Good evening and welcome to our best Bank, the East Branch, right here on Adams Road. I'm Tom Davis, your moderator for tonight's forum, and today we're going to hear from as many candidates as we can fit in the room, because we got a lot of them tonight here running for city council right here in bartels Felt. First of all,
I want to introduce the panel. We have in Ward one, Deale Copeland, Tim Sharrick, Ward two, Larry East, Lauren Wizzelle, Aaron Kirkpatrick, Ward four, Quinn ship Or Ward four Terrevor Dorsey. In Ward five, we're hoping we're hoping to have Karen and Matthew come in here a little bit later on, but when they arrive will have them seated. And we also have Jim Kurd who's running on a post in ward three. And right now, Jim, I know you would
like to make an opening statement. We're going to give you the chance to do that before you run the mic down to his honor, the Mayor.
Thanks Tom, I appreciate it, and thank you Bartles Radio for sponsoring this forum tonight, and welcome all the candidates here tonight. I am Jim Kurd and I'm kind of the odd man out tonight. As many of you know, I am unopposed for my seat in Ward three. I've served nearly four two year terms representing Ward three and our great city.
Thank you.
It's been a true honor, and I'm pleased and excited to have another two years to serve our great city. During my terms, I've served for several different cou councils and we've always represented our community, our citizens, and each other in a respectable and civil manner. Has been an honor to serve with our current council Quinn Shipper, who gratefully stepped in for the unexpected passing of Billy Rohan,
Dale Copeland, Lauren Roselle and Trevor Dorsey. I believe these councils have served These councilors have served our community exceptionally well. For myself, one of the most important aspects of being an effective city councilor is being narnpartisan, putting politics aside and providing a positive vision ahead benefits the entire community and helps us grow, be prosperous and have a desired
and welcoming community to live in. With our recent growth in sales, tax, the new use tax, new businesses, new jobs, providing assistance to local companies, housing incentives to attract new citizens, new retail and restaurant choices, and our community supported bond issues that have added significantly to our quality of life amenities, improved our downtown district, and better maintained our roads and streets.
Our community is doing very well. Yes, there are always challenges head but I'm confident that, as before, solutions will be fined to found, to be addressed. These challenges that come along to me, these positive advancements for our city and the challenges ahead are the essence of wanting to be and serving as a city councilor. To me, and most importantly, every two years, as counselors, we take our oath of office and swear to support the Constitution of
the United States and the Constitution of Oklahoma. I will honorably take the oath next term and serve our community to the best my ability for another two years.
Thank you, Thank you very much, mister Kurkin. Ladies and gentlemen, we are underway. We want to remind all of our participants in our questions will be selected randomly, and we've not shared this with any one. In fact, many of these are the first time I've seen them. No, they actually Lesteners had set these in. But we are going to begin with opening statements, and each candidate will have two minutes for your opening and closing statement as well
as for answering each question. We're going to start with Dale Copeland more than one and give us your opening statement, please, sir, Well, thank you Tom.
I want to thank you and Bartbow Radio for hosting this forum and of course to our best for using of this great facility. I also want to thank all the amazing friends and neighbors who've supported me, especially my wife Donna, who's always been there for me, but especially recently walking a lot of Ward one neighborhoods. Our families are young son heroes who are there for us behind the scenes as we work in city efforts. The next two years bring opportunities for the industry new retail and
new jobs. Growth is good, but it must be managed along with the accompanying needs like housing and infrastructure. Our recently approved Next Strategic Plan is a good tool for that effort, and we must continue to devote attention to our streets and improve the pavement condition index. In coming years, more and more companies are discovering something that we already knew, that our hometown is a good place to go and grow.
Bartlesfield has a strong history of conservative physical management. The Strategic Reserve Fund for rainy days is vital to that. We consistently receive one of the highest credit ratings in the state, and that means lower cost with more of our funding going to projects. That's a win win. Our city government has a lot of moving parts. It's much
more than my single issue or favorite project. Like any well operating machine, we must always pay attention to every part and every function to keep things working at their best. I've been sharing my idea of three areas that are important for success, financial health, core services, and civility. Financial health means we can pay our bills and provide our
staff and citizens the services and tools they need. Course services, water, wastewater, trash, streets, police and fire, and parks are the crucial elements of any functioning community. An old saying civility costs nothing is true and it paves the way for respect, cooperation and trust. I ask for your vote if you're in Ward one for dalk Copeland for City Council.
Thank you, Thank you very much, Adam Tim Sharrick Ward one, Tim, good evening. Do we have your opening statement? Please?
Hi?
I am Tim Shrick, and I'd like to share with you a little bit about myself. I'm kind of the lesser known commodity here. My business qualifications include a degree in accounting from RSU and in data analytics from Mid America Christian and Oklahoma City. I've been afforded the opportunity to both lead and collaborate with a variety of teams in my more than twenty five years of it and varied business experiences, and I understand the kind of data
and decision making that drives success. You know, for three generations, my family has been proud to call Bartlesville our hometown. But lately we've seen the values that first made our city a great place to live come under attack, and we believe our home is worth defending. I'm troubled by the many times I've seen the voices of my neighbors stifled by a city government and the noise of special interests drown out the cries for help coming from our
own neighborhoods. Our hometown public spaces are being polluted by the activities that recklessly disregard the protection of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. And when courageous citizens voice their concerns in the council chamber, they seem to be met with a deaf year and sometimes a rebuke. That's why I've decided to run for city council. Our hometown family has weathered many trying times by recognizing the value in the community and in each other. It's the homegrown solutions,
not bigger government, that always deliver the best results. And we know that when we the people come together, we thrive. When you vote for me, you can be sure that I remember that I'm working for my neighbors and not the city. I'll amplify the voice of your concerns and escalate the priority of your problems. I'll work to ensure that adult activities are kept within the confines of adult venues.
I'll be vigilant with the oversight of your money, and I'll give special attention to our adequate safe water supply. I hope you will join me in making sure that Bartlesville remains a great place to call home.
Thank you, mister Sheryck Up next in ward two, we have Larry East.
Thank you Tom, and thank you ka One for hosting this and a little bit about me. My name is Larry East. I grew up in Choctaw, east of Oklahoma City. I went to work for Kanico and Ponca City right out of Call and eventually transferred over here to Bartlesville and retired from there a couple of years ago after thirty three years of work in it with them. My wife, Shelley, and I have been married for thirty five years. In the last twenty one years we've spent right here in Bartlesville.
We're active members at First Baptist Church and other organizations here in the community. One of those is the disaster Relief Chainsaw Crew. Keep your prayers out for them as they're over in Georgia right now. I would have liked to have been with them. In fact, I've told many people I'd rather be running a saw than a campaign. But we've appreciated the opportunity to raise our sons right
here in Bartlesville. We have three grown sons and two daughters in law, all raised here in Bartlesville, and we've appreciated the largely family friendly environment that we've had. But the last couple of years, we've felt like that hasn't been quite as much as we'd like to see, particularly with the drag shows. You know, some home blessness issues that need to be addressed and also water quality issues, and I hope to have an opportunity to address those
and i'd appreciate your consideration. On November the fifth, Thank.
You very much, Larry Ward, you, Laura Brosseaul, good evening.
Thank you.
I want to thank Barswel Radio, Arvest Bank, and are presenting sponsors for giving us an opportunity. I want to thank all of you for coming out and being a part of the process and hearing from your candidates today. It's an important part of that process. I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. I am born and raised right here in Barzil, Oklahoma. I'm a fifth generation Barshin. My grandparents grew up we lived on Oklahoma. I grew up on Elm Street on the West side.
My daughter still lives in Heart on Harvey Road in my ward, and my granddaughter lives there with her. So I have five generations of family history here in Barswil. I started work for Phillips Petroleum Company twenty eight years ago. My first job with them was working at the night shift at the gas station on the corner of Madison and Adams Boulevard. I worked behind that bullet resistant cage
for the night shift. I worked hard and learned a lot of things and finally made my way up and today I work for Conico Phillips as a senior it and operations technology auditor, doing cybersecurity audits to make sure our field sites and our operations are safe from intrusions. I love serving my community. I've served my community for decades through many boards and volunteer organizations. I currently serve on the United Way Board of Directors, overseeing their community
Impact grant process. I've served my community for decades. For the last two years, I've served my community every day, answering your emails, your text messages, your calls, making sure that we can make your life better every day. We brought in a lot of businesses into Bartlesville, giving opportunities for our children and grandchildren who want to stay here and be raised in Bartlesville. I want to can continued to do that and make sure we keep our core services,
our police, fire parks all running efficiently. I would like to serve you for another two years, and i'd appreciate your vote.
