Article by Kelly Wehling, Executive Director of Guymon Chamber of Commerce
January 7th, 2022
Mike has been in his new position for right at two weeks. His schedule has been busy getting acclimated to the work at the City Municipality and I appreciate the time Mike took to meet with me at the new Chamber office.
Mike was very complimentary of the City office staff that he is now working with and repeatedly stated that they are an amazing talented team. I found his praise of the employees to be genuine and my perspective is that this should lead to an easier transition for the employees as they adjust to this new manager.
Mike shared his work history with me and openly discussed his prior work as Guymon City manager. In my opinion the work experience that Mike has acquired in the past 12 years is extensive and should be a great resource for Guymon.
Mike is aware of the varying opinions of him being appointed to this new role. He did not shy away from this discussion, nor did he try to minimize the issues that occurred between him, the City Council, and Mayor during the last time he was City Manager. Mike states he had a different perspective of what should be done for Guymon than what the City Council and Mayor wanted at that time. The working relationship did not improve, so Mike had resigned from his position moving on to other work roles. One of his most recent work roles was the position of the Guymon PREDCI Director position from 2015 – 2018.
Once Mike is settled into his new position I requested that he provide the Guymon community an update on what is being done to repair our city roads. There are some major problems and I explained to Mike that we are waiting for an update as to how the roads will be repaired in the near future.
I talked with Mike about LW Construction and the ongoing issues with the new housing development sight. Mike explained that what I have referred to as “fines” are actually “fees” that are accumulating against LW Construction. These fees cannot be enforced without a local judge enforcing the fees.
Mike used the example of a citizen receiving a speeding ticket. The police officer issues the ticket – the court confirms and enforces the ticket ensuring the citizen pays a fine. Without court involvement the City cannot enforce the fees against LW Construction.
I explained to Mike that there have been a lot of explanations regarding what is happening with the construction of these new homes and the community has heard a varied set of details that all contradict each other. Mike assured me that he will have more information in the near future as he researches more about the construction sight.
It is my opinion that transparency will assist Mike in building the trust with Guymon residents. He has a wealth of knowledge, and history with Guymon, and he has assured me that he will be open to working closely with the Chamber of Commerce. He has established an open door policy with his new position and welcomes anyone who has a question to stop by and talk with him.
