With all the expected activity around the square for the Big Cruise and Car Show this weekend, the Woods County Commissioners voted to close the courthouse at noon Friday, Sept. 20. The event officially begins at 5:45 p.m. but the courthouse parking lot will be busy with food trucks setting up early and the arrival of vehicles. During the weekend, parking in the courthouse lot will be limited.
The meeting was called to order by Commission Chairman Randy McMurphy with Commissioner John Smiley and District 1 Foreman Damien Starks present. County Clerk Shelley Reed also attended.
During new business, Starks mentioned that work will begin Monday, Sept. 23, on County Road 370. He said the road will be open to traffic but work on the roadway may slow travel.
The commissioners approved the report of a conference between Woods County and CED#8 (Circuit Engineering District #8) for a bridge inspection invoice. In a separate action, they approved the invoice itself in the amount of $2,072.36. McMurphy said this averaged out to $137.42 per bridge inspected. The bridge inspection cost will be reimbursed to the county by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
Two juvenile detention transportation claims were approved. The July claim was $298.31, and the August claim was $463.00. McMurphy said these were for the juvenile charged in the murder at Freedom. Woods County does not have juvenile detention facilities.
The Woods County Sheriff’s Department received a 2024 Jag LLE grant. The commissioners voted to approve spending $5,125.13 from that grant for an in-car computer, docking station, desk dock and printer.
Under new business, McMurphy said the county had several responses from architects on the Woods County Senior Citizens building to be constructed in Alva. Probably at next week’s meeting on Monday, Sept. 23, the commissioners will look over those proposals and decide which architects to interview.
The commissioners also approved minutes of the Sept. 9 meeting and blanket purchase orders.
Following the meeting, McMurphy said he should have brought this up during new business, but he forgot. He had a photo of the large rock representing Woods County that was placed in a memorial location at the state Department of Agriculture. The rock, engraved with Woods County, is showing age with a number of cracks. The ag department has offered the chance for counties to replace those rocks. McMurphy said he intends to ask a relative who lives in Oklahoma City to check on the county’s rock in person, comparing it to the others, to see if it should be replaced. The ag department had employees who died in the Murrah Building bombing, and these rocks are their memorial of the event. The 30th anniversary of the bombing will be in 2025.
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