"Character and ethical values" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installlment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the December 20, 2008 installment.
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"Making choices and taking those decisions seriously" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installlment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the December 15, 2008 installment.
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"Heavy loads, lack of funds stress county infrastructure" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installlment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the December 8, 2008 installment.
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"Much to be thankful for, you top the list" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the December 1, 2008 installment.
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"Wind energy potential" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the November 17, 2008 installment.
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"Bridges are a sign of the times" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 2/24/09)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the November 4, 2008 installment.
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"Making decisions for the betterment of Grant County" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 10/27/08)
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» Click here to read the October 27, 2008 installment.
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"County audits in compliance" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 10/20/08)
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» Click here to read the October 20, 2008 installment.
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"Feet first" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 10/13/08)
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» Click here to read the October 13, 2008 installment.
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"Decision-making bottom line" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 10/6/08)
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» Click here to read the October 6, 2008 installment.
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"$226,542.97 owed to District 2 for completed work from 2007 disasters" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 9/22/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the September 29, 2008 installment.
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ENID NEWS AND EAGLE:
Lamont residents are advised to boil water
(added 9/24/08)
By Kasey Fowler, Staff Writer
LAMONT — Lamont town officials have issued a voluntary water boil advisory.
Due to recent flooding, the town’s water system has been out of service. Anytime water pressure is lost, there is a potential for bacterial contamination, according to Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.
Some bottled water has been provided to residents, according to Anita Heusel, clerk-treasurer for the town.
“We have some bottled water that has been given out, and the county commissioner is going to get more,” she said.
To ensure water is safe for human consumption, water supplied by the town of Lamont should be boiled vigorously for at least one minute.
Heusel said some people should be particularly careful.
“Young children, the elderly and people with lowered immune systems are particularly susceptible and are advised to boil water,” she said.
This voluntary boil advisory will remain in effect until Lamont provides adequate samples indicating the water is free from bacteria and there is adequate chlorine in the distribution system, according to DEQ.
“The advisory is just until we get some samples to see if we have any problems,” Heusel said Wednesday. “The water samples were taken to Stillwater today.”
Lamont residents are encouraged to conserve water until the water tower has been refilled.
“We are asking them to conserve water in case something else happens,” Heusel said.
» Click here to read the article on the Enid News & Eagle Web site.
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ENID NEWS AND EAGLE:
Governor makes aid request for flooding, storm damage (added 9/24/08)
By Cass Rains, Staff Writer
Gov. Brad Henry has requested disaster declaration for five Oklahoma counties for severe flooding and damage from storms since Sept. 11.
According to a release from the governor’s office, Henry’s request asks President George Bush to approve federal assistance for people and business owners in Alfalfa, Grant, Major, Woods and Kay counties.
“Challenges and difficulties bring out the best of Oklahoma, and the recent storms and flooding were no different,” Henry said. “The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, local churches, first responders, floodplain managers, emergency managers and other local officials came through once again to help hard-hit communities.
“Nevertheless, more remains to be done, and I am hopeful President Bush will give serious consideration to the merits of our request.”
Nearly 200 homes and businesses in and around Blackwell, Burlington, Capron, Dacoma, Fairview, Jefferson, Nash, Pond Creek and Tonkawa sustained damage after Tropical Depression Lowell delivered record rainfall to parts of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
According to the governor’s office, more counties may be added to the request as additional damage assessments are completed.
While cleanup efforts are under way, county officials still do not have official estimates of the havoc wreaked by the storm’s rain.
Grant County Commissioner Cindy Bobbitt said her county still was awaiting funds from two previous disasters: the June floods and the 2007 ice storm.
“We’re in a pretty poor situation trying to come up with money for this right now,” she said. “We’re gonna have to have some help.”
She said officials were working to get water to Lamont, where residents there were issued a boil order due to floodwaters contaminating wells.
Bobbitt said wells tested passed, but the Department of Environmental Quality had yet to release the water for consumption.
Several towns in the county had houses that were completely flooded, and major collection roads were washed out during the floods, Bobbitt said.
“We lost the top 2 to 3 feet of those roads,” she said.
Major County Commissioner Kelly Wahl said officials still were working on completing a damage estimate.
“Most of the worst damage was northeast of Fairview,” Wahl said.
Initial reports showed about 100 miles of road in the county suffered flood damage, and six bridges were washed out.
“Mainly, it’s going to be rock washed off the road, and some roads were just washed away,” Wahl said. “We’ll have them all open next week sometime, but that’s where they’re just passable.”
Major flooding occurred in Fairview, Orienta and the Ringwood area last week. However, no injuries were reported.
“Everyone did pretty good there,” he said.
Alfalfa County Commissioner Doug Murrow said estimating damage from the floods was going to be a “long process.”
“We didn’t really lose any bridges, but a lot of the approaches to bridges were washed out,” he said. “A lot of culverts were washed out.”
In addition to flooding the town of Burlington, water also damaged road tops in Alfalfa County.
“A lot of the tops are washed off the roads,” Murrow said. “We’re going to have to resurface a lot of miles.”
