Latest / The Scott Townsend Show / #261 What's Next For Bartlesville? A Conversation with David Austin
Transcript
- David austin ward 2 interview: Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show, brought to you by Diet Soman Productions. Hey, this is Scott Townsend. Welcome back to the Scott Townsend show. And today I have with me a good friend, sports enthusiast, Bartlesville resident, and just all around great guy, David Austin. David, what's going on, man? Hey now, Budge. Just looking forward to talking with you. And it's always great to talk. Lucky you, right? Nah, that's true, man. Been friends for a long time, I appreciate you great. Yeah, so the reason why we're doing this today is because you're running for Ward Two here in Bartlesville. I'm on the your campaign committee and I thought it would be good to have you on the show so that we could talk about, you know, give you a a bit of a platform here to talk about ward two, why you're interested, what you think needs to happen, how you might do that. And so yeah, so the first question that I'd ask is what'd you have for breakfast this morning? Cereal. And it was it was it was good, just right there at the house. And you know, my wife Summer, she puts in different types of milk, so I think it was with almond milk, that thing. With and then head coffee also. So that was it like fruity pebbles or Lucky Charms or what so Summer got she got something to where it's lower sugar. You know, so, you know, trying to be as healthy as we can. So so that's a I don't even remember the name of it. It's some kind of off brand, I think, but it was less sugar and you know, I had tried another cereal and she said, Well, you need to think about the less sugar thing and so I was I was going through the cabinet today, I thought, Well, okay, less sugar, so that's what it is. Didn't taste maybe quite as good as the sugary stuff, but you know, I I guess since it's healthier then okay. Yeah, so no more fruity pebbles. Mm-hmm. Darn it. And fruity pebbles are delicious. So are the cocoa pebbles. You know, they'd always turn your build up quality and everything. They were delicious. Yeah. Yeah, so my first question is why are you running for ward two specifically? And what are you hearing from people in that ward that you think City Hall needs to pay more attention to? as far as Ward Two, you know, obviously you know, it's where I I live and and You know, Ward Two's interesting. It's kind of takes up a lot of that south section of of Highway Seventy. If you if you're thinking about Highway Seventy Five coming into town, it's it's kind of takes up both the east and the west sides of seventy five coming in and you know, two of the biggest neighborhoods are Woodland and and Colonial. But as far as as far as Ward Two, I I I think it's you know, like a lot of Barlesville, you know, it's it comes down to You know, how are we looking as far as infrastructure, as far as water, as far as streets? You know, are are we how are we doing as far as bringing in business, bringing in jobs, how are we doing as far as homes? So I guess what I hear is is not necessarily coming just from war two, but just coming from Bartlesville in general. And th and those are generally some of the topics that we have coming up. You know, Bartlesville's an interesting town that, you know, obviously you know, the companies that we have here as far as Conaco Phillips and Phillips Sixty Six and and the heritage that we have as far as Phillips Petroleum Company. And so we have an interesting history. And I think we have a very bright future. And and and as far as running for city council, you know, I had it was not something that I've really considered much, but then I had some people reach out to me about the possibility and and I thought about it and and talked to some different people and and decided to throw my hat over. That's cool. y you talked about woodland hills, colonial, Yeah, those are those are basically the two biggest neighborhoods within war two. Right. And are there I mean of all the of all the infrastructure in those two main areas, what's the biggest concern would you think Streets, water, housing, which one's which one has the priority that you you would think has priority? I d I don't know. That's that's it I mean it probably depends on who you are and everything. And you know, as I you know, as I drive through the areas and stuff, I think our streets are in pretty good shape and as far as, you know, for bond issues that have come up with the last few years. You know, the community's been very supportive on those and I know you and I have both volunteered our time toward toward those you know, bond issue initiatives and as far as helping is in terms of communications. And again, I think they've done a good job of helping us out as far as adding new technology for the police, the fire, infrastructure again as far as streets. Again, I I think it depends on who you are as far as you feel it what you feel like the need is. Again, I I feel like, you know, we in talking to different business leaders, we feel s still feel like we have a need for for good housing probably from low income all the way to you know whatever however you want to cap it at the top end. But I think we still have a need for housing there. Again as far as streets, I think you always want to see them repaired whenever the time has come. But I feel like our s our city staff does a good job of monitoring that. Somebody our engineers are very good about knowing the age of particular streets, the usage of particular streets. and how often they need to be repaid or just generally worked on based on their age and and any number of other factors. But