County Commissioners Stay Busy Monday

The Board of Osage County Commissioners met for a regular scheduled meeting Monday and got some alarming news during citizens input. Heather Barkley is an employee at the Osage County Health Department and she informed the commissioners that Administrative Director of the Health Department, Larry Bergner, had been fired by the state health department earlier in the morning.


Barkley said that Bergner had been moving the department in the right direction and she said funding for programs will likely decline. Barkley has decided to resign from her position at the health department.


Osage County Emergency Manager Jerry Roberts was on hand to let the commissioners know the county will start receiving public assistance funding from the storms that hit the county in early May. Roberts said they are still waiting for funding for the late May and early June flooding, but this will be a big help.


Claude Rosendale sat in for Kelly Bland to give a tourism update across the county. He said that Southern Living Magazine has done a feature on the Oilman's Daughter in Pawhuska and named Mac's BBQ in Skiatook a top 10 BBQ restaurant to visit in the south. National Geographic also did a story on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.


In addition to that, the American Bus Association selected the Pioneer Woman Mercantile as one of its favorite places to visit in 2019. As a result, the Mercantile will be featured in their fall magazine. Bland also hosted a tourism conference in Pawhuska last week, which brought in tourism directors from all over the state.


Rosendale was also there asking for funding from the commissioners. This included $1,000 that would go toward the Boy Scouts of America 110th Anniversary Campout in September and $2,000 used for marketing campaigns. The commissioners approved all of these requests.


The County Commissioners made the third and final payment to Builders Unlimited. That payment is for just over $14,000 and they are making improvements to the women's building at the Osage County Fairgrounds.


The County Commissioners also approved the Post Oak Lodge Jazz and Wine Festival to serve alcohol. That event is set to take place on August 31.


The next regular scheduled Board of Osage County Commissioners meeting will be next Monday at 10 o' clock in the morning.