A Kingfisher County Excise Board member pleaded with his hometown school board to stay on top of situations in Hennessey.

“Please be very vigilant of what’s going on in my hometown so what’s happening in Kingfisher doesn’t ever happen here,” said Jimmy Berkenbile during the public comment portion of last Monday night’s meeting of the Hennessey Board of Education.

“It’s not pleasant what’s happening north of the river.”

Berkenbile was referencing the situation in Kingfisher that’s resulted from a $5 million settle- ment agreed to between the school district and Mason Mecklenburg.

In the wake of that settlement, property owners and landowners within the school district learned a bulk of the settlement would be paid from the district’s sinking fund over three years, raising ad valorem taxes during that time frame.

Four community members spoke up at a recent Kingfisher Board of Education meeting earlier this month speaking against a tax raise.

That came after the Kingfisher County Excise Board voted unanimously to amend the estimate of needs presented to that board by Kingfisher Public Schools.

Several community members attended multiple excise board meetings leading up to that vote.

The amended estimate of needs cut Kingfisher’s general fund by about $2 million for the 2024-25 school year.

The school district followed by filing an application to assume original jurisdiction and petition for writ of mandamus with the state Supreme Court, calling the excise board’s move “unlawful.”

According to the court document, the district says the excise board’s move “will ill-advisedly result in further school district funding crisis for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.”

District Attorney Tommy Humphries, who represents the excise board, was given until Friday to file a response in the matter.

Berkenbile, who said he received several phone calls and messages from Kingfisher residents leading up to the excise board meetings, said he doesn’t want to see a similar situation in Hennessey.

“It’s tearing up that community,” said Berkenbile, who is also a Hennessey business owner, community leader and longtime school bus driver and supporter.

Berkenbile suggested that board members “shouldn’t get too comfortable; you are responsible for what’s happening in every classroom and locker room” on the campus.

The HHS grad recalled when he was young and saw board members walking the hallways at school.

He also encouraged board members, and the superintendent, “to not let any problems get out of hand.”