so so like I said, I I don't know that there's anything that's just jumping off the map as far as a pressing issue. You know, I was talking to Terry Lawrence and who's our water utilities director the other day and he was talking about our water situation, which is something else that, you know, obviously comes up in in as far as people worrying about how do we stand going forward as far as the future. Well the city, the staff, they put together a hundred year plan as far as Bartlesville water. You know, most of it coming for Cuba Lake and and Hudson. And then they have some good ideas about how they want to make sure that we have ample water supply. Should we experience some growth, just any number of factors, should we have a drought? You know, how do you basically try to combat, work against having to put in measures to where you're having to ask people to use less water or raise their rates or anything. What do you believe the city needs to do over the next several years to make sure Bartlesville has a dependable water supply and how should those improvements be paid for? Yeah. Did that come up during your visit? Yeah. And and he said, you know, and and and I can go through you can go through and you look at look at the city's website or you can go through and talk to someone like Terry, and you can see that due diligence has been done. They they've looked at all the possibilities as far as our water supply. And and they really have their finger on the pulso. They know what has gone wrong in the past, what has gone right. And I just came away from that conversation with Terry thinking, okay, he's he's as I said, has done very much it has done due diligence. And he said right now we're in a very we're in very good shape and and we usually only start to kinda get into a an area of concern if we have a drought. And so in Barnelsville we typically have about forty one inches of rain in a given year. So if you have less than thirty or less, that's when you're starting to get into drought conditions and that's when you're starting to see your water supply levels start to diminish. Currently right now we, you know, haven't gone through any kind of a drought here of late, and so our water supply is in very good shape. And again, most of our water comes from Cula Lake and Hudson. And and usually as far as our consumption of water, we usually use about our community and I guess surrounding areas that we supply to also. we use about five and a half gallon million gallons per day in in this area. And it it can spike sometimes up to eight or twelve. But one interesting thing I was talking with Terry about was that you know as far as our water consumption today, if you compare it to what it was forty years ago, our consumption has actually decreased. Even though we've seen a little bit of of a population increase. Again, you know, in in the last forty years we've probably grown from roughly 35,000 to I think around 38,000 or so today. but our water consumption has actually gone down. But as far as why do you think that is? I think I think Are we becoming more conserved? Are we are we being more judicious with our water usage? We are. I think we're I think we know I think some of the converse you know some of the conversations about conservation that we've had over umpteen years and not wasting water and be being careful of with it I th I think that has impacted the way that we use water. But he didn't he didn't give a specific reason as to why or he didn't speculate as to why our water consumption has gone down over the course of the last forty. If I had to wager a somewhat educated guess, it would just be that people are cognizant of not wasting water. If they're brushing their teeth or if they're watering their lawn or filling their pool or whatever the case might be. But one of the things that you know, he talked about and and these these are in some reports that you can see on the city website, but he talked about some of the things that they're looking at. Again, so if we use roughly five million gallons of water per per day, which is again about what we use. But he was looking at ways that we could potentially get, you know more millions of gallons at y at your disposal. And one of them is basically storm water runoff and kind of the the way that we keep it well, we have some water on reserve that we could potentially work with the Corps of En United States Corps of Engineers to maybe have some b some of that water at our disposal as drinking water that we could that we could use and that it would it would allot us if we if this worked out, but it would allot us about ten million more gallons per day that we would have at our disposal. And so I know that that's that seemed like the best plan that they're currently working on. They're working with the Corps of Engineers on that. And the Corps of Engineers, I believe, will have to go through a three year study to see if that makes sense for us to be able to also have access to that water supply. And I think based on our usage if we did have access to that water supply, then I think we would be in really good shape. But so I'll be curious to see where where that potential plan and how that goes along over the course of the next three years. But as as as as I looked through the potential solutions to getting more water, that seemed like the one that was the most plausible. And the and the one that would get you the most bang for your butt. And so things like that are just They're interesting to me. because I'm the drought? What's that? Do you remember the drought we had where it almost took out Hewlow Lake? I mean, you could almost walk across Hewlett Lake. At that point in