Dispelling assumptions – Commissioner Mark Sharpton

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We get some pretty interesting calls at the District 1 shop, including one I received this week. It was about a turkey with its head stuck in a fence by a well.

The caller contacted us with concern about the well, assuming that Logan County Commissioner District 1 was Logan County Rural Water District 1. Well,…(pun intended) that’s just not so.

This confusion occurs frequently. Not only do we receive phone calls related to rural water issues, but vendors occasionally bill us for each other’s purchases. What many do not realize is that the two
entities are totally separate and differ in purpose.

Another erroneous assumption commonly made is that county commissioners have the power to make and enforce laws. We do not. The powers of county commissioners are limited to those established by the legislature and enumerated in Oklahoma Statues, Title 19, Chapter 10, Section 339.

If you are interested in learning exactly what those powers are, they are posted on the oscn website at http://bit.ly/NrqAOm.

Sometimes we are contacted by citizens genuinely bewildered about what to do in certain situations. Frustrated, they look to commissioners to resolve a variety of issues, including speeding motorists, quarrels among neighbors, complaints about dogs and yards filled with trash. These matters must be addressed by law enforcement, the health department or in civil court. Without legal authority to intervene, we can only try to point callers in the right direction.

This is not always what people wish to hear, but we are bound by the constraints of the law, which, in my opinion, is far better than being bound by the head, in a fence, by a well.

Mark Sharpton
County Commissioner
District 1
405.282.3581

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