Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's a part two of our community connection. Today we have His honor of the Mayor, Jim curR in with us, and boy, I tell you, we always we always get somebody who had a short night the following day after after the City Council being last night, we talked a little bit about the strateg plan A little yeah, like a lot.
Yeah, yeah, we sure did. We had a lot to discuss last night. A lot of great things happened last night. We passed budgets for our Bartletool Development Authority. We passed a budget for our city at Bartletill Course, which we'd have been working on for a couple of weeks now and got that passed, and then passed a budget for
our Visitor Development Group too. So we had these are you know, the city being the center hub of it all, and then these other agencies at work tirelessly for the city every day, down to the BDA and Visitor Bureau.
Uh.
That's great to have him in front of us telling their story, telling the highlights and low light of the year for us.
So it was a great meeting.
We got a lot done during the meeting and we got some property annexed into the city. The city's going to ask you, but we grew a little by twenty seven acres. And but for our seamen's plant Lincoln Electric out there, it's going to be a that's going to be just a great new facility for the city of Bartlezila and for the jobs that'll come with it.
Wow.
We kept a home grown business at home too.
We did, we expanded a homegrown business, and uh, I think that's always a highlight because we like to feel like we're trying to attract business to town and then sometimes maybe felt like we neglect businesses in town.
But this is a classic case.
Where we're doing everything we can local businesses to grow them and help them grow and create more jobs in the community.
Now, someone will say, while adds thirty or forty jobs, Well, you know what, every time someone else has a job that creates one or two, maybe three other jobs down the line as it just kind of fans out, it feeds on it.
Yeah, that adds a I mean between these new companies that we've got coming to town, Blue Whale and Lincoln Electric and the expansion, these are close to two hundred and fifty or three hundred jobs, and we'll we'll have to go looking for those jobs. And we talked a little bit about the benefit of having Tri County Tech in our area here and what a great school it is. They can adapt quickly to training workforces and attracting workforces.
So we'll look forward to them being a real part of finding some staffing and workers for these companies.
That'd be great. Keep them on the homegrown kids at home. So many towns this size, the kids will go off to college and you never really get to see the grandkids, if you know what I mean. But Barnusville is one of those towns already that they go off to college, you see the world a little bit, and they realize pretty good back here and they set up shop where they go to work for someone or start their own business. But this is another reason to have folks stay around
and really be a part of one great communit. And I know that they're going to be bringing other people in the other these entities. I guess we better call it trackmccaully and let him know they're going.
Yeah, we'll have some we certainly between between the church and the several places that I play golf at the amount of young people and their children is just a sounding to me. So it's just great to see him participating in the community and coming back home and finding
the benefits of being here. You can always travel out and go on vacations and go to nice places, but having a nice, homegrown place to live and call home, easy to get around, and can be to work in fifteen minutes anywhere in this town, and you're frustrated when you've got to sit at two lights at Adams and Silver Lights because you think, man, there's a traffic jam out here. So it's a great, great attraction to the city. And adding our new attractions restaurants and retail have helped
a great deal. So I think we've kind of found ourselves turning the tide a little and attracting people to live and stay here in Barblesville.
You know what, by bringing industry here, this is something that you know, the whole country needs to do. Yes, is what we're doing is bringing some American industries so that Americans can work industriously, yes, to get the job done, to make products for fellow Americans in the world.
We talked a little about that Chris Batchel to mention the program at the high school.
And carpentry and construction.
Oh yeah, so you know, and teaching people that the trades are essential, necessary and good paying jobs. And I think Tri County Tech does a good job at that. And I think the school being and opening up our AGG program now and this construction management and construction trades is a great signal for trades and workers to come because there are good jobs. They're well paying jobs. We've got great companies in town here. I've been out to Blue Whale and seeing what kind of a company that's
going to be. On the safety side. I've been to ABB and that's like walking into a hospital practically.
It's so clean and precise for the stuff that they do there.
And I know the same as with the middle goods and what they do the gauges and valves.
They make great companies here in town in great.
Jobs, my goodness sakes. And now we did the thing with the Endeavor twenty forty five last night. We passed it in its original form. I understand there were some amendments that were brought up, proposed around sixty I guess, right, how does this all play out?
Well, there was some good conversations. I think counsel Weis mind Dorsey and Councilman Kirkpatrick represented the situation pretty well. This plan was passed unanimously by a committee of thirteen or fourteen people spread throughout the community earlier last year, and the council, with a new council on board, decided to put together kind of a review committee for any
additional comments. And unfortunately this committee had members of a political group on it, and I just don't think the amendments resounded with a lot of people.
So the plan was good from the day it was written. You could always go into.
Any plan and change the bag on it or the writing, but the people that put the plan together worked hard on it. Uh. They deserve a lot of credit for bringing forward and I'm I'm glad it passed in its original form last night.
Mayor Kurt. If I remember correctly, I think I attended a few of these things that we had a lot of public participation at the community, great deal of it. Yeah, we it went on and on and on, and I.
Know when anybody could have been on there and help.
Yeah, indeed, and there were a lot of folks that had a lot of things to say at that time. And uh, it just seemed like it was pretty well betted.
It was well it was, it was open to anybody to be on and the comments came well after that, uh, and they were the comments were pretty much crafted from this political group that came that they worked through. So it was it was a good still part of the process that we opened it up and allowed the city
administration and this group to look through it. But ultimately the seven people on the Planning Commission and virtually everybody as far as I know, on the original committee supported the plan as it was presented.
Very very good, very very good. Now, like you said, a strategic plan is basically a roadmap or we want to be in twenty forty five.
I think we can change the plan at any time.
