Alva Review-Courier -

At the Mayors Council of Oklahoma Congress of Mayors last week, Alva Mayor Kelly Parker served as the Mayor Speaker Pro Tempore on Feb. 10. "It was an honor to represent Alva and work from the Oklahoma Speaker of the House chair for a little while," said Parker. "Some of the greatest leaders in the state have served from that very seat, including northwest Oklahoma's own Jeff Hickman. To lead the Pledge of Allegiance and give the invocation to begin our session, from that chair position, was very special to say the least."

The Congress of Mayors is an annual event with mayors and other municipal leaders from across the state spending a couple days at the capitol identifying issues of statewide concern and preparing resolutions that ultimately become part of the legislative recommendations to state elected officials.

Parker authored one amendment and one resolution. Parker said, "The amendment pertained to the competitive bidding act; the Congress of Mayors approved the amendment which holds government entities harmless when they in good faith attempt to publish requests for bids, but for whatever reason, the print publication does not publish the request.

"This had relevance here in Alva this past winter when we sought bids for the water meter project. We nearly missed out on $1,000,000 in free money when the paper mistakenly did not publish our notice. I cannot say enough good about the Alva Review-Courier, but mistakes happen. This amendment will ensure that there are no adverse impacts on cities if these mistakes happen after the city has fulfilled their obligation."

Parker said, "The resolution I authored pertained to the process by which citizen petition audits are conducted. The Congress of Mayors approved this resolution which would require the filer of the petition to obtain authorization on the items to be audited from the State Auditor and Inspector office prior to seeking signatures. This will ensure that signers are only signing petitions for items that are actually subject to audit."

Representative Carl Newton (R-Cherokee) has already authored legislation regarding these items in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and the endorsement from the Congress of Mayors should help to ensure passage of meaningful reform, Parker added.

These items contributed to six resolutions for municipal operations, transportation, municipal finance, economic development, public safety, and municipal government accountability.

"As Mayor Speaker Pro Tempore, I will sign these resolutions, along with my colleague, Stan Booker, Lawton Mayor, who served as the Mayor Speaker of the House. They will then be presented to Governor Stitt for consideration during this legislative session," said Parker.