business to town and then
Speaker 2: sometimes maybe felt like we neglect businesses in town.
Speaker 3: But this is a classic case.
Speaker 2: Where we're doing everything we can local businesses to grow
Speaker 2: them and help them grow and create more jobs in
Speaker 2: the community.
Speaker 1: Now, someone will say, while adds thirty or forty jobs, Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, every time someone else has a job
Speaker 1: that creates one or two, maybe three other jobs down
Speaker 1: the line as it just kind of fans out, it
Speaker 1: feeds on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that adds a I mean between these new companies
Speaker 2: that we've got coming to town, Blue Whale and Lincoln
Speaker 2: Electric and the expansion, these are close to two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty or three hundred jobs, and we'll we'll have
Speaker 2: to go looking for those jobs. And we talked a
Speaker 2: little bit about the benefit of having Tri County Tech
Speaker 2: in our area here and what a great school it is.
Speaker 2: They can adapt quickly to training workforces and attracting workforces.
Speaker 2: So we'll look forward to them being a real part
Speaker 2: of finding some staffing and workers for these companies.
Speaker 1: That'd be great. Keep them on the homegrown kids at home.
Speaker 1: So many towns this size, the kids will go off
Speaker 1: to college and you never really get to see the grandkids,
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. But Barnusville is one
Speaker 1: of those towns already that they go off to college,
Speaker 1: you see the world a little bit, and they realize
Speaker 1: pretty good back here and they set up shop where
Speaker 1: they go to work for someone or start their own business.
Speaker 1: But this is another reason to have folks stay around
Speaker 1: and really be a part of one great communit. And
Speaker 1: I know that they're going to be bringing other people
Speaker 1: in the other these entities. I guess we better call
Speaker 1: it trackmccaully and let him know they're going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll have some we certainly between between the church
Speaker 2: and the several places that I play golf at the
Speaker 2: amount of young people and their children is just a
Speaker 2: sounding to me. So it's just great to see him
Speaker 2: participating in the community and coming back home and finding
Speaker 2: the benefits of being here. You can always travel out
Speaker 2: and go on vacations and go to nice places, but
Speaker 2: having a nice, homegrown place to live and call home,
Speaker 2: easy to get around, and can be to work in
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes anywhere in this town, and you're frustrated when
Speaker 2: you've got to sit at two lights at Adams and
Speaker 2: Silver Lights because you think, man, there's a traffic jam
Speaker 2: out here. So it's a great, great attraction to the city.
Speaker 2: And adding our new attractions restaurants and retail have helped
Speaker 2: a great deal. So I think we've kind of found
Speaker 2: ourselves turning the tide a little and attracting people to
Speaker 2: live and stay here in Barblesville.
Speaker 1: You know what, by bringing industry here, this is something
Speaker 1: that you know, the whole country needs to do. Yes,
Speaker 1: is what we're doing is bringing some American industries so
Speaker 1: that Americans can work industriously, yes, to get the job done,
Speaker 1: to make products for fellow Americans in the world.
Speaker 2: We talked a little about that Chris Batchel to mention
Speaker 2: the program at the high school.
Speaker 3: And carpentry and construction.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so you know, and teaching people that the
Speaker 2: trades are essential, necessary and good paying jobs. And I
Speaker 2: think Tri County Tech does a good job at that.
Speaker 2: And I think the school being and opening up our
Speaker 2: AGG program now and this construction management and construction trades
Speaker 2: is a great signal for trades and workers to come
Speaker 2: because there are good jobs. They're well paying jobs. We've
Speaker 2: got great companies in town here. I've been out to
Speaker 2: Blue Whale and seeing what kind of a company that's
Speaker 2: going to be. On the safety side. I've been to
Speaker 2: ABB and that's like walking into a hospital practically.
Speaker 3: It's so clean and precise for the stuff that they
Speaker 3: do there.
Speaker 2: And I know the same as with the middle goods
Speaker 2: and what they do the gauges and valves.
Speaker 3: They make great companies here in town in great.
Speaker 1: Jobs, my goodness sakes. And now we did the thing
Speaker 1: with the Endeavor twenty forty five last night. We passed
Speaker 1: it in its original form. I understand there were some
Speaker 1: amendments that were brought up, proposed around sixty I guess, right,
Speaker 1: how does this all play out?
Speaker 2: Well, there was some good conversations. I think counsel Weis
Speaker 2: mind Dorsey and Councilman Kirkpatrick represented the situation pretty well.
Speaker 2: This plan was passed unanimously by a committee of thirteen
Speaker 2: or fourteen people spread throughout the community earlier last year,
Speaker 2: and the council, with a new council on board, decided
Speaker 2: to put together kind of a review committee for any
Speaker 2: additional comments. And unfortunately this committee had members of a
Speaker 2: political group on it, and I just don't think the
Speaker 2: amendments resounded with a lot of people.
Speaker 3: So the plan was good from the day it was written.
Speaker 3: You could always go into.
