League of Women Voters of the Bartlesville Area Candidate Forum on June 17th

Washington County Grassroots Encouraged to Attend & Ask Questions

 — Watch on CableOne Channel 16 if unable to attend in person —

   LWV to host candidate forum – June 17th

 

To help citizens prepare for the June 24 primary election, the League of Women Voters of the Bartlesville Area will hold a forum featuring area primary election candidates on June 17.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Council Meeting Room in the Bartlesville City Center Building, 401 S. Johnstone Ave.

Candidates for the Oklahoma House of Representatives District 10 and the Washington County Commission will be speaking and answering written questions from the audience.

Seeking the seat being vacated by Rep. Steve Martin from the Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 10, are Travis Dunlap and Randy Barnett, both Republicans.

The other primary race of local interest is between Pat Evans and Mitchell Antle, both Republican candidates, who will compete for the Washington County Commissioner, District 1, position being vacated by Gary Deckard.

Area residents are invited to attend and will be given an opportunity to write down questions directed to one or all of the candidates. To schedule as many questions and answers as possible, League volunteers will read the questions to avoid duplications and a timekeeper will maintain time limits for the replies.

County commissioner candidates are scheduled first on the program, followed by the candidates for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

LWV officials remind voters that Oklahoma has closed primary elections in which party candidates are chosen only by voters registered in that party. Although all the candidates speaking at this forum are Republicans, the non-partisan League encourages Democrats and Independents to attend and participate with questions.

The LWV statewide Vote411.org website is now open with statewide information including information from Oklahoma House District 10 Candidates. For more information about the local League of Women Voters, visit http://www.lwvok.org/Bartlesville.html. The local League’s e-mail is lwv__bvilleok@yahoo.com.  

For more information about the forum, call the local LWV contact at 918-333-7007.

Source Article: http://examiner-enterprise.com/news/local-news/lwv-host-candidate-forum#sthash.NnIfXLkX.dpuf

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Posted by Sandra Crosnoe for Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Randy Barnett for HD10 Website

Travis Dunlap Website

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Note:  If the commissioner’s race candidates have websites, I was unable to find them (please provide links in comments section below if you have any additional information).

Side by side comparison of questionnaire answers for HD10 on Vote411 here >>>

Silver Lake Road Extension Eminent Domain Issue – a little history here >>>

Permalink: https://scrosnoe.wordpress.com/2014/06/16//

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The 4th of July Freedom Fest in Downtown Bartlesville — Plan now to Make it a Family Affair

2013 Freedom Fest Downtown Bartlesville

Food and Drinks

Activities and Games

Kids Parade

Music and Fireworks

Knights of Columbus – hamburgers, hotdogs, chips & drinks

2013 Schedule of Events TBA

2013 Freedom Fest Activities and parking TBA

2013 Downtown Freedom Fest map TBA

2013 Kids Parade Information New

Stars of Freedom Fest Talent Contest New

More details and information here >>>

For more information call Sharon Hurst at 918-336-0572

Email: info@bartlesvillefreedomfest.org

Posted by Sandra Crosnoe for Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Silver Lake Road Extension Eminent Domain Vote on Monday — Why? — Because We Can, But Should We?

Thanks to Sharon Hurst for the heads up on this, I plan to let my city councilman know my thoughts on the matter.  Hope you will do the same.  Here is Sharon’s email to me just received:

On Monday, the City Council will vote to exercise its power of eminent domain and take property from Evans Nursery in order to construct the Silver Lake Road extension.  I don’t know about you, but I find it extremely disturbing to see our city government using power to seize private property.   This is the kind of thing they do in Connecticut or California… not in Oklahoma!  Yes, we know there may be some rare instances when eminent domain is absolutely necessary.  But is this road really such a necessity that it requires the City take property from people who don’t want to sell?  I think any of us would be hard pressed to say it is.  Especially when we remember this has nothing to do with diversion of traffic and everything to do with easier access to Robinwood Soccer Fields.  Don’t forget — this Silver Lake Road extension was originally part of the 2007 Park Proposal.  I’m also curious… is it legal for the City to exercise its power of eminent domain over property outside the City limits?  Two parcels of land fall in Washington County — not within the City (or at least that’s the legal description from the Resolution in the City Council packet).

 

Let’s hope these City Council members, who have professed themselves to be such avid private property rights advocates, hold to their principles when it comes time to vote on Monday.  Why not send them an email or call them, and let them know what you think?  Or better still, come Monday night at 7pm and tell them in person.

