The Garvin County Board of Commissioners took another step forward this week in the planning process for building a new 911 dispatch and emergency management center.
During their regular meeting Monday, County Commissioners Tom Pyle, Randy Chandler and Mike Gollihare approved hiring Matt Graves of Architects in Partnership for the building plan for a new 911 facility.
The new facility, if it is built, will replace the current 911 dispatch center located on the second floor of an older building in downtown Pauls Valley.
County officials have said a more secure facility is needed to provide protection for dispatchers and emergency management personnel who need to remain at their stations during potentially catastrophic events including severe weather.
“We don’t have a hardened, storm-proof building, currently,” Garvin County Emergency Management Director Dave Johnson said.
The board of commissioners approved moving forward with a feasibility study for the new dispatch center in July of this year. In September, commissioners approved the purchase of 4.5 acres of land on State Highway 19, west of Pauls Valley, intended to be the site of the new dispatch center.
At Monday’s meeting, the board also met with county resident Faith Campbell regarding a request to plant a redbud tree on the courthouse grounds. Campbell said the tree would be donated and planted at no cost to the county.
“This particular planting would be done in honor of freedom of speech and courage to be bold in one’s faith. It’s a personal and spiritual tribute to the kind of strength it takes to stand firm in faith and live with conviction, qualities that resonate deeply across our whole community,” Campbell said. “It’s meant to add beauty to the courthouse grounds and serve as a quiet reminder that faith and integrity can take root anywhere, even in the heart of a small community.”
Campbell said the first step in the process would be to locate the underground utilities and see if there is even a place on the grounds that a planting would be feasible.
Commissioners said they had no issue with planting a tree on the grounds but asked that it “just be a tree.”
“I just want to share my concerns. I don’t mind you planting a tree, but let’s just keep it as a tree,” Gollihare said. “Because if we don’t, I feel like, we’re going to get other people coming in here wanting to plant a tree to represent this way or that way. I don’t mind the tree.”
Campbell, who also serves as the chairman of the Republican Party in Garvin County, said she wanted to be clear that the request was not political in nature, but was meant as a gesture to honor everyone’s faith and courage.
“Things that have happened recently have really weighed on my heart to be more about people’s faith and less about ideologies,” Campbell said. “That is why I’m asking. It’s a symbol of unity, rather than a symbol of division.”
The board voted 3-0 to allow the tree to be planted, pending the outcome of a survey of underground utilities on the grounds.
The board also approved receipt of a $15,000 donation from the Walmart Distribution Center to help pay for materials used earlier this month in resurfacing a portion of Airline Road adjacent to the distribution center near Interstate-35. The project was a cooperative effort between Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Garvin County District 2. District 2 Commissioner Tom Pyle said the total material cost paid by the county was around $39,000.
In other action, commissioners approved:
•a resolution to implement a four-way stop at the intersection of East County Road 1520 and North County Road 3370 in District 3;
•amending the permitting procedure for tinhorns and driveways to clean up and clarify the language, and make the procedures more uniform across the county’s three districts.