Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, Welcome, welcome, welcome, any
Speaker 1: time now for our community connection right here on K one,
Speaker 1: the one he trust it is outter the Mayor Neil Copeland.
Speaker 1: He is in with this today and asagi, good morning
Speaker 1: to you. And it's soggy and good go together for
Speaker 1: a change.
Speaker 2: It's a good morning. It's a wet morning. We need
Speaker 2: a wet morning. I don't know that we needed it
Speaker 2: all at once, but I heard the radio this morning.
Speaker 2: The lakes are filling up and it's looking good. I
Speaker 2: think I think we'll probably see runoff into the lakes.
Speaker 2: I've watched this in the past, and as we all have,
Speaker 2: the runoff will happen for a week or more. It's
Speaker 2: not just when it rains, it's it just continues to
Speaker 2: run in. So I think those will look good. In fact,
Speaker 2: won't surprise me if they actually start letting some water
Speaker 2: out of them. But it's a good thing.
Speaker 1: We are Copeland. Something really cool happened over the weekend.
Speaker 1: Kind of came in under the wire, but wow, sure
Speaker 1: was nice for our town.
Speaker 2: It was I don't I've seen nothing about it, but
Speaker 2: there was an amazing thing. I had the privilege of
Speaker 2: having a very small part. But uh there's a group
Speaker 2: called the Oklahoma Association of Student Councils the OASC, and
Speaker 2: they had their eighty fourth conference in Bartlesville. In fact,
Speaker 2: they are having it's still going on, but they had
Speaker 2: their opening event on Saturday. Got a chance to visit
Speaker 2: with them. There are over two thousand people from across
Speaker 2: our state in Bartlesville. If you've been out this weekend,
Speaker 2: you've seen buses and vans and shuttles at the hotels
Speaker 2: and motels, at restaurants. It's a tremendous thing. It gives
Speaker 2: you confidence in our young people to see this many
Speaker 2: young folks and their leaders focused on learning leadership skills.
Speaker 2: It was kind of interesting, of course it's it's younger
Speaker 2: people and the theme that they selected they've been working
Speaker 2: on this, I guess for months and even years was
Speaker 2: once upon a Leader. It's kind of a Disney sort
Speaker 2: of a thing. But it was great. Got a chance,
Speaker 2: like I say, to talk to them and see them.
Speaker 2: And it's a huge impact for Bartlesville. And it's huge impact.
Speaker 2: I was talking to someone said, who knows five or
Speaker 2: ten or forty years from now, who in that group
Speaker 2: will be in positions of leadership that perhaps got starred
Speaker 2: or at least got some training here today.
Speaker 1: Cool, very cool. You know we got the election coming.
Speaker 1: I hear we have an election. I've heard that, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've heard city hallsmen got it busy too, because
Speaker 1: the election board right upstairs. And who you've been getting
Speaker 1: the visitors? You represent Ward one on the city council
Speaker 1: as well as being mayor of our community. Tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about.
Speaker 2: The war I do Ward one, And first I want
Speaker 2: to thank you Tom and Nathan and the radio station
Speaker 2: for hosting the forum that we had last week. I
Speaker 2: think it was a great chance. Obviously you talk to
Speaker 2: people all the time, but it was a great way
Speaker 2: for everyone to get to be introduced and know a
Speaker 2: little bit more about each candidate. And I enjoyed that
Speaker 2: and appreciate you doing that. Word one that I represent
Speaker 2: and where I live, of course, runs from Highway seventy
Speaker 2: five Washington Boulevard east to Madison Boulevard, so between the
Speaker 2: Highway and Madison, and then from north to south. It
Speaker 2: runs from No Water Road, which is Highway sixty up
Speaker 2: to Nebraska. Now there's a little bit of a jog
Speaker 2: offset over by Wilson's School. But basically it's rectangular and
Speaker 2: covers that area, so anyone living there is in Ward
Speaker 2: One when you go to vote, and I encourage you
Speaker 2: strongly to vote. If everybody votes. It was great last
Speaker 2: week to go to city Hall and although perhaps not
Speaker 2: what I anticipated, but to stand in line and visit
Speaker 2: with volks, But there were lots of people with the
Speaker 2: same idea. Turnout has been tremendous, and I think that's
Speaker 2: a great thing. It's discouraging when you have a vote
Speaker 2: and only a few people turn out, so this is
Speaker 2: a good thing. But represented Ward One have lived here
Speaker 2: for a long long time. I attended schools in Bartlesville,
Speaker 2: went to McKinley, which McKinley's not McKinley anymore, but it
Speaker 2: was when I was there. Then went to Ranch Heights
Speaker 2: Madison and graduated what was called Sooner. We now call
Speaker 2: that Madison. So change happens. Both of my sons also
Speaker 2: went to Ranch Heights and later Madison and on through
Speaker 2: the schools system. My grandsons, two of them have gone
Speaker 2: through the school system and graduated. One of my sons
Speaker 2: is in law enforcement. One of my grandsons, hard to
Speaker 2: believe because I'm not that old. Is now a teacher
Speaker 2: here in Bartlesville. So we've enjoyed this community, gotten a
Speaker 2: lot from it, and hopefully have been able to give back.