Thank you, Thank you.
From Ward four Aaron Kirkpatrick.
I really love Bartlesville.
We moved our family here a decade ago, my wife and our four little kids at the time, they're not so little anymore, and we fell in love with this community immediately. A year ago, I got lunch with Billy Rohan and as we talked about things that she was doing for Ward four, I loved her heart, I loved her enthusiasm, and as she was discussing some of her challenges, I started sharing ideas for how to fix them and how to address some of them. And she was a
kindred spirit. I was happy her to do the work. And then she passed unexpectedly and tragically, and that was the moment that I decided I was going to apply for the seat, and regardless of whether or not I was appointed, I was going to run. See, on top of being a pastor for twenty years, I'm also a serial entrepreneur, and it just so happens that many of the businesses that I have that I have started and built and sold prepared me to be a jack of
all trades. And many of those skills that I developed are exactly what the city needs right now. Our city has a lot of opportunities, and as an entrepreneur, you learn to see opportunities and strike while the moment is hot.
Before they slip away. But we also face a lot of challenges.
I've had the opportunity to be an executive, coach and consultant, and when people need help figuring out complex ideas quickly and simply, they call me and so I can help with the challenges that we're facing as a city. As I've been knocking doors and talking to people, then I realized, hey, we've affordable housing crises and I've developed plans to help with that, and we've got a homelessness crisis that now are our local helping organizations and nonprofits and even our
other pastors. They're reaching out to me and saying, we need your plan to succeed because it will work. I've been endorsed by the firefighters because I've gotten to know them and they see the opportunities that I see for public safety. I want to win the opportunity to represent you in Ward four, and I want to win the opportunity to make the strides that our community needs, and I hope that you vote for me for Ward four Representative.
Thank you very much for ward Poor Quinn Shipper.
Good evening everyone.
I want to thank BARSBA Radio and r VEST and those who've come out tonight to show their support for this forum. And it's really good to be in this room once again with everybody here again. I'm Quen Shipper. I am the city councilor for Ward four. I was unanimously appointed this past June to complete the unexpired term of my dear friend, the late Billy Rohan. My very first attendance at a city council meeting was in August of twenty twenty, and I went for two reasons. One,
I wanted to be an informed intercessor. I prayed daily for my city. I prayed daily for those who are in leadership in our city and I continue that to this day. The next spring, I was appointed to the City Planning Commission.
I didn't say the second thing.
The second thing was to be an informed citizen and how to get engaged. So I have experience, I'm informed about things, and I am engaged. So part of that engagement began the next spring when I was appointed to the City Planning Commission, which has been a great opportunity
to learn about how government works at that level. The next year, I was invited to join the Water Resources Board Committee as the award for Representative, which was also just a really great learning curve and opportunity to offer input into that important conversation but also the practical application for art City. I am a graduate of the Bartlevielle Citizens Police Academy, the recent Citizens Academy. I'm also the standing recipient of the Jake Barteles Award. So I've spent
over four years. I've not missed a City Council meeting, a regular meeting, and I've been to a number of the special meetings of the City Council as well to inform my engagement. And one thing I valued about getting to meet so many great people and working alongside them in this community is find ways to help engage them.
We have many.
Opportunities on committees, commissions, authorities, boards and trusts, and I believe that my opportunity to take all of these experiences the things that have informed my opportunity to serve and to continue doing so to represent you.
Thank you, Thank you. Ward five. Trevor Dorsey.
Yes, my name is Trevor Dorsey for those who may not know me, and I appreciate everybody that it's tonight and those watching on live stream and listening on the radio. Beth and I we moved our family here in twenty fourteen. It's been about ten and a half years ago. At the time, she had three little kids at home. Now one of them is a senior, Tatan, he's seventeen. I've got a seventh grader, Mason, and a fourth grader, Bryson.
I've enjoyed serving you all the citizens of Barlsville the past seven years, and prior to that, I also served on the Planning Commission and learned a lot there that helped me whenever I moved into a role like Quinn, I was seated to fill a vacancy. And I've always enjoyed serving my community, whether it's through city Council, the Chamber of Commerce, serve on a lot of nonprofit boards, and my family is very active and serving in the
community and they are very active. Matter of fact, I had to hustle from halftime of a ball game across town for one of my kids to get here this evening. But we love Bartlesville. Fell in love with it when we first came here. It was getting recruited for a job, and I can't think of a better place to work, live and play. So I certainly want to do my part and do everything that I can for the constituents and my family to make it better at each and every day. They're as they as some of the other
people have stated. We serve on various committees, boards and trust and authorities, and I think I've did that seven years, got to serve on just about all of them. So I've had a lot of enjoyable experiences in getting to know all the systems of Barsville. And I appreciate you all again being here tonight, and if there's anything I can do, please reach out to me, and I would appreciate your vote to continue to serve you for another two years.
Thank you, Trevor. As we hand the microphone back to the beginning, I want to remind everyone that we do have a lot of questions and not everybody's going to get the same question, and we got a lot of response. I want to thank everybody who listens and watches us on K one TV and also K one radio for helping out and by golly, we're up to the races. We're going to start now with Dale Copeland. Our water supply issue was identified in two thousand and two, and
over the years various councils have studied the issue. What specifically would you address for our water supply?
Water is critical. Water is more important than streets, and streets is really important. But without water, what do we do? We have looked at a lot of options. People before us have looked at a lot of options. I've had opportunity to speak with people at the federal level, the corp of Engineers and our congressional representatives in Washington, and we do not own a water supply. The core engineers for the federal government does, so we have to work
with them. They have their own rules, their own timetables, and they have been very receptive, but it has not gone as quickly as we would like. Currently, I think our best solutions are as they have recommended themselves as
looking at reallocation of water at Hula. There is currently a word of bill Water Resource Development Act coming through Congress that if that makes it out and is signed, will give us affordable and affordable is critical, not millions and millions of dollars, but affordable rates on the rest of the available water at Copan that will be huge, But we're continuing to look at the aid of Vermosa aquifer just does not have all the water we need,
but it could be a source. It's fairly close. Obviously Kaw has a lot of water, but that water we don't know its contents. It drains a huge area. That's a good thing. It connects all of the different things, whether it's herbicides, pesticides, the new and the pfas, and we just don't know what that means yet. But the big challenge there is laying a pipeline all the way across os H County. Takes more than an hour to
drive it. It's a lot of cost. So we have to look at solutions, multiple solutions that will incrementally build what we need to get us fifty years or more down the road. I think we're making good progress on that, but again, the key is for that solution or solutions to be affordable and not spending two and three hundred million dollars of tax payer money. I take that very seriously, and I think we're making good progress thank you deal.
This will be also the same question for Tim Sherick. Our water supply issue was identified in two thousand and two, and over the years various councils have studied the issue. What specifically would you do to address our water supply?
You know, I think that the answer can't be we don't do anything, and we've had a long standing term where nothing is being done, and I understand that there have sometimes been obstacles raised. I'm looking at some information here that talks about Hula and the desac rating that we get from the corp of Engineers. I'm looking at something here from Copan Lake where in February twenty twenty four the city requested a reallocation from COE and apparently
that's not doable. I'm looking at the aid of Amosa, and it is compatible with our system, but it doesn't seem to be doable. It's twelve million dollars for one point four million gallons of water per day. And from what I'm hearing across the board from other engineers who have studied the issue, is that cow Lake, which could provide as much as forty million gallons of water storage and supply, could be the best option, And what I don't understand is how ENID got it done.
But we can't.
Because ENID was able to lay a pipeline, they're able to tap Call Lake, They're able to supplement their water
supply and deal with that issue. We've also heard things about like water reuse, which takes wastewater, treats it since it's seven miles up the Caney River, recaptures it since it back through treatment, and they it to you again with water that already has nine contaminants in it that are in the classification of forever chemicals, three of which are anywhere from one hundred and eighty five to five
hundred and seventy five percent above healthy levels. We can't continue to add more chemicals and pipe it back through the same system and then expect it to be potable and good for our people at that If we do things like that, we should also expect that all the job growth is going to be an ascension oncology because these are carcinogenic chemicals and our kids are being impacted. We need to do something better.
Thank you, Tim, same question to you, Larry East. Our water supply issue was identified back in two thousand and two and Over the years, various councils have studied the issue, what specifically would you do to address our water supply?
