Kingfisher Mayor Roxie Alexander is pleased the Kingfisher Fire Department will get a new station to replace the current overcrowded, 50-year-old facility.

But Alexander is disappointed that the decision to approve the five-year, half-cent sales tax to fund the project was made by 159 voters representing nearly 71% of all the votes cast in last Tuesday’s election.

“Ever since my first tour of the fire station as a commissioner, I’ve felt strongly that we needed to replace that building,” she said.

“Although Chief Stewart and all the firefighters have worked hard to keep the building up, it’s a deteriorating building that is way too small to house our current six-man crews and equipment.”

In addition to participating in a seven-week social media and newspaper advertising campaign launched by the city to inform voters of the upcoming election and the issues at stake, Alexander also personally financed two newspaper ads and wrote a letter to the editor urging voter participation.

“Voting is a responsibility that I don’t take lightly and local elections are really where your vote has the most impact,” she said.

“It’s ironic that I mentioned in my letter to the editor that only 512 voters – 15% of our adult residents – participated in the last city commissioner election.

“This time around, only 225 people voted – that’s like 6.5% of our adult population.

“I’m happy that we’ll get a fire station plus designated funds to fix some streets and make other improvements, but I really wish more of our residents would have participated in the decision.

“Kingfisher is not just my city or the other commissioners’ city, it’s all our city and we all need to be involved in decisions impacting our future.”