Speaker 2: We operated, my wife and I with my parents and
Speaker 2: then they retired, but we operated a local appliance sales
Speaker 2: and service business. Finally retired after fifty one years. Been
Speaker 2: here a long time. Had FedEx Ship Center for a
Speaker 2: while for about thirteen years of that. So we've been
Speaker 2: involved do a lot of stuff. With the Scouting program.
Speaker 2: I've worked with them since the eighties when my kids
Speaker 2: were in Scouting and later my grandsons. I've been involved,
Speaker 2: of course with our church. Worked with city government now
Speaker 2: for several years. I had opportunity to be a member.
Speaker 2: This one is another long one. The ODEQ has a
Speaker 2: group called the Hazardous Waste Management Advisory Council. I was
Speaker 2: appointed by governors to serve on that in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: We just had a meeting a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 2: and then it was really honored too. It's amazing when
Speaker 2: you live in a small community because you know all
Speaker 2: the other people, but every once in a while they
Speaker 2: turn around and look at you. That is always a surprise.
Speaker 2: I was surprised. I was awarded the Tom Shoemake Award
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four. So it's been a great place
Speaker 2: to live. It still is a great place to live.
Speaker 2: We just want to keep it that way.
Speaker 1: City council people have their different ideas of what it does,
Speaker 1: of what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 2: Kind of clarify that. For the Cita council has two
Speaker 2: primary functions in Bartlesville. This is not television, This is
Speaker 2: not Houston, this is not Chicago. The city council oversees
Speaker 2: policy and budget. We do not run the city per se.
Speaker 2: The city manager deals with his employees. We deal with
Speaker 2: the city manager. We are charged with running a balanced budget.
Speaker 2: That budget covers everything from police and fire to parks
Speaker 2: and streets and water and wastewater. There's a variety of things.
Speaker 2: They're all important at one time or another, two different
Speaker 2: folks in different ways. But our job is to try.
Speaker 2: I always tell people to run a boring government that
Speaker 2: just works. You have good people. We have a good staff.
Speaker 2: You have good people doing good work. You provide them
Speaker 2: with the tools that they need and they get the
Speaker 2: job done. The trash gets picked up, the parks are mode,
Speaker 2: water flows and things happen. A lot of times people
Speaker 2: see television or whatever and they think the drama very
Speaker 2: little positive gets accomplished. When you have dissension and arguments.
Speaker 2: It's great to have discussions and to look at improvements
Speaker 2: and changes. I think we do that, but that's the
Speaker 2: function of government. It can be boring, but the stability
Speaker 2: and the consistency that's achieved, I think is what people
Speaker 2: really want. For instance, a strategic reserve not something that
Speaker 2: comes up often, but it's our rainy day account that
Speaker 2: allows us to continue to provide those consistent services even
Speaker 2: when the economy might go down.
Speaker 1: I'd say during the recent pandemic.
Speaker 2: During the pandemic, if you remember back eighth nine, that
Speaker 2: in fact, that's when that strategic reserve was first implemented.
Speaker 2: Was after that because if you don't have income, then
Speaker 2: you can't pay your people, and they deserve to be paid.
Speaker 2: Over fifty percent of our total operating budget goes to
Speaker 2: public safety, police and fire. Those are the folks that
Speaker 2: are out in the storms. They're the people that are
Speaker 2: out at two in the morning on Thanksgiving Day when
Speaker 2: I'm home warm and having pumpkin fire, sleeping or whatever
Speaker 2: I'm doing, and we need that one of the things
Speaker 2: that it flows out into a lot of different things.
Speaker 2: For instance, our fire department currently has a rating of two.