Well, obviously this is a complicated issue that's been going on for a lot of years, a lot of studies. I think Dale as the studies that I've looked at so far, Dale has addressed that of reallocation of water at Hula and also at Copan and hoping to get this word through Congress that would allow us to procure more of that at Copan at an affordable rate. I know the water reuse is concerning to me. I know right now the plan is to only use that in
a Stage four crisis situation there on water supply. But in view of a bill that was passed in twenty twelve, which I think I may not get the name of it right here, but I think it was Water for twenty sixty that the state has set our goal is to not have more water usage than we did in twenty ten, and so in order to meet those goals, that may be something we have to do at that point. I know that's a lot of years out. When when I first heard of this, someone called it toilet to tap.
That definitely sounds concerning. However, if you consider that we don't have we're not at the head of the river.
They're right.
There are other people upstream, other cities, towns upstream that process their waste and it goes into the river as well. So we're already processing some of that. That doesn't sound attractive to me, but that's something that's probably inevitable at some point there.
Thank you very much, Larry. We have a fresh question for Lauren Biselle. One of the solutions the previous councils have come up with was water reuse. Do you see this as a feasible solution for the future.
Yes, I do.
It's not a long term solution. The long term solution is to find another and more water supply, I either through Copaine Eula or another water reservoir.
But the water reuse.
So I want to make sure we're understanding and I want to kind of line out some things on water reuse. The water we are treating it basically like drinking water when we pump it up the stream. The pfas don't come from us. We don't put pfas into in those forever chemicals into the water. In fact, we're removing a lot of it through our treatment process, and we're getting
it below the levels are required by our state. Our state is going to increase those levels in the near future and what's required for us to treat that water. It is a viable and a solid process that's being used in more than just Bartlesville, and this treats This addresses an immediate problem to make sure that we do have a water supply that is safe, potable, and drinkable for all of our citizens so that we can continue our growth and keep improving Bartlesville. I do believe this
is a viable source. It's only kind of a medium term solution, and it's only to be used whenever we are in extreme drought conditions and going into stage four. So I think it's it is viable for us.
Now.
We are going to run tests and pilots and everything along the way, and in conjunction with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and make sure that we meet all of the standards required by them and federal law. We have a very intelligent and very smart city staff that's been working on this problem for a while. We've had past city councils that have had input on it. Our past city councils have gotten more water out of Copain and
other places for us. So we are continuing to work on a problem on this problem, and water reuse is definitely a solution for us.
Thank you very much, Lord Briselle. Aaron Kirkpatrick Award for same question to you. One of the solutions the previous councils came up with was water reuse, and do you see this as a feasible solution for our future.
It's not only feasible, it's necessary. But how exactly we do that is always the question, right. So I've got a background in treatment and water purification for a business that I had that did oil and gas, sight ice and water. Taking dirty water out of the ground turning it into pure water you can drink is what we did.
We did exceptionally well re using the water that we have.
Right, we can't make it rain more, been praying, but outside of that, can't give us more water than we have, so we got to make use of what we currently do.
Have some things you need to know about pea fasts.
It literally doesn't come from us, meaning we're not producing it, but it literally comes from us. It goes into your body, some of it stays in your body and the rest of it goes out as a waste product. And so if you don't figure out how to treat your pa FAST and your water, what ends up happening is what's happened in southwest Texas where the ground becomes so contaminated they can no longer grow crops on it or have cattle on it because it'll kill the cows and the
crops will kill you. So we have to figure out something to do with this. Fortunately, talking to my friends over the water treatment plant here locally, the p FAST concentration is not that high thanks to our watershed.
That's good.
So how do we reuse our water? I got to take care of my time. I can't preach here, sorry, how do we use our water? Talking to the guys out of the water treatment plant, the best idea that the idea that they really love first is gray water dual piping, which means right now, we treat water coming into the system and then we treat it going out of the system. Treating water, especially when it comes to heat and energy, is forty percent of the cost of water treatment. So what we don't want to do is
treat water multiple times. So Graywater reuse allows us to take water from our sinks, from our showers, those kind of things, and use it to water our lawns and our gardens and agriculture. Okay, you don't want to roll that out at once, as Dale said, it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. So what you do instead is you begin to put in gray piping or dual piping every time you replace the line, which happens constantly.
When you do that, you roll it out over time and then allow individuals to voluntarily connect to it through our use of water.
Water Bill rebates that.
Plus what they have recommended is actually just letting the water plant give out rain barrels to every citizen who wants one to use on their garden, to use on their and their lawn.
And that's all the time I got.
Hey, thank you Eric Quentin Ship or Ward for same question to you. One of the solutions the previous councils came up with was water reuse. And do you see this as a feasible solution for the future.
Yes, I do, Tom, and I don't want to repeat the comments have already been made, as many of them would be things I would say So I've been to the water resource of the water treatment plant and the wastewater treatment plant, and I've seen the process they're going through to work with these studies to ensure that we have water that is safe and clean in the water
recycling process. So a little different take, so I'm not repeating, is a lot of people that I talked to about the water don't realize that the water that we have here serves fifty five thousand people. It's just not just water for Bartlesville. We're providing water for many of the people throughout our county, several of the Navy towns, and even East Osage County. So when we talked about water, it's not just for us. It's a much larger population.
And another thing that I like to discuss with people have had a lot of feedback on is the whole thing of conservation. In that sense, we can all be responsible citizens, and when we were forced to take will not force people have the choice if they wanted to conserve or not during some of the extreme measures this last year, but it also put people into a situation
where they became a habit. It became a habit for them to be more conservation minded, so some of the just educating people about what water resource, what resources are, what the water treatment is like. The fact is water costs. It costs everywhere. Costs are going up for treating water.
I believe that we have a very high quality and standard of water here in Bartlesville that we're also serving others with, and we can compare that to other communities, other cities, and we're very privileged to have what we have and to have it at the affordable, relatively cost for which we pay. So I'm grateful for the good work of the city and providing a high quality of water that we have.
Thank you, Quinn shipper Ward. By treppor Dorsey, we have a different question for you. In Oklahoma, cities can only receive property taxes for improvements by issuing geo bonds. Do you support the use of geo bods for continued improvements to our city's infrastructure.
I do support the use of geo bonds, and thank you for the different questions, so I don't just have to say what they said. When you get to be last, then you get everything already said. I do support that, and I think that as a council and is a city, we have done a very good job with issuing those bonds and trying to keep the mills at a certain level so that it's not burden some tax wise for
the citizens. And earlier we've talked about all these committees' boards and trust everyone in the community also serves on those, and I encourage anybody that has a passion for one of those if there's a vacancy.
We always need good people.
But we take a lot of those recommendations, whether it's going to the streets, parks, wastewater, and we use those funds to always keep the city where it's at and improve the city year over year. And so I do think that that's very viable. I know that certain communities that have let bond issues lapse, when they go back and try to issue new bonds, a lot of times people aren't very excited about that because their mills and
their taxes are going up. So I know that the council that I've served with, we've always tried to make sure that we are using those geo bond funds to maximize everything for the city and to keep it at a certain level and not increase them so that the tax burden becomes higher.
Thank you worry much as you passed the micropot back down to the other end. Remind everyone that you are watching and listening to our candidate's form for city council. We're at the r Best Bank East Branch on Adams Road tonight and you're watching and listening to us on k one AM fourteen hundred, FM ninety three three and ninety five to one. Also on k onetv dot com, the app and Facebook Live brought to you by Phillips sixty six, Old Town Spirits, also Comforting Hands Hospice and
LPL Peening and Company. Our question goes to Dale Copeland. In Oklahoma, cities can only receive property taxes for improvements by issuing geo bonds, and you support the use of geo bonds for continued improvements for city's infrastructure. I do.
I think that there are a variety of ways to get revenue, but at the end of the day, the government cannot spend any money that it did not colleck. So if we're not going to do geo bonds property tax, then what are we going to replace it with? And that's a question that nobody, including me, likes tax. But without them, our streets and our water plan, all these massive things, whether it's fire trucks at a million dollars each,
but we have to have those things. And it's either get the revenue or let our infrastructure decline and deteriorate. And I've already said we want to go the other direction. We have as the city council, and in fact, for decades, the city councils have always maintained in Bartlesville about a fifteen MILLI levee might be fourteen point eight seven, might be fifteen point one two, depending on the math and
how things calculate. But we have not raised that, and that's something I don't think that we should raise, but it provides the last time the voters and the city council does not do this, the voters approve those for seventeen little over seventeen million dollars. We dedicated over seventy percent of that twelve point three million. I believe to street upgrades, repairs, and maintenance. We think that that needs that attention. But that's how our parks, that's how so
many of our big capital projects are financed. And if we don't finance them there, then you would use what some states have income tax. Some states have a variety of methods that they use, but the Jill Bond property tax seems to be working. So if it's not broke, don't fix it, and we can talk about what's a
proper assessment. Fifteen mills, twelve and a half seventeen. But I think that Martinsville has been very balanced and fair and we have gotten a lot done and we need to do more, so I do support them.
