“If you come to Enid you better be wearing a hard hat.”
That quote from Continental Resources President Jeff Hume summed up the good news coming from Enid as the city completes a number of new projects, involving millions of dollars in construction.
A group of Enid civic leaders made a presentation about the construction projects during a meeting at Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center Wednesday morning. Among the group were Mike Cooper, military liaison for the city of Enid; Hume; Anita Andrew, director of public relations for Integris Bass Baptist Health Center; David North, Oakwood Country Club; Lew Ward, chairman of the Heritage Center board; Shawn Hime, superintendent of Enid schools; Robert Faulk, representing Enid AMBUCS; and Ward 2 City Commissioner Don Rose.
Rose led the discussion with projects the city of Enid has ongoing, including the new sewer plant, bridge repair and replacement projects funded by general obligation bonds, expansion and renovation of Enid Police Department and a trail and bike route. Rose said the city is financially stable because of conservative management and careful spending.
Faulk discussed the $500,000 AMBUCS Park renovation to create a T-ball field for physically challenged youths. Noon AMBUCS are sponsoring the program, and the city of Enid awarded the program $70,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds this week. The goal is to create a Miracle League for disabled children.
Hime discussed the recent $99.5 million bond issue approved by Enid voters. The successful passage concluded a two-year project to develop a master plan for Enid schools developed by a panel of residents. In addition, private corporate donors chipped in $3.4 million to make up the difference in needed funds and the amount school officials felt they could reasonably ask voters to approve.
Hime said the school is growing. Enrollment at the beginning of the year was 6,200 students, and it has grown steadily — to the point he projected 7,000 students next year.
State fiscal cuts will cost the school district between $2.5 million and $3 million, but the growth helps offset the cuts, he said. Hime said construction is a 36-month project.
Ward said the Heritage Center will tell the story of the development of the Cherokee Strip. He talked about the type of people who settled and made Enid grow, saying they developed a different type of culture than many places and people seem to like the story.
The Heritage Center raised $9.8 million to double the size of the previous museum. It will be a Smithsonian-quality museum, he said. Ward also said Enid has more volunteers per capita than any other city in the state.
Another positive is renovation of the top two floors of the Knox Building into the Enid Symphony Center and the 8,000-member Denny Price Family YMCA in a community of 50,000 people.
“Enid is a city under construction would be a good slogan,” he said.
North told the group of the total remodeling of Oakwood Country Club. The original building was constructed in 1947 and parts of the original structure still were being used. The entire building has since been razed and a new one built, a project totaling about $4 million. The funding was raised entirely by members of the club.
Brent Kisling, director of Enid Regional Development Alliance, said he is excited to tell Enid’s story.
“There’s a lot of money being spent. We’re not in a recession like some other parts of the country,” Kisling said.
With unemployment at 5 percent, he said people are willing to step up and bet on the future, just like they did in the land run. Kisling also said Enid is home to many large corporate headquarters that all started here.
Andrew said Bass is involved in construction of a new 16,000-square-foot cardiology center and recently converted to electronic medical records, becoming the first in the Integris system in Oklahoma to do so. Bass also converted its mammography system to digital.
Hume told the group Continental Resources is bringing many people into Enid, and one of the company’s greatest investments has turned out to be volunteers.
“Our company is more than brick and mortar,” he said.
Continental Resources has contributed to the Great Land Run, raising $150,000 for new SMART Boards in Enid schools. It also supports an academic challenge for students in fourth and fifth grades at Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse, which is taught by geologists and scientists from Continental Resources.
Recently, a group of churches came to Continental Resources with a story about students in need in the schools. Continental Resources joined those churches and helped supply backpacks of school supplies to students each year.
“We have expanded that program to every community where we have an office, and last year we distributed 10,000 backpacks,” Hume said.
Cooper said the Enid goal is to protect and enhance Vance Air Force Base. The effort started in the 1980s during the first Base Realignment And Closure round when Enid’s base was threatened. It was placed on the closure list in 1995, but survived, and Cooper said Vance has gone from the bottom of the list to the top of the list of bases. Vance has obtained many new buildings, and during the last closure round gained an Army Reserve Center, which will cost $18.8 million, and a fighter fundamentals training component that will result in an addition of 100 people at the base.
“This is tremendous growth and it is the result of community leaders working together,” he said.
The group was gathered by Kisling to discuss Enid with an Oklahoma City television station.