Speaker 1: The normal, But yeah, it was.
Speaker 2: We got a lot of good, good items on the
Speaker 2: agenda last night and a lot of good discussion towards
Speaker 2: those items.
Speaker 3: First of all, let's get to the one that a
Speaker 3: lot of folks had an interest in, was the golf
Speaker 3: carts on city streets. Uh, And that was.
Speaker 2: That was a tight vote, it was, And I think
Speaker 2: there's I think there's an ordinance there out there that
Speaker 2: we can eventually get passed. I think several of the
Speaker 2: councilors voice some concerns. I had some concerns, safety concerns,
Speaker 2: but I certainly agreed that it was a good ordinance
Speaker 2: to put out there, and we could modify it as
Speaker 2: we went down the road, as we found some areas
Speaker 2: that we needed further restrict. So I'm hopeful that we
Speaker 2: can find some language in there that we can get
Speaker 2: some agreement on and pass it because I think golf
Speaker 2: courts are a good motive opera to transportation for people.
Speaker 1: I see them throughout neighborhoods in.
Speaker 2: Bartlesville, and I want to be able to work with
Speaker 2: the counselors on the committee and see what we need
Speaker 2: to do to see if we could get that pass someday.
Speaker 2: All right, very one worked very hard on it, and
Speaker 2: he's got a lot of I had several people in support,
Speaker 2: but I really had no calls of people that didn't
Speaker 2: support it. But I understand the safety concerns of unleashing
Speaker 2: them on the city streets, but I just don't see
Speaker 2: it that as being a problem. I mean, we have
Speaker 2: the scooters out here, we have a lot of different
Speaker 2: modes of transportation that we've never had before. So I
Speaker 2: think it's just falls in line that we eventually get
Speaker 2: something on the books where we can allow those to
Speaker 2: be used throughout neighborhoods and in various parts of the
Speaker 2: city and kept off the major streets so that they're
Speaker 2: not a hazard to the people that are driving them.
Speaker 3: All Right, that took a little bit imagine.
Speaker 2: And yeah, golf courts are they're purchased all over the
Speaker 2: country nowadays. Secondhand cards have purchased and their repurpose with
Speaker 2: brake lights and headlights and turn signals and review mirrors and.
Speaker 1: And things like that.
Speaker 2: So I think there are safety aspects that we can
Speaker 2: add back to them, and then other restrictions as to
Speaker 2: where they would be able to be used throughout the
Speaker 2: city would be things that we could look into and
Speaker 2: see if we could bring it back and find an
Speaker 2: agreement on it.
Speaker 3: Well, I lived Inmployer for about ten years, and many
Speaker 3: of what they call the planned communities now, they didn't
Speaker 3: have it in a you know, a municipality. Within the
Speaker 3: planned community, you can zing around there, and many of
Speaker 3: those places had your own post office, your own stores,
Speaker 3: you know, your grocery store. All within the community had
Speaker 3: that little area, namely the villages. I don't know, have
Speaker 3: you ever been down.
Speaker 2: There, like, oh, I've heard yeah, I've seen it. And
Speaker 2: you know those are designed with four golf carts in mind. Yeah,
Speaker 2: roads they have different ways for those to get around.
Speaker 2: So that's different than it would be.
Speaker 1: Here in our community.
Speaker 2: But certainly I hope we can find a way to
Speaker 2: see if we can make those legal so to speak,
Speaker 2: in our neighborhoods and throughout the throughout the community.
Speaker 3: That was a big one, but boy, we had a
Speaker 3: lot of ones that warranted a lot of discussion. Last
Speaker 3: night we did what else did we have?
Speaker 2: Well, we had the properties. The city now has the
Speaker 2: ability to pick up properties that go through the sheriff
Speaker 2: sale or the county sale that don't meet a minimum
Speaker 2: bid and Larry Curtis Is found a way to secure
Speaker 2: those properties and then we've got kind of a pilot
Speaker 2: project to see what we could do with those down
Speaker 2: the road, make them available for future housing, or sell
Speaker 2: them at a better rate that we could get and
Speaker 2: receive our money back. Most of them are that we've
Speaker 2: torn down dilapidated houses and we have that cost investing
Speaker 2: in the property and we'd try to get that back
Speaker 2: in the sale of it. A lot of times the
Speaker 2: properties won't sell for what's owed on them, but this
Speaker 2: gives us a little more control over the properties and
Speaker 2: gives us some opportunity to use some There's opportunity zoned
Speaker 2: throughout the community that one of our counselors spoke about,
Speaker 2: and I think there might be an opportunity to find
Speaker 2: a way to build some additional housing throughout our community
Speaker 2: to meet the housing needs that we have.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's definitely needed. And we do have a
Speaker 3: lot of what you call bulldoze or ready projects.
