Notes from OKLAHOMA ART COUNCIL annual conference

After three days of discussions and workshops with three hundred art advocates from around the state of Oklahoma, I am reinforced in my belief that Watonga can be a vital place to live and an attraction to people from all across the state and neighboring states.

The focus of the Oklahoma Arts Council annual meeting was not just "making art". It was how the arts can be used in any, and every, town to enhance the education of our children and citizens; to boost economic development; and to improve quality of life. The concepts presented at the conference apply to EVERY town, regardless of size.

Watonga has the "good bones" upon which to build a community where people want to come (and spend money). In one of the workshops I attended, the question was posed to every attendee: what does your town have to offer right now. I was able to say that we have a State Park, a stained glass studio and store, a fabric arts store, a winery, an historic theatre that is used for live performances and a theatre company, a lovely park with a stage, the Armory, antique stores, gift shops, many local talented musicians ..... several civic clubs  ... an active senior citizen center ...  a quilt guild ... a hospital...  an established annual Festival.  [please feel free to send comments on what other assets we have here in Watonga].  So why aren't we drawing people to Watonga with these assets? Because we aren't organized about promoting our town and events.

It will take the partnership and cooperation of the Main Street Association, the City government, the Chamber of Commerce, civic groups, businesses, non-profit organizations, the school administration, and each and every individual who is interested in progress for our town.   It will take some new ideas and willingness to have an open mind in implementing those ideas.  Many of us don't just want simple bare survival. Some of us want better for the town. We want the city to have the money it needs to provide the services we all need. We want good streets, more beauty, more opportunities more local jobs ..... We want higher salaries for city employees. We want what other towns, large and small, have been able to provide by incorporating ART into the fabric of our lives here. We want businesses and attractions that will draw people to Watonga and spend money here. What this path will bring to Watonga is SALES TAX DOLLARS. This path will not only bring in more tax dollars, but can also be a way to keep young people here and possibly even bring young people back here to live and work.
   
Watch here for more about a vision statement and a plan of action for Watonga's future.

Answer to Police Question

Thanks to those who responded with an answer to my last post -- I've been told that the police officer and his passenger had indeed transported someone to OKC.  That was the question. The facts were reported but I also made an assumption.  I apologize for the "conclusion" I made about abuse of resources, which was only based on previous experiences and not this particular event.
The purpose of this blog is communication and information, and I'm glad people are reading and responding.  In the future I'll keep my assumptions out of posts.  I truly abide by the adage "when you assume, you make an "ass of u and me" and I did so in the comment in that post. I hope all of my followers will continue to read and comment!  /Linda
 

POLICE question

Fri. Oct. 25.
Does anyone know the explanation for why a Watonga police officer drove a city police vehicle to the Cherokee stop at Hwy 281 and I-40 after 10:00 p.m. on Thursday evening, with a civilian passenger?  Was the officer on duty at the time?  Unless there was some official business conducted (and it didn't appear so, as the couple went into the Subway store, purchased some food, and then drove back to Watonga), it would appear that the trip was an abuse and misuse of City resources.  If someone has an explanation, please comment!

The Watonga Liberty Theatre

A Watonga city official recently said that the Watonga Theatre (Liberty Theatre) has been "defaced".

Over two years ago, the Watonga Theatre Board presented a plan to the City Council to revitalize the outside of the theatre.  The City Council approved the plan and even contributed some money toward the project (the bulk of the project was paid for by the Theatre Board). The tile work was done by volunteers, and a  design for the windows was commissioned instead of having to spend the money to replace those windows.  Even the artist donated his time and talent in designing the artwork and etching it.  
If you haven't gone by and looked at the front of the theatre and the windows, please do.  According to the artist, the window etching represents the sun shining on Oklahoma wheat stalks.  It is an "art deco" design in keeping with the age of the theatre.  There is still some work left to be done to complete the project.  Once finished, the building will be a showpiece on Main Street. 


 

Photos from Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival

All photos by Linda Barrett

   WATONGA HIGH SCHOOL BAND ENSEMBLE led by Brian Pope

 

                                            JENNIFER BASE receiving the Knudsen Cup for "BEST OF SHOW"

at the first annual OGIC Oklahoma Wine Competition.  



 

                 WE WERE GRACED WITH THE BEAUTIFUL VOICE OF ALISON CLARK, singing America the Beautiful at the end of the opening ceremony on Friday. 

