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Ward 2 Bartlesville City Councilman Paul Stuart has not decided yet on whether or not he will run for re-election in 2022.

To hear the entire podcast with Councilman Stuart, click here.

Serving on the Bartlesville City Council for six years has always been Councilman Stuart's goal, however, Stuart said he'll have to see how things pan out over the next several months. Stuart said he has been thinking about this for a few months now. He said he has a list of items he would like to accomplish on the Council before his time is through.

Giving people the right to do more things on their property is one of the item's on Councilman Stuart's list. Stuart said he would like to increase available housing by loosening some regulations. He said he wants to start a ministry that would help coordinate with volunteers and non-profits to do projects like the one's put on by Bartlesville Regional United Way's "Day of Caring" program.

Some of Councilman Stuart's energy may be directed at getting a military JROTC program started at Bartlesville High School as well. Stuart said his decision to run for re-election depends on whether or not he is able to fulfill these goals. He said he has loved serving on the Bartlesville City Council.

Working with City staff, understanding the issues, and presenting the items to the other members of the Bartlesville City Council is how Stuart plans to approach each project. Stuart said showing how each item will benefit the citizens of Bartlesville is a top priority. He said he will continue to talk with constituents on several platforms as well, including Facebook, call/text message and email. If you wish to get ahold of Stuart, you can reach him at 918.384.8886.

If you would make an impact on what happens in the City of Bartlesville, Stuart would encourage you to volunteer and be a part of the City's boards and commissions. Stuart said this is a great way to make a difference in what happens in Bartlesville. He said it is also a great stepping stone for someone that may want to run for Bartlesville City Council down the road.

Councilman Stuart was elected to serve on the Bartlesville City Council in 2018. Stuart was re-elected to the position in November 2020.

During Stuart's current stint on the Bartlesville City Council, regulations on businesses have been loosened to allow those businesses to stay open longer and for more days. Stuart said the City of Bartlesville has become more lenient about what residential property owners can grow around their home while serving on the Council. He said he has even worked with recycling companies to help the City make more revenue on that front by changing how they do recycling in town.

Changing how road projects are conducted has been an item that Stuart has worked on over the years. Stuart said they have changed how they bid small road projects by making them a packaged deal as opposed to bidding them separately. He said creating safer intersections at places like 14th and Hillcrest/Cherokee is also on the radar.

Stuart said he ran on the promise of getting body-worn police cameras, which they were able to secure. He said he has been working with police officers and fire fighters to ensure the get the raises they deserve as well.

When it comes to working on Bartlesville's parks, Stuart said they are going to get new parking lots and roads. Stuart said there will be safety improvements at Civitan (Dinosaur) Park in the future. 

A contender announced last week that she would be running for the position against Stuart in 2022. To read more about Chelsie Wagoner's bid for the Ward 2 seat on the Bartlesville City Council, click here.

Wagoner shared why she was running for the position on Friday. She also spoke on comments that Councilman Stuart made on Facebook recently regarding vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

Stuart gave his remarks on the matter on Wednesday. Stuart said it is great that someone else is running for the position to get an exchange of ideas. In regards to the Facebook comments, Stuart said he is fully aware that whatever he says online will be screenshot and saved electronically in the Cloud somewhere. Stuart said a couple of the comments were on a post that had over 100 comments that were taken out of context. He said it started as a post about how full the St. Francis Medical Center was in Tulsa.

According to Stuart, a hypothetical discussion that was structured like a team building/problem solving exercise that people may be familiar with came to be. For example, the conversations were structured as if they were trying to figure out what 30 items they would rank by priority if they were on a stranded island. Another example was based on if the world was ending and there was a bunker that could only hold 10 people but there were 18 in the group with different  skills/abilities, who would you save. Stuart said the vaccine topic was something not everyone in the conversation had an expertise in or control over, it was just differing opinions. He said sometimes we just have to agree to disagree.

As an elected official, Stuart said he, like others, always have to think about contingencies. Stuart said all the scenarios aren't going to happen, but its good to sharpen those skills for when they do occur. He said he would go on to make the conversation private on Facebook because people were editing the content of their comments while others who hadn't been in the conversation the entire time were reading the comments out of context or out of order.

That caused the conversation to go off the rails. Stuart said the conversation would have been better if it was held in person. He said the lesson has been learned: when you know better, you do better.

Stuart said he may make a decision on whether or not to run for re-election in the spring or summer of 2022.