Speaker 2: We do, and we've had several on the agenda last
Speaker 2: night to be voluntarily torn down.
Speaker 1: So there's going to be more properties available every year.
Speaker 2: This will happen and the city can kind of take
Speaker 2: a year to see how this works and if we
Speaker 2: can find buyers for them or find developers that might
Speaker 2: be interested in them. They're spotty, they're throughout the community,
Speaker 2: but they're mostly smaller lots, and we need houses in
Speaker 2: those areas too, because we are tearing down a lot
Speaker 2: of dilapidated structures and not replacing adequate single family homes
Speaker 2: in those areas.
Speaker 3: Well. Hopefully this works.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we'll see how it goes. And Larry Curtis
Speaker 2: has brought our new community development directors. He brought a
Speaker 2: new look to things down there and appreciate him coming
Speaker 2: up with these ideas of ways to do things like this.
Speaker 3: Great. What else was on the agenda last night?
Speaker 2: That took a bit, Well, then we had we had
Speaker 2: a reaffirmation of our city Charter for our Code of Ethics,
Speaker 2: and that just bore some discrestion as to the allotment
Speaker 2: of time we give citizens to speak at the council meeting.
Speaker 2: We currently have a fifteen minute limit, but as we
Speaker 2: all discussed, we've never imposed that limit. Aggregate totals fifteen
Speaker 2: minutes for a total combined group of people speak get
Speaker 2: the council. But throughout my seven and a half years,
Speaker 2: we've gone well over that into the hours, into tens
Speaker 2: and twenties of people allowed to speak for their three
Speaker 2: minute terms, and we've allowed them to go beyond the
Speaker 2: three minute terms in many cases too. So it was
Speaker 2: a good discussion and maybe not the time and place
Speaker 2: to have hammered out that last night. So I think
Speaker 2: that will hopefully come back for the council and there
Speaker 2: might be a way to extend that. A councilman Roselle
Speaker 2: wanted to extend it to sixty minutes, and I don't
Speaker 2: think that's unreasonable, so I think that's something we could
Speaker 2: look into. But last night we were basically reaffirming what
Speaker 2: the governor approved after the election of our of those
Speaker 2: two items. So we got that through last night, got
Speaker 2: that done, and then I think we'll hopefully see something
Speaker 2: come back to the fact that we might be able.
Speaker 1: To extend that period. Even though we've always extended it.
Speaker 2: We've never limited public comment other than the three minute rule,
Speaker 2: trying to get as many number of people as we can,
Speaker 2: but we've never put a fifteen minute time limit on
Speaker 2: one number of people that could speak.
Speaker 3: I can vouch for that. I've covered a couple of
Speaker 3: those marathons.
Speaker 1: We've had a couple of marathons and they've been good.
Speaker 2: It's been good to have public in there and have
Speaker 2: shown interest in a certain item. So I don't think
Speaker 2: any counselor that's on that committee wanted to in any
Speaker 2: way limit the time.
Speaker 1: It was just maybe it came before.
Speaker 2: Us, and I think we were just expecting to get
Speaker 2: this pass the way it was, And if we want
Speaker 2: to look at time limits, I think there's another time
Speaker 2: and a place to bring that before us, and that
Speaker 2: would be something we could consider.
Speaker 3: Very good, very good. Now we've got a little switching
Speaker 3: seasons coming over. It's still plenty hot, yes, and it's
Speaker 3: still plenty summer, but we have fall coming up here too,
Speaker 3: so we've got the school starting and everything cool starting.
Speaker 3: I had no mayor deal. I'd always say, don't you.
Speaker 1: Dare speed down? Slowed down.
Speaker 2: So we'll have extra police officers out monitoring those skill zones.
Speaker 2: And made a very good comment last night that we
Speaker 2: certainly urged the public to be cautious when they see
Speaker 2: those yellow lights flashing from the bus on the school
Speaker 2: zones or in front of schools. It's a time and
Speaker 2: a place to really slow ourselves down, ease ourselves to
Speaker 2: work or wherever we're going that day, and make sure
Speaker 2: we're taking the kids care of the kids that are
Speaker 2: out there crossing streets and getting the bus stops and
Speaker 2: getting ready to go back to school.
