For the next two weeks the Watonga Republican will be running candidate profiles. Ward #4, a twoyear unexpired term and at large, also a two-year unexpired term, will appear first, arranged alphabetically.
#4 Gerald Forney is a candidate for Watonga City Council Ward #4. He is 65 and has lived in Watonga four years.
He decided to run for council when he saw the town declining and wanted to stop that decline.
His top priority is cleaning up the town. He sees garbage flying around, overgrown lawns and cars on blocks everywhere he looks. He feels that sends the message that people just don’t care and the city should enforce its ordinances better.
A nother project he would like to see the city do is create signage pointing toward various attractions such as parks, the splash pad and golf course.
Forney is also an advocate for economic development. He thinks the city should talk to Walmart about returning to Watonga and believes small businesses could compete. He would like to see the city institute incentives for businesses to come here, especially restaurants.
People need to feel like the town is moving forward to dispel discouragement. To build that feeling, communication is important and the city needs to be proactive, not reactive, Forney thinks.
Young people need something to be a part of.
“To get and retain young people, we could do softball and bowling leagues, encourage the churches to get things rolling. Maybe they would hold big get togethers that would build cohesion,” he said.
Those get togethers, like picnics, would be something for residents to look forward to and build cohesion and let people get to know their neighbors.
Howard Hursh is a candidate for Watonga City Council Ward #4. He is 86 and has lived in Watonga 80 years. He decided to run for council because he thinks he can be of service to the town.
He wants to consider other forms of government, leaning toward strong mayor-council. He acknowledges that the mayor will have to be a full-time leader. But he also grants that the issues might be from having a city manager who isn’t experienced.
Priorities for Hursh start with code enforcement. If more help is needed to clean up the town, he feels they should be hired. The looks of the town right now are deterring would be residents, who aren’t going to come here or stay when Watonga looks like it does. When he grew up here, people took pride in their yards and even the alleys.
“We need to get rid of the dilapidated houses and junkyards. When someone has five lawnmowers in an overgrown yard and none of them work, that’s a little much,” he said.
Hursh said the council needs to be more active and let the residents know they want input and questions, they want to hear solutions the people might have, but they need to be civil discussions, not yelling or screaming.
To lure builders here, he thinks the city could offer to cost share by using some lots they own or purchase, recouping the costs after the home sells.
AT LARGE
Verlen Bills is an atlarge candidate for Watonga City Council. He is 71 and has lived in Watonga since 1972.
He decided to run for city council when there weren’t enough council members and he thought with his experience he could be of service to the city. That experience includes being fire chief and city clerk.
A top priority is opening the government to the people through communication, such as the coffee socials. He also acknowledged that code enforcement has gotten lax on cleaning lots, but recognizes there is a legal process to be followed before the city can even enter a property to begin clean up.
Another thought is perhaps the city needs a public information position to help inform the people, a position that might be shared with other duties to save dollars.
As far as business development, Bills thinks the town should go with what it knows – oil and agriculture. He would encourage seeking businesses that cater to those industries. Those businesses will probably locate along the highway rather than downtown, but maybe the city could put in a business park on the property it owns near the new Love’s.
His dream would be to create a fire service training ground on the remainder of the property to train firefighters from all over the state. That, he said, would bring people to town and help fill the need for firefighters. “But that’s the dream in the back of my head right now,” he said.
Trey Chapman is an atlarge candidate for Watonga City Council. He is 71 and grew up in Watonga, left and returned in 2016. He decided to run for city council because he wants to see the town return to what it was when he was growing up.
He would like to revisit the form of government, noting only a small percentage of residents voted for the change. In his opinion, managercouncil isn’t working. It is too difficult to get in contact with council members, who should listen to the people, because they have good ideas.
He thinks the necessities for the town are unity, stability and sustainable growth.
His priorities start with increased business presence and he thinks the old carpet mill could become a mall or an eating establishment. That could be done without negative impacts on the existing businesses, which he wants to help grow.
Repair to infrastructure is also a priority but knows there has to be improvement to the looks of the town. But all those priorities must be accomplished while keeping available funding in mind.
Chapman thinks that decent housing that is less expensive than Oklahoma City could attract commuters who take advantage of Watonga’s great schools and hospital.
Community members could assist other residents who can’t make home repairs on their own, much like Amish and other cultures take care of one another.
“I just want to see Watonga come back together and do what’s best for most of the people,” Chapman said.
Neal Riley is an atlarge candidate for Watonga City Council. He is 50 and has lived in Watonga his entire life, only leaving to serve in the military.
He chose to run for council when he saw how it weighed on council members who resigned and thought he could handle the stress.
Riley thinks the city should consider other forms of government, leaning toward the strong mayor-council form. He feels then the person in charge – the elected mayor – would be directly accountable to the public.
He knows joining council will be a challenge for all the new members.
His main concerns are dealing with multiple projects and getting up to speed on them, then learning where the money is being spent.
Another priority is creating and maintaining a safe, clean, code enforced town. That includes providing city services, security and maintenance of infrastructure, fixing potholes, curbs and keeping weeds at bay.
Riley owns an abstract business in town and said some 30% of his customers who are closing on homes have come here for the schools. He believes if the city could provide power, water, sewer and streets it would entice a builder to come here to construct 10 homes at a time.
He is a fourth generation Watongan and can now see the fifth and sixth generations of his family growing up here.
“We have teachers and principals and business owners in the family. We have always been community minded and involved,” he said.
Marcus Wray is an atlarge candidate for Watonga City Council. He is 35 and has lived in Watonga his entire life.
He would like to discuss the form of government but does not favor one over another. He would like to examine whether the city has the right manager and if it isn’t the right person for the job, find that person. His thought is to shift the authority to the department heads who are out and with the employees daily, tailoring the government to fit the community.
Street repair is a priority for him, and he thinks the overlay schedule needs to be restarted and adhered to.
Another important topic to him is addressing citizen complaints as well as cleaning up the city. A big cleanup, he acknowledges, could be costly but it would help especially older residents who can’t handle heavy loads. It could be done once a year using a city loader to remove large items and tree stumps or limbs.
Wray knows drawing people to town is a complex issue but believes the place to start is presentation. If the town looks good, people might move here to access the good schools and commute to their jobs.
He would seek to incentivize interested builders by providing their construction locations with infrastructure.
As to business and job creation, he would have to seek advice. “I don’t have all the answers,” he said.
'I’d like to talk to others about what kind of business to bring here.”
Next week we will profile candidates for Wards #1 and #2.