Council Meeting 11/20/2007

Good morning from Guthrie, Oklahoma I hope everyone is ready for a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday, I sure know I am. The Council had our 2nd meeting in November last night, and I heard a collective sigh of relief from the City Staff that Centennial was over. The agenda was light yesterday evening with the approvals of the general funding request and the last council meeting minuets. In addition the council made an appointment to the planning commission last night to fill a vacant seat which had opened up. Council also made approval to increase the fines from $75.00 per day for code ordinance violations to the allowable maximum State of Oklahoma penalty of $200.00 per day this was just a general clean up of the ordinance to keep it up to date. The evening ended with general accolades for the the City staff, the general public, and all the visitors that visited our great community. Looking forward I believe the City has been making great strides, however we have several difficult challenges facing our community, and I will work hard along with other to accomplish the goals of the city. The celebration is over but the great spirit of the community is strong and we will continue to grow and be successful together. I hope you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and our thankful for things that have been given to us. I know I could never say thank you enough for the things I have received in my life, but I will try my hardest to complete. Thank you to my family and friends for all that you have given me, HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

In addition I could not resist adding the picture of our illustrious City Attorney Randel Shadid

" The Great Bandito" showing off his sombrero for the Territorial Ball. As you can see if was a great time and a great event for Guthrie.

Trey Ayers

Councilman Ward 1

Centennial Weekend Statehood Day

All I can say is WOW! what an incredible weekend for Guthrie, Oklahoma. I was honored to be asked to be a part of the Re- Enactment of the original swearing in of the first State of Oklahoma Officers. In addition to the swearing in of the first Governor of Oklahoma. I played the part of Edward Trapp the first State auditor and later to become Governor himself for the State of Oklahoma. I am the second one down on the left side in the picture. The day started early at 7:30 am and ended for me with the parade down Oklahoma Ave. The estimates are still coming in, but has been between 60,000 and 80,000 people that visited our great community. On Saturday evening the Territorial Ball was held at the Scottish Rite Temple there were approximately 375 people there along the current Governor Brad Henry and his wife, the Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General for the State.The event was a great evening good food provided by Dominion House and good music and wonderful fellowship. It truly was a special weekend for the State of Oklahoma, and again I was honored to be a part of the history moving forward.

On a separate note for the City of Guthrie what can you say, everybody from the City staff to the citizens of Guthrie did an outstanding job. The City was in tip top shape, traffic moved with ease, the police and fire departments were helping with issues and the day went off without a hitch. Guthrie was in the local and National spotlight and did we ever shine. I was so proud to be a part of this community and all that make Guthrie their homes should be proud of what we accomplished. We may not be the capitol of the State of Oklahoma anymore, but we certainly are the "Best Small Town" in Oklahoma and that is a fact!

Council Meeting 11/06/2007

Good morning from my office in Guthrie Oklahoma. Last night we held our first November 2007 Council Meeting and all went well. The council re-appointed several ladies to the park board and I am hoping we will have some good ideas and things happening at the parks this year. Council tabled Wal-Marts request to adopt the loop that runs from Division that makes the two entrances into the Wal-Mart complex. Our decision to do so was to make sure Wal-Mart completes the road work and brings all issues with the existing road back to city standards in order not to put the city with a failing road upon taking over of that road. The council also raised the existing franchise agreement with Cox Communication to 5% from 4% for the next 6 months with another renewal option 6 months from now. Council also approved renewing the lease agreement for the use of Logan County aging services to continue to use Highland Hall Facility. Vice Mayor Doug Hehn asked for a clause to be added to the lease allowing the Logan County Election Board to be able to hold elections there during this lease option. It would be the Election Boards decision to use Highland Hall for a polling place, but would give them the option. I thought this was a good idea, and I hope the Election Board will take advantage of it's use. I was excited to see the approval of both the taxi way extensions and the erosion control items being approved for bid for the Airport. These are both very important issues for the continued growth at our airport and the airport continues to be an exciting area in our city.

On the Centennial Celebration front all is full steam ahead from the Heartland Flyer bringing State legislators from Oklahoma City to Guthrie for the celebrations. On Nov 9TH, 2007 at 5:00 PM the Centennial Clock will be dedicated I have seen it at night and its really a nice addition to our downtown district. The city has also contracted with the City of Edmond to provide additional Bus transportation support for all the visitors and the city has over 40,000 parking spaces set up across the city. It's going to be an amazing experience in the City of Guthrie starting at the end of this week thru the 16th of November.

On an important note, I want to say to the entire City of Guthrie Staff, what a great job you are doing and thank each and every one of you for your hard work. I especially want to thank Maxine Pruitt and the Municipal Services Division for their amazing work in prepping downtown from the new street signs down to the striping of parking spots. It looks incredible and you and your staff should be proud.

I have to admit if there was a time to get elected to the Guthrie City Council this was certainly the time. I have been surrounded with extremely professional City staff and continue to feel the ship is pointed into the wind and look forward to the continued days of sailing.

Trey Ayers
Councilman Ward 1