A close friend asked me to run for county commissioner. He said, “everything is so expensive, we need you in there.” Here lately I feel like I’m paying more taxes than ever before, and getting less for it. I know how expensive everything is these days. It’s hard to buy food, medicine and gas. Our property taxes are higher than they’ve ever been.
I worked for the City of Bartlesville in the street department when I was first out of college. I’ve operated all types of road building equipment, poured concrete, laid asphalt and patched pot holes. I know how to build and maintain roads. I’ve also owned several dozers, dump trucks, loaders and all sorts of farm equipment on our farm. I’ve built roads, pads and cleaned out fence rows for years. Our county roads look like a patchwork quilt in many places. There are better ways to manage our county road system. I know I can manage our county roads in a more efficient manner.
The county commissioner appoints members to several boards. Everything from property taxes, trash dumpsters, to the county fair board, and the hospital board; the county commissioner has an influence on each of those boards.
The commissioners also have an important role with our volunteer fire departments. The cost of home owners insurance is directly affected by how well local fire departments are funded and trained (ISO ratings). I will always support our volunteer fire departments.
I do not like how the trash dumpster sites around the county have been closed. I will change it so people can drop their trash off in the evenings after work. We pay a sales tax for trash, it’s not right that most people can’t dump their trash anymore.
My secretary at the county barn will be someone with extensive grant writing experience. I will apply for grants to bring in more money for roads and economic development projects, because over the last few years whenever I’ve driven around LeFlore county I’ve noticed that many small businesses have closed their doors. Oklahoma county and Tulsa county commissioners do much more with regard to economic development than what we do in LeFlore county.
I will work with local leaders and support economic development. We’ve lost several small businesses, especially in the southern end of LeFlore county. Small businesses provide jobs in every one of these communities around the county. Recently, I’ve been helping some people that are trying to open one of the gas stations at Howe.
With regard to county employees –
I WILL NOT HIRE MY RELATIVES TO WORK FOR THE COUNTY.
ALL JOB OPENINGS AT THE COUNTY BARN WILL BE POSTED TO THE PUBLIC.
If there is a job opening at the county barn it will be posted so people are aware when there is a job opening. These jobs don’t pay much, but a job with health insurance and a retirement is hard to come by in southern LeFlore county. For far too many years county jobs have been given out as political patronage jobs, that needs to stop. The most qualified person gets the job if I am elected.
My family has always been a strong supporter of the roundup clubs and rodeo events. My kids grew up showing in 4H and FFA, roping and barrel racing. I would be willing to apply for grants for an indoor arena / multi use facility. I am for all of the local organizations that keeps kids off the streets. Baseball / softball, soccer, I’m for them all. I wrote letters of support for the skate parks that were built several years ago. I would like to see more done for our local kids.
I have been told by more than person the rural cemeteries are having a hard time getting help from the county. In my opinion the county has an obligation to help maintain these rural cemeteries, especially if there is a veteran buried there. If I am elected the county will continue to dig graves and help maintain the roads in the rural cemeteries.
I have a degree in business management and a leadership certification from Harvard. At Harvard we studied Exodus 18 the first night of class. That chapter is about Moses and how he surrounded himself with the best advisors.
I say that to point this out, I have the experience, training and education, and a plan to hire highly qualified people to work for the county. There is a better way. We can do more.
I would appreciate your vote on June 16.
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