Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome. Idio.
Speaker 1: Is time now for our community connection right here on
Speaker 1: K one, the one you trust and with you today
Speaker 1: is ward for City councilmen. Quinn Shipper and Quinn welcome
Speaker 1: aboard today.
Speaker 2: Hey, thank you, Tom. It is like sitting right at
Speaker 2: seventy degrees. Got've been a cloud cover bit.
Speaker 3: Of Oklahoma wind going up there, and it's going to
Speaker 3: be in the studio today.
Speaker 1: It's great to be in the studio today. And you're
Speaker 1: going to be on our forum tonight, which will by
Speaker 1: the way, we'll be indoors at our best Bank east
Speaker 1: side location.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm looking forward to that and joining you and others.
Speaker 1: Alrighty, So I keep seeing these leader ship signs all
Speaker 1: over the place. Leadership er, Okay, I think I got it.
Speaker 1: What's his play on words? Well?
Speaker 3: Three things I want people to understand about me, Tom
Speaker 3: is I'm experienced, I'm informed, and I'm engaged.
Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people know that.
Speaker 3: I was unanimously appointed out of seven applicants to fill
Speaker 3: the uncompleted term of the late Billy Rohan.
Speaker 2: I joined the City council.
Speaker 3: Formerly in June, but prior to that, I attended forty
Speaker 3: five regular city council meetings. I've been in the City
Speaker 3: Planning Commission since spring of twenty twenty one, the Water
Speaker 3: Resource Committee, and then came onto the Comprehensive Planned Advisory Committee,
Speaker 3: And so there was a lot of experience kind of
Speaker 3: leading up to that appointment that's informed the various ways
Speaker 3: that I'm engaged. So when you come onto the city council,
Speaker 3: there are a lot of other committees and trusts and
Speaker 3: authorities and commissions that adopt you as a city councilor
Speaker 3: so I went from like three of those to ten,
Speaker 3: and so now you're engaged in a lot of different
Speaker 3: spectrums of how the city operates. That informs decisions that
Speaker 3: I or city Council brings to the decision making process
Speaker 3: at a meeting, for example. So there's that experience that
Speaker 3: I have leading up to the opportunity to be representing
Speaker 3: word four.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you have experience, you're very important. You went
Speaker 1: to virtually every city council meeting that you could.
Speaker 2: I haven't missed one in fifty months. Five years old.
Speaker 1: Wow, engaged, explained engage? How are you engaged?
Speaker 2: Well, I will just give it.
Speaker 3: We could talk about different engagement all day, but I
Speaker 3: want to talk about the City Planning Commission.
Speaker 1: Let's do that because I heard you talk about that earlier.
Speaker 1: Being a part of that earlier, Yes, and that seems
Speaker 1: to be kind of like the buzz this morning.
Speaker 3: It is, And I just want to back up by
Speaker 3: saying that a lot of people in the community are
Speaker 3: listening to this today, and citizens have all kinds of
Speaker 3: opportunities to make applications, to serve on again an authority,
Speaker 3: a commission, a board in the city, and there are
Speaker 3: dozens of those and hundreds of citizens here that contribute
Speaker 3: to the operation, the decision making, the forward movement of
Speaker 3: our city. And I'm very, very grateful for that, and
Speaker 3: that was sort of my gateway to engage that begin.
Speaker 2: To inform things.
Speaker 3: And I said, the very first appointment was to the
Speaker 3: City Planning Commission, and we address a lot of things.
Speaker 3: But prior to the City Comprehensive Plan, the city adopted
Speaker 3: something called the next a strategic Plan. So in simple terms,
Speaker 3: this is how I explain it, Tom. The strategic Plan
Speaker 3: for the City of Bartlesville is kind of like a roadmap.
Speaker 3: You know, it's got the roads, the different lanes, the bridges,
Speaker 3: you cross, intersections, you come to things you have to
Speaker 3: navigate and move around. That brings strategies and plans for
Speaker 3: the foreseeable future. And then part of that act, I
Speaker 3: want to address two things on that by the way,
Speaker 3: childcare and homelessness are part of that strategic plan.
Speaker 2: And it's not like just something is checked off the list.