Speaker 3: You know, the different groups that have different kinds of responsibilities,
Speaker 3: all living under the one city. We've got it pretty
Speaker 3: good with our schools here, and I think our city
Speaker 3: Hall works very well with our public schools. We do,
Speaker 3: and the fact that we have resource officers. We're able
Speaker 3: to do that thanks to the generosity of a lot
Speaker 3: of different things, people and things. This is another reason
Speaker 3: why I think some people decide, well, you know, Bartinsall
Speaker 3: is not a bad place to raise a family. I
Speaker 3: think we're just going to move there.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: I mean, through the direction of our previous police chief
Speaker 2: and our city administration and the public and the support
Speaker 2: for our budgets, we've been able to put a resource
Speaker 2: officer in every school, and that's just a blessing throughout
Speaker 2: the community. To have these people that are protecting our children.
Speaker 2: It's a harsh reality sometimes that we have to do that,
Speaker 2: but once they're in place, it's good to have them there.
Speaker 2: They're good to interact with students in the building and
Speaker 2: to expose them to the police force and the generosity
Speaker 2: of our city to be able to find a way
Speaker 2: to keep these schools safe and have these kids in there.
Speaker 2: So it's been it's a it's a real privilege that
Speaker 2: we've been able to do that very good.
Speaker 3: You know, the community is one of these little oasises
Speaker 3: in the middle of you know, there's a whole lot
Speaker 3: of bad stuff going on in the world. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: and to find a little ottle Bartlesville, you know, in
Speaker 3: this tumultuous see we call the world, it's really something else.
Speaker 3: And we've taken this community has taken a lot of
Speaker 3: time and a lot of effort to examine things over
Speaker 3: the years to make sure that it's as good as
Speaker 3: it can possibly be. And our city Council, you guys
Speaker 3: and gals, over the years have really kept a good
Speaker 3: watchful we have.
Speaker 2: And we've got our strategic plan in place now and
Speaker 2: so we're looking at ways that we as a business
Speaker 2: at the city can function better and support our community better.
Speaker 1: We're always searching for ways.
Speaker 2: To communicate better and to provide better services to the community.
Speaker 2: So they've shown a great deal of trust in us
Speaker 2: over the past several years with our bond issues, by
Speaker 2: approving our bond issues of our roads, for streets, for bridges,
Speaker 2: and for all the things we've done for quality of
Speaker 2: life issues for parks and recreation. I think it's indicative
Speaker 2: the fact that Council has worked very well with the
Speaker 2: administration and we've gotten a lot of great support from
Speaker 2: the public to keep this community safe and at the
Speaker 2: same time moving forward in a way where we can
Speaker 2: attract people to move and live here and stay here.
Speaker 2: And I think that's one thing we've done, is to
Speaker 2: try to get people to stay here in town, move here,
Speaker 2: buy a home here, don't live in Tulsa, don't live
Speaker 2: in a what so and commute up here and go
Speaker 2: to work, but live here in this town, buy a house,
Speaker 2: pay our taxes here and support this community in that way.
Speaker 2: So I think effectively, between our county government, our city government,
Speaker 2: between the BDA economic development, we've done a lot of
Speaker 2: good things, and we've got a lot of good things.
Speaker 1: More we need to keep doing it. It's kind of
Speaker 1: what have you done for me lately?
Speaker 2: So we have to keep pushing that forward and making
Speaker 2: this community better so we can continue to grow and
Speaker 2: thrive the way we have been the last several years.
Speaker 3: We're speaking with the City Counselor, Jim Kurk. Now, Jim,
Speaker 3: you brought up the BDA. This has been an interesting
Speaker 3: function of our government where we're able to assist businesses
Speaker 3: not only establish themselves here in town, but also bring
Speaker 3: their employees with them.
Speaker 1: Yep, Yeah, we have.
Speaker 2: We've got several good programs that we've done, and we're
Speaker 2: allowed to do that through our quarter set sales tax
Speaker 2: and that funds our BDA or funds the economic development
Speaker 2: and many communities don't have that at their availability. So
Speaker 2: we've got a great team down there that's found ways
Speaker 2: to buy buildings, to attract businesses to come to town,
Speaker 2: to incentivize people to build and buy homes here and
Speaker 2: move into our school district and live here. So we
Speaker 2: continue to turn over every rock we can to look
Speaker 2: for businesses to come here, ten jobs at a time,
Speaker 2: thirty jobs at a time, whatever we can do to
Speaker 2: bring primary jobs here to town and at the same
Speaker 2: time attract retail and more choices for people to move
Speaker 2: here when they do here, so they've got more restaurant choices,
Speaker 2: more retail choices, and make it a better community like that,
Speaker 2: so they can live here and don't feel like they
Speaker 2: have to live in a community.
