Bartlesville, Oklahoma Development News
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Special City Council
Published: Jul 6, 2026
Emergency Management Budget Shows Increased Costs Due to New Facility, Proposes $375k Total
Kerry Cox, Director of Washington County Emergency Management, presented the department's budget, detailing spending comparisons to the previous year and outlining the budget projection for the upcoming year. He noted that the move to the new facility has increased expenses for utilities and facility maintenance. The budget breakdown is manually compiled by staff to provide more detail than the county's standard categories. Key projections for the next year include wages and benefits at $250,000, travel at $3,000, maintenance and operation at $90,000, and capital outlay at $14,000. The cost for the mass notification system is still being determined but is estimated around $10,000, with the city's portion expected to be roughly $7,000. The total projected budget for next year is $375,470.85, with the city's share at $187,735.36, an increase of approximately $6,000 from the prior year.
Emergency Management Council Reviews Storm Response, New Facility Operations, and Siren Policy
The Washington County Emergency Management Council meeting included a report on recent activities, highlighting a significant wind event that caused widespread power outages affecting over 21,000 services. The office also assisted with structure fires, coordinated cooling stations, and supported feeding efforts. Updates were provided on the new Emergency Operations Center, a career day for students, a burn ban, training exercises with the Oklahoma National Guard, and a new mass notification system that is undergoing beta testing with identified issues. The activation of tornado sirens during the wind event was explained as a policy to alert residents to life-threatening wind speeds exceeding 80 mph, even without a tornado. The council also discussed the operational changes and budget impacts of the new facility, including increased utility and maintenance costs and the transition of siren radio frequencies to reduce interference.
County Emergency Management Reports on Grant Funding and Loss of Annual State Grant
Melissa Mays, Deputy Director of Washington County Emergency Management, presented an overview of grant activities over the past year. Key grants completed include the Circle Mountain Gap Road fire FMAG, which received its final FEMA funding of $153,000 distributed to assisting agencies. An ongoing project is the NextGen 911 grant, a joint city-county effort to upgrade the 911 system. Reimbursements from Woodward County for an FMAG and for personnel deployment during Hurricane Helene were noted. The state ARPA project, funding the new emergency operations center's communication system, tower, and parking, is nearing completion with $124,000 received so far. The county received admin costs for the May 2024 tornado, with city admin costs still pending. A significant change is the discontinuation of the State and Local Agreement (SLA) grant, which previously provided $45,000 annually, creating a budget hole.
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