6 cities seek relocated vets’ center
Representatives from six eastern Oklahoma cities made their cases Monday for why a new state veterans center should be built in their respective communities.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Talihina Veterans Center, which is being replaced, urged the Oklahoma Veterans Commission not to relocate their facility.
Representatives from Holdenville, Hugo, McAlester, Muskogee, Poteau and Sallisaw spent 10 minutes each telling the Veterans Commission why their cities would be the best locale for the new center.
Holdenville Mayor Beverly Rodgers played a four-minute video that called it “a small town with a big heart” and “the hidden gem of eastern Oklahoma.” The video billed Holdenville as a small, patriotic town more than ready to rally behind a new veterans center. The town’s supporters wore blue T-shirts with “# Choose Holden ville” printed on them.
Hugo was the only city to offer an
existing building for use. The 60-bed longterm care facility was built in 2000 but demand was not high enough to sustain it. Hugo urged Veterans Affairs to purchase the building, plus an additional 50 acres, for $3.9 million rather than build a new facility.
McAlester and Muskogee offered the advantages of larger towns, namely existing health care and veterans facilities. Kirk Ridenour, McAlester’s economic development director, called his city “a medical community and hub” that can attract the workforce needed to staff a veterans center.
“We are a pro-health care and pro-veterans community with an excellent quality of life,” he said.
Muskogee is home to a federal VA hospital and by far the largest of the six applicant cities. The city offered two sites free of charge and up to $2 million in incentives if the state chooses to build a veterans center there, said Marie Synar, the city’s director of industrial development.
Poteau Mayor Jeff Shockley touted his city's proximity to Talihina and estimated that 75 percent of Veterans Affairs employees in Talihina will remain with the agency to work in Poteau. Bob Carter, CEO of the Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center in Poteau, said the town is home to the only geriatric psychiatric program in that area.
Sallisaw City Manager Keith Skelton offered Veterans Affairs two pieces of land free of charge, a 35-acre lot and a 90-acre lot. He said the Cherokee Nation has offered to spend $500,000 improving parking and roads in the area. The city offered to install fiber-optic cables for internet access and pay relocation costs for Talihina employees who want to move to Sallisaw.
“When you look at our proposal and what Sallisaw is offering, Sallisaw is the right city for the veterans center,” Skelton said.
The Veterans Commission will meet at 8 a.m. Tuesday to discuss the proposals behind closed doors and then publicly announce whether commissioners have chosen a site. A bill signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin in April allows Veterans Affairs, which is overseen by the Veterans Commission, to close the Talihina center and build a new facility within 90 miles of it.
The bill also allows the state to raise $35 million in bonds but the Department of Veterans Affairs expects about $23 million will be needed for construction of a new center. The federal government will provide a 65 percent match for the project, which could cost up to $90 million.
‘You’re finished, lady’
In contentious remarks before the presentations, several members of the public used a brief comment period to lambaste the agency over cuts to its number of doctors and its decision to close the Talihina center.
Madeline Kervin, whose 94-year-old father is a World War II veteran at the LawtonFort Sill Veterans Center, approached the podium with six questions for commissioners. She was allowed to ask one before being removed.
“Why are ODVA administrators, in particular Doug Elliott and Tina Williams, sacrificing the care and lives of disabled veterans for political profit?” Kervin asked, referring to Veterans Affairs’ executive director and clinical director.
“You’re finished, lady,” chairman Tom Richey told her, saying she had violated rules against personally disparaging people.
When Kervin and others continued to voice their objections, Richey banged his gavel and shouted, “Let’s clear the room! Clear the room!” Kervin walked out of the meeting in tears, along with other critics of the agency.
Don Faulkner, a former Talihina mayor and outspoken defender of the Talihina Veterans Center, told commissioners he would deliver a “verbal proposal” for Talihina since it was not able to submit a formal proposal.
“Is it better to spend $100 million on a new building or is it better to spend money on people?” Faulkner asked commissioners. He added, “Buildings don’t take care of veterans. People do.”
‘Bombshell’
Before the commission heard presentations or public comments, it heard from Elliott, who announced what he called a bombshell: he would like to build a new Ardmore Veterans Center.
Elliott cited the age of the current Ardmore building and its proximity to a major highway. He prefers a more rural location for the southern Oklahoma center, which is in the district of Sen. Frank Simpson, chairman of the Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and an Elliott ally.
“That building is 100 years old,” Elliott said, adding that the Veterans Commission should act now before the center becomes antiquated. “If we don’t move to do it now, when do we do it?”
The commission took no action on the idea Monday, deferring the matter to a later meeting. Some commissioners sounded supportive of the idea but others doubted the need for a new center, noting portions of the current center are only a few decades old.