Animal Control recognized; City appoints Santos to Youth Center Board

The Blackwell City Council held its first meeting of 2024 last Thursday and honored Animal Control Officer Nicholas Dodge as the Employee of the Month.

“Mr. Dodge has been employed with us since September 1, 2023 he’s only ever shown up to work with a good attitude and done everything we’ve ever asked him to do. He never complains, and does fantastic work with the Animal Shelter,” said Jason Bell with the Blackwell Police Department.

The meeting began at 6 p.m. and saw the council take action on the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for the use of their fingerprint identification system at no cost to the City of Blackwell.

The Council also approved Guada Santos to fill a 3-year term on the Youth Center Board, ending in June 2026. The term was recently held by Barbara Ihrig who resigned.

Also on the agenda that night was the approval of a transfer of $116,087.10 from the General Fund to the Blackwell Facilities Authority.

The amount was given to the City of Blackwell by the late Gerald L. Shumaker. The funds will be transferred to the BFA to honor Shumaker’s legacy with “a project that will appeal to and serve all residents of the City of Blackwell.”

The full details of this project will be revealed later, according to city leaders.

The meeting ended just before 6:30 p.m.