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Bartlesville
Posted: Jun 09, 2025 10:29 AMUpdated: Jun 09, 2025 10:29 AM
CITY MATTERS on KWON
Tom Davis
Appearing on KWON's CITY MATTERS program, City Manager Mike Bailey, Assistant City Manager Laura Sanders, City Clerk Jason Muninger, and Library Director Kiley Roberson provided an update on current issues in Bartlesville city government.
City Manager Mike Bailey announced that crews have completed the taxi lane at Bartlesville Municipal Airport. Bailey said, "This is one of the largest investments that's been made in our airport in decades. It's actually a $2 million project, and I know it's hard to get excited about a taxi lane, but this is part of the basic infrastructure of our airport that allows us to continue to expand. It was actually paid for primarily by the ODAA and the Federal Aviation Administration. They paid $1.2 million and $740,000, and the city only had to come in for $100,000 to make this happen."
Bailey also recapped last week's City Council meeting, which was dominated by the issue of the unsheltered in Bartlesville and the efforts of the city task force to gather information to develop plans for better managing the situation moving forward.
Library Director Kiley Roberson brought listeners up to date on the summer reading program and other offerings. Roberson said, "This year we have four different programs. We have our ages 0 to 5 , and they may not be fully reading on their own just yet. For that age group, we just ask that a caregiver read 25 books to them. For 1st through 5th graders, we ask that they read 25 books by July 25. Our 6th to 12th graders are asked to read six books by July 25. And we do not leave out the adults, because it is so important that we set examples for the kiddos in our lives and our communities. They are asked to read four books — because we know those books are a little bit bigger. And this counts for e-books, audiobooks, print books, or comic books. Anything counts."
"The best thing about this is that after you complete these programs, you can come in and get a prize," Roberson added. "Everyone who completes the summer reading program will receive a prize, which is a fun little tote bag that they can carry their library books in. And inside the tote bag, there are coupons for all kinds of fun treats and experiences from some of our incredible local businesses here in Bartlesville that donated those."
Regarding city sales tax collections, City Clerk Jason Muninger said, "This month we were up by about a quarter percent. That equates to about $5,000 over last year's collection." He added, "As we had budgeted for a 1% decline, anything above that is ahead of budget. For the year, we finished about half a percent over, which is about $113,000 to $115,000 over last year's collection. But for the year, we finished almost 1.7% over budgetary expectations, which is about $380,000."
Muninger noted that the use tax increased by 46%, which equates to $157,000.
Assistant City Manager Laura Sanders announced that another Citizens Academy is coming up.
"We offer a lot of services and programs to citizens, but one of my favorites that we offered last year was the Citizens Academy," said Sanders. "This was the first time we had done it, and we took 20 citizens through our academy. We took them all over the city to show them how city government operations work on a daily basis. And I think it was a hit with the people who participated in the program."
The City will start accepting applications in July, and the process will run through July 31. The program will begin on September 4 and run through November 13. More information will soon be available on the city’s website: www.cityofbartlesville.org.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and able to provide their own transportation to and from the Citizens Academy. Applicants must also be a resident of Bartlesville, a business owner in Bartlesville, or employed full-time in Bartlesville. The primary form of communication from city officials to participants will be by email.
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