The Oklahoma State Capital

An uncharacteristically tense moment capped off the Logan County Commissioners’ brief Monday morning meeting.

That tension filled the commission meeting room when District 2 Commissioner Charlie Meadows sought to use his time during the Commissioners’ announcements agenda item that's a constant at the end of each meeting.

Meadows attempted express his viewpoint on the Woodcrest Fire Department's tax hike proposal. That tax would increase their ad valorem millage and was due for consideration by the voters on November 5th.

As he led off his announcement, Meadows stated that he had been working to defeat the proposal; however, Meadows was less than 30 seconds into his comments when District 3 Commissioner Monty Piercy interrupted and stated, "I am not sure we ought to use this for a political platform."

Meadows bypassed Piercy's concern and pressed on, declaring that someone had been stealing over 50% of the opposition group’s signs. Meadows said this is criminal action and that he would be contacting the Sheriff.

Piercy interjected again, this time stating that he, Piercy, wasn't trying to "support one way or the other" but didn’t think the commissioners should be trying to promote one side of a political issue versus another.

Meadows ignored Piercy’s second comment and said he, Meadows preferred the district to construct a second fire station in the southeast corner of the county instead of “The Chief getting a fat paycheck,” an apparent reference to Woodcrest Fire Chief Luke Young.

Seconds after Meadows finished his commentary, Chairman Mark Sharpton adjourned the meeting.

Since Meadows' election in the summer of 2023, the three commissioners have regularly engaged in cordial dialogue during the announcement section of the meeting. State open meetings laws prevent commissioners from discussing or taking action on county business, thus seemingly limiting the utility of the agenda item to routine declarations such as making the public aware of upcoming events, safety concerns, and construction updates.

Meadows’ decision to use a taxpayer-funded meeting as a forum to advocate against a ballot measure is a departure from the normal practice of the commission and could also potentially tweak the intent of state election law’s prohibition on taxpayer-funded advocacy. Oklahoma's Title 26 prohibits the use of taxpayer resources in advocating for or against a ballot measure.

A Quick Approval

In the Commission’s most important item of business for the day, it took the board just three questions and four minutes to sign off on Timberlake Construction Vice President Casey Logue's subcontractor recommendations for the county's DHS building renovation project. The project will see several county offices abandon their current offices for the state's DHS building, which was recently leased to the county.

After Piercy and Meadows posed three brief questions, Sharpton moved for approval, and the Board gave its unanimous consent to approve the 10 subcontracts. These are the second round of bid lettings in the $3.091 million renovation project.

When the Cat is Away, the Mice Will Play

As Guthrie News Page's Chris Evans prepared to activate his live broadcast of the meeting, Meadows joked that the commissioners had fun during the last meeting, when Evans wasn’t available to broadcast the meeting to the public. Meadows joked, "When the cat is away, the mice will play."

Meadows has been the state's leading advocate for exempting county commissioners from the state's open meetings laws, an issue that became a major component of his re-election campaign earlier this year.

In Attendance

Two notable personalities were in attendance at Monday's meeting.

Former Logan County District 1 Commissioner Marven Goodman made his return to the commission room. Goodman created a video recording of the meeting, a callback to the era before his 2014 election, during which time he recorded the meetings and was active on social media in opposition to the county's various TIF district proposals. Since leaving office, Goodman has returned to a journalistic endeavor with his Substack publication, The Sooner Sentinel.

David Callihan could also be seen in the commission room on Monday. Callihan, the figure behind the "Reboot Our Body Politic" project, was recently featured in an Oklahoman article. Callihan briefly spoke with Meadows after the meeting, presenting Meadows with a copy of The Oklahoman's article.

The Commission will next meet on November 15.