talking to Terry, I think our our water level got down to like seventeen percent, which is hard to fathom. Hard to fathom. And so yeah, yeah, I do. And and again, that's something that they're constantly looking to guard against. I think a lot of people around here still remember that. And that might be why, you know, we our usage is down a little bit is because people remember and they sure it's better to have and the have not and so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that still s sticks around. Yeah, and you know, another thing that the city council has at its disposal if you get into a situation so if you get into a situation to where your water levels are starting to to you know, go down due to drought. then you can ask people to voluntarily conserve water. And and that might move the needle a little bit, but what seems to move it the most is raising water rates. And not something you want to do, but it does it does seem to be an extra incentive for folks to watch how much water they're utilizing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But i anyway it's It's interesting. Like I said, the pressing needs, I think it depends on who you talk to, but as I've gone through this exercise and as I've tried to educate myself about where we stand as far as the pressing issues in the city, I do come away thinking we have a very well-rounded, educated staff that's working a lot on a lot of different issues and and always have their finger on the pulse of And my thought is if I get in if I if I'm called upon to serve, if I'm elected to office on November third, which I obviously I hope I am, I want to be able to support the staff, learn more about what they're doing, and just see how we can basically improve our situation together. Right. You said Bartlesville needs to diversify its economy. What is one type of business or industry you think Bartlesville should actively try to recruit? And what should the city be willing or unwilling to offer to attract it? yeah, you know, we've had different stuff come in too, like the industrial complex. you know, obviously we have a lot of businesses that come in that are say if they're a restaurant or or something like that, that's always nice. getting the distribution center, the Walmart distribution center south of town was was was really nice as far as bringing in a lot of jobs. I I think as far as one particular industry, the in d and energy industry's obviously been been very good to Bartlesville. But I I think I think I would welcome anything that's that's gonna come in and and just give us good jobs and and also I think as far as whenever we put whenever we have businesses come in, I think the ones that are obviously gonna have that are gonna offer the most Well paying jobs that d that give you a a a livable income and that also convince people to put down words here. Because I I guess I guess it comes down to what kind of Bartlesville do you want to see? You know, we've as far as Bartlesville, our population right now I think is roughly thirty seven, thirty eight thousand. And that population has been fairly steady for the last forty or so years. I think if you roll the clock back to nineteen eighty six, I think our population was still around thirty five thousand. And so again it becomes okay, well what Bartlesville do you want to see? Do you want to see a Bartlesville that continues to grow? Do you want to see it, you know, five, ten, fifteen years from now? Do you want to see it at forty, forty five thousand, whatever? And and I th and I'm basically operating under the ins assumption that that's what people want. because I think if you give that community that does grow a little bit, then you that means you're probably bringing in more jobs, you're bringing in more housing, you're bringing in more amenities. that again compel people to put down roots here. If it's r restaurants or entertainment options or whatever the case may be. So were you asking me about, you know, is there a specific business that I want to see? I think I'm basically just in favor of any business that comes in, again, that that offers a lot of jobs and to where people feel compelled to put down roots here. So that's that's kind of where I am. I I I don't look at it as as one particular business that's gonna did that's certain that you know that's gonna save the day or anything like that. I would just you know, I've talked to Chris Fatchelder at the Bowersville Development Authority and he talks about some of the businesses they're they're looking to bring in. And and I've also talked to to small business owners and they talk about, you know, what the city council and the city can do for them as far as just making basically putting forth an environment that's that's conducive to small business and just businesses. general. So I I I don't know again that there's one particular business. I would just like to put ourselves in a position to where we're attractive to businesses coming in and that we have policies in place that again are are conducive to business growth and don't somehow stifle it. And so I think if I was in place I would just that's that's that's the kind of legis you know laws and basically protocols that I would want to see in place is just something that's generally business friendly without without sacrificing too much on the on on our end as far as what we kind of have to do to attract that business. I just thought of this that it's kind of a lightning rod right now is data centers. Yeah, and I and I've talked to some people about those and and those yeah finish your thought please. No I just that's You know, they're you would think first blush it sounds like a good