County Commissioners Busy with Projects
TULSA COUNTY TEAM: Tulsa County Commissioners have their plates full, but are fully competent to handle most anything. On left is District 3 Commissioner Fred Perry. In the middle is newly elected District 2 Commissioner Karen Keith. On the right is District 1 Commissioner John Smaligo.
DANIEL C. CAMERON for GTR Newspapers
News Around Tulsa County is plentiful. Officials have been busy building a new, more user friendly Web site, moving forward on river development and welcoming new leadership to Expo Square.
The County’s new website is up after a year of design and development. The new site has been upgraded to Web 2.0, which allows a greater capability to provide information and services to Tulsa County users. Historically, there have been many Government Services only provided at the courthouse. However, with the new Web site, citizens can learn procedures and in some cases take care of their business through the site. For instance, one can get information on jury duty, applying for a marriage license or passport, building permits, land records and property tax information and absentee voting.
In this era of governments wanting to be more open and transparent to the taxpayers, the site provides financial information about court operations, a phone directory for all elected officials, meeting calendars and agendas, ways to report problems, emergency information and contact information for the county’s public information officer. Please visit www.tulsacounty.org.
In 2008 several very significant developments occurred regarding efforts to improve the economic and recreational potential of the Arkansas River through Tulsa County. Two very important funding announcements were made. Governor Brad Henry came to Tulsa on June 8 to announce that $25 million of state bond money had been approved for inclusion in the development of the Arkansas River Corridor Master Plan. In the fall, Senator Jim Inhofe announced that $50 million had been included in the Water Resource Development Act to likewise support developing the Master Plan.
Late in 2008 the process for selecting the architecture/engineering firm to plan out the preliminary design of the low water dams and other improvements along the river was started. In January of 2009 the firm CH2M Hill was selected. Their work, which will take approximately nine months and cost an estimated $969,000, is funded by Vision 2025 funds as well as a grant from the Economic Development Administration.
Two new members have joined the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, also known as the Fair Board. Newly elected County Commissioner Karen Keith is now on the board by virtue of her positions as a County Commissioner. The other new member is Mike Spradling, President of Oklahoma Farm Bureau.
Updated 02-23-2009
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