WAGONER COUNTY, Okla. — The Wagoner County Economic Development Authority (WCEDA) was originally willing to provide financial support to flip downtown Wagoner and bring badly needed businesses, but it tabled the funding on Feb. 26.
The Junction is a planned multipurpose outdoor entertainment space, with a price tag currently estimated at around $1.2 million.
- Previous coverage>>> 'The Junction': Wagoner to bring outdoor entertainment space to burned area
"We've given an incredible amount of money, and every time we turn around we're getting slapped in the face," county commissioner James Hanning told fellow economic development authority board members during the group's monthly meeting inside the Indian Capital Technology Center in Coweta.
Hanning's criticism of Wagoner city leaders got fellow board members to table a $300,000 investment vital to making The Junction happen.
"We are asking that the city join us in a partnership," Commissioner Hanning told 2 News after the meeting. "We help them, they help us. And I'm not getting that...What we're not receiving is the protection that we would give them."
Hanning refers to two July 2023 county commission meetings. In the first one, the commission agreed to give the city a quarter-acre plot on South Monroe Avenue to complete a planned retention pond.
"It's very huge that we have this to help with flooding," Wagoner mayor Dalton Self told 2 News. "A councilman said (Tuesday), 'Ya know, it's flooded on that part of town for so long.' Long before I was here."
But two weeks later, the commission agreed to give the same land to Dist. 2 Road Foreman Bart Bogle for $3,100, with the deed saying Bogle was actually the highest bidder a month prior.
"Really, they sold our land that they had no authority to," Mayor Self said. "Even if that gentleman came and put that money down, the way the system works - even if we didn't go to it - they do not have to accept his purchase."
"The city got a deed in error," Hanning said about the land acquisition. "That's what I'm trying to say. There's no doubt there was a mistake made...They never owned it. When the board voted, the legal description didn't match. It was changed outside of a meeting."
"Another concern I have on The Junction is, the (cost) projections for this was (done) several years ago," Hanning added. "The latest numbers that I've gotten, it's unattainable. The budget will be too high."
Hanning said the mistrust between the two sides means unless something changes by the next economic development authority meeting March 26, he won't vote to give any county funding to the Junction project.
Wagoner City Council, on the other hand, voted Feb. 25 to take the matter to court if the county doesn't come through.
"We've got a huge good ol' boy system here," the mayor said. "And I've already taken down one good ol' boy system in the city. I'm not afraid to do it in the county."
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