(New #County Service Center Planned
By KATIE RUFFIN
County Commission chairman
Lewis Harris today announced
plans for a new
county Service center 10 be
located at the comeT of
25th W6t Avenue an O1arles
Page BoUlevard.
TtIe proposed center would
be financed with federal revenue-
sharing construction
funds which for the last three
years have gone to pay for the
courthouse annex, scheduled
to be completed in June.
The statement was made
along with projected needs for
1975 and a summary of the
past year in an interview this
morning, prior to a year.end
new 5 conference scheduled
this afternoon.
THE SERVICE center
would be located on a sevenacre
tract of land. according to
Harris, and would house principally
the county home and
the social service department,
including welfare office, the
county clinic. laboratory and
phannacy.
The coonty home, now at
51st Street and Hudson Avenue.
especially needs to be relocated
near the downtown
area. Harris said.
'''It is just 100 rar out," the
commissioner said. "and not
where people need it. Most of
the people who use the county
home come from the downtown
area and the service
center location .....ould solve this
problem:'
Designed 10 save operational
costs by centralizing "now
spread-oul" co u n t y departments,
the service Cf!ntel also
is proposed to hold: a central
big h way equipmellt maintenance
garage, a county motor
pool, SIJ" shop, carpentry
shop and tire repair shop.
HARRIS could not estimate
what the new service center
would cost since constrUction
plans are indefinite. Ho.....ever,
completion of the courthouse
annex will free more than
$500,000 annually in federal
revenue sharing funds for construction.
The best country news for
]974, Harris said, was the lack
of bad news.
"Think about that statement,"
Harris said. "Thllt
means the county has been ad-ministered
quietly and
smoothly, .....hich implies ef·
ficiency and cooperation between
county officials and
OI~ city and government officials.
"And .....e have to admit, it
( Tu I s a county government)
has had its ups and downs
through history."
Inflation is the 'Allrst news
in 1974, Harris said because it
drastically took aw~y from the
c~un ty' s buying pO.....er. In
D~t. 1 alone, he added. eight
bridges were planned and only
I h r e e constructed because
pdces outstripped the budget.
"BIOS ARE UP:' the commissioner
said. "Some items
are not bid at all, some bidders
ha\'e been unable to de-lh'er
and most bidders are injecting
escalation clauses for
their own protection if they bid
at alL'·
Large tires alone are up 100
per cent from the previous six
month3' bid, Harris said.
The largest disappointment
of the year was failure to obtain
voter approval of a .6 mill
levy increase for the Tulsa
Cily-County He a I t h Depart.
mellt, acrording to the commissioner.
"Modest to severe cuts in
the programs of the health department
are on the way," he
said.
FAILURES OF the year Include
noise still around the
new Fairgrounds race track
and the Courthouse-Library
improvement. First half of the
new plaza beautification plan
has been completed. he said,
but the se<:ond balf of the prot
ect will not be contracted until
spring or summer.
Another 11»4 failure cited by
Harris was the Jack of a
county-wide park s y s t em_
However, he said the commissioners
recently agreed to hire
a director no later than July l.
Major 1!»4 prOj@cIS cited
were a new bridge over Polecat
Creek, four laninR of North
Cincinnatl Avenue to begin
this spring, a .1 mill levy increase
for the library, construction
of the John Tomblin
Health Center on the west
side, contracts for the construction
of a Jenks branch
library, and bidding for a
PraltviUe library.
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