Alva Review-Courier -

As Freedom gears up for its municipal elections April 6, the Freedom Call begins a series of candidate profiles, one each week, to help ensure Freedom residents have the information they need to make those important decisions.

The first in the series focuses on Cindy Reed, the Town of Freedom's current clerk-treasurer who is running for re-election.

Experienced in Freedom Government

Reed has been the clerk-treasurer for more than 12 years, and has attended training and certification sessions for municipal clerk-treasurers each year. She's attended many grant writing clinics and webinars for numerous municipal areas.

For the last eight years she's headed BancCentral Financial Services' debit/credit card department. Reed believes her total of 15 years' experience in the banking industry in Oklahoma and Iowa have given her the experience and contacts to continue to be an effective clerk-treasurer for the town.

Having been in the position for so long, she has a clear view of the biggest challenges faced by the clerk-treasurer. For Reed, infrastructure problems top the priority list.

Critical Issue: Funding Infrastructure Improvements

"Freedom's biggest problem is the aging infrastructure in place," Reed said.

It's an issue the town's been working on; the town's water and gas utilities' technology has been upgraded recently, funded by grants.

"We have recently replaced our meters with remote-read meters for both gas and water. These have helped us detect leaks earlier and usage more accurately," Reed said.

"Right now the current board and I are working on a major gas line replacement project. We have been working on the replacement of gas lines inside the city limits for the past several years. We have just recently been awarded a grant to start working on the replacement of our lines that run 5 miles north of Freedom."

Maintaining a town's infrastructure takes vigilance and hard work. It also takes money. A clerk-treasurer who can engage in continual searching for funding sources to help replace and update Freedom's infrastructure is a must, said Reed.

"Freedom has other problems that the current board understands need fixing. But being a small town with limited income, they also understand the need to find help funding these fixes," she said.

Longtime Local

A longtime local, Reed attended Mooreland High School and Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU). She graduated from NWOSU in 1998 with a degree in business administration. She and her family – spouse Jerrod and children Emma, Austin and Arlee – have lived in Freedom for the past 15 years.

Reed's love of Freedom shows in how she talks about the town.

"One of the best things about living in Freedom is the fact that you know your neighbors and most everyone in town on a first-name basis," she said in an email. "Freedom is a small community of people that not only care about their residents, but all our neighbors from all around."