Thank you, Dale, Tim Sherick Ward one. We have another question here for you that we'd like to ask. We're all aware of infrastructure issues such as the Tuxedo Bridge project, which initially came in nearly double the estimated cost. How would you fund continued improvements for our infrastructure?
Well, I think it's viausly going to be a matter of having to collect that from our citizens here.
There's going to have to be some kind of tax.
What level is what we need to look at, And we also need to make sure that things like that are prioritized. We need to make sure that we're actually purchasing the necessities before we purchase amenities. So I would like to see, for example, our streets restriped to eliminate a public safety hazard with some of that money instead of just saying, well, we're going to put in another pickleball court. I understand that that serves a segment of our community. I don't want them to not be able
to get their physical exercise. I'm sure I would enjoy it if I were to take it up and had the knees for it, but I don't. But I think we need to run our house as if we're actually going to manage a budget like our house, we need to look and say, Okay, streets and water and bridges and roads are more important than pickleball and wayfinding signs.
In a city of thirty eight thousand people, I think we know where the library and the courthouse are, and those things play into smart city TESS technology that could be implemented later on, which is an Orwellian surveillance society that no one wants to consider. These are not things that we really want to have in our community.
But we weren't.
Really asked if that was the case. They just spent on it. And so we need to make sure that in our house we get our budgets straight. If you have the money to do the extras, great, did anybody go to college and live in an apartment, have to eat ramen. I mean, we need to learn how to prioritize the things that we do. So if we are going to spend it needs to be on things that add value to our hometown, not things that are just the fluff and niceties.
Thank you very much. Mister Shriwick Lurry East, same same question to you. How would you fund continued improvements to our infrastructure?
Well, I think a lot of that's been covered really with both of what they've said there. The taxes have to pay for that somewhere or another, so whether it comes from the go bonds or the other. But also at ten pointed out we need the right balance of where we're spending that money and how we're spending it.
And I know there is a balance. We do need parks and other things like that as well, but how much And definitely I've as I've been out knocking doors, I've heard a lot of people talk to that issue of saying, why are we spending this much on wayfinding signs or pickleball courts or those sorts of things when you know my road is in disrepair and I know some of those roads may not qualify based on the traffic and the pavement condition index there that would make
those a lower priority. But definitely there is balance, and obviously taxes is how we pay for that. And again how we do that, whether it's through go bonds or otherwise, we've got to pay somebody there.
So all right, thank you very much. Larry Ard to Laureniseille, same question, how would you fund the continued to prove it's to our infrastructure here Bartlesville.
Well, I think they've already covered the fact that sales tax, sales tax and gobon those are two main tax sources. This is the two main sources of revenue that we use as a city to keep our services running, our
infrastructure to take cared for. I think what we have to do is they've already said, and I agree with everything that's been set up here, except for the fact that some of our amenities they help bring visitors to our town, they help drive revenue to our town, and those visitors to our town also, believe it or not, translates to people living in our town and working in our town.
So I don't want to neglect those.
I think where we can achieve the balance is the fact that we need to look and make sure we're responsibly spending the sales tax dollars that we collect.
For you in order to do maintenance.
There's new technologies for street maintenance that we can apply so that we can lengthen the life of a road and we can make it better for longer so that we don't have to replace it, because replacing is ten times more expensive than maintaining a road. So let's let's look at how we maintain roads and at the same time, how we replace.
Roads that need to be replaced or repaired.
So we need to be looking at every project that comes through GO Bond and say does this fit and how does this fit with a strategic plan that you, the citizens, have given us input and told us that are the priorities for you in our town. So when we collect your taxes and we and we put those to work for you, we're putting them to the work the way you told us to put the work. Put them to work, and you told us streets and infrastructure is what you want, and so we're going to go
do that. But it's a dual effort of making sure that we maintain our infrastructure as well as repair and replace our infrastructure when it requires Thank you.
Thank you very much, Lauren. Aaron Kirkpatrick, We have a new question for you now. I had a listener email me this comment recently, and it goes like this, My daughter can no longer safely run on Pathfighter because the whole business crisis has gotten so in their words, out of control. The question is, how do we solve this homeless issue.
Yeah, I wish that listener was the only time I'd heard that story. My daughter's best friend was chased at knife point by a homeless man. My own daughter can no longer ride on Pathfinder because she was harassed twice by two different homeless guys in one evening. Obviously, on every homeless person is a criminal or aggressive like that. But I don't know any women who still walk on Pathfinders safely by themselves.
Here's how we fix it.
And these ideas come after lots of conversation with helping organizations, with the police officers all across the board. This plan will work. I call it the high way out of homelessness or the high way out of here. We need to de silo our helping organizations to enable them to help homeless people when they arrive in Bartlesville, get onto a highway at all points in one direction. We want
to get you off the street into stable housing. We have incredible helping organizations right now, but they don't work together efficiently. So I'd like to help fix that, but that's really not the government's job. I've already got people in place who will come together to put together that plan and it can have it going in a month. The government's job is to do what the police have asked for. Make it lowest level misdemeanors, to do some
of the things that are causing these problems. Outdoor camping in certain areas of on public land certain areas of our city, aggressive panhandling outside of businesses, and dumpster diving, especially in our businesses downtown. This is a constant issue for a lot of our business owners. We make those things misdemeanors, not so we can put people in jail or levy fines. We're not going to do either of
those things. But if you do not go along with the highway out of homelessness, then we're going to make it possible on the back end of this for the helping organizations to see who has these misdemeanors so that they can just turn off the tap of help. If you show up and you've got misdemeanors because you won't comply with what the police are telling you to do, they say, I'm sorry, we can't help you right now.
We can't give you these resources until you do the community service, get these misdemeanors off your record, and in doing so, we will create enough friction in the system that people will choose to lead. We're not going to force anybody out. It's just simply freedom and responsibility. You have the freedom to make these choices and the responsibility to take the consequences, not externalize them onto the community.
Thank you, Quinn Shipper, same question to you, how do you think we solve our homelessness issue?
Well, there are number of things.
Tom One is to realize this is not just an issue for Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
This is pervasive around the country.
I think many, if not most, in this room would recognize that what we perceive as a person who may be homeless has increased significantly over the last four years, not just here across the state, across our nation. It's not clear there are a lot of people who guess how people are coming into our community who are a
very generous community. And having worked in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where we live for twenty two years, part of the experience that I bring to Bartlesville, not there were residents here, is I helped establish an organization that when we left in twenty seventeen, we had over sixty community entities which included churches, nonprofits, the Department of Corrections, the hospital, the public schools, and many others who've gotten out of their silos.
That takes time, that doesn't pop out of a box, developed relationships, and one of the real turning points to lead that forward was a common data system to help manage the rehabilitation, the compassionate work that needs to be done with many people who have related mental health, substance abuse, and public safety issues that they may be causing. And so it takes the entire community to be involved with that. Very recently, the City of Bartisville will let me back
up with a strategic plan. Anybody here in the room can go and read that. There's several points in the strategic plan of the city to be addressing homelessness, not just as a pas thing or current thing, but gone going. We need to understand what our lane is as a city and stay in that lane. We've also proposed and had passed a development of a task force time limited
to bring together strategic partners in the community. And there are a lot of people doing some remarkable things to assist those who are homeless, to raise them above and beyond their circumstance, whatever that might be. So all of that to say, there are more questions than answers, and I'd like to be part of the answer.
Thank you, Quinn Trevor Dorsey ward by the same question to you, how do we solve our homeless issue?
