And good morning, Welcome to Community Connection. On this Friday morning, I have Nathan Thompson. We are here this morning talking with candidates for Washington County District to Commissioner Daryl Worley. Good morning, Daryl. How are you. I'm good. How are you? Oh, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. So again, we have this election that's getting ready to come up on the eighteenth of June, and you are one of three candidates running for
the position of county commissioners. So for those who don't know who you are, let's give yourself a brief introduction please, Okay, Well, my name is Daryl Worley. Obviously I was born in Clamore, and I was born in Clamore, but I grew up in the rural area between Clidmore and Pryor. I've and while we was there, we had a county commissioner that was not very responsive to the needs of the people out outside the city. And it's always kind of been a dream of mine to be a county commissioner.
And when Mike Movie decided not to run again, I thought if not now when so I jumped in. I got you, I got you, And a little bit about your your background as well, that that makes you feel as though you are qualified for this position. Well, first and foremost, I'm a professional engineer. I have road designs experience, road building experience,
and project management experience with large private projects in the millions of dollars. And I also worked at the City of Bartlesville in the engineering department where I manage projects in the millions of dollars. So I have a budget to experience, and I've just kind of been working for this towards this all my life. So you said, kind of the impetus of you wanting to come and run for offices, your experience with a county commission that was not as responsive in
your opinion that as that person needed to be. So if you were to be elected, how would you make a difference in being responsive? Well, I would go to the people. If they had a question, I'd go to them and we would discuss it first. And if I could help them, I would help them as much I could. And if I can't help them, I'll tell them and I'll tell them why I can't help them. We don't have the funds or whatever the reason is. But I will go
and talk to them. Well, in your understanding, what are the primary responsibilities of a county commission. Well, the county commission sets as a three member board that kind of, in my little feeble brain says that they are the strong mayor for the county. They are in charge of all the administration that boards is that they take care of all the property and each individual county. A commissioner has responsibility for the roads and they appoint people to different committees
in the county. So yeah, so yeah, it's very it's a multifunctional thing. A lot of people think, you know, a commissioner their biggest responsibility is taking care of county roads and all of that, And I wouldn't say that that's not their biggest responsibility, but there are other things there that a lot of folks don't have them in consideration. Well, I wouldn't say it was the largest. It's probably about ten to fifteen percent of your time.
But you know, with my road experience already, I think I can do that very use that time very efficiently. And that they do. Of course, budgetarily in Washington County have a budget board that kind of sets the budget for the county itself, and then it's the commissioner's job to look at those budgets to come in from different organizations within within the county and make sure
that those funds are being appropriated and appropriately. That's correct. And you know another thing that the commissioners are responsible for all the property, you know, fair grounds, the you know they have, that's that's part of their If there's county property, they are responsible for, sure. Sure. And another thing here now, one of the things that you talk about here, Darryl
on your on your your platform is property rights within within the county. Now, of course Washington County does not have a zoning uh in the county itself. So because there's no regulation of zoning in the county here, how would you protect people's property rights as a commissioner? Well, people, Uh, all zoning is is don't what's nice word, don't do bad things against your neighbor. There's a colloquial term for that which I'm not going to use,
but it's, you know, be nice to your neighbor. And that's all zoning laws are. And if the neighbors, if they have a dispute, that's what the courts is for. It's not it's not part in my opinion, that's not really part of government. Okay, it should never have been. Okay. So so your your position of defending personal property rights, how
again would you do that as a county commissioner. Well, for one thing, there's some stuff coming down the board called thirty by thirty which they're going to take thirty percent they want a federal government wants to take thirty percent of the land and put it in conservation or buy it or take it from the property funder my owners under what's the what's the word where they go to court
to take it domin domain, that's the correct word. Yeah, And I will oppose any anything in that county in the county that pertains that, okay, okay. And of course in Washington County, the only federal land that we actually have is right around Cope l. So does the thirty by thirty even apply here in Washington County? Yes, because they're going to put like
property in conservationsement. They want like along creeks and streams, they're wanting to build a buffer in there, and there want thirty percent of the land to be in conservation isment? Okay? Okay. Now, another thing that you talk about on your website. Here is individual rights. Another platform that you are talking about in a role as a county commissioner. So talk about individual rights and what you would do as a county commissioner to protect individual rights.
