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December 29, 2009

Attitude of Gratitude

Commissioners say employees have gone above and beyond

By Joy Hampton

December 29, 2009 — Rogers County road crews have worked day and night to clear roads in response to extreme weather conditions said county commissioners at their regular weekly Board meeting on Monday.

“I’m very appreciative to all the people who called in and said ‘thank you,’” said District 3 Commissioner Kirt Thacker. “My guys worked hard.”

Thacker said he kept crews on the roads round the clock.

“We split the crew in half and we worked 12 hour shifts,” said Thacker. “There’s a crew out there 24 hours a day until we get the roads done.”

District 1 Commissioner Dan DeLozier said he was very proud of his road crew as well.

“They worked extremely hard, stayed real busy,” said DeLozier. “We get a lot of thank you’s. They worked in extremely tough conditions because of the hills.”

DeLozier said he had his crew work extended hours but then lay off during the wee hours of the morning when everything was freezing again.

“We worked Christmas day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” said DeLozier. “We’ll be here now until we’re done.”

Commissioners were concerned that more bad weather is predicted to come in Tuesday night.

“We started a little before midnight Christmas Eve,” said Thacker. “Plowing snow off the roads and sanding bridges, overpasses and the hills. That’s what we hit first.”

All the commissioners said they are “still blading” the snow.

Major roads and section lines are done before subdivisions, said commissioners.

Capt. Mike McElhaney of the Rogers County Sheriff’s office said deputies had been grateful for the four-by-four vehicles owned by the department.

“Usually we complain they take too much gas but they were the only way we could get around in this snow,” said McElhaney.

Commissioners dealt with a short agenda and a near empty meeting room in the cold weather.

Dale Miller was acknowledged as the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Wildlife Specialist who will deal with trapping beaver as needed for the county.

Commissioners appointed an E911 committee to consider needs of the E911 Center to be built concurrent with the new county courthouse. Serving on the committee with DeLozier will be Sheriff Scott Walton, Claremore Police Chief Mickey Perry, Assistant Police Chief Stan Brown, Rogers County Emergency Management Director Bob Anderson, and Kelly Deal, Director of Operations for Oologah-Talala EMS (OTEMS).

“We need to look at hiring an administrator for 911,” said DeLozier. “We’ll be bringing everything back to the Board (of County Commissioners) for approval.”

Blanket purchase orders were approved for:

• District 3 to R&S; Auto $500 and to Keystone Equipment for backhoe repairs $5,870

• Emergency Management to Froman Oil $400; E911 Addressing to Froman Oil $300

• Sheriff’s Jail (medical) to Diamond Medical Services $1,000; Correctional Dental Services $2,000; Diamond Drugs $6,000; St. Francis lab $1,200; PHS Mobile X-ray $600; Medical Compliance $400

• Sheriff’s General to Speedy Lube $400; D1 (fuel) $5,000; D2 $3,000; D3 $6,500

• Sheriff’s Board of Prisoners to Bimbo Bakeries $1,350; Farmers Brothers Coffee $300; Sysco Foods (produce) $3,200; Sysco Foods $7,100; Warehouse Market $300.

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