Speaker 2: Any plan and change the bag on it or the writing,
Speaker 2: but the people that put the plan together worked hard
Speaker 2: on it. Uh. They deserve a lot of credit for
Speaker 2: bringing forward and I'm I'm glad it passed in its
Speaker 2: original form last night.
Speaker 1: Mayor Kurt. If I remember correctly, I think I attended
Speaker 1: a few of these things that we had a lot
Speaker 1: of public participation at the community, great deal of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we it went on and on and on, and I.
Speaker 3: Know when anybody could have been on there and help.
Speaker 1: Yeah, indeed, and there were a lot of folks that
Speaker 1: had a lot of things to say at that time.
Speaker 1: And uh, it just seemed like it was pretty well betted.
Speaker 2: It was well it was, it was open to anybody
Speaker 2: to be on and the comments came well after that, uh,
Speaker 2: and they were the comments were pretty much crafted from
Speaker 2: this political group that came that they worked through. So
Speaker 2: it was it was a good still part of the
Speaker 2: process that we opened it up and allowed the city
Speaker 2: administration and this group to look through it. But ultimately
Speaker 2: the seven people on the Planning Commission and virtually everybody
Speaker 2: as far as I know, on the original committee supported
Speaker 2: the plan as it was presented.
Speaker 1: Very very good, very very good. Now, like you said,
Speaker 1: a strategic plan is basically a roadmap or we want
Speaker 1: to be in twenty forty five.
Speaker 3: I think we can change the plan at any time.
Speaker 2: I think as a matter of policy, you don't want
Speaker 2: to every time you turn a new council over. You
Speaker 2: don't want to bring every plan out and feel like
Speaker 2: the new council should be able to go through it,
Speaker 2: because that council at any time can change anything and
Speaker 2: any plan they want to. All they need is three votes.
Speaker 2: So if there's something objectionable in a zoning requirement that
Speaker 2: comes up, and we'll have some of that when we
Speaker 2: redoce some of our codes. It'll be inherent upon the
Speaker 2: council to call an exception to that, and if they
Speaker 2: like the policy that's written into the new plan, they
Speaker 2: can stick with it. If they don't, they can change
Speaker 2: the policy. So we have that ability as five people
Speaker 2: on that council going forward, no matter who's on that council,
Speaker 2: we can change that plan.
Speaker 1: I don't need to be pulling this out of the
Speaker 1: back pages or anything, but I do remember there was
Speaker 1: a discussion in one of the sessions that I was
Speaker 1: in observing. There were folks who wanted to buy a
Speaker 1: property here and maybe take down some houses put up
Speaker 1: new houses, right, But they balked at the fact that
Speaker 1: they had to pay the outstanding tax. They just wanted
Speaker 1: to take it off the city's hands and then once
Speaker 1: we improve it, we be happy to pay the tax. Sure,
Speaker 1: And there seemed to be like a disconnect there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, whether that revolves around property rights that people
Speaker 2: are concerned about or not, I don't know. But the
Speaker 2: city's done a good job of trying to utilize properties
Speaker 2: that we have. We have acquired some and there will
Speaker 2: be someday. There's been talk about some subsidized housing itself.
Speaker 2: We've been talking to the BDA about that, about trying
Speaker 2: to help our housing problem that we have here in town.
Speaker 3: So I think that's something that could come up in
Speaker 3: the future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it'd Like I said, housing, it has about
Speaker 1: sixteen different directions that can go.
Speaker 2: We don't have time for We've never had a concerted
Speaker 2: development effort. We just have spot developments. They've done well,
Speaker 2: and thankful for those, but in time to entice larger
Speaker 2: developments here on a regular basis, to fulfill a need
Speaker 2: that you need is not always here in great amounts.
Speaker 2: It tends to trickle in with smaller amounts of need.
Speaker 2: But it is a challenge that when we do bring
Speaker 2: companies to town and they bring different groups of people
Speaker 2: that need housing, we've got to make sure that we
Speaker 2: are supplying those housing needs for those.
Speaker 3: People that want to work here and live here. So
Speaker 3: a great problem to have.
Speaker 1: Mayor is a kind of a relief not to be
Speaker 1: talking about water.
Speaker 3: Water.
Speaker 2: We've got water, but I will tell you now, the
Speaker 2: lakes are full, We've got plenty of water, and we're
Speaker 2: working well towards solving our water problem the next several years.
Speaker 3: It's a long and aduous process.
Speaker 2: But we've got a plan in place, got shape, legislators
Speaker 2: working on it daily, and I would tell and certainly
Speaker 2: our meetings have been long sometimes and I don't can
Speaker 2: always catch the people up. But I think now is
Speaker 2: also the time to conserve water the best you can.
