The Annual Mayors Council of Oklahoma Summer Conference Held in Lawton was Big Success
Oklahoma City, OK - Last week, over one hundred Oklahoma mayors, guests, sponsors, OML staff and partners attended the annual Mayors Council of Oklahoma (MCO) summer conference. The conference was held in the city of Lawton. Joining the City of Lawton as event organizers were the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce and the Lawton-Fort Sill Convention & Visitors Bureau. The 3-day event was held at the Apache Casino Hotel.
MCO President, Craig Parham, Mayor of Amber, said that a big thank-you is extended to Lawton Mayor, Stan Booker, his staff, the chamber of commerce and the convention & visitors bureau. “The mayor and the staffs of all the organizations involved in the planning of our conference did an outstanding job. Thanks to them, we couldn’t have had a better conference and experience,” Parham said.
This year’s event drew a record number of first-time attendees as well as a record number of women mayors. According to Mayor Parham approximately 12 mayors attended the conference for the first time and fifteen women mayors attended. “One of our goals with the conference each year is to attract new attendees and it was so good to have more of our women mayors attend than normal,” Parham said. “We encourage all of our mayors to take advantage of the conference because it is such a valuable experience in us learning how to best do our jobs.”
During the event, attendees and their guests enjoyed several activities, including a golf tournament, sponsored dinners, area shopping, tours of the Cosmetic Specialty Labs, the Museum of the Great Plains, and Medicine Park. In addition, educational workshops presented included ‘How to Work with Your City Administration’ and the ‘Mayors Role in a Crisis.’
A very special event occurred on Friday morning when the attendees were able to attend the Basic Combat Training (BCT) graduation at Ft. Sill. Parham said that this experience was both a thrill and honor to witness these men and women graduate from boot camp.
The MCO was formed in 1991 as a bipartisan organization to represent the concerns and views of the body of the state’s mayors. MCO provides a vehicle for the development and implementation of programs of multi-jurisdictional cooperation between cities and towns designed to lessen the burden on local governments. Oklahoma mayors make the commitment to work through the conference to improve their own communities as well as the conditions facing cities and towns throughout the state and nation.