idea, you know, and and then you have the folks that are talking about the consumption of of water and pollution the pollution and noise pollution and I don't know, there's I I'm not an expert in it. I I just watched what Aaron Brok Brokovich, she was on the the Yeah. Yeah. Talking about that, she's all fired up about it. And so I don't know. I I I all of a sudden realize, I guess this is a problem. You wouldn't think it's a problem, but some people are saying it's a problem. So I don't know. What if somebody came out and said we're gonna start building one in around the area, Washington County? What would what's your take? and I'm like you, I've I've heard differing opinions on on data centers. And you know, and and some of what you hear is the idea that while to your point they might consume a lot of your resources for your particular municipality, they might not necessarily offer a whole lot of jobs. And so maybe when they first come to you with the proposition, maybe it seems very good, but maybe the more you dig into it, maybe the less I don't know, the less good it seems for your for your community, for your city. Unless you go ahead. Dearly, you know, like You know, and I and I think on in on anything, you know, I wouldn't I would never want to turn down anything just generally speaking out of hand. Anything you want to do due diligence and let's see if this actually is something that could benefit our community and the greatest cross section of its citizens. So I don't think I never want to dismiss anything out of hand. But the more I've heard about data centers, the more you hear about maybe some concerns with some of those coming into your into your community. So I think if any any anything like that was presented to us I would just want to do make sure that we do due diligence and make a very educated decision. And I would want to do that with any industry coming in. Right. You know, I I think that's just that's what you have to do. and and I think any decision that you make it has to be with what's in the best interest of Bartlesville, what's in the best interest of our citizens. Because that's the reason I got into this. I like I said, I had some I I really hadn't thought too much about it. I had some people who reached out to me, some people who I admire and respect and and decided to throw my hat in the ring. But when I did so, I did so I didn't have a an agenda. I didn't there's not one topic that drew me off the sidelines, so to speak. My thought was, okay, if I go into this, then I'm gonna go into it, what's best for Barrosville? And and and let's do that. And if the idea is mine, yours, anybody, it's If it seems like it's a good fit for Bartlesville and its citizens, let's go that direction. And and and if I'm elected, that's that's the way I'm gonna view things. And I think that has to be the overarching goal at all times. What's best for Kind of moving on to housing housing availability has been become part of the city's long range planning conversation. And what role, if any, should city government play in encouraging more affordable or middle income housing. Yeah, there's some things that you can do. you know, Trevor Dor Arian Kirkpa Kirkpatrick and and Trevor Dorsey have been promoting the rebuild Capitol Hill project, which I think it's basically it's a TIFF district and so there's some money in there specifically for that area. And it's it's kinda on the on the west part of town. I think it's right around eleventh street. And some of it actually encompasses Ward Two. And they've been promoting that. And that's something that's the that's something the the the city council can actually act on and say, do we want to put forth some incentives for people to build in particular areas? And in this area again, kind of what's known as the the Capitol Hill area. So I I think I think that's where the city council can assist in in areas such as housing. And so I appreciate both Aaron and and Trevor for promoting that. And and that's something that I'm I'm trying to educate myself about as far as the Tib District and some of the monies that are in it. I think they were I I don't want to misspeak as far as the the amount of money in there, but it but it looks like those who live in that area, if if this if this proposal were passed through the city council, then they would have some they would have some incentives to put down roofs in that area and to build houses in that area. And and things like that are exciting to them. because that that's where I think you can move the needle is somebody who's in the city council, on the city council. So and again, y you know, when I talk to different city leaders, we do need more housing, kind of as I mentioned earlier, kind of across the spectrum here in Bartlesville. So when hear about a project like that that could potentially go before the city council, that's exciting. For ward two, I know there's ward three, ward two, ward one. Yeah. So how do you guys divvy up the money? Who gets what? When it comes to like we need to improve our streets? How do you make sure that you get your share? How does that divide it up allocated? Well, it like in the case of a city bond issue. it would just be the the you know, the city staff would come forward with a proposal and say, Okay, if if we're if we're looking to upgrade streets, these are the streets that we feel like need to be upgraded. And this is why they need to be upgraded, because they haven't been upgraded in, you know, so many years, because there's a whole lot of traffic, because for whatever reason they've degraded to a point to where obviously they need to be upgraded. And they kind of do that on a on a system to where