Well, as you heard the other two candidates say, there's a lot of work to be done and there's a lot of resources. One of the things about Bartlesville that I've always found amazing after we moved here is I think we have to be possibly the nonprofit capital of the world. We have amazing organizations that help all facets of our community. I do think that a lot of the homeless people that have probably migrated here have heard about said resources, and I like ideas that Quinn and
Aaron both said. We have to provide service and get those people going the right direction or get them back to where they came from possibly. I know, in talking with our police department, a lot of the problem, or a lot of the help they probably need is with mental health services. And I know we do have Grand Lake Mental Health here, which is a phenomenal organization. They do amazing work. So I think that has helped bridge
some of the gap. But I think that we need more services there on the mental health aspect of it, at least in talking with our police force, both the city and the county. And so I think there's already some good footing that started in trying to move it in a direction where we can we can start helping get these things solidified. I know that the police also have got someone that patrols the Wayfinder because we've had some situations and issues on there, and so I think
that's that's helping address some of that as well. So I know that we've got a lot of work to do, but I'm confident that we can we can come up with the solutions to make it make it all better.
Thank you. Trevor Dorsy said this.
The time Limited the time Limited Task Force that the city Council approved has a six month window to study this issue. That's six months for the listener's daughter. They can't get on Pathfinder because it'll be unsafe. And and these helping organizations are reaching out directly saying this is the plan that we need to be going with. And I love that you have a background, so I invited you hate be a part of this because the helping organizations have reached out to me and said, we're ready
to act now. We don't need to study for six months. We've got decades of experience. We can act on this soon.
Aaron. We can use some of our time, and I appreciate your passion, but we can use some of our time in our closing statements to rebid wor to go to different topics that may have not have been read. But thank you, Dale Copan question to you is how pervasive is the homeless population really and what can city council do about it?
I think that the homeless population numerically is perhaps not as intense as some have imagined, But then you have to start separating that some of those people are truly homeless. They have no shelter. Some of those people have no transportation, but they may have a place that they do have a shelter to stay at night, but when you encounter those people on the Pathfinder or in different places, it can be a little bit scary. This is something I
began working with quite a few years ago. In fact, Tracy Rowles had just arrived in town as our new police chief, and of course that tells you how many years ago that was. And we talked about this and as he told me and I found to be true and has already been mentioned, he described it as a three legged stew and you're going to have mental issues, mental health issues, you're going to have substance abuse issues, and you're going to have public safety or crime issues.
One leads to the other, and which one is dominant will vary, but you have to address all of them if you're going to find success. And this has been described. There's a number of ways to address that together. But at the end of the day, they have to want the help, and not everyone does. So the pervasiveness of it, I think that it's interesting to me that as desirable and wonderful as the Pathfinder is, it also has become
a bit of a traffic way for that population. Now, I would also throw out that these folks are people, and they are Bartlesville people, and they're not something that we just put in the trash truck in a Halloway. They deserve that respect as any of us would, but they have to obey the laws. It's against the law to camp in a public park. That law should be enforced and has been mentioned. We are patrolling the pathfinder,
we the police department and enhancing those enforcement activities. As another is made, we make it uncomfortable, people find another place to be. So I think it's a multi pronged approach. But the appearance might be worse than the reality, but appearances are reality.
Thank you deal, Copeland. Tim Sherrick, same question to you. How pervasive is the wholest population really and what can, where should the city council do about it?
I think the answer to that is that nobody really knows. They are transient, and so to try to get a feel for how many and who and we just don't know. And with a southern border that leaks like a sieve, we don't even know if we have bad actors among these people. We don't know if we have people with
history of violent offenses. We don't know exactly what we're dealing with We need our law enforcement to more aggressively prosecute the laws that are on the books so that we can get the people into the system and we can get a determination on some of those things. But at the same time, I do believe that we want Bartlesville to be a city of compassion that flows from a desire to see all of our neighbors who wish to succeed have an opportunity to do that. And that's
not just a hand up. That means arms locked with our neighbors who are willing to help and be helped when we need it. That means keeping government out of the business of life building. That is not the proper role of government. Our charitable organizations and faith community do this best. They deliver hope to the hopeless and help to those who need it most. Everyone is entitled to
an opportunity, not an outcome. For our hometown family members that have been injured by an economy run amok, work, situations beyond their control, and tragedies that found them unprepared, we should be prepared to come alongside and help. But what that looks like is encouraging volunteerism and monetary given to the organization's best suited to offer guidance and support, and then as a city council our only role would to be removed any obstacle to their success.
Thank you, Tim Shehrick, Larry East. I have a different question for you we received. This is one of the top questions, by the way. We received several questions based on the city's current process of building its next comprehensive plan, which is mandated by the state of Oklahoma. Should the city have a comprehensive plan and what should it entail? Wow?
Okay, the we were required to have some type of comprehensive plan. I'm not sure the comprehensive plan that was just delivered a couple of weeks ago is the answer, at least not in its entirety. In fact, I'm not sure if anybody knows that that's the answer. That's I've seen the docum. That's almost four hundred pages of comprehensive plan. That sounds a little detailed. It's also got some some terminology in there and things addressed in a way that
I'm not comfortable with. And I'm hoping that as the vote comes up on November the fourth, I believe at the next council meeting that they will table this until the citizens have had a chance to review this further
and give input. I know that the consultants that worked on this solicited input from the citizens, and in talking with them, I think they said they had about a ten percent response rate and so and even so that was, you know what, close to a year ago when that input was gathered, and I think we as the citizens deserve to be able to see that full plan and give some feedback on it before it's actually approved. And you used as guidelines for the future of our city.
Thank you, Larry Lord Rosela. The same question to you once again. We've got the process of building the next comprehensive plan mandated by the state of Oklahoma. Should the city have a comprehensive plan and what should it entail?
This is a great question, and I love this because this is toxic strategy for our city, right.
But this is not just strategy. So I've been a part of.
A lot of organizations, a lot of business organizations that have said, let's develop a strategic plan. So a strategic plan should do a few different things. A strategic plan should identify what's your core function, what should you have done if if nothing else, this needs to be accomplished. These are the values we want to hold to in everything that we do. This is a plan and how we make this happen going forward. Plus it should have an also a renewed period. This is an ever evergreen thing,
a strategic plan. It should be renewed, refreshed, updated continuously. So I do want to give this some time with our communities to have them look at it, give them input. They've had a lot of input so far to develop the draft of the comprehensive plan, but I would like for them to give input on what we've got so far and give us some more ideas and some more input on that. I want that, But we have to start moving forward. We have to start executing because we're moving into a budget cycle.
And we use the strategic plan to.
Set our priorities, to set our budget to make sure that we're doing what you say you want us to do. And we keep refreshing this document, refresh our strategy, and we move forward with the priorities that you tell us as you.
Give us input going forward.
But we use it as a strategic initiative to set our priorities and set our budgets.
Thank you, Thank you very much, Lord Rozelle Well Eric Kirkpatrick, same question to you comprehends who play it mandated by the state of Oklahoma. What should the city have as far as its COMPREHENSI who play it, and what should it entail?
I'm not sure that I've seen a lot in the comprehensive plan yet that I didn't already know by knocking doors and talking to neighbors as far as things that the city needs to address or that we have going forward. So let me just tell you a few things that are interesting that stuck out to me. Number One, Bartlesville's population is projected to grow only somewhere between four and
eight percent. So whatever thinking economically as far as development goes, is not going to be because we see a massive wave of new people. So that means we need to be developing our local resource, our local human resources, our untrained workforce. If we're going to grow our economy, it has to come from within, it will not come from without. I think that's important to know. There were several places where I said, ooh, this is cool. You know, how's
this gonna happen? They said, well, this is not necessarily going to happen. It's just kind of a mockup of what could happen if you all decide to do it, So it's you have a lose guide.
I guess I'm okay with that.
My favorite part was that they wanted to expand the pathfinder to southeast a little bit more. That's cool, but in reality, the things that it identifies as needs aren't the things that we already know are needs. It just gives us a legal framework by which to pursue them.
Thank you very much, Eric Kirkpactrick. We go now to Quinn Shipper, a little bit different to spin on the question here, are you familiar with the city's current comprehensive plan and if anything, what would you change.
Well, first of all, I appreciate the comments have been made and don't want to repeat anything, but I also wanted to clarify there are two things that may be confused here.
One is the City of Bartell has a strategic.
Plan and we might want to think of that like a blueprint or a road map, and those are things in the near future that the City of Bartlesville is addressing. And out of that came the impetus for the Comprehensive Plan, which we call Endeavour twenty forty five, and it is mandated by the state, so therefore we have an obligation to address that. I've been on that committee since its inception.
It's been a twelve month study. There have been numerous opportunities to receive citizen input, strategic stakeholders, all that sort of input over the last twelve months. And so going forward the Comprehensive Plan, I think that Lauren alluded to this, it has built into it periods of refreshing, revising, but it's not something just to go on a shelf.
