Ask Matt White what he sees as his greatest accomplishment during the 15 years he’s served as mayor of El Reno and you get a one-word answer.

Partnerships.

White, now 50, will end his run as mayor in November, but before he exits office he'll receive an honor he calls “very special.”

In September, White will be inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame for City and Town Officials. The black-tie optional induction ceremony will take place Sept. 15 at the Doubletree Downtown Hotel in Tulsa in conjunction with the annual conference and banquet for the Oklahoma Municipal League. 

White will be only the fourth Canadian County municipal official inducted into the Hall of Fame and will be only the second mayor. He will join former Piedmont Mayor George Fina as well as former El Reno City Manager Tony Rivera and former Yukon and Piedmont City Manager Jim Crosby as members of the Hall.

Created in 1999, the Hall of Fame for City and Town Officials has 76 members. White, along with Phillip Johnston of Ponca City, make up the 2022 class.

“To be selected, an honoree must make significant contributions to Oklahoma local government through their positive spirit of public service, with unquestioned ethics,” reads information outlining qualifications to be inducted into the Hall.

White said being named to the Hall of Fame is “truly an honor.”

“I really think this shows the kind of progress we've been able to make here in El Reno over the past number of years,” White said. “This isn’t just about me. It took a lot of people working together to get a lot of this done. I was just willing to be the guy out front that helped push. But it's really about partnerships.”

White said not all partnerships resulted in cooperation. But he said even when ideas were rejected by some, it helped open up doors for other partnerships to be created.

“I think of course about health care. That, in my mind, was a major accomplishment for El Reno,” White said.

El Reno’s city-owned hospital was losing more than $1 million a year when White was elected mayor in 2007. He challenged the appointed Hospital Authority that was charged with operating the hospital and eventually was able to put the elected city council in charge.

A deal was struck with Mercy Health to manage the hospital and while that lasted for several years, Mercy opted out of renewing the lease. Mercy would offer to build and operate a clinic here, but White got the council to reject that idea, arguing El Reno had to have a 24-hour emergency room.  

SSM Saint Anthony’s Health was brought on-board and through a partnership with the city, took over management operations. The partnership eventually led to the construction of a new healthplex that opened a year ago. The SSM Saint Anthony campus is part of the new Crossroads Pointe development going up on U.S. 81 just north of I-40. The city implemented a Tax Increment Finance district to help spur the development being created by businessmen Ron Ward and Paul King.

Health care is part of the “stuff” White alluded to that was accomplished during his tenure.

Some of the other “stuff” included basically rebuilding much of the El Reno infrastructure.

“I'll never forget going into Tony Rivera's office after I got elected the first time,” White said. He said the then city manager had “25 jars on his desk”all filled with red, dirty water.

“It was terrible,” White said. “All over town people were turning on their faucets and red water was coming out.”

White helped lead the effort to install new waterlines throughout El Reno. The same kind of effort was put into rebuilding the sewage treatment plant. When White arrived in office, El Reno was being threatened by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

A plan was created to build a $23 million wastewater treatment plant. The plant has been in operation for about five years. The city has also tackled the rebuilding of the water treatment plant. Final touches are being made to that project.

Drainage projects, mostly funded through Community Development Block Grants with local matching funds, have pretty much alleviated the flooding that occurred in low-lying areas of the community. And more drainage work is being planned.

White also developed a plan to pay off the debt on Crimson Creek Golf Course and served as auctioneer when the city leased minerals to oil and gas firms. The auctions brought in millions of dollars to the city coffers, including the El Reno Regional Airport.

New playground equipment was installed at every city park and walking trails and sidewalks have been built or are in the process of being constructed. Much of it was done through grants and partnerships with entities such as the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, ODOT.

Speaking of ODOT.

A new Rock Island overpass opened last year replacing the one that was originally built in the 1940s, and El Reno is in line to be the first community to have a round-about built along a highway. ODOT plans to create the round-about at U.S. 81 and SH 66. It also has the overpass at Country Club and I-40 scheduled to be upgraded to a five-lane structure in the coming years. 

The city partnered with El Reno Public Schools to help pass the largest school bond in the town’s history. This came after the defeat of an earlier school proposal, one that had not developed partnerships.

White and then school board president Steve Jensen attended numerous public meetings to encourage support for the more than $45 million bond issue. The election won the support of voters and new schools were built and massive storm shelters were built on each campus. Former School Superintendent Craig McVay led the charge for the shelters and later he and White would team up to create El Reno Now, a monthly community gathering that provided information about what was happening in local education and government.   

El Reno partnered with Canadian County and several energy-related businesses on East SH 66 to build a million-dollar sewer line. That project, led by White, allowed the lagoons servicing the Children's Justice Center to be filled in.

And then there was Radio Road.

Energy firms such as Chesapeake were putting up massive structures along the I-40 and SH 66 corridor in east El Reno. A plan surfaced to create an I-40 exchange at Radio Road, but stalled and seemed to fade away.

But White and Rivera refused to let it die. Eventually the $17 million exchange became a reality, giving El Reno, a town then of less than 20,000 people, a fourth interstate exit.

All this progress and more came during a time El Reno experienced three tornadoes, one considered the largest ever recorded, and two of them proving deadly. Mixed into this devastation were periods of floods, drought and sub-arctic temperatures that left El Reno without water service for several days. Add in a pair of massive ice storms and management turnover at City Hall that resulted in White twice being named interim city manager, as well as navigating the community through a worldwide COVID pandemic and the collapse of the energy industry, and it should make the Hall of Fame argument a bit more clear.

“I love El Reno,” White said. “I truly love the people who live here and it was my honor to do what we did.

“But now I want to spend more time with my wife and my family. I’m not going away, but I’m going to do something different for awhile.”

White said he will continue to be involved in development in El Reno. He and partners Gary Steinbruck and Scott Ryan developed an office park on South Country Club that is filled with professional services and a bank, replacing what had become a dilapidated eyesore.  

“I think El Reno has a lot coming its way,” White said. “I think we’ve set the stage for some really good growth and development and it will continue after I’m gone.”

And about the induction into the Hall of Fame, White said “it’s special because it comes from my peers. That means a lot. There’s a lot of special people in there like Mick Cornett, Tony Rivera and Dan Galloway.”

And now, El Reno’s Matt White will be added to that list.