Sunday: Mayor, council set goals for 2013
BY KEVIN CANFIELD, World Staff Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2013
City councilors and Mayor Dewey Bartlett sat down Saturday to set out a list of joint goals they hope to accomplish — or at least make progress on — in 2013.
The goals include continuing to explore funding options for improvements to Zink Dam and a new south Tulsa dam in the Arkansas River, creating online and social media outreach and marketing programs to promote the city and ensuring that the city’s next Fix Our Streets package addresses all transportation-related needs and not just roads.
“I want us to complete some of these goals in the next 12 to 24 months and not just continue coming back here,” said Councilor Jeannie Cue.
Last year the mayor and council used their first retreat to come up with five broad goals for 2012 and beyond.
Citizen task forces were created to provide recommendations on how to achieve the city’s goals. The task forces have since reported their findings to the mayor and City Council.
On Saturday, councilors and the mayor went through those task force recommendations to prioritize them for implementation in 2013 or beyond.
“Some of these things we won’t be able to achieve (this year), but I think we will be working toward each and every goal that is on there, and when we make decisions, we need to look at this list,” Council Chairman David Patrick said after the retreat.
Mayoral Chief of Staff Jarred Brejcha said it was a significant that the mayor and council had agreed to sit down two years in a row to set priorities for the city.
“We are going to keep talking and meeting until we can figure out how we can get (goals accomplished), and I think that is good,” Brejcha said.
Saturday’s retreat lasted four hours and was held at Councilor Blake Ewing’s Phoenix Cafe.
The retreat got off to a contentious start when councilors turned their discussion to one of last year’s goals — identifying under-used areas of the city for possible redevelopment.
The city’s Planning and Economic Development department last year presented councilors with three publicly owned properties, including the site of former Evans-Fintube industrial complex, as areas of possible redevelopment.
But on Saturday, Councilor Jack Henderson complained he had not been involved in the process of selecting the sites.
“I don’t want nobody choosing anything for north Tulsa,” Henderson said. “I’m the representative — I want to be included.”
Councilor G.T. Bynum came to the defense of the city, saying it was “getting jumped on because you weren’t paying attention in a meeting.”
Ewing told Henderson that if he is so concerned about the people, “pay attention in the meetings” and stop falling asleep.
Read more in Sunday's World.