 

Tom Gorman, tagorman@aol.com, 918-333-2244 ext.100

Ted Lockin, ted.d.lockin@gmail.com, 918-333-6692

Mike McGrew, mikeslock@sbcglobal.net, 918-440-2715

Dale Copeland, copeland4bville@aol.com, 918-333-4488

Erin Tullos, eetullos@gmail.com, 918-213-4240  [However, I believe Erin is on extended maternity leave and no longer attending Council meetings. Is this true?]

Sharon M Hurst

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The excerpt from the E-E article is reproduced below.

 

City plans to condemn property

By Jessica Miller

jmiller@examiner-enterprise.com

Steps to condemn property in the path of the Silver Lake Road extension are expected to be taken by the Bartlesville City Council during a 7 p.m. meeting Monday.

According to a resolution that the council will consider during the meeting, employees and agents of the City of Bartlesville have been unable to acquire certain tracts of land necessary for the construction of the roadway extension — between Frank Phillips Boulevard and Tuxedo Boulevard.

City of Bartlesville Director of Engineering Terry Lauritsen said Friday that the land to be considered for condemnation is located on the very north end of where Beck Drive ties into Tuxedo Boulevard. He said the city is looking to square up where the road ties into Tuxedo to make it more perpendicular to Tuxedo.

If approved, the resolution states that because the land cannot be acquired by negotiation or purchased at Fair Market Value, the city attorney is authorized and directed to institute necessary legal proceedings to acquire the rights, title and interest to the land “by the exercise of the power of eminent domain and to take such further action as may be convenient or necessary to acquire the identified property interest.”

The resolution also states that an emergency will be declared to preserve the public peace, health and safety “by reason of which this resolution shall be in full force and effective immediately from and after its adoption by the council and approval by the mayor.”

 

Related article from 2010 here >>>

Sandra Crosnoe for Finding Gems & Sharing Them

OKGrassroots

Preliminary Returns Indicate that Fiscal Sanity has Reigned In Bartlesville BISD Spending — For Now!

Fiscal sanity reigns in Bartlesville — both bonds failed to achieve 60% margin to ‘pass’; there is still much work to be done to get our house in order so that all levels of government learn to live within their means. The school board needs to make some operational changes and listen to the people or they will need to be replaced in the days ahead.

Detail returns available here: Bartlesville voters say ‘no’ to school bond propositions | Examiner Enterprise, Bartlesville

Bartlesville voters say ‘no’ to school bond propositions

By Abigail Singrey

asingrey@examiner-enterprise.com

The community rejected both Bartlesville Public School District bond propositions, while Copan’s proposition passed with overwhelming community support.

Voters told the Bartlesville Public School District to go back to the drawing board on its plan to build a new sixth and seventh grade center and reconfigure the grades at the secondary levels.

According to unofficial election results, only 49.54 — 2,531 people — percent voted for the $48 million proposition, while 50.46 percent — 2,578 people — voted against the proposal.

School bond proposals require a 60 percent majority to pass.

The community also voted down a proposition that would have allowed the district to spend $1.5 million on transportation, including new buses. Over half of the voters — 54.36 percent — voted for the proposition, but it still fell shy of the 60 percent approval rate needed to pass it.

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Thank you to an ever vigilant Bartlesville Community and Grassroots Bartlesville for keeping the facts in front of the people.  It will require much work to force all levels of government to make cuts and shrink the size and scope of government so that the private sector can thrive and grow.

I also recommend two specific changes which would dramatically improve the process:

1)  Support and pass the legislation being recommended by Rep Josh Cockroft to force this type of elections be voted on when other matters are already scheduled and on the ballot.  We should follow Rep Josh Cockroft’s recommendation that we combine these types of school bond elections with other more major elections so that they come under more scrutiny from more voters.  We could also avoid the expense of a ‘special’ election attended by low voter awareness and turnout. If everyone is going to end up paying more in taxes, then let’s make sureeveryone gets an opportunity to vote at a time when they normally do so on other matters.  Rep. Josh Cockroft of McCloud says he believes changing the date of the elections would increase voter participation. Cockroft says if schools are to improve, the entire community should be involved in their futures.  Currently, school board elections are held on the second Tuesday in February or on the date of the presidential primary.

More about this legislative recommendation were here >>> (this link is no longer active)

New link with bill numbers here >>>

2)  Enable/require public utilities in the area to provide public service release(s) of ballot wording well in advance of ALL elections.  No taxing entity should be able to even attempt to pass tax increases with only certain segments of the tax base being made aware of the changes impacting everyone in the area.  Openness and transparency in government is needed at all levels.

Related articles:

Vote Reminder: Just say NO on BISD bond election on Tuesday February 14th and save taxpayers a cool $50 Million! « Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Washington County: Let’s Say No to Proposed School Bond on Feb 14th and Send Board Back to the Drawing Boards « Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Posted by Sandra Crosnoe for Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Cross-posted with OKGrassroots