Between Sapulpa, Bristow, Kellyville, Mounds, Oilton, and Paden, fifteen items were up for election in Creek County on Tuesday, April 6th, 2021. The sixteenth item was County-wide.
Most relevant to Sapulpa were the Creek County District #3 Commissioner spot, made vacant by the passing of Lane Whitehouse earlier this year, and the one-sixth of a penny sales tax for the County’s fire departments.
Out of a total of 1,907 votes for the County Commissioner seat, Lane Whitehouse’s son Jarrod received 815, or 42.74%. Danny Gann came in at 27.48%, Mike Wofford at an even 14%, Bryan Sherwood at 13.06%, and Justin Speers at 2.73%.
Whitehouse is expected to face Democrat Chris Root in a September runoff.
The perpetual one-sixth of a penny sales tax to be distributed equally to Creek County fire departments passed with 3,278 yes votes, or 78.63% of the vote.
The taxes collected will be used for maintenance, operations, and capital outlay expenditures, including apperati acquisitions or the upgrade and maintenance of existing apparati, equipment, safety gear, operations, planning, training, training-related expenses, new building construction or improvements on existing facilities. It is not to be used on personal expenses such as payroll. The tax will commence on July 1, 2021.
This affects 15 municipalities, including Bristow, Depew, Drumright, Freedom Hill, Kiefer, Kellyville, Mannford, Milfay, Mounds, Oilton, Olive, Sapulpa, Shamrock, Silver City, and Slick, many of which have volunteer fire departments.
In Kellyville, two Town Trustee seats were up for grabs. Clifford Barnes kept his seat, formerly belonging to Ed Pruitt, by just one vote, 90 votes total, or 38.46%. Former Kellyville Mayor Jim Vogt narrowly lost with 89 votes.
In a surprising turn of events, Town Trustee Bobby McGarrah lost his seat, earning only 28.67% of the vote for a Trustee with an unexpired term. Newcomer Scott Lynn won by a landslide 71.33% and will take McGarrah’s place.
Bristow voters passed its six propositions with large margins.
Proposition One, a half-penny sales tax increase to fund a new hospital, passed by 71.67%.
Proposition Two, a half-penny sales tax increase to fund capital improvements for public parks, public lands, and cultural and recreational facilities, passed by 63.38%.
Proposition Three, regarding bidding for public improvements, passed by 71.01%.
Proposition Four, to change primary election requirements, passed by 72.28%.
Proposition Five, concerning the requirement for ordinances to be published in a newspaper, passed by 64.10%.
Proposition Six, on emergency ordinances, passed by 68.13%.
In Oilton, Kelli McBride won the Ward 1 Councilmember position by 77.12% of the vote, and Bryan McCool won the Ward 4 spot by 76.67%. Oilton Public Schools Office Number 1 was won by Dustin Miles by 86.24%.
Mounds elected two Town Trustees—Keith Aaron Long with 46.67% of the vote and Rosa Jackson with 25.71%.
Paden Public Schools Office Number 1 will be taken by Maryanne Tinsley, who won by 62.24%.
An RRID (Rural Road Improvement District) will be established on a portion of South 231st Drive in Kellyville by 88.24% of the vote.
Details can be found on the Oklahoma Election Results site.