they're just always monitoring again usage and when the last that they were working on. And so I think if if if something like that came to me as as a representative of board two, if I looked at it and thought, well, not many of those streets are in in board two, I guess I can look at it that way. But I think what I would wanna do is look at it and say, okay, well first of all, do we have any street concerns in Ward Two that we feel like are going unrecognized, if you will? And if that's the case, by all means lobby for War two and lobby to have something done with those streets. But if that's not necessarily the case, if I don't feel like there's necessarily a pressing issue in Ward Two, but there are pressing issues in other parts of our community and and it makes sense to redo those streets, then by all means. again I'm I'm gonna represent Ward Two, but I'm also gonna represent Bartlesville. And so I'd I wouldn't always wanna say, okay, well, I want to put resources in Ward Two that aren't necessarily pressing need, while the other four wards have pressing needs. well, let me say it this way. If the other four wards have pressing needs and we don't, then by all means let's let's take care of those needs. 'Cause even if you're Ward 'cause even if you live in Ward Two, well you still might be doing business in any of the other four wards or whatever the case may be. At the end of the day though, it just what's what's going to work for the greater good here? And what makes sense for Bartlesville in general. So I that's I guess kind of a long winded way of of saying I want to look out for ward two, but I don't want to necessarily do it at the expense of the other. All right. That's good. I like that. The There are some streets in Bartlesville like Washington, Boulevard Adams, Hensley Boulevard. They're actually state highways. Yeah. Yeah. Technically. Yeah. Yeah. So what can a city counselor realistically do when residents want those roads improved? I as far as that, it's I'm I'm sure we would have some influence, you know, as far as the roads, how much influence we have. You know, I would have to get in there and see for sure. But I would hope that through relationships that are made at the state level, that make local what's that? The what is what is it, O D O T, Oklahoma Department of Transports? So I I would hope that we have some input and I would think we would. And I would think also state representatives and state senators who are from this area would also have some influence. And so, and obviously we're in close contact with them also. So I would think that's how you have some again can can maybe move the needle a little bit in that regard. Again, you know, to your point, you can only do so much as far as as a city counselor. But as as far as what your what your purview is, you know, what you what your When you're seated as a city council person, this this is what you this is this is within your job description, so to speak. And so there's that. But I think also if you have a good relationship with some of your your again, the the s the reps, the senators from your area, and then also those at the state level. I think if you have good relationships and if you can start to form those bonds, then you can have start to have influence over over other areas that might prove beneficial to your community. Right. Yeah, it's good to have those relationships when so that when stuff like that does come up and I know they they work they seem like they're they're working on Adams right now and Yeah. They they seem to be doing a pretty good job of keeping that Yeah, I fixed up. Yeah. For lack of a better term. Again, when I t when I talk to our our you know, if it's city employees or if it's you know, police or fire or anything like that, you know, I come away thinking we have a lot of good people in place. And so, you know, I I think you want to support as much as you can and then obviously if an issue arises you address it. I've come away very impressed with a lot of people I've come across and so If I do get in, my my first thought is, okay, well, how can I how can I support you? How can I put you in the best position to succeed? Sounds like you're kind of in the servant leader mentality. Yeah, I I just I guess I come from the standpoint of you know, it's it's kind of like, okay, well, how do you want to be, you know, how would you like your if you feel like if you feel like you're a good employee and you're doing your job and you're doing it well. then what would you want from your supervisor, from your direct supervisor? And I think it would just be support and how can I help you continue to succeed? And then if you if you have an issue, well by all means, let me step in and let's talk through this and try to work through this in the best way possible. And so when I think of myself in that regard and again how I you know how I would like my direct supervisor to to operate, if you will, then If I'm in a position to where I'm kinda in the supervisory role, then I want to act accordingly. I I want to be able to support them and again put them in the best position to succeed. And again, if an issue comes up and then by all means let's address it. So I think that's generally how I would come from it. And and again they're talking to a lot of these people. I just I feel like we have a lot of good people in place. So a lot of times it's just a matter of staying out of the way. Yeah, i there's there's that. There's certainly that. I think you wanna stay educated on the issues so that you can have intelligent conversations whenever you're talking to folks and ask the right questions. But there are gonna be times to where, yeah, just