Commissioners hear request to amend Fair Board rules
During Monday’s meeting of the County Commissioners, the Okmulgee County Sheriff ’s Office requested approval to apply for a no-match grant through East Central Electric. Sheriff Eddy Rice said that they plan to use the grant to purchase new body armor for some of their officers.
Commissioner David Walker asked if they had applied for a grant like this before, and Sheriff Rice told him they had, “…but not that much. We’ve gotten small things from there.” The amount of the grant was estimated to be around $18,000. Following the discussion, the board approved the request.
— Fair Board
Lowell Hobbs, Okmulgee resident and owner of Barefoot Ranch, spoke to commissioners about requesting an exemption to the fair board rules. Hobbs emphasized that “there was nothing done wrong” on the part of the board, but said, “There’s something that I think needs to be adjusted.”
Hobbs explained that there was a young man with special needs who was not allowed to participate in the Okmulgee County Spring Livestock Show this year due to a rule change that said participants must live and go to school in the county.
Hobbs explained how the rule disproportionately affects special needs children who attend other schools outside of the county to have their needs met. Despite still living in the county, this rule prevents them from participating in the show.
“There’s others that I’ve learned about through this process that also are eliminated from showing, because of their situation,” Hobbs said. “For me. I grew up in a lot of agriculture – FFA and 4H. That’s two of the best organizations to teach young men and women life.”
Hobbs asked that the commissioners review the rule with the fair board and the Spring livestock show committee, “so everybody’s in agreement.” Commissioner Erik Zoellner offered his support for Hobbs’s effort and invited him to the next fair board meeting in order to address these concerns, in hopes to have the issue resolved by next year’s show.
— Also Approved at the Meeting • Amendment to Bid #20 for Nuyaka Fire Department that changes the wording to have “lease purchase” added.
• Awarded bid for 2003 or newer dozer for Beggs Rural Fire Department.
• Cash Fund Request of Appropriations.
• Payment of claims.
• Minutes from the September 11 meeting.
— Blanket Purchase Orders
• District 3: O’Reilly’s for $600, RPI for $800, Cintas for $900.
— Private Property Agreements • District 2: Steve Ward for the disposing of digital materials. — Transfer of Funds
County Clerk Tonya Day reported two fund transfers.
“One is for the donations that District One had gotten, we had to create a fund for that for the auditor and the treasurer,” Day said. According to Day, they had to make a subaccount for a donation fund. For the second transfer, Day explained that there was money in the 1102 account that should have been placed in the 1103 account. This transfer would correct that.
-EM Director Jeff Moore gave his weekly report, in which he reported that they completed inventory and are in the process of getting everything labeled in order to see what to keep or potentially surplus. The meeting opened with a prayer from Mayor Mickey Baldwin, who asked residents to join him downtown for some prayer at the square. The event will take place at 6 p.m Thursday.
