The Whitesboro City Council kicked off a marathon meeting Tuesday by honoring some school district staff and students for their quick thinking and action during a medical emergency. City leaders also held a public hearing on the idea of a larger-than-normal sign for the city’s library. The council then moved on to some routine but necessary items including selecting the time and date for council meetings, picking someone to sign checks, appointing the mayor pro tem, approving a board member for a committee position and allowing some escrowed money to be withdrawn.
A lesson taken to heart
Whitesboro Police Chief Kevin Dockery introduced the council to some students who took their lessons in emergency response to heart and saved someone.
Dockery said that on May 3, Jarrett Lawler, Zane Lawler, Brandon Wooten and Brody Wooten were traveling home from a baseball tournament when they stopped to get something to eat. While in the restaurant, Dockery said, “Mr. Lawler was gathering some condiments when he suddenly collapsed inside the restaurant.”
Dockery said Brandon Wooten immediately saw that something was wrong and began CPR while Zane Lawler called for help. After several minutes of Brandon Wooten doing CPR, Brody Wooten said he could he take over CPR and he did. He continued until a former firefighter who was working at the restaurant stepped in to continue until help arrived. The fire department took Mr. Lawler to the hospital where he recovered and was released after about a week.
“Without the quick recognition and decisive action and willingness to act shown by Brandon and Brody Wooten, the outcome for Mr. Lawler would have been very different. Their actions exemplify courage, composure under pressure and the true impact of immediate bystander CPR,” Dockery said.
He added that large portion of the credit for the good outcome goes to WISD Nurse Suzanne Cunningham and Middle School Nurse Taran Prock. Dockery said the nurses, along with several Whitesboro firefighters, taught school children CPR back in February.
Mayor Jeff Butts remarked, “That will make a parent proud,” as the police chief ended his presentation about the life saving measure by handing out certificates to Zane Lawler, Brandon and Brody Wooten and the two nurses.
Public hearing on bigger sign for the kibrary
Whitesboro City Administrator Phil Harris said he put the matter on the agenda. He said the library sits on three properties, two of which are owned by the city and one by economic development for the city. He said the economic development group will soon meet to discuss transferring their property to the city. Once all of the property is under one owner, they will move to change the zoning from R2 or dense residential to CI or light commercial. Once the zoning is changed, he said, the size of the sign won’t be an issue.
The sign will be on the side facing Main Street and will be prominent.
“The building is much more visible,” he said, noting that the area had been cleaned up and made more presentable lately.
He said the library is a very popular attraction in the city and the signage is needed. He said the sign will not be lit up.
No one showed up to speak on the public hearing about the matter. Alderman Ben Edwards then asked about how the sign would be paid for, and Harris said the
Godwin Foundation would be helping with that. Harris said that same foundation had been instrumental in setting up the library in the first place.
“They had donated $15,000 for this signage and also for painting the inside of the library,” he explained.
The council then approved the larger sign unanimously.
When and where to meet, and other details for the council
The council then decided that they will meet on the second Tuesday of the month. They also decided which council member will sign checks for the city. After a bit of discussion, they decided that they would have three including Ben Edwards, Su Welch and David Bertino. Two of them will need to sign each check. Next, they decided that Carla Woolsey would continue to serve as Mayor Pro Tem.
WIDCO board member appointment
The council then moved on to putting a member on the WIDCO board. Alderman Ben Edwards said he had some questions about exactly how the council got the names that they consider to put on WIDCO and other committees. He said that everyone who applies to those positions should be considered by the council rather than having certain people recommended by the committee to the council while others who also applied are not mentioned.
“I think we all need to be on the same page,” Ben Edwards said. He was told that the EDC votes on the applicants and come up with a recommendation for a candidate that they then put before the city council.
Ben Edwards said that scenario confused him because all of the EDC bylaws and rules he has seen with the city say that all of the applications for such positions should go to the council rather than being pre-selected.
He said he is concerned that sometimes it appears that the council only gets the name of the people who are pre-selected and not the names of everyone who said they were willing to serve, which leaves the council making a decision without all of the relevant information.
“If we are going to follow the rules, then we need to follow the rules,” he said.
Alderman David Bertino said he likes getting the recommendations rather than just a list of those who applied.
“What I am seeing right here is we got both applications,” Bertino said.
Ronnie Fielder and Tom Leach each applied for the spot on the WIDCO board.
“I think y’all recommended Ronnie and as far as I’m concerned that’s how you need to proceed. If the ordinance needs to be updated…” Bertino said, noting that is the way it was done when he was on various commissions in the city.
He said the people already on those entities have a better idea about who would be the best to serve alongside them.
Ben Edwards then said he just wanted people to be clear about what the rules are and if they need to be changed then they should be changed to make sure the rules are being followed.
Mayor Butts then brought the discussion back around to the vote at hand and said Ben and Jessica Edwards had motioned to approve Tom Leach. Ben Edwards said he did that because Leach is at every EDC and city council meeting and ran for city council. Leach lost that bid to be on the council, but Ben Edwards noted that Leach’s WIDCO application showed he was willing to serve the city in whatever capacity was available and he should be allowed to do so.
“I say let’s give somebody new a shot. He’s given the town a lot,” Ben Edwards said in a voice that rang with emotion.
Both Ben and Jessica Edwards voted for Leach and the rest of the council voted for Ronnie Fielder. Fielder got the spot.
The council then appointed Woolsey and Welch to WEDCO/WIDCO as ex officio members.
Escrow account decision
Harris said he had discovered that the council had an escrow account at the Bank of Oklahoma. The account has just over $134,000 in it.
“It is gaining interest,” he said. But he suggested that they not just leave it there. Instead, he requested the council’s permission to close the account and apply the proceeds to the city’s debt with the highest interest rate. While the council approved that suggestion at the time, they came back after executive session and changed their decision. Butts said they had decided simply to close the account without applying the proceeds to anything.