The strategic Plan.
Every month, I believe there's an update to the city Council and so all citizens can go and follow the updates to the Strategic Plan when the Comprehensive Plan is adopted. And from my perspective, right up until the very last meetings, you know, four hours.
The other Monday, with the.
People who have been guiding us through the process, different stakeholders in the community, those within the city, we had citizens present, and so from where I say that there's been plenty of opportunity for citizen input, and this council will decide I guess on Monday whether to table that or adopt that. But even at our last City Planning Commission, there was a very thorough review and the adoption of change that had been recommended by various stakeholders, including citizens.
So I think we're very well positioned to adopt and build on the strategic.
And the comprehensive plans. It's two separate things.
Thank you, Quinn Schipper, Trevor Dorsey Ward five. Same question to you, familiarity of course with the comprehensive planned, What if anything would you change?
Well, as Quinn stated, I also served on that committee, and so for the past twelve months, we've worked diligently with the firm that we hired, and I think that that provides.
Not only a base, but.
A forward look, a current look, forward look, and then where we're going.
You know.
As far as what I would change, you know, I don't know. I think we we've spent a lot of time and got a lot of citizen input, and we also had a very diverse segment of the community that served on that committee with us throughout that process, and so I think there was a lot of good input. I didn't realize it was only ten percent, but I guess that was probably discussed in them in the meeting
of people that did respond to the surveys. But there was a lot of opportunity for citizen input and I think that, you know, one of the things that I was glad that to see address. There's a lot more things that I think that we probably need for our youth.
I know.
There's not a ton of things for them to do in the community, but we have tried to address that through GEO bonds with the skate park, we redid the ball fills, the soccer fields. You know, there's a lot of different things. I know the pickleball ball court has been discussed, but there that is a very I guess you know, anybody can play pickleball, and it's not just uh, you know people my age. A lot of youth are
really involved in that. And so I think we we tried to encompass all of the community and and and find the things and the and the issues that we needed to address for for the entire community. And so I think so far that's a pretty good working document.
Or hang onto the microphone, because we're gonna work our way backward on that. Yeah, we're gonna do. We're gonna do something a little different here. This is a question everyone will have the same question. It's our final question of the night before we go into our closing statements. Well, we're all aware of the events at Unity Square the last few years that have divided our community. What do you see as the role of a city councilor on addressing this matter.
This has probably been almost as big an issue you as when we all had to go through COVID and navigate that. But I know it is a very heightened issue for all the community. I know Barlsville is very conservative, and I think for the most part most people you know, identify with faith, and so it's been a big issue.
I think early on, you know, a Miss King and I think there was a group that led with the petition that stated that they did not want certain types of activity in our public space, and that led to an agreement with At the time, I believe it was Oklahoman's for Equality. Now it's Bartlesbill for Equality to not have certain events at the Pride festival that once that
agreement lapsed. Of course, this year there was another performance at the Pride event, and I personally, I think those kind of activities don't need to be in our public space, and I think a lot most, if not the majority, of citizens also agree. I knew we currently have ordinances that speak to leude and lascivious behavior, but I don't know that we really get in the weeds defining that
what that is. And so I believe that maybe we have some work to do or we can define that better so that hopefully we can curtail some of the things that have taken place in our public space.
Thank you, Queen Shipper.
The same question to you, what do you see as the world of the city councilor on the addressing this matter with the issue that has been dividing our community with the abed secunity square.
Well, first of all, I'd like to say that the city Council is strictly nonpartisan, and my role, as all the city councilors is to be impartial and to show respect to all citizens of our community, regardless of their political affiliation or any other thing that might quote unquote define them.
This is my position.
A couple of months ago, as a city council, we passed a proposition maybe it was a resolution on the word wrong, and I swore an oath, as did everybody on the city Council, to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of our state. And that means, and I believe, I would hope that everybody in this room would like to adhere to the Constitution, which has
to do with First Amendment rights. And so I was in agreement with that because it was an issue of First Amendment rights quite apart from any kind of activity that would be going on a Unity Square or any other park or any other public place. And so from a First Amendment rights perspective and my commitment to uphold our state and our national constitution, this has to be addressed from that perspective, because I don't want to be on a council that decides who has the right to
be in the public space and who does not. And so we want to adhere to our First Amendment rights in that matter. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter.
I think very much good Shipper word for Aaron Kirkpatrick's same question to you. Events at the Unity Square over the past few years have divided our community. What do you see as the role of a city councilor addressing that matter.
I put out a video on this early in my campaign where I laid out a legal framework that protects the First Amendment but also only regulates based on health outcomes. The government has the legal right and responsibility to protect the health outcomes of minors. So I'll invite you to go to my Facebook page and go watch that video. I explained how it would work, and I've talked to Trevor. I talked to Jess. Jessaid, that's a really interesting legal theory.
If the council gave me a task me on it, I'd go track it down.
I think it might work.
How would I deal with it as a city council member, Well, I'll tell you I'd rather lead by example. So this Sunday night, I'm throwing a unity party for all of Bartlesville rather than letting politics divide us and letting Unity Square be a place is always about division. I've invited all the city council members who are I've invited both political parties, So Democrats and Republicans are coming to celebrate America.
We've got boy scouts and bands and singers just coming to celebrate that we are Bartions and neighbors, even into the middle of an election season. We can talk about you know why I do this or I do that, and we should regulate it as needed, or not making sure that it's always.
In line with the Constitution.
But it's one thing to say, on this one thing that happens one day a year, I'm going to make it a really big deal. Or we can say, let's lead by example and actually build unity into our community, because when we see each other as human beings and we break bread together and we celebrate the things we have in common, we're much less likely to get at each other's throats over these things we don't have in common. I sat down with some of the leaders from the
Drag Show to address their concerns about it. By the time we got done so I think we're friends now because when you actually treat people like people, you can disagree and still find common ground. So my goal with them, if elected to the city council, as we've already talked about, she and I would be to negotiate ahead of time so it doesn't become the divisive thing that it is now and instead we find ways to celebrate unity in Bartlesville.
Thank you, Eric, Ripactrick Lauren Roselle question to you, We've got the big events at Unity Square, grabbed a lot of headlines, a lot of airtime past few years, divided our community. What do you see as your role of city councilor it's addressing this matter.
So I'll echo my fellow counselman's thoughts on this. I took an oath whenever I became city councilman to uphold the constitution of the United States of America, uphold the constitution of the state of Oklahoma, and I intend to continue to do that. I will stand by the votes that I have taken. My opponents like to characterize my
votes as having voted for drag shows. I think if you look at my votes, what I did is I voted for an agreement with the organization in order to take a pause on drag shows and not to have a drag show that year. I don't think that was voting for drag shows this time. I voted for a resolution to help ensure that people could exercise their First Amendment freedoms and do it safely and protect our community and make sure that we did not have an issue.
And that's the resolution that I voted for. So it's easy to set up here and say that you don't want drag shows to happen. What I challenge you is, if you come to me and have a conversation with being telling me what action you actually want me to take, and the city said, we'll go look and see if there's an ordinance that we can make, we task our city attorney to do that. We looked far and wide for attorneys that would like to get involved in doing that,
and they said no because it would be unconstitutional. So I challenge you that if you'll set on the city council and vote, and when your city attorney looks at you and says that's unconstitutional, they will sue you. You will lose, It will cost you millions of dollars, and you won't be able to have that money to spend on other things that we really need to do in this city. I'm going to vote to uphold people's constitutional rights and that's where I stand on it.
Thank you, Laura Zelp. Larry East save question to you, what do you see use your I'm a city councilor on addressing this very issue that's dividing our community.
Well as I've campaigned all along that I'm running to represent family values and so I want to protect the vulnerable and through that, yes, I want to do what's in line with our constitutional rights. But I think that there's more that we can do than what has been Uncertainly, from what I understand, on a couple of years ago, there needed to have been I think some arrests made in what was entertainment. Then from what has happened in this year's show, again, I was not able to attend
either one. I've only seen pictures or heard people describe what went on there, and from what I understand happened this year that it was not of the sexually provocative nature that happened two years ago. From that, I think legally we will have challenges there. It's going to take a very creative solution, perhaps something like Aaron has proposed over there. I don't really know. That's something that's going
to take a lot of research. We want to do it carefully, we don't want to I'm not has actually had a conversation with Mike Bailey on this several weeks back, and as he said, you know, it's not as much being afraid of being sued. It's afraid of being sued through something stupid that we've done, and so we don't want to do that. We want to be very careful in how we approach it.
