EDMOND —
Earlier this month, the City Council filled an unexpected vacancy when Ward 4 Councilman David Miller took an out-of-state job opportunity.
Filling the position until the 2013 election is financial adviser Nick Massey. He’s a familiar face to Edmond Sun readers, having contributed a regular financial column for almost five years. We would like to congratulate Massey on attaining the Ward 4 council seat and we wish him the best as he learns the ropes at city hall.
But Massey’s appointment caps an almost unprecedented amount of change within the City Council structure.
Since October, Mayor Patrice Douglas resigned her post to serve on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which led to Ward 3 Councilman Charles Lamb taking over the mayoral post. His seat then went to Darrell Davis, another City Council appointee until the 2013 municipal elections.
Ward 1 City Councilwoman Victoria Caldwell is just a year into her first term, leaving Ward 2 City Councilwoman Elizabeth Waner now as the senior member on the council behind the mayor.
Up until the end of the year, it wasn’t too difficult for close city watchers to have a pretty good feel for how the council would vote on major issues. But with this much change in the players, the votes are now a much bigger enigma.
And the City Council has several major issues of old business left to sort out.
At the top of the priority list is designating the location of the $25.5 million Public Safety Center and overseeing its construction in a fiscally prudent manner. Next up will be working with developers who seek to create a 94-acre retail complex featuring four hotels and a conference center at Interstate 35 and Covell. The City Council must answer how much infrastructure or financial support it is interested in lending to the conference center project.
Plenty of smaller, but just as important, issues also linger for the council to decide, including whether it will follow the will of voters and implement local campaign finance reporting standards for the newer Political Action Committees.
The City Council has a lot of old business on its plate. We realize the council’s newest members will be busy this next month wrapping their heads around the city’s budgeting process, but we look forward to any new business this reorganized council is ready to tackle as it leads the community forward.
Our View
OUR VIEW: Taking care of some old business
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Be Edmond needs your help
BMX star and local legend Mat Hoffman knows what’s it like to fall from great heights and find yourself at one of the worst low points in life. He also knows how to climb back up and tackle life’s problems head on.
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OUR VIEW: Be Edmond needs your help
BMX star and local legend Mat Hoffman knows what’s it like to fall from great heights and find yourself at one of the worst low points in life. He also knows how to climb back up and tackle life’s problems head on.
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OUR VIEW: OKPOP — great idea, bad timing
The Route 66 museum in Clinton has been such a success that Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, said the turnaround project proves that popular culture is a best-seller when it comes to museum projects. It also proved that when a community gets behind a project and raises the funds to launch it, they all can reap the rewards of the increased tourism and recognition.
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OUR VIEW: Choice is clear
This Tuesday, Edmond residents are asked to go to the polls to choose between incumbent Mayor Charles Lamb and Richard Prawdzienski for the office of mayor. Voters citywide also will be asked to consider whether to retain Nick Massey as its Ward 4 councilmember or select newcomer Shilpa Abbitt, an engineer employed by Devon Energy in Oklahoma City.
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OUR VIEW: Line-item budgets should return
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OUR VIEW: Economic development plan deserves consideration
An economist recently told the Edmond City Council that the entire Oklahoma City metropolitan area has the potential to boom with economic growth in the next decade. Edmond officials are making plans now to be ready for that potential growth to ensure the city gets its fair share of the economic pie.
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OUR VIEW: Doing the right thing
On Wednesday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Senate swore in their newly elected and re-elected members in preparation of the 2013 legislative session. It was a moment for those elected to public office to savor their success, share their victory with family and friends who came to watch the ceremonies and be cordial with their new colleagues.
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OUR VIEW: Lankford, Jolley, McDaniel get our vote
Few times in American history have we seen people divided so politically as we have during this election cycle. The partisan gridlock of Congress and the relentless sniping of presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle are more than just fodder for late-night comedy.
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OUR VIEW: Say yes to SQ 766
State Question 766 poses one of the most drastic questions for voters to consider in state history. The language of this state question requires voters to say either yes, they don’t want a tax increase, or no, they do want one.
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Be Edmond needs your help
