Growth and appropriately spending the people’s tax dollars were the main topics for the annual State of McClain County gathering in Goldsby Tuesday, September 8.

The Heart of Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce worked with Newcastle’s Chamber of Commerce and Blanchard Chamber of Commerce to host  the event that was attended by 95 county residents.

It was sponsored by OEC Fiber.

McClain County Commissioners Glen Murray and Wilson Lyles were the featured speakers, joined by area State Representative Jonathan Wilk.

Lyles said McClain County is the second fastest growing county in the state just behind Canadian County.

He said there are now 51,600 people residing in McClain County and growth continues throughout from north to south. Among future growth drivers are the turnpike extensions at Newcastle, and in Purcell and Goldsby.

Lyles said, “We don’t want to become that bedroom county, because a bedroom county costs a lot of money. You have to have something to support it.

“You have to bring business in. You have to have that tax base established to support the needs and the services  that people need in today’s world.”

As they continue serving, commissioners said they will work with the other county government agencies for the good of all.

“We are going to do our best from the commissioners’ table to watch the growth patterns, see where the needs may be, and stay in continuous contact and communication with our cities and towns,” Lyles said. “If we can support one another, it is a positive.”

Wilk said he and the county officials are concentrating efforts on infrastructure, especially water since it is a problem for communities in McClain County, but also education, public safety and law enforcement.

He said the area needs to keep its people here and spending their money here, noting that locating industrial businesses in the area would help “give our constituents a place to call home.”

When asked how to make McClain County more competitive, Lyles said the area’s taxes were not out of alignment, and that roads all are coming together to the “Heart of Oklahoma.”

He said he’s not a fan of incentives. He said a lot of these deals go in a negative direction, and can lessen the amount of revenue going to education and municipalities. 

He said he doesn’t know if McClain County will ever be contacted about Data Centers because McClain County doesn’t have an abundance of water.

In other questions and comments, the commissioners were asked about county facilities.

Lyles said the McClain County Jail is overcrowded, and inmates are currently outsourced to other facilities, to which the county pays a daily fee.

He said the jail costs a lot to maintain, but McClain County Sheriff Landy Offolter “has done a fabulous job.”

Commissioners had an in-depth study done by an engineering firm. There were concerns of structural integrity, but they were only superficial cracks.

The county has also secured a bond and are preparing, with the help of an architectural firm and a construction management team, to construct new election board office space.

Lyles said because the county now has 50,000 citizens as opposed to 17,000 it originally was planned to serve, the precincts have gotten so large that they are having to be split.

He said the county is looking for new locations for offices in both the Newcastle and Goldsby areas.

Plans call for the old election board offices at the courthouse to be converted into a smaller courtroom. Lyles said judges have asked for another courtroom to expedite smaller civil matters.

This project will be done as soon as the other offices are completed. The county will be going out to bid about mid-October for the new offices.

Expanding the Farm and Home Building Expo Center was also a discussion. Commissioners said they have been looking into this, but the area is locked in by local landowners and Interstate 35.

Commissioners said they have been upgrading it every year, including the purchase of a generator for the Farm-Home Building, and the pouring of 62 yards of concrete in the Ag. Building.