hey, you're doing a great job. Please by all means continue. And and if I can help in any way, I'm here. Bartlesville is using automated license plate reader cameras. And so I guess there are some people talking about this. It's kind of a a growing thought in the community. Not an issue, maybe a concern a little bit. it's got it's got bad, I guess. Where do you draw the line between helping law enforcement and protecting citizens' privacy? on that, you know, it it's as far as so we have ten automated license plate reader cameras in Bartlesville. And they're located, they have to be located by law within five hundred I think believe it's five hundred yards of the city limits. And so so that means you can only you know, you you're you have to be very careful about where you position up as far as the municipality. In this case obviously Barley. But so we have ten of those. eight of I believe are Flock and Flock owns most of the market. I think they own about eighty percent of the automated license plate reader market. And so I was able to meet with our interim city manager Laura Sanders as well as police chief Andrew Ward and some of his staff including Daniel Elkins and and they just kind of talked me through the pro it basically the protocol of of our automated license plate reader cameras. And during that conversation, you know, it's again I I came away thinking we have a a solid protocol in place. Now, having said that, I know that there are concerns. And my thought on the matter in general is we we renewed our contract, an annual contract, on the cameras in August. And so so now we're we're under contract for the next, you know, here we are on October 1st, and so we're basically under contract for the next 10, 11 months. And so I guess if you have enough concerns about about the cameras that you just kinda want to say, okay, well, I don't want to use the technology. Well, okay, well, I've paid for for, you know, roughly the next year to come. And so, okay, so I just don't use the technology that I've paid for. So I guess that's one option. another option is okay, well, let's break the contract. And if you break the contract, then that potentially puts your municipality in legal jeopardy. My thought on the matter is Okay, so we we do have concerns about the automated license plate readers. let's do our due diligence, let's gather information over the course of the next ten, eleven months while the contract is in place. And when the time comes to decide whether or not to renew the contract, conceivably in August of next year, let's make an educated decision. So that's literally the way that that it strikes me as a responsible way to approach the the question of whether or not to continue to have these cameras in our in our in our town. Right. That's a a a practical approach. Yeah. And not an emotional approach. And I th and I think that's the way you you have to approach it. and so that's that's what I would want to do. And so I had met, like I said, with interim city manager and and Hartzville Police Department officials about the technology and how they use it. But I think for a well rounded opinion, yeah, you also have to meet with those who are potentially detractors of the system to see what their concerns are. And I think you do that and then again, once you get to the point where you need to decide whether or not to renew the the contracts or again have in your municipality, when that time comes you're you're educated about the issue and and can make a wise decision. Right. Did I This just popped into my head. This question, who who what came first? Did we go to Flock or did Flock come to us? I think we studied the issue, I believe, for I think it was three years, because I think we have had the technology now, I believe for two. And I think we were just as far as the police department, they're always looking for tools that they can use to best serve the people and I think they studied that technology and decided let's let's pursue it. We think it has merit. We think it has merit for us. We'll put in guardrails and and restrictions where we feel like we need to to make sure that this tool isn't going to be misused. And I believe that's the way they they went about him. So what are their thoughts now? What are your thoughts? Is it so far so good? Is it I think we have good protocols in place. And they w they were kind enough to go over those with me and how you utilize it, you know, from the standpoint of you have to be at least a lieutenant in order to utilize the system. if you go in there and you're utilizing the system, then it's gonna track you. It's and so you need to say this is this is why I'm going into the system. This is exactly what I'm looking for. And and all of that all of that is documented. And it'll document who you are as far as going in to look for things, how often you look for And so it struck me that while obviously the automated license plate readers as a technology can can pick up the license plates of particular cars and things like that that might be able to assist you in a Amber alert or silver alert or stolen vehicle or any number of things like that. And so that information is obviously gathered. It's stored in the system for 30 days and after that it's gone. But on the flip side of that is those who are utilizing that system, they're also being tracked. And so again, it struck me that if you have some bad actors or if you have some concerns about the way that the system is being utilized, well that's documented. And that's not thrown out after thirty days. That's always there. And so you can find patterns if you feel like I have a concern. again, if they you feel like they're looking