Talk about taking one for the team.
Hats off to El Reno City Manager Tony Rivera, Police Chief Ken Brown, Fire Chief Kent Lagaly, Community Development Director Robert Coleman, Finance Director Ruth Beal, Community Services Director Terry Floyd and Human Resource Director Catherine Wilson. All of these people have volunteered to take a 5 percent pay cut to help the city through these lean economic times.
We don't always see this kind of commitment and dedication in a culture that is far too often focused on “me first.” What a refreshing change. It just goes to show leadership is about action and not only words.
The leadership demonstrated by these people is another reason to shop El Reno first. Sales tax runs the city and when we've got folks willing to cut their own pay to help the community, they deserve support.
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Several years ago Canadian County had the opportunity to purchase what was then a private prison in Union City. The price tag, I believe, was about $2 million. County leaders didn't care for the idea because it was too far from the county courthouse in downtown El Reno. Probably a 14-mile round-trip would be my guess.
The Union City prison is now used by the state of Oklahoma. I think it holds something like 200 inmates.
Today, deputies with the Canadian County Sheriff's Office are driving more than 150 miles, round-trip, to escort county inmates to and from jails in Dewey and Grant counties.
If it's true hindsight is 20/20, it must also be true that leadership and vision are priceless.
County leaders need to slow down and look at the whole public safety picture before they ask us to build a new multimillion-dollar jail.
Other opportunities may very well exist.
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I don't remember ever being in a more positive meeting about El Reno than the one I had the opportunity to witness last week. The CIP committee meeting was a great testament to a community using its resources to create a powerful and long-lasting positive impact.
The plan created for the old pool house and Legion Park, I think, is one neat idea for El Reno. This community can come together and make this happen. The expertise lives here and so does the passion.
El Reno is the second largest city in land mass in the county behind Oklahoma City. Soon we will have a six-lane highway at our doorstep. We have air and rail access. We have our own water supply and treatment plant. Our children have the opportunity to attend college without leaving the city limits. We are America's breadbasket in terms of agriculture and we have energy to burn in the form of natural gas. We have history and tourism all around us.
El Reno is an attractive community. It's only going to become more so.
El Reno needs to adopt the chant Calumet girls basketball fans were offering up at a recent state tournament game: “We Believe.”