Sep. 8—In the run up to Tuesday's Cleveland County commissioner election, candidates expressed the need for good infrastructure, community engagement and frugal government spending.
Republican candidate, Jacob Mchughes, and Libertarian candidate, Clint Rapp emphasized the duties of county commissioner and how they will go about doing the job during Tuesday's League of Women Voters of Norman forum at the Norman Public Library.
"Bridges and roads" are the biggest issue people come to him with, Rapp said. "On another side of things, I know that people have voiced their concerns about how the Cleveland County prison is run and operated."
In his opening statement, McHughes mentioned the community's overall concern is wanting a well-organized government and people who know how to manage the money.
"It's about efficiencies in government and that's what I bring to the table. I'll be the bird dog watching out for your taxes," he said.
This was the first county commissioner forum the League has hosted, member Sandy Bahan said.
Bahan said a lot of the most important issues are governed locally and "we don't have those types of conversations enough."
Rapp has been a resident of Cleveland County for 11 years since moving from Wichita, Kansas.
He works as a quality assurance technician for manufacturing company Kimray, Inc.
In an interview with The Transcript, he said never thought about getting into politics until he had children.
He also said that he believes "there's a lot of people that have no voice that I would want to hear."
Communication is vital when it comes to running the county government, he said. One of the challenges he thinks he will face is that "a lot of the time, people don't know how to get a hold of someone."
At the forum, Rapp said updating the Cleveland County government website, so that meetings and other information is easier to find, is something he would want to do as commissioner.
He would also like to see meetings streamed online as well, he added.
"Most people don't have time to go to these meetings," he said. "Revamping that system and getting it toward accessing it any time easily is the best policy for transparency."
Being transparent is something McHughes has worked towards in his 11 years in county government, he said at the forum.
While working as assistant county commissioner in District 1, McHughes said he helped draft legislation such as Senate Bill 776, which allows county governments to collaborate based on services they need, and Senate Bill 280 which created a rainy day fund for the county.
McHughes said he helped bring back the county budget board, which he described as "a fiscal board of the county that has all the elected officials who are representing our budget for fiscal transparency."
In an interview with The Transcript, he elaborated by saying "that any financial issue that comes through the county goes through the budget board."
"It's a public meeting, so that's a great accountability tool for the public," he added.
He also agrees that he would like to start streaming county meetings and is working to modernize county courthouses by digitizing their documents, he said.
McHughes is a sixth generation Cleveland County resident, and first got into politics when former President Ronald Reagan visited the Lloyd Noble Center in the 1980s, he said.
At the forum, both candidates supported issues regarding property rights, but disagreed on development in the county.
"I'm for development," McHughes said. But when making these decisions, he wants "to see what the state does."
"Anytime you bring up tax incentives, that's a big big question within the state and the community," he added.
Rapp disagreed by saying "We have other issues that we could look into," such as infrastructure and families struggling financially.
They also spoke on handling relations and accountability standards for the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office.
"I'm pro law enforcement," McHughes said. "My issue is don't go second guessing the sheriff before he can get the facts. That's why the sheriff does an investigation."
"For any oversight in (the sheriff's] office, we all as county officials answer to the budget board," he continued. "You got all those eyes from other county officials on it."
Rapp said he would want to have any incident information in front of him immediately "in case there are any discrepancies going on."
Early voting continues Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and polls will be open 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on election day.
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