Challenger Willis Bedard
Willis Bedard is a candidate for Watonga City Council Ward 4(?)
He moved to Watonga about five years ago and is originally from Idaho. He is 34 years old and a Navy veteran. Bedard has worked in the oil field doing salt water disposal, insurance and now is employed by Flying W at Watonga. He is a single parent of a 15-year-old and a 2-year-old.
Bedard purchased the old Rook mansion where he runs a bed and breakfast in addition to his day job. He said he has always been interested in politics but decided to run for council because he feels the police abuse their authority – he said they entered his home last year without a warrant – and there is too much fraud, abuse and waste in government.
“Why did our truckload of power poles cost $60,000?” he queried. “I think the town can do better.” One instance he sighted was a recent vote to borrow money from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, who will then sell the loan in the form of bonds. Those bonds are costing around 4.65 percent interest and there is no capacity to repay the $14 million loan early until 10 years of regular payments have elapsed.
“We could get lower interest and no prepayment block,” he said, citing a relative in the bond market.
Bedard said he ran a poll that indicated residents believed the biggest problem facing the town is the job market. “That’s why people leave,” he said. “It is hard to start a business and it’s hard to find better jobs. We need to encourage better businesses to come to Watonga so we can get those better jobs.”
His interest is not in mega-corporations, but rather in smaller companies in the manufacturing sector that will provide about 50 jobs.
“Maybe we allow a city tax moratorium on new businesses for two years. Maybe it is on property taxes,” he said.
Three items he would like to address in city government include financial audits, which he would like to have broken down to line-items. “That will show us where the money gets spent,” he said.
Another is to address law enforcement. He wonders why there are so many police officers in town, between the city department and the sheriff’s office.
The third question he has is why the power bills fluctuate so widely. “Are there problems in the billing office? Does Watonga pay more than other towns? We have to get a grip on power bills. They’re killing people.”
Bedard considers himself a conservative and believes the answer to city problems lies with the citizens.
“It doesn’t matter who we elect,” he said. “We need a culture shift. Everybody needs to take responsibility for themselves and get to work.”
Incumbent Travis Bradt
Travis Bradt is a candidate for Watonga City Council Ward 4.
He came to Blaine County as a teacher and coach 48 years ago, although he took a one year respite to coach at Laverne. In the early 1980s he started a career in construction and also became a real estate agent and eventually a broker. His focus in real estate is raw land.
In 2019 Dr. Bobby Spencer was moving out of the city limits and had to relinquish his seat on city council. Bradt was appointed to fill the Ward 4 seat for Spencer’s unexpired term. “I wanted to help the city, and I believed in the new form of government,” Bradt said. That new form was a change from mayor council to manager council. Bradt made the transition with the city. “It really improved everything, it really did.”
He believes the biggest problem facing the town is infrastructure. He and the sitting council are addressing that issue, he said. “These are things that haven’t been done and now they are big projects,” he said, pointing to the recently approved drinking water and water treatment projects. “They are a combination of quality of life and ability to grow the town. And we had to avoid the DEQ penalties.” The town is under a consent order from DEQ and if progress to remedy the situation isn’t made, huge fines are levied.
There are several accomplishments Bradt said are highlights of his time on council, but emphasizes they were done through cooperation of the city manager, the employees and the council working together, in keeping with the city mantra ‘Better Together Watonga.”
People really understand that saying and understand it means doing the things it takes to make the town a better place to live. They also understand, he said, it won’t always be easy.
One feather in the city’s cap during this time is improving its savings balance from $2 million to $8 million. Bradt said it is very easy for a city to spend money, but his hope is to maintain the savings while making improvements.
To do that, he hopes to continue to pursue grants such as the FAA grant that funded 100 % of the airport improvements. And while Bradt desires economic development he knows it won’t happen overnight.
“Things happen slow. We have to stay after it. We need our main street full, but we have to have that infrastructure ready to go,” he added.
“Our main goal, both city council and mine is to be sure we are using the people’s tax money the way it is supposed to be used and on what it is supposed to be spent on, to improve our city infrastructure for the betterment of Watonga.”