at something that they don't have a a good reason to be looking at it, all that's documented. And so if you get to the point where you feel like, hey, we have a problem, well, all the evidence that you need to look into that problem, it's right there within the system. I wonder if that's a matter of public record or if it's just something that you have to apply for that type type information. I don't know how much is is out there as far as I mean, I think the city does a great job of putting forth information. I mean the the use of the flock cameras, if someone goes in, let's say a let's say a bad actor, just you know, because that's where everybody goes, and you suspect something, is that some is that information that the public can get their hands on or is there a process that you'd have to go through to check? As far as to know in generally in in general what the process is or to be able to specifically see the information. Specifically see the information I don't know how I don't know to to answer the question. I I I don't know if you know well I will say this. I think if if something happened and you were You had a concern about that. I think at least initially, it would obviously be an internal review. You're right. And then at some point maybe it it it gets out publicly depending on what the situation is. But I'm sure initially it's gonna start internally as it should. Right. Yeah. That makes sense. City revenues are under some pressure. the current budget was built with projected reductions in sales and use tax revenue. So if the city eventually has to choose between cutting services postponing projects or finding additional revenue, how would you approach that decision? I think everything is going to be on a case by case basis. And so I think it depends on you know I think you can always look and say, okay, is there any fat trim so to speak? You know, is there is there any money going out that doesn't make sense to go out anymore? I think you have that exercise regardless of where you stand, where regardless of where you feel like you stand from a budgetary standpoint. So you're I think you always want to be cognizant of that. And then as far as you also want to be cognizant of how can we get revenue coming in. Without obviously, you know, putting a burden on your citizens or anything, but just generally again it that comes down to you know diversifying your economy, bringing in business. put tourism fall into that? Excuse me. Does tourism fall into that? As far as bringing money in? Absolutely. Absolutely. so I I but I would think it's kind of case by case. But I I I think I think from a due diligence standpoint, as far as looking for ways to save money and looking w for ways to generate money, I do think regardless of your situation, you always have your finger on your pulse on the on the pulse of that. Right. At the end of a four year period, what is one measurable thing? This is my last question. Could be my last question. We'll see. Well what one thing would you want War two residents to be able to point to and say, David Austin helped make that happen? I think again, I I the rebuild Capitol Hill is interesting. I think I think as you can come up with in those, you know, I d I I that's That's er Aaron Kirkpatrick and Trevor Dorsey who are championing that. But I think things like that that are just strike me as innovative and strike me as win wins. being involved in the you know, f if if we can develop more of those kind of proposals, I think those are definite wins for for Bartlesville and for the community. So That's i i that is kind of exciting to to be able to think that okay, we come up with something like this to again assist people with their housing situations or or offer more housing for those who want who are working here but aren't quite sure if they want to put down roots here, give them more housing options. So I think I think something like that those k those kind of initiatives and proposals are very exciting. And so I would like the o opportunity to maybe brainstorm with some some others about th those kind of possibilities. But also I think what I would want to do is is just kind of give people some some good measured leadership if I can, if I could be so bold, and just kind of think through the situations and not be I don't want to be wetted to a particular ideology or anything like that other than what's best for Bartlesville. And I would like to have a a myriad of different voices who are coming up with proposals and ideas and they feel like they're free to do so. And again, just I want to be able to come up with just kind of even keeled, level headed ideas for for Bartlesville. And and just kind of making decisions that again, when you're making those decisions, you always have the idea of what's best for Bartlesville as basically superseding everything else. And so again, if I am called upon to serve for the next, you know, two years, and if it was to become four or six or whatever the case may be, I just always kind of never want to lose sight of the fact that the goal has to be what's best for Marlowe's road. Right. I guess I do have one more question and I'll give you a chance to Talk about who is David Austin? What's the bio what's your what what's your autobiography? I I've lived in Bartlesville for about 35 years now, I guess. I was here from sixth grade to junior year of high school. My mom's a retired teacher. She applied to teach with the Department of Defense and ended up with an offer to teach in Japan. And so My parents thought, you know, for myself and my sister it would be a fun family adventure. So I actually graduated high school in Japan. and then came back stateside