Well, for one thing, back during COVID, there was mass mandates mandated by some of the governments. I think the only thing that the county did was in their buildings, and which you know I would I would have opposed that. So I do not believe the mass mandates and the mandates for vaccinations, which I don't think they imposed, but I would have opposed that for
sure, and I would oppose any mandated medical procedures. Okay, all right, So yeah, again, there were some masked items during during the pandemic that that were implemented in some public buildings. You are correct about that, but never any individual mandate for for vaccines in the state of Oklahoma. That's correct. But we got another pandemic coming, looks like, and I would oppose that in the next one as well. Okay. Well, and again
talking about road maintains as well, you kind of touched about that. You know, there's you know, several hundred miles of county road in Washington county. So talk about your commitment to road maintenance. Well, for thank and talking to some of the people out in the county, I would put a
schedule on road grade, the grading of the of the gravel roads. I would get put together a schedule and make sure that and then we would, you know, put a schedule for going and patching potholes and a schedule for repaving if need be. So I I think that already exists in District two, but you would just yes, okay, And then of course the budgetary process. Now again, Washington County is a budget board county, which means
the commissioners are not the only folks who have voice over budgetings. Yes, it's an additional safe I think that's what its purpose, as additional safe spot. There After the county commissioner scandals that we had, you know, in previous years, forty fifty years ago, so Washington County made the decision to become a budget board county, which the three commissioners are part of that.
So talk about your your your philosophy on budgeting. Well, my philosophy, of course, you can't spend more than you get, so yeah, right, and you know it was you know, I'm not. I don't think that the budget has been way out of whack in Washington County. So I would not want to to come in and make any major changes there, but I would always I would always lean towards spending less if possible. Okay.
And that your final platform here on your website is dealing with election integrity, and you're talking about making sure that you are ensuring safe and secure elections. Do you believe that Washington County does not have safe and secure elections? I believe we have room for improve and has that Okay? Well, I don't think we have really good transparency. Okay. It was specifically, well, what are you talking about from again, as from a county perspective, from
a transparency standpoint, how would you be able to impact that? As account cant? I believe that there should be open audits, okay. And for any election that there's any question on, there should be you should be able to to inspect the ballots and do an odd on the ballots. Okay. And so is it that you don't feel us that that exists as a constitutional provision in Oklahoma? No? I do not. Okay. All right, So again Darryl worry for Washington County Commissioner. Again, the primary election is
coming up on June the eighteenth. Now, we do have a couple of forums that are also coming up as well. I know the Washington County Republican Party is holding a forum as well. I believe that's on Monday. Is that correct? It's Monday, June tenth at six thirty pm, and it'll be held at the Ramona American Legion. Okay, and then of course we hear it came one. We have our own forum that mister Warley will be participating in. That's coming up on Tuesday evening six pm at Barlollsville City Hall.
So if you have questions with our forum, you can certainly go in and submit your questions to our moderator, Tom Davis. You can email him at Tom at Barlowsville Radio. Get that done before Sunday and those questions will be considered to be asked during the forum with your candidates. Again, there's not an incumbent running in District two. There are total of three candidates,
Darryl Worley being one of them. So again, Darryl, if people want to learn more about you and who you are, where can they get that information. Well, they could go to Worleyforecommissioner dot com and worry for Commissioners all run together. We have a Facebook, a Facebook page which is worthy for Commissioner, and they could email me at Worley. This is long Worley dot for dot Washington dot County dot CD two at gmail dot com. You
probably want to go to the Facebook page to find that email address. There you go, there you go. Well, the most important thing we can say again the Republican primary coming up on June the eighteenth. If you are a registered Republican in Washington County, you are eligible to vote in that election. We do always encourage folks to let their voices be known at the ballot
box. Early voting begins on Tuesday, sorry, on Thursday and Friday of next week, and of course election day is on Tuesday, June the eighteenth. Daryl Worley, candidate for Washington County Commissioner District too. Thank you for joining us this morning on our community connection. Thank you for having me. You're very welcome. Have a great day. We'll be back with another community connection after these messages