Woods County Emergency Management Director John Farris said flood damage was contained to a small portion of the county.
“It just caught the eastern edge of Woods County,” he said of the damage. “From basically Alva east. It (rain) got heavier the farther it went east.
“We just kind of got grazed by that bullet.”
Farris said a couple of homes were flooded in Capron and 10 to 12 structures in Dacoma suffered flood damage. He said there were “three or four dozen” spots on county roads that were damaged in the floods, as well as some roads and culverts washing out.
He said Federal Emergency Management Agency officials would come next week to perform an estimate and determine what aid may be given.
“It’s really just a crap shoot,” Farris said, on whether the county would qualify for assistance.
» Click here to read the article on the Enid News & Eagle Web site.
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"State Treasurer refusing to release funds mandated by HB 2381" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 9/22/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the September 22, 2008 installment.
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"Clean-up kits and bottled water available for flood victims at Grant County Road Districts 1, 2 and 3" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 9/15/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the September 15, 2008 installment.
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"Fixing roads" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 9/8/08)
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» Click here to read the September 8, 2008 installment.
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"Much to learn from tending your garden" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 9/1/08)
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» Click here to read the September 1, 2008 installment.
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"Getting hot under the collar at work" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 8/25/08)
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» Click here to read the August 25, 2008 installment.
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"Emergency Watershed Protection projects completed" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 8/18/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the August 18, 2008 installment.
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"County officials work for the common good of Grant County" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 8/11/08)
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» Click here to read the August 11, 2008 installment.
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"Safe routes to school" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 8/4/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the August 4, 2008 installment.
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"Emergency Watershed Protection projects to begin this week" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 7/28/08)
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» Click here to read the July 28, 2008 installment.
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"Five things drivers can do to improve tire safety" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 7/21/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the July 21, 2008 installment.
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"It is official, Grant County disclared disaster area" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 7/14/08)
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» Click here to read the July 14, 2008 installment.
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"Farewell to Bryan Brown" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 7/7/08)
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» Click here to read the July 07, 2008 installment.
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Kay Electric donates communication radios to Grant County (added 7/4/08)
 BLACKWELL, OKLA. – When Kay Electric Cooperative upgraded several vehicles with new communication radios, trustees and staff members decided to donate 17 used 100-watt Motorola radios and wiring harnesses to Grant County Road District 2.
“Kay Electric serves a great portion of Grant County,” said Joe Harris, general manager of Kay Electric. “We see the financial difficulty that this small county is experiencing. Therefore, we are pleased to offer professional radios to an organization that is working to improve their infrastructure for the safety of the citizens in Grant County.”
Grant County commissioner Cindy Bobbitt said the use of radio communication is vital to the operations in the district, but the majority of radios being used were no longer in working condition. She said many employees were using their personal cell phones for county contact and work instructions.
“Everyone at Kay Electric felt that the donation of these radios to Grant County District 2 far outweighed the monetary value that could be seen if the radios were sold,” said Tom Prather, Kay Electric director of public relations.
Kay Electric is owned by more than 6,000 member-consumers. Kay Electric’s service territory spans more than 2,682 miles and is divided into nine districts. The nine trustees that make up the board of directors include Mike Lebeda, Max Hohmann, Ron Shoffner, Rene Eggers, Steve Harden, Kent McAninch, J.B. Olsen, Ray Schultz and Verl Brorsen.
Kay Electric’s objective is to provide dependable, quality electrical service at competitive prices to their member-owners.
“Kay Electric has been a good neighbor and partner,” Bobbitt said. “These radios will allow communication coverage in our entire area. The radios also will help Grant County operate more efficiently while ensuring a higher standard of safety for our employees.”
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"Apportionment of Statutory Revenues" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 7/01/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the July 01, 2008 installment.
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"Here we go again!" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 6/23/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the June 23, 2008 installment.
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"Animal carcass disposal options" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 6/16/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the June 16, 2008 installment.
[go to top] "Turn around, don't drown" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 6/9/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the June 9, 2008 installment.
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"House Bill 2381 includes counties " - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 5/27/08)
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» Click here to read the May 27, 2008 installment.
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"County Commissioners do more than simply care for roads " - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 5/19/08)
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» Click here to read the May 19, 2008 installment.
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"State line bridge progressing and funding urgently needed for roads and bridges" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 5/12/08)
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» Click here to read the May 12, 2008 installment.
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ENID NEWS AND EAGLE
County officials: Price increases hit hard, no relief is in sight (added 5//8/08)
 By Robert Barron, Staff Writer-County government in Oklahoma is in financial crisis, but county commissioners so far have found little help from the state Legislature.
Price increases, driven by the cost of fuel, have spiked in the last two years until rural counties across the state no longer can keep roads and bridges repaired, county commissioners say. That is a daunting task anyway, but with increasing costs it has become impossible, two local county commissioners said.
