Nov. 16 – Rogers County will request $200,000 from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, which will be used primarily to help low-income county residents.
The Rogers County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve the request. It asks for $90,000 for mental health assistance, $60,000 for workforce development training, $40,000 for nutrition assistance for seniors and $10,000 for administration.
All of this funding would come from Community Development Block Grants. According to the commissioners’ request, the county has already applied for or received $930,000 in grants for these purposes.
The $60,000 would go toward more scholarships for Claremore Economic Development’s Rogers County Technical Training Program. The program has provided approximately 150 students with a free technical education at Northeast Tech and Rogers State University.
‘I work together with the [Claremore Economic Development] Our staff is trying to continue that as much as possible, and really trying to take advantage of another semester of vo-tech programs,” said Andy Armstrong, a consultant who helps the county apply for and administer grant programs.
Armstrong said the $90,000 would allow the county to continue providing tablets to sheriff’s office vehicles and city police cars that officers can use to contact GRAND Mental Health staff.
The commissioners also left the Baldwin Manor subdivision plat.
District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix said Baldwin Manor is a plat on Keetonville Hill. The developer, Limestone Properties LLC, never cleared dirt or installed utilities because the state took over part of the plat to make way for the State Highway 20 realignment project.
“It’s kind of a ghost subdivision that never got off the ground,” said Mack Greever, an attorney representing Limestone Properties.
However, it costs the county nothing to clear the platform, and it is a simple operation that will take about 60 days, as he must give nearby property owners 30 days to contest the action.
Commissioners approved a trio of bids for renovation work at the Amos G. Ward Detention Center.
The county will pay $47,784 to Jones Commercial to replace a rotting door at the jail, $8,900 to DT Wreck It to demolish the door, and $12,000 to Garage Expert for epoxy coating in the showers.
Undersheriff Jon Sappington said the county sheriff’s office has not received any bids for masonry and painting for the project. It received an offer of $75,000 to replace tile floors, Sappington said, but the office rejected the offer because of the price tag.
Sappington said the office only has $50,000 in its account for the project. He and the commissioners discussed bridging the gap, either with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act or from the pockets of the Rogers County Criminal Justice Authority.
The commissioners also rezoned some land west of Claremore to build a Dollar General store.
The 1.33-acre parcel of land, now zoned C-1, is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Southaven Road and State Highway 20.
Brittany Senters, deputy director of the Rogers County Planning Commission, said no one challenged the rezoning at the planning commission meeting. No one raised a dispute during Tuesday’s commissioners meeting either.
Carl Statton, grants manager for Rogers County Emergency Management, said county residents have built 38 shelters through the county’s Individual Safe Room Rebate Program.
He said he is working to receive money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse grant recipients for up to 75% of what they spent building the shelters. When that money comes in, Statton said, recipients can pick it up at the county clerk’s office.
Statton said the 160 grant recipients have until August 26, 2025 to complete construction of their safe rooms.
