By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Three City of Yukon employees were recognized this week for their lengthy dedicated service to Yukon’s citizens.
Assistant City Manager Mitchell Hort and Yukon Public Works personnel James Jones and Lee Hibberd have earned 25-year service pins from the Oklahoma Municipal League.
James works in the water/wastewater department and Hibberd in the street department.
All three men were honored at the Jan. 17th Yukon City Council meeting inside the Centennial Building, 12 S 5th.
Their 25-year service pins and certificates were presented to the three municipal “employees” by OML Executive Director Mike Fina.
“I actually don’t like that term,” said Fina, a former Piedmont mayor. “I use a different term when I refer to someone who works at a city. I refer to them as municipal ‘professionals’.
“What I’ve learned over the years – in my time as mayor and then also working for OML – is that when someone gives 25 years of their life to something, they’re not just an employee. That’s a career, and that makes them a professional.”
In the past six years, Fina has presented more than 1,000 years-of-service awards across Oklahoma as OML’s executive director.
People who work in municipal government – from Fire to Police to Public Works personnel – are so dedicated to that work, Fina told the audience inside the city council chambers.
That’s because they have “bought into” their community.
“When you see someone that works for the City of Yukon, think about that – that they’ve dedicated their life to actually making your lives better,” Fina told Yukon residents.
City personnel often perform a thankless job and don’t receive the credit they deserve, he pointed out.
“You see the mayor, the vice mayor and the council up here governing,” Fina said. “But what you don’t see is that Public Works guy that’s out in a hole, patching a pipe, when you don’t have water.
“They are dedicated to this community. Always give them the respect they deserve.”
Yukon Mayor Shelli Selby, Vice Mayor Jeff Wootton, and city council members Donna Yanda, Aric Gilliland and Rodney Zimmerman joined OML’s Fina in honoring Hort, Jones and Hibberd.
“You’ve got a great group here in Yukon,” Fina said. “Your citizens are incredible, and the council is incredible. Everything’s going well in Yukon.”
Gilliland was raised in Yukon by his grandfather who retired from the City’s water department.
“It’s always special for me to see the guys and girls that work hard every day and keep our city running smoothly,” the Ward 4 council member said.
NEW DRIVE-THRU LANE
Yukon’s MidFirst Bank, 1201 W Vandament, is preparing to add a drive-up banking lane.
The Yukon City Council, at the Jan. 17th meeting, accepted a $1,000 “fee-in-lieu” for off-site drainage facilities (detention) from MidFirst Bank for the new drive-thru lane.
MidFirst Bank will expand its existing drive aisle “for the purpose of offering additional drive-up banking capabilities,” project engineer Timothy W. Johnson wrote in a letter to Yukon Development Services.
“The site currently consists of an existing bank with typical site amenities including a parking lot and site screening.
“Undeveloped land exists northerly and westerly of the project site with the remainder surrounded by commercial uses.”
The expansion design calls for an increase in impervious area of 1,913 square feet, which Johnson noted would cause a “minimal increase” in runoff.