 

ZUMBA demonstration by our local ZUMBA group

Watonga City Government -- Part 1

Comments and questions made by the public at the Oct. 15 City Council meeting has prompted some research on the procedures set out under State law and in the Watonga City Code pertaining to the mayor's powers to hire and fire personnel.

STATE LAW - Forms of Government in Oklahoma

1.        Aldermanic Form of Government (form of government in the City of Watonga)

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government Section 9-104 - Mayor - Duties as President of Council.

The mayor shall preside at meetings of the council, and shall certify to the correct enrollment of all ordinances and resolutions passed by it. The mayor is not considered a member of the council for quorum or voting purposes; except that he may vote on questions under consideration by the council only when the council is equally divided.

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government Section 9-105 - Mayor - Duties as Chief Executive Officer.

The mayor shall be chief executive officer of the administrative branch of the government of the city. The mayor shall be recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes and by the Governor for purposes of military law. The mayor shall:

1. appoint, subject to confirmation by the city council, a city attorney and all heads or directors of administrative departments including members of boards and commissions and shall appoint all other administrative officers and employees of the city; and

2. sign the commissions and appointments of all officers, elected or appointed; and

3. remove or suspend city officers or employees against whom charges of incompetency, neglect, or violation of duty are made, until such time as the council shall take action on the charges; and

4. supervise and control all administrative departments, agencies, officers, and employees, act promptly on a charge of neglect or violation of duty of any officer or employee, and require any officer to account for and report to the council in writing on any subject pertaining to the duties, powers, or functions of the officer when the mayor deems necessary; and

5. prepare a budget annually and submit it to the council. The mayor shall be responsible for the administration of the budget after it goes into effect; and

6. keep the council advised of the financial condition and future needs of the city. The mayor shall submit to the council a report after the end of the fiscal year on the finances and administrative activities of the city for the preceding year; and

7. make recommendations to the council of measures for the well-being of the city; and

8. enforce the city ordinances; and

9. grant pardons for violation of city ordinances, including the remission of fines and costs, subject to the approval of the council. Said approval may only be given at a meeting of the council after the reasons and order of remission or pardon have been entered on the journal; and

10. have such other powers, duties, and functions as may be prescribed by law or by ordinance.

Title 11. Cities and Towns  Article IX - Aldermanic Form of Government

Section 9-106 - Mayor - Signing Ordinances - Veto Power

The mayor may sign or veto any city ordinance or resolution passed by the city council.

Any ordinance or resolution vetoed by the mayor may be passed over his veto by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of all the members of the council. If the mayor neglects or refuses to sign any ordinance or return it with his objections in writing at the next regular meeting of the council, the ordinance shall become law without his signature.

[Emphasis added.]


CITY CODE 
Chapter 2 - MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
2-201  Mayor, Duties.
          The Mayor shall preside at meetings of the council and certify to the correct enrollment of all ordinances and resolutions passed by it.  The mayor is not considered a member of the council for quorum or voting purposes, except that he may vote on questions under consideration by the council only when the council is equally divided.  The mayor may sign or veto any city ordinance or resolution passed by the city council.  The mayor shall be chief executive officer and head of the administrative branch of the city government.  He is also recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes and by the governor for purposes of military law. He shall have such powers and duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
State law reference:  Powers of mayor and duties, 11 O.S. sec. 9-104 through 9-106

***
2-408  Suspension and Termination Procedure.
         Specific procedures for suspension or termination of a city employee shall be as follows [emphasis added]:
         1.  The city through the mayor hasthe proper authority and power to suspend with or without pay or to terminate employment of any city employee and the mayor hereby delegates the authority to suspend to each appointed department head, who is a regularly elected city official or who has been appointed, as required by law, to fulfill an unexpired term of office of any regularly elected city official;
        2.  The department head, after taking suspension action, shall within three (3) working days thereafter submit to the mayor in writing a detailed and specific report outlining the suspension and recommend to the mayor and council  a course of action.  Failure to take the aforesaid action by the department head shall result in automatic reinstatement of suspended employee;
        3.  Any employee so suspended, or terminated under the provision of Paragraph A of this section  shall retain the right to request in writing review of the decision at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the council, or at any special meeting of the council which may be called for this purpose.  After reviewing the decision the council may make a formal recommendation to the mayor;
         4.  In the event of suspension, it is the ultimate and final decision of the mayor, whether to retain or terminate the employee, after previous suspension.  The mayor shall within a reasonable time, give notice of his decision by letter to the department head affected and to the employee involved; and
          5.  In the event of termination under the provisions of Paragraph A of this section, the mayor may, after review and recommendation as provided in Subparagraph C above, either affirm or reverse the order of termination. 
State law reference:  11 O.S. sec. 9-105 states the mayor may remove or suspend only until council can take action on the charges. 

