Though they agreed Cleveland County must move quickly to construct a new jail, at least three of the four candidates for District 1 County Commissioner were hesitant as to where that detention facility should be built.
Speaking Tuesday at a Republican candidate forum, commission hopefuls Glen Cosper, Randy Rogers and Rod Cleveland each answered questions about the jail, but didn’t say where it should be located.
The fourth candidate, Ted Ryals, was more specific.
About 40 people attended the event.
“I have a lot of people come talk to me,” Rogers, 46, said. “And it (the jail issue) is passionate on every side.”
The jail’s location, he said, is “probably going to be made” before a new commissioner is seated. “There are so many things that we are going to have to sit down and look at as far a funding. There are lot of creative solutions we’re going to have to look at.”
Cosper, 56, agreed.
“As far as the location, I think there are still different solutions to be looked at,” he said. “Until one of us is really a county commissioner they aren’t going to have all the facts, all the angles.”
Cosper said a new county jail “can’t be a travesty like they have in Oklahoma City.”
For Cleveland, the jail issue centered on long-term funding.
“I think the jail should be located in the right spot,” Cleveland said. “But I will work to make sure there are no property tax increases to pay for the jail.”
Cleveland, 40, said he wanted to make sure county officials “weren’t going to tie bonds to our property taxes (for the jail) and make us pay for them.”
Speaking last, Ryals, 59, was more specific.
“My personal preference is that the jail be located in the downtown area. It’s more cost effective with regards to inmates when they have court proceedings.”
However, Ryals said he was “open to the idea” of a different location. “I intend to find out what the preference is of my district,” he said.
While the jail was the forum’s major issue, the candidates also answered questions about economic development and maintaining the county’s roads and bridges.
“It’s a matter of the proper allocations of funds and planning,” Ryals said. “We do not have exclusive jurisdiction over very much (of the roads) in the county. This means we have to coordinate.”
Like Ryals, Cleveland said the new commissioner would have to work with officials from other areas to keep maintain roads and bridges.
“We’ll have to work with (officials) from Moore and Oklahoma City,” he said. “Those agreements are important.”
Rogers said he was “the only candidate who actually has built a road.”
“The roads and bridges … are starting to become a real issue. We have grown and outgrown our roads. We have problems,” Rogers said.
Voters will chose one of the four at next Tuesday’s primary election.
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and though voters who want to vote by mail absentee have missed the deadline, they may still vote prior to the election, election board secretary Paula Roberts said.
Roberts said absentee-in-person ballots can be cast by going to the Cleveland County Election Board, at 122 S. Peters Ave., 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday or 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday.
“In-person absentee voters fill out an application form when they arrive at the office,” she said. “They are required to swear they have not voted a regular, mail absentee ballot and that they will not vote at their polling place on election day.”
Voters who become physically incapacitated after 5 p.m. June 5, are be permitted to vote on an emergency basis, she added.
“(The term) physical incapacitation includes a variety of conditions — injury, illness and childbirth — that prevents a person from voting in person at the polls on election day.”
The winner of next Tuesday’s election will face Democrat James Earp, from Newalla, in the general election, July 10.
About 50,000 voters are registered in commission District 1; of that figure, 5,470 are Independent, 17,740 are Democrats and 27,371 are registered as Republican.
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