Speaker 3: Although we do get monthly updates, there are very strategic
Speaker 3: things addressing those two matters that are important to our citizens,
Speaker 3: and they can go look that up for the present
Speaker 3: as well as the future story of those two particular matters,
Speaker 3: and some of those that come back to the City
Speaker 3: Planning Commission or directed towards a proposed task force. So
Speaker 3: oft from underneath that, we are state mandated to have
Speaker 3: a comprehensive plan, updated approximately every twenty years. So while
Speaker 3: the strategic plan is like a road map, I think
Speaker 3: of the comprehensive plan kind of like the GPS. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: we set the GPS for the destination of infrastructure or
Speaker 3: land use, or housing or transportation or parks and recks
Speaker 3: and quality of life, and how do we move towards
Speaker 3: those destinations over these next twenty years, So that twelve
Speaker 3: month process. Tom, We've talked about this before. You've had
Speaker 3: other programs with the city others. It's been a twelve
Speaker 3: month journey. It's involved obviousely's city staff, It's.
Speaker 2: Involved strategic community partners.
Speaker 3: There have been pop up events and surveys have been
Speaker 3: all kinds of opportunities.
Speaker 2: We've had great feedback from.
Speaker 3: Citizens to guide the final product that we call our
Speaker 3: Comprehensive Plan, so a state mandated it's been a twelvemonth journey.
Speaker 2: We met with the consultants, we met as a Planning commission.
Speaker 3: Groups for about four hours recently going through all of that,
Speaker 3: combing through it. Are there things to change, update recommend
Speaker 3: Those were approved by the City Planning Commission at their
Speaker 3: recent meeting. I was part of that and that final
Speaker 3: recommendation will go to the City Council on Monday evening.
Speaker 3: So it's been a journey and it's not set in stone.
Speaker 3: These are guidelines again, the signposts along the way. The
Speaker 3: GPS tells us so much, but they're sign markers, guide
Speaker 3: posts that will guide us into a sustainable future for
Speaker 3: growth and development and.
Speaker 2: All kinds of things. It's very exciting.
Speaker 1: What sets you apart you mentioned three things. We talked
Speaker 1: about experience, about being informed, and we were now up
Speaker 1: to engagement here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so thank you Tom for bringing that up.
Speaker 3: I've been involved in a number of things, obviously city related,
Speaker 3: community related. We love Bartlesville, were very committed to Bartlesville.
Speaker 3: So I mentioned the City Planning Commission. I'm a graduate
Speaker 3: of the twenty twenty one Bartlesville Citizens Police Academy. I
Speaker 3: recommend people to take that as pretty intensive. This last year,
Speaker 3: the city inaugurated a citizens Academy All Things City of Bartlesville,
Speaker 3: which was informative and fun and hands on, and we
Speaker 3: studied and learned so many things about how the city operates.
Speaker 3: I started as a citizen, I ended up as a
Speaker 3: city councilor at the graduation. I'm also the standing recipient
Speaker 3: of the Chamber of Commerce Jake Bartle's Award. So in
Speaker 3: addition to that and some other things that I sit on,
Speaker 3: I've got to keep Barsville beautiful. Committee meeting midday today,
Speaker 3: for example. There are all kinds of experiences that inform
Speaker 3: my engagement the decision making when we go into a
Speaker 3: city council meeting. At the last city council meeting, I
Speaker 3: think the pack of the company.
Speaker 2: The agenda is.
Speaker 3: Like four hundred and fifty pages long, and you don't
Speaker 3: just you know, thumb through that in five minutes, you know,
Speaker 3: I spend hours scouring that because I want to be
Speaker 3: an informed contributor.
Speaker 2: To the City Council.
Speaker 3: And when we come out of the City Council tom
Speaker 3: because of the Open Meetings Act, we've not had an
Speaker 3: opportunity to discuss among ourselves certain things coming well, anything
Speaker 3: coming to the City Council corporately is like an open
Speaker 3: forum at the City council meeting for us to have studied, learned, prepared,
Speaker 3: and then we bring our in put not just representing
Speaker 3: our war, but we're making decisions on behalf of the
Speaker 3: entire city. So being experienced, being informed, then engaging, you know,
Speaker 3: with various input is really really important part of that
Speaker 3: comprehensive plan. They've looked at two focus areas of a number.
Speaker 3: One was on the east side, one was on the
Speaker 3: west side, and so of course I live in Ward four.
Speaker 3: The west side of Bartlesville is part of that Ward
Speaker 3: And prior to coming out of the City Council, or
Speaker 3: before I even went to my first City Council meeting,
Speaker 3: the very first meeting I went to was actually the
Speaker 3: West Side Community Center two weeks after.
Speaker 2: We moved here.
