EDMOND — Edmond’s Mayor Patrice Douglas faces an intriguing and challenging two years ahead of her. The city is known for its quality of life and excellent school system. Each City Council’s mission is to help propel Edmond even further into a better future. We believe Douglas will be well-suited to this task and we welcome her energy and enthusiasm.
As Douglas embarks on her new mission of assessing the city’s needs and its wants, this board has three items for her consideration.
First, a new Police Department, Central Communications and Emergency Management facility remains at the forefront of this board’s agenda for 2009. The need for an expanded and modern facility is clearly documented. All that remains is for the city’s leadership to chart a course on how to reasonably achieve the goal with the public’s support.
We hope the mayor can assess the previous work of both the citizen’s task force, the consultant’s study and the many ideas offered by the public and begin building a coalition within her first 100 days that will help the city achieve the objective. Cost, location, project scope and funding all remain on the table for consideration. It’s time to begin the hard work of resolving those issues.
Second, Edmond long has struggled with the dual goal of being more business friendly while demanding high quality projects and enforcing stringent code and zoning requirements. Several solutions have been tried in the past 10 years with none of the involved parties really feeling that either objective is being fairly achieved.
The city staff has added the Site Plan Review Team, which has been a huge benefit to developers as they go through the city’s process to gain permits for projects. But there remains more work to be done in addressing what happens between an approved site plan and a permit being issued and the final product receiving its sign off in order for business owners and developers to feel the city is really addressing their concerns.
Some developers will openly tell the council that the process can kill them before they can even open their doors. We hope Douglas will guide the city in an effort to streamline some of these hurdles and that businesses in Edmond will work harder to be a part of the process in order to improve upon it.
Third, one of the main reasons this Editorial Board supported Douglas in her bid for mayor was her response to how she will address revenue stream concerns for the city as the economy continues its malaise nationally. This final item is really more for the public and our government to consider together because we believe Douglas already understands the issue. Edmond and its residents must consider how we will support the government and the services that we want when faced with falling revenues.
The community and City Council will need an ongoing dialogue to help city staff navigate what the city’s priorities should be for the next 20 years and how we will pay for them. It all comes down to money. This community has gained much in quality of life because our government has had the money to support forward-thinking and cutting edge initiatives. We are at the beginning stages of seeing what running a city with less funding will be like. Just like every other government across the nation we will need to start making choices. We ask residents to begin communicating with Douglas and the City Council their wishes now to help Edmond continue to be a great place to grow.
In the meantime, we wish Douglas success and good fortune at the start of her two-year term. Success will not be achieved solely upon the shoulders of one person, but under Douglas’ leadership we can all strive for a better Edmond together.
Our View
3 items to watch
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OUR VIEW: Feb. 14 vote about ideas
If you read any of the letters to the editor in the past two weeks regarding Tuesday’s District 2 Edmond school board race, then you already know that this election is not about the individual candidates so much as it’s about what type of school board do Edmond residents really want governing their school district?
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OUR VIEW: Bright spots highlight 2011
Last year was mostly marked with grim economic news and continued worries for the future by most individuals and businesses. However, there were several bright spots that highlighted 2011 and they are good examples why Edmond continues to weather the nation’s economic storms better than most.
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City still needs a business navigator
At the outset of her first term in office, then-Mayor Patrice Douglas appointed a task force dedicated to helping the City of Edmond better understand the needs of small businesses in our city. This task force met for several months and released a number of recommendations for how the city could better serve this huge sector of its economy.
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OUR VIEW: It’s time to bring ME’s office to Edmond
The exhumation of Dwite Morgan’s body earlier this month by state and local authorities is a travesty and symbolizes what has been wrong with the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office.
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OUR VIEW: HOPE needs your help
Stories like the one shared today by Oneka Parker on page A1 are both troubling and uplifting at the same time. It’s a stark realization that so many Edmond residents find themselves in crisis and in need of basic, everyday supplies. But it’s a blessing to know that someplace like the nonprofit HOPE Center exists to help residents like Parker.
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Our View: Sustainment center good news for Tinker
The Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base will now be a command site for a new Air Force sustainment and logistics center. Other changes include adding a three-star general that oversees operations at Tinker and two other Air Force bases.
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Our View: DHS needs an overhaul
A recent conviction of an Edmond foster mother has added fuel to the angry fire of scorn heaped at Oklahoma’s child welfare system. The system has been rocked by multiple recent failures ending in the loss of very young, innocent lives entrusted to either the state’s care or supervision.
In the case of Amy L. Holder, she was convicted of felony child abuse and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine plus a $10,000 assessment to the victim’s compensation fund with no jail time in the death of 2-year-old Naomi Whitecrow. Family members of the victim seethed with anger at how the system failed their young relative. -
Peters exemplifies service
This Friday is special for more than just a national commemoration of Veterans Day. It also will mark the induction of Edmond resident Oren Lee Peters and eight other military veterans into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. The annual banquet will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Oklahoma Christian University. The ceremony also will posthumously honor 14 Comanche code talkers who made pivotal contributions to encoding communications during World War II.
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OUR VIEW: Brain gain plan needs to start earlier
Gov. Mary Fallin came to the University of Central Oklahoma campus along with State Superintendent Janet Barresi in September and touted her new “brain gain” initiative. The goal of the new program is to increase the 30,500 college degrees conferred annually now by 67 percent to 50,900 degrees annually by the year 2023.
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Our View: Time to look at what’s next
With voter confidence strongly behind city leaders, the Public Safety Center project can now move to the planning stage.
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OUR VIEW: Feb. 14 vote about ideas
