By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – Several annual appointments were finalized this week as Canadian County Commissioners conducted their first meeting of 2023.
Mustang’s Dave Anderson, the four-term District 2 commissioner, will continue as chairman of the three-member board for this calendar year.
Commissioners typically rotate chairmanship, but Anderson agreed Jan. 3 to remain chair for another year since two-thirds of the board has changed since late November.
“The chairman conducts the meetings and does all of the official communication on behalf of the board to anyone who corresponds with us,” Anderson explained.
The board chairman has “no larger powers than one vote of three,” he noted.
“There is a little bit more workload on the chair.”
New District 1 Commissioner Tom Manske, participating in his first meeting, was appointed vice-chairman for 2023. He will be in line to become chairman in 2024.
Yukon’s Manske also was appointed to represent Canadian County Commissioners on the Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority (OEMA) board of trustees, which operates the county landfill is Union City.
Chairman Anderson will be alternate trustee on the OEMA board. Other board members represent Canadian County’s municipalities.
The OEMA landfill is in District 2, and Anderson has served on the board for many years.
“I do think that rotating that appointment is a healthy option,” he said.
Meanwhile, first-year District 3 Commissioner Tracey Rider of El Reno was appointed to the board of the Cardinal Point public trust, which oversees the county’s family justice center.
“It’s a really exciting, new service delivery approach for Canadian County victims of domestic violence,” Chairman Anderson said.
Also at the Jan. 3rd meeting, commissioners appointed Chase Tippens to the county’s Excise/Equalization Board. Tippens represents District 1 on the three-member panel, replacing Lynda Ramsey.
The other members are appointed by the district judge and state tax commission.
Both Manske and Rider were elected to four-year terms in the June 2022 Republican primary election.
Rider has participated in county commissioners’ meetings since late November when she succeeded former District 3 Commissioner Jack Stewart after Stewart became District 18 state senator.
The Jan. 3rd meeting was the first with Manske seated alongside Anderson and Rider.
“You guys are going to be ‘hitting the ground running’,” Chairman Anderson told the two “freshman” commissioners.
At their next meeting Jan. 9, Canadian County Commissioners are due to begin the process of selecting architects to design a new county courthouse complex.
FAIR BOARD FILING PERIOD
Filing period will be Monday through Friday, Jan. 23-27 for three seats on the Canadian County Fair Board.
If more than one eligible candidate files for any seat, an election will be 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.
Canadian County’s Fair Board is comprised of nine members, three representing each commissioner district. Terms are three years.
By statute, the county commissioners are responsible for conducting Fair Board elections in their districts.
Canadian County Commissioners approved a resolution setting the filing period and election at its Jan. 3rd meeting.
In other business, commissioners approved:
- A resolution allowing the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center to accept a $650 donation from the Yukon Rotary Club.
- A grounds maintenance agreement between the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center and the Department of Human Services.
- An electronic recording memorandum of understanding between eRecording Partners Network (ePN) and the County Clerk.
Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward presented the weekly county jail report showing an inmate population totaling 205, with 165 prisoners at the El Reno detention center and 40 housed in other counties.
