The Ponca City Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 11 am.

2023 Chamber Chair Rick Hancock called the meeting to order.

At the start of the meeting, Hancock was presented with a dream catcher by T.L. Walker, Executive Director of the Standing Bear Native American Foundation, a tradition she has done for Chamber Chairs dating back almost 20 years.

New board members were introduced including Annette Newcomb with Ponca City Real Estate Co., Craig Morgan with Dorada Foods, Gary Sisco with Garrett Wrangler Restaurant, Sally Talley with Winterrowd-Talley Architects, and Bill Wetzel with Loftis & Wetzel Corporation.

The Board voted to add current Chamber Chair Rick Hancock to the checking accounts.

Hancock provided his Chair Report.

The Chamber is currently in a fundraiser year. Unlike other chambers, the Ponca City Chamber holds only one fundraiser every other year. Planning for the fundraiser will begin in February with the first meeting to be held on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The fundraiser will feature an OU/OSU Bedlam theme as it did in 2021.

Chamber President Rich Cantillon provided a staff report.

A Board Orientation was performed so that board members could understand their responsibilities as members. When they are not working on the fundraiser, the Chamber focuses on membership. To this end, the Chamber asks that its board help to recruit three new members and to attend the member planning meetings. Board members are also asked to serve on at least one Chamber committee, attend the Business After Hours, Cash Mobs, ribbon cuttings, Chamber Celebration, the New Teachers Luncheon and Ponca Politics forums.

Shelley Arrott has been hired to take over Cantillon’s position as Chamber President, which she is expected to begin in June. In the interim between Cantillon’s retirement and Arrott’s first day, Chamber Vice-President Tiffany Hermann will take over Cantillon’s duties.

Cantillon attended the Winter Texan tourism show in McAllen, Texas last week to promote Ponca City. The Ponca City Chamber had a booth at the event and Cantillon spoke with over 1000 people. It is the second largest show that the Chamber attends.

Cantillon’s last day will be on Friday, Feb. 24. A reception will be held for him at the Ponca City Country Club from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Board members then each shared updates and reports.

Zach Trantham provided his tourism report.

Ponca City attractions reported visitors from 23 different states and one foreign country.

Trantham will be in Detroit, Michigan on Feb. 3 to Feb. 8 for the American Bus Association Marketplace. Trantham has appointments with over 30 tour operators at the show to entice them to visit Ponca City.

The “What’s Happening Ponca City?” video has over 20,000 views this month.

Ponca City also has a full page ad in the Oklahoma State Travel Guide, as well as the Red Carpet Country Guide and the Green Country Guide for 2023.

Ponca Young Employees (PYE) President Austin Wilkins provided an update.

PYE held their Mocha and Muscles event at The Perk on Tuesday, Jan. 10. This event was streamed on Facebook Live and helped provide information on how stay on track with New Year’s resolution and living a healthier life.

The next PYE event will be on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Vortex Alley Brewing with a canned food drive for Peach Tree Landing from 5 pm to 7 pm.

PYE will also have a couple tables at a country club networking event on Saturday, March 18 from 10 am to 12 pm.

The next PYE meeting will be on Feb. 16. Kayla Blaes provided an update from Leadership Ponca City.

The 36th Leadership Ponca City class recently had their County Government Day on Wednesday, Jan. 11 and spend the day in Newkirk.

Their next class will be on Feb. 8 on education in Ponca City.

Lori Henderson with Ponca City Development Authority (PCDA) provided an update.

The Duke Spec Building, PCDA’s new spec building funding by the dedicated economic sales tax, is currently going well with new concrete poured and the building on site.

The Cookshack Expansion has also been completed. Several other Ponca City industrial companies that stand to benefit from PCDA’s sales tax include four companies that are accompanying PCDA to the Design-2-Part Show on March 1 and March 2.

Several people have also been looking at the PCDA owned hangar at the Ponca City airport.

City Central is currently at 84% occupancy compared to the 16% it was had four years ago.

Mayor Homer Nicholson provided a City of Ponca City update.

City staff were provided with their directions to work under budget. The city must provided their budget to the state by the end of May and it is often a stressful time of year.

There is a new rental car business in town, Nifty Car Rental. Ziggi’s Coffee Shop is coming along slowly, it will be at 2112 N. 14th.

The coffeeshop, Caddy Corner from Walgreen’s is in litigation.

Local artist Theresa Sacket, has painted four new murals on the Highland Underpass. She is also trying to work with the railroad to make murals for the railroad underpass.

The Ponca City Senior Center on W. Grand is closed as it is receiving a complete overhaul. It expected to be completed in spring. They are currently operating out of the First Presbyterian Church.

The Public Safety Center continues to have delays. It is anticipated to be completed by March or April.

There are three major developers that have proposed approximately 100 housing units.

Willy’ Car Wash is under construction on 14th. Broadband is finished west of 14th and they are now working eastward. They are running into some issues with underground boring through rocks. There is a possibility it will be complete before the summer, and is currently under budget.

Hartford Ave. between Northeast Woodland and El Camino had an eight inch water line rupture in August, this caused the street to begin to cave in. All four lanes were closed to finish the project in a timely manner.

District Attorney Brian Hermanson provided his report. The Governor has set a special election for the Kay County District 3 Commissioner race. Joe Allbaugh, who won the prior election for the position, became injured after falling off his tractor and as a result has dealt with several health issues. For this reason, Allbaugh chose not to take the oath of office due to these health issues. Candidate filing period is from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8 and a special primary election will occur on April 4. A special general election will happen on June 13, unless there is a situation where two people from the same party run, in which case the general vote will be on April 4. District 3 covers everything in Kay County west of Ponca City including Tonkawa and Blackwell.

Work is progressing on the Kay County Courthouse, and completion is anticipated for July.

Northern Oklahoma College (NOC) President, Dr. Clark Harris, provided his update Enrollment is up this semester by 2% at Tonkawa and 6% overall.

800 high school students visited campus on Wednesday, Jan. 25 for Ag Inter-scholastics.

The NOC agriculture team won the Tonkawa Pride Award last week for all the recognitions they have received.

NOC Nursing is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. The Roustabouts have a show on Feb. 1. Pioneer Technology Center (PTC) Superintendent, Traci Thorpe, provided an update.

PTC has started their second academy for basic peace officer certification.

PTC was selected as a pacesetter school by the Southern Region Education Board.

They have also finished their FY22 Student Followup report. PTC follows their student for about a year after their graduation to see if they are working in the field that they trained in. 89.4% of PTC students complete or are retained in the program to complete. For comparison, the state average is 85.5%. Placement rates for PTC graduates going to work, post-secondary education or the military is at 93.67%, while the state average is 88%.

Last year, PTC has 357 students who earned 817 certifications. PTC serves as the convener for the North Central Oklahoma Center for Workforce Excellence (NCOCWE). PTC was designated a “Center for Workforce Excellence” in 2020 along with nine other regional entities in the state of Oklahoma.

2023 will mark the 50th year for PTC and they will be celebrating with a variety of activities.

Ponca City Main Street (PCMS) Executive Director Maci Graves provided her report.

Ice on the Plaza had over 2100 skaters that showed up for the event, and around 5000 people in attendance. PCMS is already planning for the 2023 holiday season.

The PCMS Awards Banquet will be on Feb. 28 at City Central in the Summit Room from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. Tickets are $25 and are available on the PCMS website.

Ladies Night will be on Friday, March 3 from 5 pm to 9 pm; the event’s information is already on the PCMS Facebook page.

Kevin Schmitt with Philips 66 shared that they raised $215,000 for United Way.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28.