Speaker 1: South of us here to find those choices.
Speaker 2: So we've done a lot, but there's still a lot
Speaker 2: to do, and we've got more to do.
Speaker 1: But we're not going to rest on our worlds.
Speaker 2: But I can say we've had a lot of success
Speaker 2: in the past and we've got to continue to do
Speaker 2: that going forward.
Speaker 3: One thing that's kint of cool is the investment we've
Speaker 3: got going on at our airport. Yeah, and that's really
Speaker 3: been working out well for us.
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of good things coming up there.
Speaker 2: I've got some Oklahoma grant money to build a speck
Speaker 2: hanger there. We've got the shuttle is being guarded back
Speaker 2: up by Conico Phillips, so the activity out there is
Speaker 2: increasing every day. And we've got some more grant money
Speaker 2: to include improve our taxiway out there so we can
Speaker 2: expand into a different part of the airport. So a
Speaker 2: lot of funding beyond UH It is coming from beyond
Speaker 2: and from Oklahoma, so it's not costing the taxpayers a
Speaker 2: great deal of money. But the airport has UH just
Speaker 2: turned into a great little gem for the city.
Speaker 1: After we've gotten it back from.
Speaker 2: Our local corporation here, it's turned in a great little
Speaker 2: venue and we've got a lot of great people working
Speaker 2: out it every day to keep it running up like that.
Speaker 3: Like that you get some of the best around, that's
Speaker 3: for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have.
Speaker 2: We've had personal friends that have dropped in here and
Speaker 2: stopped over and come in and come into the local
Speaker 2: restaurants and bought food here and headed out of town.
Speaker 1: So we, uh, we know that that's.
Speaker 2: A great little airport, and uh, it always has been so,
Speaker 2: but it's it's been run really well right now by
Speaker 2: the city and.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of our efforts there.
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of good things coming up out
Speaker 2: at Adams Golf Course too. We've got our new greens
Speaker 2: going to be put in there. We've got a management
Speaker 2: study to put it in place right now to kind
Speaker 2: of see it's come along good. We'll be getting our
Speaker 2: report here and I think in the next thirty days
Speaker 2: and it will kind of show where we've been and
Speaker 2: where we're at and how we can go forward.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a real will on.
Speaker 2: The council to make Adams the golf course that it
Speaker 2: can be that's been in the past. It's been run
Speaker 2: great by Jerry Benedict in the past several years. It's
Speaker 2: just kind of a new time in our life where
Speaker 2: we can step back to yours retiring and step back
Speaker 2: and look and see what we can do beyond what
Speaker 2: he did to make it even a better place for
Speaker 2: the community here and attract people to town to play
Speaker 2: golf here because it is it's a great golf course,
Speaker 2: and in the past, it's just the cities. It's been
Speaker 2: one of the assets that we've had that I think
Speaker 2: we've not overlooked, but we've just we need to just
Speaker 2: look harder at it and continue to do the things
Speaker 2: we can to improve it.
Speaker 1: Every day.
Speaker 3: I can tell you at least once a year, it
Speaker 3: brings in a ton of dough well.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of our prime motivations.
Speaker 2: It brings in a lot of money for our United Way,
Speaker 2: and we've got a lot of people that work for
Speaker 2: that comp for those companies to play there on a
Speaker 2: weekend basis, and we've got a lot of people to
Speaker 2: come into town play. But then we've got a lot
Speaker 2: of citizens in town that just just enjoy love that
Speaker 2: golf course. Every day, and they meet their friends out
Speaker 2: there and they play golf. And we've got an obligation
Speaker 2: to make it the best we can, and I think
Speaker 2: we're committed to do that.
Speaker 3: Right, Jim, is there anything else we've left on?
Speaker 2: Well, I think we've touched on quite a bit today,
Speaker 2: I think other than just the heat, like you mentioned,
Speaker 2: the we know we're maybe August now, but we're just
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks away from September, and hopefully the
Speaker 2: weather it be cool now a little bit and we'll
Speaker 2: get some rain in here and we'll just continue on
Speaker 2: into the fall.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, you have been watching and listening to
Speaker 3: our City Matters program on KWA