Speaker 3: And I've always been very interested and motivated about the
Speaker 3: potential for development on the west side of our community.
Speaker 3: So those are some things you know, I'm interested in.
Speaker 3: Of course, we're very concerned about the homeless situation. It's
Speaker 3: not just one part of the city. It's pervasive. We're
Speaker 3: doing some strategic things as a city through the Comprehensive Plan,
Speaker 3: through a proposed task force, and I'm very motivated to
Speaker 3: continue representing not just my ward but my city to
Speaker 3: move that forward in some very strategic, practical ways, in
Speaker 3: other words, not just conversation tom.
Speaker 2: It's a time limited task force.
Speaker 3: Citizens will have an opportunity to apply to be part
Speaker 3: of that, and let's see what we can do in
Speaker 3: our little corner of the United States. Because it's pervasive
Speaker 3: across the entire country and our state and now here
Speaker 3: in Bartlesville. We want to do things that are going
Speaker 3: to be redemptive for people's lives and restorative. They're the
Speaker 3: companion issues of mental health and substance abuse, public safety,
Speaker 3: and again, the experiences I've had the last number of
Speaker 3: years serving the community in various boards and commissions and
Speaker 3: things are going to help me engage with some resources
Speaker 3: and some experiences that hopefully will bring some really good
Speaker 3: conclusions for our entire community.
Speaker 1: You bet you that you keep learning things all the time. Yes,
Speaker 1: I guess that makes you teachable.
Speaker 3: Well, I like to think that I'm teachable. I'm a
Speaker 3: person who listens, you know. I got I logged almost
Speaker 3: fourteen thousand steps yesterday canvassing. Of course, we're campaigning, door
Speaker 3: hanging and meeting people yesterday. And I got home last
Speaker 3: night to emails and text messages and stuff. So about
Speaker 3: courts and eye last night I'm addressing those. I took
Speaker 3: a phone call or answered a phone call from a citizen.
Speaker 3: We talked for about thirty five minutes because he had
Speaker 3: a real personal concern and I spent, you know, going
Speaker 3: into my evening.
Speaker 2: And there's still a stack to address. But I listen
Speaker 2: to people.
Speaker 3: You know, they don't give us a magic Wand with
Speaker 3: this job, Tom, it was it was an issue he
Speaker 3: had that the city couldn't deal with. But I could
Speaker 3: help him direct and give him some resources and some ideas.
Speaker 2: And I said, look, let me do some study.
Speaker 3: I'll get back with you if I have something more concrete.
Speaker 3: But I like to listen, and I do listen, and
Speaker 3: I really do care, and I'll do everything I can
Speaker 3: to help people find solutions to their issues. Whether it's
Speaker 3: the pothole in the street, or the trucks that are
Speaker 3: tearing up the road, or the grass that's too high
Speaker 3: at this intersection they take it, or the deer that's
Speaker 3: eating my hostas that happened.
Speaker 2: I got stumped on that one, but that has happened.
Speaker 1: We got Early voting started tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 3: Down at the election Board, which is in the City
Speaker 3: Hall downtown, fourth floor.
Speaker 2: They've been doing a lot.
Speaker 3: Of preparation because early voting is a day earlier than usual.
Speaker 3: Wednesday eight to.
Speaker 1: Do.
Speaker 3: I have it on there eight to six, eight to
Speaker 3: six Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then eight to two on Saturday
Speaker 3: and go to the election board. A lot of people
Speaker 3: don't realize in my ward they're going to be three ballots.
Speaker 2: There's going to be the.
Speaker 3: General election, which includes the president, Corporation Commission, Congressman, judicial retention,
Speaker 3: state questions. There's a separate one for Washington County. There's
Speaker 3: a proposition, and then people are going to be handed
Speaker 3: if they have a counselor that has an opponent, they'll
Speaker 3: be handed.
Speaker 2: A separate ballot, a third ballot for that.
Speaker 3: So I in Curasisms, please go to the election board,
Speaker 3: download your ballot.
Speaker 2: Be informed.
Speaker 3: You've got a voice, and you've got a voice and
Speaker 3: a vote and you need to be heard.
Speaker 2: So please please be informed and engage as voters.
Speaker 1: Very good quid shipper for ward for. We'll see you
Speaker 1: tonight at the east side branch of our best bank,
Speaker 1: looking candidate for Thank you very much for being with
Speaker 1: us today.
Speaker 2: Thank you Tom. How does timhow at