Thank you, Thank you, Larry tim Sherick Ward. One same question to you about the events at Unity Square in the past few years had divided our community and what do you see as the role of a city councilor addressing this matter.
Well, first of all, let me just put this out there for everybody. You can have a drag show. You can do that, but it's an adult activity and it belongs in an adult venue where somebody's checking IDs at the door to make sure that you're not exposing our youngest and most of the bonum or citizens to something
that is harmful by its very nature. Our values need to be defended against the forcible violations of special interest groups, and the city council is the de facto steward of decency in our public spaces and has a duty to be sure that our values are maintained, our ordinances are not violated, and adult behaviors are limited to adult participants. The Constitution of the United States absolutely does not protect
this activity. I have here my own personal copy of the Constitution that I keep in my pockets, so I can refer to the text directly. You won't find freedom of expression in the First Amendment. What you will find is freedom of speech. So the Court has devised what they use as a test called symbolic speech. It protects things like civil rights marches, okay, votes for women. It
protects all of those kinds of things. You go into the Capitol and holding a sign that says you didn't do something right.
Congress texts that.
But anything that is lewd, salacious, or sensual, it absolutely categorically.
Does not protect.
The promoters of this event have characterized their own performance as either cabaret or other such entertainment, which by definition is an adult activity that is typically hosted within a bar or a restaurant that serves adults. IDs are checked at the door, and you protect the other participants who shouldn't be exposed at a very early age to those
kinds of activities. My twelve year old doesn't want to see a drag queen on her way to the library, and I think most of the families are in agreement. As I've knocked doors around the community. One of the first questions that has come up is what are we going to do about this? This doesn't belong in our public space, so we need an ordinance that was originally mandated to be delivered.
Thank you, Tim Dale Copeland Ward. One same question to you. With the events at Unity Square the last few years, a lot of division in the community, what do you see as the role of a city councilor aught addressing this matter?
Well, there has been a lot of division, and a two hour event has created thousands of hours of division. And it really doesn't matter what I like or don't like. I don't attend that event, I don't attend other events. I don't attend casinos or other things because I choose not to.
But at the end of the.
Day, as has been described, I think the council has the legal obligation to follow the law. And I have observed that the attorneys general's offices with hundreds of attorneys that specialize in this sort of thing in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Montana. I also saw Saint George, Utah make a decision that was ill advised. In every single case, the courts have ruled against those and some of them are continuing to
work their way through that system. It is a problem that must be addressed, but it must be addressed legally, and it causes me to wonder if a city of thirty eight thousand people has the capacity and the skill set to do something that states have not been able yet to accomplish. I would also point out, as I've shared with people as EE knocked doors, that they did find the language, but it took sixty years to find the language for Roe v.
Wade.
Now, whether you're for it or against it, the facts of the matter are that eventually that situation was addressed to the satisfaction of a certain group of folks. I don't doubt this will be the same. But in the meantime, if we expose our citizens because any judgments, any legal cost, not only will distract the city from doing those core services, it will also be added to our tax bills. Whether we're for it or against it, it goes on everyone's taxes.
I well notice too that the protester, the chief, biggest, loudest, most well known protester, praised the City of Bartlesville in their police department for providing a safe environment for all parties concerned to practice and express themselves. So I think that's something we need to pursue. Thank you, Thank you very much.
Now it's now time for our closing statements and we will start with deal Copeland Ward one.
Thanks radio for hosting the candidate for microphone. Microphone, Hey do use that too? Yeah, okay, start my time, start my timer over. Okay, sorry about that. Thanks again Bartol Radio for hosting this. Thanks to our best for their hospitality, as they always do. I've been blessed to live here most of my life. My wife of fifty three years, Donna, and I went to school here. We raised our sons here. We got to watch our grandsons and not only attend the same school as I did, but to play sports
and to grow up here too. One of our sons is in law enforcement. A grandson is now a local school teacher. One of my brothers was a teacher and a principal until his retirement. In Bartlesville. Public service is important in our lives. We think it's important to give back and participate in our community. It's a wonderful place to live. Sometimes we might take that for granted, but a short trip and when you come home and you
see that unique skyline. It makes you understand Bartlesville is special. And when you talk with folks who've come here from other places and you hear their surprise and also their praise for Bartlesville, I know we should never take it for granted. But a great community doesn't happen by accident. A lot of folks have given their time, talent, and treasure over the years to make it special. It's our turn to continue the legacy, just like them. We'll have challenges,
We've talked about them tonight. We'll have failures, we'll have opportunities, but working together, we can address what I feel are those three fundamental requirements financial, health, course services, and yes, civility. Our city provides many services, but it's never a simple, single issue challenge. I'm reminded of a friend and former city manager, Ed Gordon, who often was quoted as saying, together we can. So I've come to learn a few things in my life, and they're important to me. I
want to share them with you. From my church, I learned gratitude for God's grace and his love. From my scouting, I learned servant leadership and teamwork. From my city, I learned how we come together to accomplish more than anyone could do alone. And I want to continue building for the future. And I asked the voters of Ward one to vote for me, Dale Copeland for your city council.
Thank you, Thank you, Dale Covid, Ward Wide Adele, Tim Sherrick, Ward one, Tim.
Well, you've heard a lot of information tonight, and I know that that can be an awful lot to try to take in. I can tell you for myself, it's like drinking from a fire hose when you look at the breadth and scope of what needs to be dealt with, and the issues we've been talking about impact whether Bartlesville will continue to be a great hometown. With so much detail and discussion, it's important, though, to keep the main
things the main things. The conversations I've had with constituents who I'm sworn to represent if elected, indicate that we want Bartlesville to be the most family friendly, kid safe city in Oklahoma, where public spaces can be enjoyed with the only expectation being of building great memories together. We want it to be a place with the kind of character that causes people to dream about escaping to Bartlesville to build a life, not escaping Bartlesville to start over.
We want it to be a place that values its residence enough to make sure their needs are being addressed before trying to bring in outside consumers of already limited resources. We need to take care of our neighbors before newcomers. We needed to be a healthy place that realizes that the greatest quality of life investment that we can make is in providing an adequate supply of safe, clean water.
We want it to be a fiscally responsible place that demonstrates the wisdom of acquiring and maintaining necessities before amenities. And these issues may not all be easy to solve, and there are likely difficult decisions to be made in coming days, and you, the people, will have to make the choice of how best to safeguard your livelihood and liberty, how to protect our hometown, family values, and provide for a city that our children will inherit and be proud of.
Will you join me?
I'm asking for all of you to vote for Tim Sherrick on November fifth to make sure that Bartlesville remains a great place to call home.
That was Kim Sherrick Ward one. We now moved to Larry East in ward two.
Larry again want to thank Kawe and RS for hosting this out here. I thank all of you for coming out to engage and learn a little bit more about each of us here. I hope that well, I trust that everybody here tonight and who's watching and listening will go out to vote, and that you'll encourage your family and friends to do so as well. And regardless of the outcome of the elections, I hope that you will
engage with the council, come to the meetings. That's something that I've you know, often not been there and so I've learned a lot through this process and it's it's
been very educational. I hope that you will get educated if you're not already in participating in the councils, in the boards and committees that are available for you, to have more of a voice, and don't be afraid to contact your council member as I know, just you know, talking with any of these guys that they want you to take advantage of that they want to hear from you, and not just during the public comment time at the council meeting, but to even have a sit down conversation.
And I think we can go a lot more forward together by doing that. I'd appreciate your consideration. On November the fifth, Thank.
You, Larry East Also Ward two, Lord Reselle.
Thank you.
I want to think everybody that's intendance tonight, Barcel Radio, our sponsors Harvest Bank, but also every person setting up here, because service and especially public service is something that comes from the heart, and you have to have a heart for it, and I know that every person up here does. I love Bartlesville, and one of the things I love most about barcelol is even when we disagree about things, we help each other, We lift each other up, We
come together for each other. This is our town. Don't come after our town. We'll stand up for it. This is our town and we will protect everybody in this town and lift them up and help them have to. You have to love that about our community. It's one of the I think it's one of the things that makes us a great community. I love serving and making other people successful. The things you hear about in the news and on the radio, they're a small percentage of
what we actually do as city councilmen. The things you don't see, the call you get saying hey, I got a drain these problem? Can you help me with this? And you put them into contact with the right person and get them help and their their life is improved every day because of that thing you did that nobody's ever except them is gonna hear about.