Speaker 2: Just just because there's an abundance of it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that we should be using in abundance of water if
Speaker 2: we don't need it. And checker sprinkling systems, see how
Speaker 2: often they're using. Can you work them less this time
Speaker 2: of year and wait till the heat comes in. I mean,
Speaker 2: anything we can do to prolong the supply for a
Speaker 2: longer period of time. So if we do get in
Speaker 2: a pinch later in August and September when we haven't
Speaker 2: had any rains and hopefully we won't have to come
Speaker 2: to any restrictions on our water, which nobody likes to do.
Speaker 1: Well, it'd be a good thing, that'll be, you know.
Speaker 1: I do see people with their sprinklers on it down.
Speaker 3: For I've seen it, and they've got to get them
Speaker 3: up and running for the summer.
Speaker 2: And I get that, but there's always that timer that
Speaker 2: was on like and when it was August and September,
Speaker 2: and that's running in April and May and so.
Speaker 3: Anyways, it's just incumbenty Watchet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a limited water supply with our lakes
Speaker 2: and our and the way they supply water, so we
Speaker 2: should be always be cautious of that until we have
Speaker 2: some expanded water use in the Huett Lake and we
Speaker 2: get the water rights from Copana. When we get those secured,
Speaker 2: we'll have not an abundance of water, but we'll have
Speaker 2: a better supply water for the long term.
Speaker 1: I think drawing board, is there still the possibility down
Speaker 1: the road that would be running pipe along sixty to
Speaker 1: Punka a fall lake.
Speaker 2: That plan was not part of the plan, but where
Speaker 2: the plan is to expand our we got here dud
Speaker 2: pool at Hula and then get some water rights from Copana,
Speaker 2: excuse me, and then we're going to have an auxiliary
Speaker 2: plan where if we had to run a hard pipe
Speaker 2: between here and Tulsa or sky took in an emergency situation,
Speaker 2: running it through the Walmart distribution center and being able
Speaker 2: to bring pottable water to Bartlesville in an emergency situation,
Speaker 2: that is part of the plane that was.
Speaker 3: Adopted by the Water Resource Board.
Speaker 2: So that's a great contingency plan to have that hopefully
Speaker 2: will never have to use. With our water reuse program
Speaker 2: and other things that we have in place, hopefully we'll
Speaker 2: forestall ever having to do that. But it's good to
Speaker 2: have that in our pocket to know what we would
Speaker 2: have to do if that came about.
Speaker 1: What are we looking forward to ahead as we get
Speaker 1: into me I know, we got the pools opening and
Speaker 1: things like that we do.
Speaker 2: It's just summers here and we're mowing parks and and
Speaker 2: sports are happening every day at our ball fields. To
Speaker 2: see the kids playing at soccer fields and the baseball fields.
Speaker 2: Got a great group running our baseball fields now and
Speaker 2: a baseball program. And so spring is a good time
Speaker 2: in Bartlesville where the trees are coming out and everything's
Speaker 2: starting to come about.
Speaker 3: We had a significant.
Speaker 2: Amount of rain in the last ten twelve days and
Speaker 2: it's dried up a little. We've got a little more
Speaker 2: rain coming in from the next few days. But spring's
Speaker 2: a great time in Bartols Hill. We have a lot
Speaker 2: look forward to. The Council's just police that we've gotten
Speaker 2: to this point here. We've gotten these budgets passed and
Speaker 2: we're set for next year at the City of bartles Hill.
Speaker 2: And I can't thank the staff of the City of
Speaker 2: Barblesville and the BDA and Maria us down at the
Speaker 2: Bizard Development for the work they put in and supply
Speaker 2: the budgets to us and tell us their story.
Speaker 3: They did a great job last night.
Speaker 1: Well, visit Bartlesville. They do a pretty good job of
Speaker 1: getting folks in here.
Speaker 3: They've done a great job, he tells me.
Speaker 1: All it takes is a visit, and that's all it
Speaker 1: took for me to come here and move.
Speaker 3: And she's had to overcome the Price Tower.
Speaker 2: I think I'm not going to say we've turned the corner,
Speaker 2: but we've got a great group that owns the tower
Speaker 2: now and what they can do with it in the
Speaker 2: future and how the city could help in that respect
Speaker 2: is something we'll have conversations with.
Speaker 3: So it's good that we've gotten away.
Speaker 2: From the past troubles of the Price Tower and we've
Speaker 2: got a good ownership and a group in place, and
Speaker 2: we look forward to working with them and seeing what
Speaker 2: they can do for the Price Tower. And I know
Speaker 2: that'll help Maria to help some additional things to talk
Speaker 2: about in our town.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great, great addition James, there.
Speaker 1: Is anything else you'd like to tell us.
Speaker 3: I can just say you know it was overall, it
Speaker 3: was a good meeting.
Speaker 2: I know we've got some things to overcome on the council,
Speaker 2: but the council performed really well last night in regards
Speaker 2: of getting these budgets passed and taking care of the
Speaker 2: city for the next year.
Speaker 3: I'm proud to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Folks, you've been watching and listening
Speaker 1: to our City Matters program with bingor Jim Kurr right
Speaker 1: here on K one, the one you trust. Stay tuned