McCurtain County commissioners take up open-records fees and a Pleasant Hill road application, a week after an emergency burn ban

The McCurtain County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday at 9 a.m. in Idabel with a short agenda that reaches into how the county handles requests for its own records: "discussion and possible action concerning open record procedures and policy for third party record holders and fees."

The item, II.B on the agenda filed with the county clerk at 2:44 p.m. on Sept. 3, sits between an acknowledgment of a road grant application and two personnel-procedure items. The meeting was in the commissioners' conference room at 104 NE Ave. A.

What the record says

Item II.A is the acknowledgment of a Rural Economic Action Plan application for District 2 for the Pleasant Hill Road project in the Pleasant Hill community. District 2 is Commissioner Tina Foshee-Thomas of Idabel, who chairs the board; John Williams of Broken Bow holds District 1 and Robert Beck of Valliant District 3, according to the agenda's letterhead.

Item II.C would "require all new employees to report to the county clerk's office for registration before their hire date of the day of hire at 8:00 a.m." Item II.D authorizes Stacey Brassfield to witness, or serve as alternate witness for, employee handbook forms. The consent agenda covers minutes of Aug. 31, fuel bids, transfers, resolutions to deposit, purchase orders, claims and the monthly report of officers.

The Aug. 31 agenda, filed Aug. 27, did not list a burn ban. The McCurtain Gazette-News reported on Sept. 2 that commissioners at that Monday meeting passed an emergency resolution authorizing a county burn ban, effective immediately for up to 14 days and extendable if conditions persist. According to the Gazette, 18 of the county's 21 fire departments had requested the ban, the U.S. Forest Service and state forestry officials supported it, and a recent accidental fire near Hochatown had burned about 100 acres near cabins. The paper quoted county emergency management director Jerry Falling as saying the ban was "absolutely" needed, and reported that a violation is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500, up to a year in jail, or both.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's county statistics for the week beginning Sept. 1 put 85.44 percent of McCurtain County in D2 "severe drought," up from 50.45 percent the week before.

What the Aug. 31 agenda did list: sealed bids for a fire tanker truck for the Battiest volunteer fire department; a call for proposals for roadside brush hogging and mowing at an hourly rate, with proof of liability insurance and bonding, to be opened at the Sept. 21 meeting; $2,452.81 from the deductible fund to Elite Collision in Broken Bow for body damage to the assessor's truck; moving one employee in each district from the highway fund to the general fund; a fiscal year 2027 budget contract with the OSU Extension Service; and a REAP application, Project 2, with Jarred Campbell of the Little River Conservation District.

What it means for the county

If the board adopts a fee and procedure policy under item II.B, the county's terms for records held by third parties change for anyone who requests them; the agenda states neither the fees nor the procedures. The new-hire rule, if adopted, adds a clerk's-office step before an employee's first day. The REAP acknowledgment records that District 2 has applied for state rural-development money for Pleasant Hill Road; the amount is not on the agenda.

What the record does not say

The posted agenda does not describe the proposed records policy, what "third party record holders" refers to, or a fee schedule. The Aug. 31 agenda carried no burn ban item, so the resolution the Gazette reported came under new business or as an emergency item; the resolution's number and expiration date are not in the posted record. The REAP application's amount and the road's scope are not stated.

What happens next

By the Gazette's account the burn ban runs up to 14 days from Aug. 31, which reaches Sept. 14, unless the board extends it. Proposals for roadside mowing are opened at the Sept. 21 meeting at 9 a.m. The board is required to meet on the first Monday of each month and by its posted pattern meets weekly; Tuesday's minutes come up for approval at the next meeting.