Mike Postier, Garfield County District 2 commissioner, and Cindy Bobbitt, District 2 Grant County commissioner, have been traveling to the state Capitol every week to plead their case to legislators, most of whom are from urban areas. Part of the problem they have found seems to be Oklahoma’s population has shifted from rural to urban, and urban legislators don’t seem to understand rural problems.
“Any bill that comes down there, the majority of the support for that bill has to come from urban areas,” Postier said.
Bobbitt said transportation should not be an urban-rural issue. Postier said if urban residents realized how many roads on their daily commute are cared for by counties they may think differently.
“There are 461 miles of city streets on the county system we’re responsible for taking care of,” he said. “It makes it really tough for us to go down and get things passed when they consider county road funding a rural issue, it’s actually not.”
“Price increases have gone through the roof, through the sky and atmosphere,” said Postier.
County commissioners have two goals. They want $25 million in a pot counties can borrow from to purchase materials to build bridges.
Right now, there is not funding for county road improvements in the budget recently agreed to by Gov. Brad Henry and the Legislature. However, Bobbitt said there is about $63 million not accounted for, and she would like to see that $25 million pot come from those funds. Second, they would like to see money come back directly to their maintenance and operation funds.
Not banking on bond issue
Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma has asked a portion of a proposed $500 million state bond issue be dedicated to county issues, although the prospects of a bond issue are uncertain. State Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, is one of those opposed to a bond issue. He said market conditions are not right for such a plan now.
Bobbitt said she respects Anderson, but said he does not include increasing costs of materials in his formula. Anderson was concerned about interest rates, but Bobbitt said costs for materials are rising faster than interest rates.
Kansas, Colorado and Texas all have higher fuel taxes than Oklahoma and have better roads, Bobbitt said. Higher fuel taxes would help many of their problems, but she said she does not think Oklahomans would support that with gas prices reaching record highs.
Lending a hand adds up
It’s not just roads and bridges, though, for county officials. Commissioners in less populated counties are called on to help towns and schools in their counties.
“We help schools, help them build tracks. We tore down buildings in Lamont that are dilapidated and a safety issue, because the population is under 2,500,” Bobbitt said.
When small communities get Rural Economic Action Plan grants for improvements, counties are responsible for doing the work, Bobbitt said.
“With the rising costs of all materials, they can’t keep enough money in our accounts to bankroll these projects until we can get reimbursed,” she said.
Counties get only a portion of the money most people think they do, Postier said. Counties receive no federal gas tax money, only state funds. Gross production taxes are up in Oklahoma, and many people think those funds help counties with roads; however, Postier said, most of those funds go to education. Counties receive 7 percent, the state receives 7 percent and the remainder goes to common and higher education and vocational technical education, Bobbitt said.
Neither commissioner will go out for six-month bids this year because of expected skyrocketing costs. Bobbitt said some of her vendors will not even submit bids.
» Click here to read the story in the Enid News and Eagle.
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ENID NEWS AND EAGLE
Taxpayers must pay up, or get used to bad roads (added 5//8/08)
 By Editorial Staff-Oklahoma’s roads are in bad shape. That’s no surprise to anyone.
The same condition exists throughout the country. With the rise in oil prices, the cost of materials used to repair roads has gone up.
Making do with what you have isn’t working. The same amount of money buys less road repair materials than it did a year ago, which makes it harder for those charged with keeping roads in shape — on the local, county, state and national levels — to be able to do their jobs.
The big question looming over us, as we repeatedly have said, is how do we pay for the work?
In our opinion, we need a major change in attitude, a change that may be painful to accept, but one that needs to be done.
For one, our state needs to dedicate motor vehicle fees — things like vehicle license tags and other transportation fees and taxes — to roads. As it is now, those fees are diverted to other purposes.
Is that going to be painful? Sure it is. Other state government agencies have come to depend on the money from those fees. So, there would have to be a change in funding.
Secondly, we need to look at gas taxes as what they really are: user fees. If you drive, you use Oklahoma’s streets and roads; therefore, you should help pay for their upkeep and repair.
No one likes taxes, especially anything that adds to the high price of gasoline we already have to pay. But, if we all knew our gasoline tax money was going to take care of roads, it would be easier to accept. A couple of years ago, though, Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly rejected an increase in gas taxes.
The situation boils down to this: We’ve got to do something. How we have been funding road repairs isn’t working and hasn’t been working.
The alternative is to continue as we have been and get used to having bad roads.
» Click here to read the editorial in the Enid News and Eagle.
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"State line bridge progressing and funding urgently needed for roads and bridges" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 5/5/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the May 5, 2008 installment.
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"Roadside spraying begins" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 4/30/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the April 30, 2008 installment.
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"Rain, rain go away. Come again another day" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 4/22/08)
Check out the lastest installment of Commish Cindy's Comments for important imformation about the state of the district including projects, topics of interest, upcoming events and other activities!
» Click here to read the April 22, 2008 installment.
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THE OKLAHOMAN
(added 4/10/08)
» Click here to read the story in the Oklahoman.
» Click here to read the Associated Press story in the Enid News and Eagle.
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"Follow the money" - Commish Cindy's Comments (added 4/2/08)
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