I think as a matter of policy, you don't want to every time you turn a new council over. You don't want to bring every plan out and feel like the new council should be able to go through it, because that council at any time can change anything and any plan they want to. All they need is three votes. So if there's something objectionable in a zoning requirement that comes up, and we'll have some of that when we
redoce some of our codes. It'll be inherent upon the council to call an exception to that, and if they like the policy that's written into the new plan, they can stick with it. If they don't, they can change the policy. So we have that ability as five people on that council going forward, no matter who's on that council, we can change that plan.
I don't need to be pulling this out of the back pages or anything, but I do remember there was a discussion in one of the sessions that I was in observing. There were folks who wanted to buy a property here and maybe take down some houses put up new houses, right, But they balked at the fact that they had to pay the outstanding tax. They just wanted to take it off the city's hands and then once we improve it, we be happy to pay the tax. Sure, And there seemed to be like a disconnect there.
Yeah.
I mean, whether that revolves around property rights that people are concerned about or not, I don't know. But the city's done a good job of trying to utilize properties that we have. We have acquired some and there will be someday. There's been talk about some subsidized housing itself. We've been talking to the BDA about that, about trying to help our housing problem that we have here in town.
So I think that's something that could come up in the future.
Yeah, yeah, it'd Like I said, housing, it has about sixteen different directions that can go.
We don't have time for We've never had a concerted development effort. We just have spot developments. They've done well, and thankful for those, but in time to entice larger developments here on a regular basis, to fulfill a need that you need is not always here in great amounts. It tends to trickle in with smaller amounts of need.
But it is a challenge that when we do bring companies to town and they bring different groups of people that need housing, we've got to make sure that we are supplying those housing needs for those.
People that want to work here and live here. So a great problem to have.
Mayor is a kind of a relief not to be talking about water.
Water.
We've got water, but I will tell you now, the lakes are full, We've got plenty of water, and we're working well towards solving our water problem the next several years.
It's a long and aduous process.
But we've got a plan in place, got shape, legislators working on it daily, and I would tell and certainly our meetings have been long sometimes and I don't can always catch the people up. But I think now is also the time to conserve water the best you can. Just just because there's an abundance of it doesn't mean that we should be using in abundance of water if we don't need it. And checker sprinkling systems, see how often they're using. Can you work them less this time
of year and wait till the heat comes in. I mean, anything we can do to prolong the supply for a longer period of time. So if we do get in a pinch later in August and September when we haven't had any rains and hopefully we won't have to come to any restrictions on our water, which nobody likes to do.
Well, it'd be a good thing, that'll be, you know. I do see people with their sprinklers on it down.
For I've seen it, and they've got to get them up and running for the summer.
And I get that, but there's always that timer that was on like and when it was August and September, and that's running in April and May and so.
Anyways, it's just incumbenty Watchet.
Yeah, we have a limited water supply with our lakes and our and the way they supply water, so we should be always be cautious of that until we have some expanded water use in the Huett Lake and we get the water rights from Copana. When we get those secured, we'll have not an abundance of water, but we'll have a better supply water for the long term.
I think drawing board, is there still the possibility down the road that would be running pipe along sixty to Punka a fall lake.
That plan was not part of the plan, but where the plan is to expand our we got here dud pool at Hula and then get some water rights from Copana, excuse me, and then we're going to have an auxiliary plan where if we had to run a hard pipe between here and Tulsa or sky took in an emergency situation, running it through the Walmart distribution center and being able to bring pottable water to Bartlesville in an emergency situation, that is part of the plane that was.
Adopted by the Water Resource Board.
So that's a great contingency plan to have that hopefully will never have to use. With our water reuse program and other things that we have in place, hopefully we'll forestall ever having to do that. But it's good to have that in our pocket to know what we would have to do if that came about.
What are we looking forward to ahead as we get into me I know, we got the pools opening and things like that we do.
It's just summers here and we're mowing parks and and sports are happening every day at our ball fields. To see the kids playing at soccer fields and the baseball fields. Got a great group running our baseball fields now and a baseball program. And so spring is a good time in Bartlesville where the trees are coming out and everything's starting to come about.
We had a significant.
Amount of rain in the last ten twelve days and it's dried up a little. We've got a little more rain coming in from the next few days. But spring's a great time in Bartols Hill. We have a lot look forward to. The Council's just police that we've gotten to this point here. We've gotten these budgets passed and we're set for next year at the City of bartles Hill.
And I can't thank the staff of the City of Barblesville and the BDA and Maria us down at the Bizard Development for the work they put in and supply the budgets to us and tell us their story.
They did a great job last night.
Well, visit Bartlesville. They do a pretty good job of getting folks in here.
They've done a great job, he tells me.
All it takes is a visit, and that's all it took for me to come here and move.
And she's had to overcome the Price Tower.
I think I'm not going to say we've turned the corner, but we've got a great group that owns the tower now and what they can do with it in the future and how the city could help in that respect is something we'll have conversations with.
So it's good that we've gotten away.
From the past troubles of the Price Tower and we've got a good ownership and a group in place, and we look forward to working with them and seeing what they can do for the Price Tower. And I know that'll help Maria to help some additional things to talk about in our town.
Yeah, great, great addition James, there.
Is anything else you'd like to tell us.
I can just say you know it was overall, it was a good meeting.
I know we've got some things to overcome on the council, but the council performed really well last night in regards of getting these budgets passed and taking care of the city for the next year.
I'm proud to be a part of that.
Thank you very much. Folks, you've been watching and listening to our City Matters program with bingor Jim Kurr right here on K one, the one you trust. Stay tuned