The Oklahoma State Capital

A Logan County Commissioner meeting that commenced with an in-depth public prayer from State Senator Chuck Hall concluded with spicy, off-color comments from Commission Chair Mark Sharpton on Tuesday.

Hall was recognized by District 3 Commissioner Monty Piercy to open the meeting by leading attendees in prayer.

Hall’s prayer included a request for God to “send us a real true leader” in the upcoming national election and thanked God for the success experienced by the City of Guthrie.

Following the prayer, the commissioners proceeded to quickly navigate a routine agenda, including the approval of the final plat for District 1’s Old Cottonwood development; the tabling of the bid award for the preservation treatment of roads in Guthrie’s East Oaks neighborhood due to the fact that one of the bidders failed to include required paperwork; submission of a District 3 REAP grant application; and approval of requisitions officer for the Coyle fire department.

The flow of the meeting was interrupted when Sharpton took an unexpected detour from the posted agenda, by addressing an attendee in the audience, “I need to talk to you, but probably not on camera."

Then, as the meeting wound down, and as Meadows struggled to pick up his paperwork, he commented, “If I put some hand cream on my hands, I could have some traction here.”

Meadows' comment enticed Sharpton to adopt a big grin. “I’m going to keep my mouth shut,” he declared.

However, Sharpton soon appeared to lose the battle to maintain his propriety and gave in to the temptation to observe, “Not the right place to make that joke,” eliciting a sparse chuckle from the audience and a playful rebuke from Logan County Clerk Troy Cole, who told Sharpton to “just hush.”

Cole’s rebuke enticed a robust laugh from Sharpton. Meadows smiled but maintained an air of polite obliviousness to the fact that Sharpton’s off-color joke had been made at Meadows' expense.

Piercy and Meadows then took advantage of the commissioners’ announcements agenda item to discuss their mutual attendance and Piercy's presentation at last Friday’s State of the County meeting. As of the time of this publication, an agenda for that meeting did not appear to have been posted on the commissioners’ online agenda center. The posting of a public agenda is considered a best practice when a majority of the board appears together in a meeting where county business may be discussed. This posting would have allowed the public to know about and attend the State of the County presentation.

As he prepared to adjourn the meeting, Sharpton made one last visit to the off-color comment well.

He declared that the next meeting would occur on October 31. A member of the audience, presumably referring to the fact that October 31 was Halloween and attendees could come in costume, declared, “Come dressed,” but Sharpton, taking the comment literally, responded, “Unless you are at home, you can stay undressed.”

At this point, a stone-faced Piercy attempted to second the adjournment of the meeting, but Sharpton continued, pointing to the Guthrie News Page camera, and stating, “I don’t know how people view this thing,” before a still stone-faced Piercy reiterated his second and Sharpton adjourned the meeting.

The commissioners' next schedule meeting occurs on the 31st.