Speaker 2: There's only a few places in the state that have
Speaker 2: a rating of one, and we're very close to that.
Speaker 2: But the reason that's important is not only because it's
Speaker 2: important for public safety, but that is something that impacts
Speaker 2: my and your insurance rates. So our premiums. If our
Speaker 2: fire department is less than that, our ratings would go up,
Speaker 2: our insurance premiums would change. So there's just a lot
Speaker 2: of things that go on. It's not important until it's important.
Speaker 2: And if you have a problem with a street drained
Speaker 2: backed up, now it's a problem, and so we try
Speaker 2: to avoid that and keep things working and going smoothly.
Speaker 1: Very good. Got some big issues for the next council term.
Speaker 2: What are they, Well, it depends on and we don't
Speaker 2: know what's going to come up. But in my viewpoint
Speaker 2: right now, the thing that we've just got to keep
Speaker 2: a focus on tom is the streets. We've got over
Speaker 2: five hundred lane miles. They all need attention, some more
Speaker 2: than others. We prioritize that based on the condition of
Speaker 2: the index what's called a PCI Pavement Condition Index. Streets
Speaker 2: and Traffic Committee is a tremendous resource that looks at
Speaker 2: that and makes recommendations across the city. How much traffic
Speaker 2: is this street, Like Frank Phillips in front of the
Speaker 2: radio station gets a lot more traffic than a cul
Speaker 2: de sac in my neighborhood, and so all that because
Speaker 2: we never have enough money, and so we have to
Speaker 2: use that wisely, just like you do at home. Do
Speaker 2: I fix the roof or do I buy a new sportscar?
Speaker 2: Well they're both nice, but at some point I have
Speaker 2: to decide which one has to happen given the resources
Speaker 2: I have. It's probably a bad example, but I like Sportscar.
Speaker 2: But I think we do an overall good job of that.
Speaker 2: And it's involving over two hundred other volunteers for all
Speaker 2: the different committees and things that we have, from parks
Speaker 2: to cemeteries, to golf courses to streets to zoning City
Speaker 2: Hearing Committee that looks at all the zoning variances and
Speaker 2: approvals because ultimately the city council only can do what
Speaker 2: the citizens have approved. We have GEO bonds, General obligation
Speaker 2: bonds or property tax. We have sales taxes or our
Speaker 2: two primary sources of funding, and I'd like to have
Speaker 2: a lot more money for streets. But I think we
Speaker 2: really need to continue focusing on streets. It's just important,
Speaker 2: and I think it's the number one thing that we
Speaker 2: all deal with. But we want to also look at
Speaker 2: our public safety in our parks and all those other things.
Speaker 2: They're important. Now.
Speaker 1: Water supply. We touched on that just a little bit
Speaker 1: ago because it's been raining and by Collie we needed it.
Speaker 2: We have sometimes a group called messing that online. So
Speaker 2: that was the worst drought in one hundred years for
Speaker 2: this area, just in the last several months. And then
Speaker 2: we go from drought and they were having fires at
Speaker 2: some of our neighbors and having to evacuate neighborhoods I
Speaker 2: believe in Pasca a week ago or less than a
Speaker 2: week ago. And then we go to these torrential rains
Speaker 2: that have begun to refill our lakes and talk to
Speaker 2: another lady. Their pond had been dry, was refilling, and
Speaker 2: that's just apparently the way Olakclum is. Now. We won't
Speaker 2: have a water problem. Well, maybe we'll have too much water,
Speaker 2: but we won't have an immediate water shortage problem, but
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean we're going to stop, nor have we. Now.
Speaker 2: I know that not everyone has seen the progress the
Speaker 2: total final solution, but a lot has been accomplished. We've
Speaker 2: gotten more water supply at Copan Lake. We're working to
Speaker 2: get more. We hope that the worda bill that's going
Speaker 2: through Congress right now will allow us to get the
Speaker 2: rest of the available water at Copan. We're dealing with
Speaker 2: the corp of Engineers for Cela Lake on floodpool reallocation.
Speaker 2: We're looking at other sources, whether it be Calllake. We've
Speaker 2: looked at Skytook, We've looked at Birch, We've looked at
Speaker 2: all these different things. We've looked at an aquifer in
Speaker 2: Osah County. So we're continuing to work on all of that.
