Commissioners to ask state for $200K for programs primarily for low-income people

Nov. 16—Rogers County will request $200,000 from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to be used primarily to assist low-income county residents.

The Rogers County Commissioners voted Tuesday to authorize the request. It calls for $90,000 for mental health assistance, $60,000 for workforce development training, $40,000 for nutrition assistance for seniors, and $10,000 for administration.

All of this funding would come from Community Development Block Grants. According to the commissioners' request, the county has already requested or received $930,000 in block grants for these purposes.

The $60,000 would go toward more scholarships for Claremore Economic Development's Rogers County Technical Training Program. This program has allowed about 150 students to pursue technical degrees at Northeast Tech and Rogers State University for free.

"I'm working with the [Claremore Economic Development] staff on trying to continue that as much as we can, really trying to take advantage of another semester of the vo-tech programs," said Andy Armstrong, a consultant who helps the county apply for and administer grant programs.

Armstrong said the $90,000 would allow the county to continue supplying sheriff's office vehicles and city police cars with tablets officers can use to contact GRAND Mental Health staff.

The commissioners also vacated the Baldwin Manor subdivision plat.

District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix said Baldwin Manor is a plat on Keetonville Hill. Its developer, Limestone Properties LLC, never turned any dirt or installed any utilities because the state took over part of the plat to make way for the State Highway 20 realignment project.

"It's kind of a ghost subdivision that never got off the ground," said Mack Greever, an attorney representing Limestone Properties.

Greever it won't cost the county anything to vacate the plat, and it's a simple operation that will take about 60 days because he has to give nearby property owners 30 days to challenge the action.

The commissioners approved a trio of bids for refurbishments at the Amos G. Ward Detention Center.

The county will pay $47,784 to Jones Commercial to replace a rotting door in the jail, $8,900 to DT Wreck It to demolish the door, and $12,000 to Garage Expert for epoxy coating in the showers.

Undersheriff Jon Sappington said the county sheriff's office did not receive bids back on masonry and painting for the project. It secured a $75,000 bid to replace tile flooring, Sappington said, but the office rejected the offer because of the price tag.

Sappington said the office only has $50,000 in its account for the project. He and the commissioners discussed making up the gap either from American Rescue Plan Act funds or from the Rogers County Criminal Justice Authority's purse.

The commissioners also rezoned a plot of land west of Claremore to allow a Dollar General store to be built there.

The 1.33 acre tract of land, now zoned C-1, sits on the southwest corner of the intersection of Southaven Road and State Highway 20.

Brittany Senters, deputy director of the Rogers County Planning Commission, said no one challenged the rezoning at the planning commission's meeting. No one raised a dispute at the Tuesday commissioners' meeting, either.

Carl Statton, grants manager for Rogers County Emergency Management, said county residents have built 38 shelters through the county's Individual Safe Room Rebate Program.

He said he is working on receiving money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse grant recipients for up to 75% of what they spent building the shelters. When that money comes in, Statton said, recipients can pick it up at the county clerk's office.

Statton said the 160 grant recipients have until Aug. 26, 2025, to finish building their safe rooms.