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County Commsisoner and State House District 49 candidate Josh Cantrell, County Commissioner Chris Duroy, Oklahoma State Auditor Cindy Byrd, and County Commissionerr Don "Salty" Melton attended the Marshall County Economic Development Authority meeting on March 4, 2022. Summer Bryant • The Madill Record -
A rendering of Phase 2 extension to the Marshall County Expo Center. Summer Bryant • The Madill Record
On Friday March 4, 2022, the Marshall County Economic Development Authority held their monthly meeting to discuss several topics.The Economic Board started with introductions, and each member updated everyone on information. One of the main topics was the guest speaker, Cindy Byrd, the first female Oklahoma State Auditor.
The board discussed the first agenda item. Approximately sixteen miles of road was paved this year, costing about 125-150k for materials for each section. Approximately ten million dollars worth of SURF projects was completed, which included multiple roads in each district. County Commissioner Chris Duroy weighed in on the projects.
“It's very time consuming and expensive,” he said.
Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s eight-year plan was also discussed, and Roosevelt Bridge was added onto the plan. The Madill bypass was also added, however, the bypass has been removed and added multiple times.
The ARPA funds were received last spring, and the board has finally figured out how they can spend the funds and what it is allotted for.
The decision was not finalized, but County Commissioner and State House District 49 candidate, Josh Cantrell discussed adding an Ambulance Center and extending the EXPO center.
“This will expand our economic growth, and help our community,” Cantrell said. “The ambulance center would house six ambulances and eight, in-house employees.”
Guest speaker Cindy Byrd was then invited to stage to give some insight about auditing for the surrounding districts. Byrd is from Colgate, Okla., and her father was a rancher, her mother a school teacher. She is the first female Oklahoma State Auditor.
She has been a licensed CPA since 2003, and she was elected Oklahoma State Auditor in the 2018 elections. Byrd received the most votes for a state official in Oklahoma in history, with 818,851 votes. She graduated from East Central University in 1997, earning a Bachelor of Science in accounting.
Byrd stressed the importance of speaking up when somebody doesn't agree with something regarding the state, and that it’s important to be heard by the state representatives.
“Please don’t think your voice doesn’t count, it does,” Byrd said. “One person speaking up can change volumes.”
Byrd talked about many audits she has sent out in the districts, one of the main ones being the EPIC Charter Schools Audit.
“The audit wasn’t necessarily about the school, but about [how] Harris and Chaney’s private company handled all the financial transactions of the school that made them state appropriated millionaires in about two to three years,” Byrd said. “The OSBI had investigated them for seven years. Over 200 million dollars in question costs, the largest amount in the abuse of taxpayer funds in the history of this state. The good news is this, since our audit was released, the school rose up and brought in a new school board. The school has saved over 30 million dollars in just one year since the audit was made.”
Duroy applauded Byrd and her contributions since being elected as state auditor.
“I don’t know of anyone who protects taxpayers better than Byrd,” Duroy said.
To access and view ODOT's eight-year plan, visit https://www.odot.org/cwp-8-year-plan/cwp_ffy2022-ffy2029/8_year_cwp_district2_map.pdf