Speaker 2: The cost can get very, very large. I've had someone
Speaker 2: mention that another community in Oklahoma had accomplished a water
Speaker 2: supply from Call Lake. But that was almost three hundred
Speaker 2: million dollars spent to do that, and that's a number
Speaker 2: too big for me to comprehend. In some ways, if
Speaker 2: you divide that by the number of water users that
Speaker 2: we have here now, it becomes real when I start
Speaker 2: saying five, six, twelve, fourteen thousand dollars per household. That's
Speaker 2: a real number I can understand. And that's what the
Speaker 2: city council wants to be very careful that we not
Speaker 2: only find a solution, a good solution, but an affordable solution,
Speaker 2: and not just spend because we're spending taxpayers money and
Speaker 2: that's mine and that's yours. But it's important and I
Speaker 2: think that we've been very careful with that. We are
Speaker 2: making progress. Our Washington DC delegation, our senators and congressmen
Speaker 2: are very aware when I call them that I'm going
Speaker 2: to want to talk about water. So we are making
Speaker 2: progress and we will continue to do so, but we
Speaker 2: will do it to find the best affordable solution.
Speaker 1: Del Copeland is a guesstand. Of course, tomorrow is election
Speaker 1: day and we've already kind of touched on at early turnout.
Speaker 1: That's been awesome.
Speaker 2: It has been It's been great to see so many people.
Speaker 2: Let's get to visit with people that you haven't seen
Speaker 2: in a while. But it was great. A little frustrated,
Speaker 2: stand in line, but there are worse things to do,
Speaker 2: and the system worked well. Oklahoma has an amazing election system.
Speaker 2: I wish a lot of the other states would come
Speaker 2: and learn about it and copy it. But yeah, great.
Speaker 2: It'll be open tomorrow from seven in the morning till
Speaker 2: seven in the evening, and then starting at seven oh one,
Speaker 2: tom I guess you'll be telling us what's happening.
Speaker 1: We'll get your pencils to score cards. Ready, we'll be
Speaker 1: popping a popcorn.
Speaker 2: And plenty of heads. Yeah. I think our reports are
Speaker 2: our results will come in pretty quickly. I don't know
Speaker 2: about the rest of it the national scene, but we'll
Speaker 2: see where we're going to go and then move forward.
Speaker 2: That's the way our system of a constitutional republic was
Speaker 2: designed to work, and we want to follow that. It's
Speaker 2: worked well for two hundred and seventy years. Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, Dale, this is the part where everybody gets a
Speaker 1: closing statement.
Speaker 2: Okay, well again, for those that don't know me, my
Speaker 2: name is Dale Copeland. I remember Copeland appliance for all
Speaker 2: of those years. That's us, and I want to have
Speaker 2: the opportunity to serve you for a two year term.
Speaker 2: On Ward one we've talked about world. Ward one is
Speaker 2: I'm always available for questions. I think it surprises people
Speaker 2: to hear that I don't get that many calls, I
Speaker 2: don't get that many emails, and when we do, I
Speaker 2: enjoy visiting with people. One of the things about the
Speaker 2: election that's been great is the chance to visit with
Speaker 2: more folks. What I learned is that we're not that different.
Speaker 2: That we both want good things for the community. We
Speaker 2: might differ on this or that, and we talk and
Speaker 2: find out that that's a reasonable thing. So we've had
Speaker 2: a lot of opportunities. We've got a lot more opportunities.
Speaker 2: I'm involved in the community, and I think that it's
Speaker 2: fair to say that I've got the experience and the
Speaker 2: understanding of how our city works to continue to help
Speaker 2: us grow and go forward. We need new jobs for
Speaker 2: our young people, we need new housing, we need to
Speaker 2: continue work as I've talked on our streets, and all
Speaker 2: of those things are important, but it takes a while
Speaker 2: to learn how government works. And I think ready to
Speaker 2: start from day one. Everything needs attention. But we need
Speaker 2: to take care of our tax dollars and use them
Speaker 2: carefully and safely. Bartlesville is a really special place, and
Speaker 2: I just want to help that continue to grow and
Speaker 2: go forward. I've spent my entire adult life coming up
Speaker 2: to this point, and i think I've got the skills
Speaker 2: and the knowledge and the experience to keep Bartlesville going forward.
Speaker 2: So Tom, I'm just asking that if you live in
Speaker 2: Ward One, you're going to see my name on that
Speaker 2: ballot and just mark that ballot for Dale Copeland that
Speaker 2: I can continue to work with the city Council.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Dale Copeland, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you.