NOTE: There is NO Paragraph A or Subparagraph C as referred to in the above sections of the City Code. 

The City also has an Employee Handbook that sets out the procedure for reprimands, suspensions, and termination, which the City Clerk does not follow.
 

City Council meeting Oct. 15

Oct.15, 2013
The City Council meeting this evening was, in spite of Mayor Loosen's tactics to keep it from being, a circus. It was attended by over 60 people and was held in the City Hall auditorium.  All City Council persons were present except for Richard Hightower. 

The Mayor started the meeting by saying he would not listen to any comments from the public until after the meeting, until after all matters had been voted on.  That  kind of defeats the purpose of a "public meeting", and there were several objections from the audience to that mandate. But the Mayor ignored those who tried to speak up.  The Mayor did not repeat his warning to the public to not record anything during the meeting.

The subject in contention was the appointment of Chris Teply as new Police Chief.  Evidently, not many of the Watonga Police Officers are in favor of hiring Chris Teply and two officers tried to express their dissatisfaction, but the Mayor would hear none of it.  Mayor Loosen stated that, in spite of the Police Committee being unable to make a recommendation for police chief, he was going to name Chris Teply as new Chief.  (The Police Committee is comprised of three City Council persons, and the vote at the committee meeting was 1 vote for Teply, 1 vote for Almaguer, and 1 vote for a candidate named Cancemi.)  Then he called for a vote of the City Council and Teply was approved by one vote.

The question that several people tried to raise was whether or not Mayor Loosen followed the proper procedure in dismissing/firing John Massey from his position as police chief.  And in fact, he did not follow proper procedure (according to the City's employee manual and, some say, the City Code) but it is Clay's opinion that he does not have to follow procedure -- he says he has the power, as Mayor, to hire and fire without city council approval. Though he brought Teply's appointment to the Council for approval, he did not ask for a vote of city council to approve his firing of John Massey.  Mayor Loosen said he didn't need to get a vote -- he told the meeting last night that he had talked about his reasons for firing John Massey in executive session and that's all he needed to do.  Both Kendra Baker and Edna Justice commented that there had not been a "vote" to approve his action in that executive session.

Most of the other discussion of items on the agenda were inaudible except for some discussion about hiring a new financial director.  Doyle Province is against hiring a new person, in spite of the variances in monthly charges billed by RS Meachum, the current CPA firm that the City employs.  This was not an action item on the agenda, so there was nothing to be voted on by the Council this evening. 

The Mayor then called out Andy Barrett, and complained that the Liberty theatre windows had been "defaced" without the City's permission.   Mr. Barrett replied that he had been commissioned by the Watonga Theatre Board to do that art work, and he asked Mr. Mayor if  he didn't like it. The Mayor replied that whether or not he liked it didn't matter; that Mr. Barrett should have asked permission from the City to do the etching.  Mr. Barrett again referred him to Patt Curtin and the Watonga Theatre Board if Clay has any questions about the work done at the Theatre.  A NOTE:  Clay Loosen was not the Mayor when the Watonga Theatre Board asked for permission of the City Council to renovate the front of the theatre building -- and in fact the City even voted to expend funds for the renovation!   Now, at the urging of some unknown malcontent (though we all know who is whispering in the Mayor's ear), Clay Loosen wants to complain about the artwork because HE wasn't asked for permission or for approval of the design. The Theatre Board and Mr. Barrett have been working on the theatre renovations for over two years and this is the first time anyone from the City has had anything to say about it!  [Ed.note - this is merely an attempt at more retribution by the Mayor and Ms.Nitzel against me for standing up to the City for their illegal and unethical actions, and only serves to bring their wrong actions more vividly into the public eye. /Linda]

Throughout the meeting there were calls from the audience for a "recall" of the Mayor, and at the end a contingent was asking for an investigation of our City government by the Oklahoma Attorney General.

Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival -- Update #1

The 37th annual Watonga Cheese Festival (now known as the WATONGA CHEESE & WINE FESTIVAL, is now over and reports are coming in from the chairpersons of the various events, with very positive results. 

Unfortunately, Saturday morning was marred by an incident involving an elderly man who ran through a rope barricade with his truck and hit a pedestrian, causing severe injury to her.  The incident could have been avoided had the local police not been "too busy" to put up the more substantial wooden "sawhorse" barricades as they have done in past years. It is not yet known if the driver of the truck was incapacitated, or if he was arrested.  The city police department is closed on Monday for Columbus Day, so we'll have to wait until later in the week to see a report of the incident.