Maybe their neighbors.
They're gonna call you up and say, hey, I think my street needs some attention.
Can you come look at it with me?
And you're gonna go out there and you're gonna look at it, and you're gonna stand there and you're gonna listen to them, and you're gonna talk, and you're gonna represent them and try to fight for one of their projects in the twelve million dollars street bond issue. You're going to serve your community and you're gonna help make other people in your help community successful.
That's what I'd like to do.
I'd like to keep growing these opportunities when my kids want to live here and my grandkids want to live here. I want to serve the community that I love. And I hope you vote for me because I've spent the last two years and I'm just now hitting the ground run and learning everything that I need to know so that I can be really effective as a city council person. So I appreciate your vote on on November fifth, so I can can send you're serving you and making Barzel successful.
Thank you, Thank you, Lord Mizelle Ward two Ward War Aaron Kirkpatrick.
I'm so excited for Bartlesviille's future. We have so much potential. We've been talking about a lot of high level stuff, but the things that make me most excited to be running for city council are the micro issues. We've not talked about a lot that is ward for specific tonight. It's the people in Oak Park that say, hey, could we get a speed bump out here because we want our kids to be safe when they play, especially for the new families that are moving into one hundred and one houses.
That are being built.
But also could we make sure that Virginia gets fixed after the construction vehicles are done. It's my neighbors on the west side of the tracks to go there. Our houses are getting knocked down and we got no plan to build more housing.
What would you do?
And then talking through strategy with them to go, oh, we could partner with development and really make more affordable housing for people. Because more affordable housing and owner occupied housing is a big deal on the west side of town. It's talking to business owners. It's saying like, hey, I'm investing in these buildings. My property taxes are killing me. But also I've got more ideas for incubating other people's ideas so that we can all be more successful together.
Seeing the candleshop have sixty businesses in one room so that they can benefit entrepreneurs from all over the community. It's figuring out how to get creative infill for sidewalks so that a guy could walk to church for the first time the day that I've met him and prayed with him. Like, these are the things that are exciting to me because they're the human level. The high level stuff matters to all of us. The homelessness crisis, it hits my community the hardest.
Because that's where the helping resources are.
So when those people are reaching out saying hey, when the both the homeless people I've spoken to and the helping organization say this plan will make it better, it impacts all of my neighbors, and every one of these issues that we improve improves the quality of life for all of Bartlesville for decades to come. That's why I'm excited about being a part of the city council, and that's why I hope you vote for me on the number fifth.
Thank you, Aerin Kirkpatrick, Ward four. Also from Ward four, Quinn Shipper, thank you so much.
Tom and Kawan Barrows were ready for hosting this and the generous hospitality always out here at Arvest Bank, and I recognize almost every face in the audience, so I feel like I'm at home with people I know. So it's nice for everybody who came out. Thank you when I came out of the City council, and this will be true for everyone who comes under the city council. Soon afterwards, you were sent to an Oklahoma Municipal League one day training and it starts by saying, we're gonna
teach you two things today. We're gonna teach you one how to do your job and two how to stay out of jail. So I thought I'd better pay attention, and I learned a lot that day. I think, in our own respective ways, we all bring experience and we're informed and engaged in the community in different sorts of ways. I live in Ward four. It is the most diverse
ward in our city. It spans from north of Highway sixty Adams Road, from the Highway seventy five all the way to the runway of the airport, everything north of that. When they did the redistricting, you go to Shinee downtown south to thirteenth and cut west. There we have the economic engines that are the primary employers of our city are in this ward. We have every form of education you can imagine, and the seat of the public public school system is down the street from where I live.
We have over twenty four churches in the ward where I live. We have media of various types in our community. Of course, we're also the seat of city and county government. It is very, very diverse, and going from one side to the other, knocking doors, meeting people has informed and excited even more my desire to continue being in a place where I can live, work, play, and serve those who are my neighbors and friends, and not just in
Ward Far, but throughout this entire city. As is often said, you know, you may not be able to vote for me, but on the council I get to cast a vote for you.
We're in this together. We're a team.
They didn't give me a magic wand but we're here together to serve Bartlesville. I'd appreciate your vote for me to continue on the City Council.
Thank you.
They can quid ship re Ward war Ward Pibe.
Trevor Dorsey, Well, first of all, I'd like to thank BARSZWIL Radio. All of our sponsors are best for hosting this and everyone that's in tenants tonight, watching on live stream or listening. I know we talked a lot a lot about issues tonight and hope that not everybody focuses strictly on the issues. I know we'll continue to have issues today, tomorrow and going forward. A lot of those issues will have to be addressed to GEO bonds, and
there's expense that goes along with those. Some issues will will have to take a lot of the community collaborating together to overcome those. But Bartsville has a lot of amazing things. You know, Beth Dorsey and I we moved our family here because Barnsville is such an amazing community. We have a wonderful school system. We have one of the best educations I think K through twelve in the state.
We have.
OKU, we have Track County Tech, we have RSU. There's many opportunities for education. We have a great health system, and we continue again to try to take those GEO bond funds and sales tax revenues and spread them across the city to make it better each and every day. And I know that the council that's here currently we
have worked to provide and make Bartlesville better. And I know and I want to thank everyone that's here, Tonine, everybody that's on this days I think loves Bartlesville wants to see it succeed and get better and continue to be the wonderful place that it is to work, live and play. I know I wouldn't I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than Bartlesville. And I'm grateful that I'm getting to raise my kids here. So with that, it's been an honor and a pleasure to serve the constituents
of Ward five for the past seven years. And I would appreciate your vote so that I can continue to be your representative and your voice in Ward five.
TREBORNEURSI word five, Ladies and gentlemen, just give a hand to all of our candidates today from participating. Thank you very much. I'm Tom Davis.
And I want to thank everybody for coming out here to our best to the East Side Branch for our forum tonight. It's been brought to you by LPL Painting and Company, also Comforting Hands, Hospice and Old Time Spirits, and it's been presented by Phillips sixty six. Thank you once again. Remember early voting starts tomorrow. You can vote early, but you can't vote often. I came from Chicago, I
can say that. Alrighty ladies and gentlemen. Once we hear from our presenting sponsors, we'll be back to our regular schedule programming. Thank you very much for watching us on KWETV dot com, also Facebook Live and listening to us on AM fourteen hundred, FM ninety three three and ninety five one K one the one you trust. Thank you guys.
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And welcome back to our best magnie east Side location here on Adam's Road. I'm Tom Davis along with Nathan Thompson. Nathan, we heard a lot of good ideas coming from not only the incumbents, but the newcomers and challengers tonight.
You know you're right, Tom. I think what we saw tonight was an engaged different perspectives and I think that those are all coming together to make sure that Bartlesville continues to progress and be a community that we all really enjoy and appreciate.
Definitely, we heard a lot of different voices, a lot of different feelings, and plenty of emotion. And if anybody thinks that a forum could be a boring place, I think tonight kind of changed.
That appearance absolutely.
And for a non partisan race and really a job that you don't get paid for financially, you don't, this is a volunteer position. We saw a lot of passion here tonight from these candidates running for city council again. Early voting begins tomorrow. You can go to the Washington County Election Board. Fourth flour starts at nine o'clock in
the morning, goes until six. That will repeat on Thursday and Friday as well, and then early voting is also available on Saturday until two o'clock tom General election day of course coming up on Tuesday.
No. And then we're we tonight and that's where we get to be real good friends, as all of us will be covering different points if interested, throughout our listing footprint, and we want to thank everybody for watching and listening tonight. Want to thank our sponsors for presenting sponsor of course Phillip sixty six, also Old Town Spirits, Covering Hands Hospice and LPL Painting and Company. Now we return you to your regular scheduled program right here on K one, the one do you trust.
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six Southeast Washington Boulevard, sweet A for more information. When choosing a hospice provider, just know you have a joyce Comforting Hans Hospice.
Since nineteen forty, contractors in this area have known the name of the company they can turn to for top quality sheet metal manufacturing, and that's Timmins sheet Metal. Timmins is certified by rem Heating and Air Conditioning as a top provider of venting and duckwork for homes and businesses. That endorsement from REEM is a sign of confidence. Make sure you get the best call Dave at Timmins sheet Metal nine one eight, three, three six, sixteen sixty two.
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Okay, here he is again.
They keep telling you.
They're telling you what they're gonna do every now and then,