and graduated University of Kansas and but I would go back to Japan for summers and for Christmas break. After I got my degree, most of my experience was well, I guess my early experience was journalism. So worked at the Barcel Examiner Enterprise and What start off doing there? sports reporter. And then ended up managing editor and and then went back to sports and then went to the Tulsa World. I was sports there. And then did communications for the Marsville Public School District for five and a half years, which was a beautiful job. And and now last fourteen years corporate communications for Codico Phillips, which has also been outstanding. So as far as who I am, I guess you know me well from for lunch and everything else, but I will say this. you know, one of the things that's important to me, I I try to I try to stay involved as much as I can. You know, I've I've been on the board of the United Way for a lot of years. I you know the West Side Community Center, I've also been on that board for I think about ten years, and now it's evolved into the Portalsville cultural center. And so I believe, you know, being active like that is important. And you know, to that point, you know, I've I've served with you on in a volunteer capacity on city bond issues and school bond issues. so I I just I've been very, very fortunate to be in this community and to be around people like yourself and just so many others. And so what I try to do is do the right thing, if you will. So you know, again, where you can help people, help people. And as far as the whole city council thing, like I said, I hadn't thought much about it, but I talked to some people who, you know, admire and respect and and they said, hey, the it it might be something for you to think about. And so so here I am. Now I'm running for city council. And and I'll just do the best job I can with with this whole campaign, you know, I have a lot of people who again I admire s and respect who are supporting me, so I want to do right by them. If I get in and I'm able to to to serve, then I want to do right by all the people who voted for me and even those who didn't at the end of the day just do right by Carl's bill. And so I don't know, as far as who I am, I don't know. I guess I work hard, I try to give back and I try to pe treat people right. And because I've been treated right by so many people I I try to do. And you're also married to the beautiful, illustrious summer. Exactly. Who I'm very proud and it was twenty nine years in August. Yeah, cool. Congratulations. I know her her Her football helmet collection is like I hear one of the best in in Bartlesville, if not northeast Oklahoma. Yeah, she has a lot of she has a Rams helmet chair, not a whole lot of people in Bartlesville have those. So obviously she's very proud of that. I know you probably have two or three. She only has one, but maybe she'll add her in the collection at some point. So yeah, she has phenomenal sports collection. So I'm very proud of her in that regard. Yeah, we joke about that, but we know we know whose helmet collection that really is. How many Super Bowls have you been to? I you know, five Super Bowls? I thought it was three. I went to the first one with my grandfather, Super Bowl sixteen. first one won by the Nigers, Montana and Walsh, they beat the Bengals. And went to a couple uncres passes, saw the Rams beat the Titans, saw the Patriots beat Rams. Super Bowl thirty four and thirty six. And also saw the Seahawks win their first Super Bowl in New York against the Broncos. And then unfortunately saw Eagles beat the Chiefs a couple of years ago when their Super Bowl rematched. So those those are the vibe I've been to so I've been very fortunate. that's cool. Yeah so awesome. Yeah. Well anything else you want to bring up, talk about what what's what but it's always great talking with you. And you know, I mentioned lunch earlier. We'll be doing lunch later today, which would be great. Yeah, so we can kinda talk about this interview and exactly. I hope I I hope I've done your cause some good and we'll see how that goes. Yeah, I appreciate it. If somebody wants more information about David Austin and Ward Ward two or what you're up to, what you're doing and Where do people go to get information or how can they get in touch with you? Right now right now Facebook is is a really good place. You know, I have David Osman for Ward Two on Facebook that they can go to. also we we're gonna start going door to door soon, you know, in Ward Two and just introducing ourselves to the residents there, the voters there. we'll start putting up yard signs also. again I've been out and about, you know, kind of meeting with different city leaders. And I've been I'm gonna try to do so with kind of different groups of people as well. I believe Bartleswor Radio is gonna have a candidate for him. I'll be part of that as well. So, you know, here we are, you know, roughly a month out from election day. So I'm gonna just try to put myself out there, let people know who I am, and once November third comes they can make an educated decision as far as who they want to represent them on the city council. That's awesome. Well if something maybe You need to come back on. We'll talk about something else, if anything pops up between now and then. I'm sure there will there be. Yeah, I'll look forward to it. All right, man. Well, for David Austin, this is Scott Townsend. Thanks for listening, watching to the Scott Townsend show. Have a great day. Everything's gonna be all right. And we'll talk to you later. For more episodes, visit the Scott Townsend Showed YouTube channel, listen on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.