Alva Review-Courier -

The Woods County Economic Development Committee (WCEDC) met Wednesday, Sept. 20, for their quarterly meeting. September marks the beginning of the WCEDC fiscal year. WCEDC Director Jeremy Zeller reported the year ended with a little over $1,000 carryover. This is because he did not travel as much as was allowed in the budget.

Present for the meeting were Chairman Jeremy Eaton and members Jack Staats, Dr. Kay Decker and Cale Leeper. Dr. Bo Hannaford and Susan Bradford were absent. Randy McMurphy’s term ended, and the agenda included the appointment of a new member to take his place. Four members are required for a quorum. The meeting began a little late because they were waiting for Staats to arrive.

Looking at the budget for the new fiscal year, Zeller noted that insurance costs are up quite a bit. Decker pointed out a listing for Tourism Center was erroneous. The WCEDC used to help with staffing and expenses of the tourism center in Alva, but they have not done so for a number of years. Budgeted under that heading was the WCEDC website expense. Decker said she’s been trying to get that corrected for several years. Zeller said he’ll see to it that the title is changed to show that category is only for the website.

Donor Dinner Oct. 24

Zeller reported on arrangements for the Donor Dinner which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the women’s building at the county fairgrounds. He said invitations were sent out by email with 10 responses so far. He plans to follow up with phone call invitations later.

Decker agreed to be responsible for the décor and asked Staats for student help in getting tables set up. Staats said he’ll contact the high school FFA as they are usually looking for projects.

Zeller said Oklahoma USDA Director Kenneth Corn is the scheduled speaker. Decker asked Zeller if he could talk to Corn about the topic of his speech. Would it be on agriculture or general rural development or state products? She said this would determine the direction to go on booths set up for the meeting. Eaton agreed it would be good to learn Corn’s focus and build around it.

WCEDC Website

At the last meeting in June, the WCEDC voted to hire OC Digital of Woodward to update their website with local content. The contract was to continue through August. Then the committee would decide whether or not they would renew.

Zeller said OC Digital did some work on the website but he was not satisfied. Marketing Alliance built the website and charges an annual fee to keep it live.

Decker said she thought the agreement with Marketing Alliance was that website content would be something people with average skills could add to, delete and update. She said Zeller told her OC Digital needed to write code to make additions or changes to the website.

Eaton said the WCEDC doesn’t want proprietary code used. It wouldn’t be accessible if the company goes out of business or the committee decides to change providers.

Zeller said that Marketing Alliance is doing the upkeep and maintenance of the website while OC Digital is creating pages. They worked on a resource library but what they showed Zeller was different than how it looks on the website.

Staats said, “For what they told us and what they’re providing, there’s some distance.” He added that the worst thing about computer contracts is “they get to where they own it.”

Eaton commented that it seems like the WCEDC meeting and the meeting Zeller has scheduled with OC Digital and Marketing Alliance on Monday spurred them to get something done.

Zeller said OC Digital is still having coding issues. He recommended the WCEDC continue with OC Digital on a monthly basis. He said if this is not working out, they will need to do something else.

The committee voted to continue with OC Digital on a monthly basis.

Other Business

Meeting dates for 2024 were approved. The quarterly meetings are set for noon on March 12, June 11, Sept. 10 and Dec. 10 at Northwest Technology Center in Alva.

Three agenda items were discussed together about goals and objectives, budgetary needs and staffing needs. With no set list of objectives, Zeller said he is continuing with the website, donor dinner, Avard Rail, and the turkey hunt.

Decker said they may want to add medical or professional recruitment. She said the hospital is working on physicians and nurses, but Alva has lost several professionals through death and retirement. She cited the need for dentists and said the legal community is aging. She and Zeller met the previous week with some providers and other community members to see if a strategy can be developed. It was agreed the WCEDC can’t lead a search, but they can provide information and support.

New Member Appointed

Following a brief executive session, the WCEDC voted to appoint David Hamil to fill the seat vacated by McMurphy. Like McMurphy, Hamil is a member of the Woods County Board of Commissioners.

Carmae Jones has been working as an intern to assist Zeller for the WCEDC. The committee members voted to pay her a $500 stipend for the fall semester. Jones is a student at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Director’s Report

Staats had to leave as he had work commitments. That meant there was no longer a quorum. The only other items on the agenda were reports, not requiring a vote so the meeting continued.

Zeller reported the dates for the Lt. Governor’s Turkey Hunt in 2024 will be April 17-19.

He recently attended the Select Oklahoma Conference which he found very informative.

Zeller continues to send out more detailed monthly reports to the committee members by email.

Decker mentioned that the Alva swimming pool project is progressing. She said a more recent drawing of the pool includes the outline of the current pool. That area around the new pool will be filled in with a concrete apron or possibly some blue tile to recognize the footprint of the old pool. She described some grant applications to get more funding. She also said they hope to set up an endowment fund to pay for future maintenance and needs of the pool.

A video of the meeting may be viewed at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com.