Vote to fund safety, projects, services

By Cathy Spaulding

cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee said he welcomes new facilities, equipment and services that could be funded by a proposed county-wide sales tax.

“I think this will have the most important potential for public safety in the 37 years I’ve been here,” Teehee said.

Muskogee County voters are to decide Jan. 14 on a temporary sales tax of 0.849% of one cent to fund an array of public safety facilities, projects and services. That tax would remain in effect for seven to 10 years to pay for initial buildings and equipment, then would drop to a half-cent sales tax to maintain the program.

If passed, the sales tax would fund: — A joint facility, possibly on Columbus Avenue, to house Muskogee County Sheriff, Muskogee Police Department, Muskogee County Emergency Medical Services, Muskogee County Emergency Management, Muskogee County Call Center.

— New Muskogee fire station on York Street, renovations to other Muskogee fire stations, and five new fire trucks for Muskogee.

— New vehicles and equipment for Muskogee Police, Muskogee Fire,

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Muskogee County Sheriff.

— New joint public safety facilities, new police and fire vehicles and equipment for Haskell, Fort Gibson and Warner, planned $4 million for each community.

— Emergency ambulance runs at no cost to patients living within Muskogee County.

— New radios for volunteer fire departments within the county.

Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service Executive Director Laurel Havens said preliminary plans for the joint facility would be 60,000 square feet.

“But that would probably reduce because of a lot of shared space,” he said.

Teehee said a new public safety building would replace the current police station, which shares space in Muskogee’s 94-year-old City Hall.

“We won’t have to run heaters in every office nonstop, the busted pipes, all the issues we have with the building,” Teehee said. “Just as important is the money it will open up for equipment.”

Teehee said 25 new Tahoe SUVs make up only one-third of the department’s fleet.

“The majority of the rest of our fleet has over 100,000 miles and are over 6 years old,” he said. “That’s our officers’ office the whole day — those units.”

Teehee said police radios are five years beyond their usefulness.

“When they break we have to throw them away,” he said, adding that the hand-held and car radios are $4,000 to $5,000.

A new station and new equipment also could help recruit more officers, Teehee said.

“We’re going to be nine police officers down, which is tough to work with,” he said.

Muskogee County Sheriff Andy Simmons said he supports sharing facilities with Muskogee police and the call center.

“Anytime you can work together, it’s a win-win for everybody,” Simmons said.

He said his office no longer would have to pay for dispatch services.

“That would free up 190,000 I can pass on to the deputies,” he said.

Simmons said he also needs new vehicles.

“A new vehicle, by the time you get them outfitted, runs $50,000 to $60,000,” he said.

Warner Police Chief Ronnie Ross said sales tax passage could mean a building twice as big as the one police share with Warner Fire Department and EMS.

“Being such a small town, we don’t have the revenue to keep everything current,” Ross said. “Our radios have been at the end of life for the past 10 years.”

Sales tax passage also could get more emergency medical personnel in southern Muskogee County, which includes Interstate 40, Ross said.

“Warner has a large call rate for EMS as it is,” he said. “We get a lot of wrecks on the highway, and our EMS personnel will run that, and southern part of the county, including Porum and over to Webbers.”

Haskell Fire Chief Caleb Brewer said updated facilities and equipment will help the department accommodate a growing population.

“We have over 200 homes being built in the next — I was told — three years,” Brewer said. “We’ve outgrown our station we’re in right now. It was built in the 80s, and the fire trucks are way bigger now than they were in the 80s.”

Fort Gibson Police Chief Rob Frazier said a new facility and equipment “will help our response times and overall safety of the community.”

“We’re hoping to get new radios,” Frazier said. “New radios are very expensive, for those alone, that’s over $100,000 — $150,000, even for small Fort Gibson.”

Frazier said the police station is in Fort Gibson Town Hall.

“But we don’t have any kind of holding center,” he said. “Our area is small, but we make do with what we get. We need some kind of holding cell and training facility that’s hopefully going to be included in this, also some drive through ports where we can bring prisoners in.”

Havens said smaller communities and rural areas also can benefit. He said the tax would fund 90 radios for volunteer fire departments. There also would be new radios for the 9-1-1 emergency call center.

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee shows leaky pipes at the police station. Muskogee County Emergency Medical Services is proposing a sales tax to fund a new joint public safety facility.

File photo