Lots a Lots a Links

Creditable sources reveal that the Duckwalls building will be sold to High Plains Resource Conservation and Development (High Plains RC&D). The Town of Buffalo (T of B) will then turn around and rent back space from High Plains RC&D and move the remaining of their offices into the remodeled Duckwalls building. This will allow the Buffalo Family Health Clinic to continue its land grab and expand and occupy all of the current City Hall building. If High Plains RC&D decides to sell the Duckwalls building in the future they will sell it back to the T of B first.

Since this may be construed as “hearsay”, is their any evidence that supports this?

The old Legion building, which was last occupied by the retail business Duckwalls, is currently without a tenant. This building is listed on a recent Town of Buffalo (T of B) capital improvement plan (CIP) as one of its asset that has an overall worth that greatly exceeds a quarter of million dollars ($290k).

First of all who is High Plains RC&D? This link  shows that is a business located in the Buffalo area and its contact person is Holly Yauk.

Who is the Buffalo Family Health Clinic? Using this link  you will see that it is a venture owned and operated by the Harper County Community Hospital (HCCH). The same Holly Yauk from High Plains RC&D is also listed as the Vice chairman for the Board of Trustees of the HCCH.
Going to this link  Robin Daley is listed under physicians for the HCCH which, as mentioned before, is the owner/operator of the Buffalo Family Health Clinic (BFHC) which resides in the City Hall building. It is common knowledge that Robin Daley has office space in the BFHC.

And then we have the T of B which you can see using this link  has listed Robin Daley as a Trustee for the T of B.

How did this all develop?

From the T of B Economic Developers reports back in late September up to early November 2011 you can see mentioning of matters concerning the HCCH and High Plains RC&D.

Excerpts from October development report:
"We have two opportunities now with Duckwalls. One of those is to sell it to the hospital (we can do that without public auction) However, they would have to pay fair market value for it and they may not be in a position to do that. Our other option, which I’m working with the High Plains office on, is that High Plains purchase the property and develop a business incubator."


Excerpts from November development report:
"Regarding Duckwalls. As a remind, we have two opportunities to consider. Sell to the hospital or partner with High Plains Resource Conservation and Development. High Plains will submit a grant application in February that would enable them to keep the High Plains office here in Buffalo as well as develop and support a business incubator. As of today (Friday, Oct 28), the hospital’s position is to wait and see whether the High Plains application is successful."


With instances of the HCCH being mentioned on at least three occasions by the T of B’s E.D. regarding the city owned Duckwalls building it is plain to see that the HCCH is seeking more space. One can further conclude with city hall continuing to parcel out parts of its very own office to the BFHC the space the HCCH is seeking will be used for further expansion of the new clinic at City Hall.

At high noon on a cold Tuesday in late January of 2012 a Special Meeting was held to discuss leasing and renovation of both Duckwalls and Town Hall. This link is the posted agenda for that meeting. The agenda item regarding the Duckwalls building and Town Hall is shown in red:

Discussion & consideration of the renovation and leasing of the Duckwall’s building and of Town Hall.

Coggins, seconded by Bishop, made the motion to sell Duckwall's building to High Plains RC&D in the amount of $5000 pending the approval of their Rural Business Enterprise Grant application for business incubation and office space. The vote was Bishop, aye; Carpenter, aye; Coggins, aye; Orange, aye; and Daley, aye. Minutes for this motion were approved on the Feb 8, 2012 meeting in the concent agenda.

The agenda item clearly states that they were to discuss and consider leasing the Duckwall's building and Town Hall.  They voted to sell the Duckwalls building.  Not lease the Duckwalls building. Sell it. Not lease the Duckwalls building for $5000. Sell the Duckwalls building for $5000.
Taken from a guide to Oklahoma's Open Meeting Act
Agendas should state the purpose of the meeting and clearly describe each agenda item so that an ordinary citizen with no specialized knowledge of the board's prior action or deliberations will be able to understand from the agenda what the board will be doing at the meeting. Here is the link to that guide. 

On July 5th, 2012 the Town of Buffalo's Economic Developer, after the T of B public meeting had adjourned and the board members were rising to their feet, announced that the High Plains RC&D got the Rural Business Enterprise Grant.

So to summarize

First there exist lots of "links" to this story.
Depending on who you are, you will have to pay full market price for the Duckwalls building.
If you would have been in the right place at the right time you might have been able to buy the Duckwalls building for $5001.
If you can see the hidden agenda in the posted agenda you will have a clear understanding about what is really going on with your city government.
The Town of Buffalo likes to sell quarter million dollar chunks of assets without telling anybody about it.
Because of this embarrassing situation the board fired the water meter reader and then promptly resigned their positions as Town Trustees. Nah, that didn’t really happen.
If you are looking for a textbook case of violating the Open Meetings Act look no further.
The Town of Boynton tried to sidestep the Open Meetings Act too. Happened not long ago, here's the must read  link .
The Town of Buffalo is the perfect model of government transparency.
Incubators are used to hatch eggs.
And last but not least Greg Harper contributed to this problem.

Found on Town of Buffalo Website 7/30/2012