Fortunately, that seemed to be the only cloud over the Festival. The weather was cool in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoons. The Oklahoma wind wasn't strong enough to disrupt the activities.  On Thursday afternoon the town was bustling with vendors setting up their booths and food trucks. Set-up time can be disruptive to some of the merchants on Main Street, but until the City closes off the entire street there is plenty of commerce that goes on, and plenty of parking for merchants and their customers.  Most Watongans understand that this disruption is only for one weekend out of the year, and the benefits to the town far outweigh the inconvenience of someone having to move their car from their regular parking space in order to allow a vendor to set up.   

This festival has been going on for thirty-seven years (though not always on Main Street), and the visitors here on Friday was reminiscent of the days before the 2007 hurricane.  Conspicuously absent  from participation and helping was the Main Street Association board and members, though many of the merchants on Main Street benefitted from the influx of visitors to the town. The City itself (and its residents) will benefit from the extra sales tax dollars the Festival brings in.  The Mayor was unavailable to appear during the opening ceremonies to welcome visitors but he was seen helping with the ticket booths later that day. The new pastor at the 1st United Methodist Church was on hand to give a prayer at the opening ceremony, which was followed by the entire audience participating in the Pledge of Allegiance.  As is tradition, an ensemble from the Watonga High School band performed before the opening ceremony and then played the Star Stangled Banner after the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Andy Barrett thanked all of the people involved in putting together the Festival and all of the Sponsors, businesses, and local citizens who donated money to support the Festival.  Unless you've been involved in organizing the festival, you may not know how much money it takes to it put on.  The Chamber of Commerce relies on ticket sales (wristbands) to pay for the bulk of the expense, but without the cash Sponsors and support of local businessmen and citizens, the Festival wouldn't have as many activities and entertainment to attract people to Watonga.  The Festival can no longer rely solely on Watonga and Blaine County residents to bring in the dollars needed to sustain the Festival.  It is for that reason that the Festival organizers have taken action to market and publicize the Cheese Festival to Oklahoma City and its suburbs.  And this year's marketing efforts seem to have paid off.  We'll have more figures on a later post, but judging from the crowds that were present on the streets and the feedback of the vendors, we had a lot of new visitors to Watonga this weekend!!

Watch here for more news about the Festival!  /Linda

No news is good news?

A couple of things were accomplished at the October 1 City Council meeting.

On the recommendation of the Building Committee, which met on Monday evening, the council unanimously voted to  approve Land Run properties to be given for "investment" (rental) property, including multi-family buildings,  subject to approval of re-zoning as applicable.  There was much discussion of the subject and it is hoped that it doesn't have to be revised again other than for zoning decisions.  That is where the public has a chance to have its say -- at Zoning Committee meetings -- so watch for postings of the meetings.  Even though it is the policy of City officials to discourage the public's attendance at Committee meetings, and they don't feel the need to publish minutes or notes from those meetings (their answer to complaints about that is "we aren't legally required to do so," it is the citizens' right to attend and give input BEFORE DECISIONS ARE MADE FINAL. 

In executive session, which was closed off to the press and to the public, Mayor Clay Loosen explained to the City Council his reasons for

firing Police Chief John Massey. Pretty much what was in Wednesday's newspaper article. Though there have been calls of support for Massey, the bottom line is, he hasn't been doing a good job as police chief.  We'll have to wait until the next issue of the Republican to see if Mayor Loosen gives a comment following the executive session, as he said he would. 

There was more discussion about Code Enforcement -- there was no item on the agenda but under new/old business, Councilman Richard Hightower continues to ask the Mayor "what's being done about code enforcement".  The answer is: not much other than notice letters mailed and yards being mowed. No citations are being issued under any of the three Chapters of code violations [yards with weeds and trash; abandoned and junk vehicles; and health and safety hazards/dilapidated buildings].  The Fire Marshall is not taking action on dilapidated buildings that are fire and safety hazards.  A proposal presented at a prior council meeting to hire a private contractor to do code enforcement has evidently been put on a back burner.  After the upcoming cheese festival, I will publish the Codes and remedies it provides.  

 

Speaking of cheese festival, city employees have been busy around town painting new stripes on the streets in preparation for the annual Festival.

 

Bids for painting jobs at Mercy Hospital, of approx. $60,000 for inside and outside, were accepted at the Public Works Authority meeting.   

 

/Linda