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Record of Proceedings

Cleveland County Commissioners Emergency Meeting on Water Damage – February 4, 2026

Board of County Commissioners & Boards — Wednesday, February 4, 2026
BodyCleveland County, Oklahoma
SessionBoard of County Commissioners & Boards
DateWednesday, February 4, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 22:38

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it
12:14

That is so funny, we'll do it.

12:17

It's fine if you can get like a tower.

12:20

Okay.

12:24

Okay.

12:25

Okay.

12:25

So the one you need right here.

12:29

Block is stretched.

12:30

Here we go.

12:31

Uh-huh.

12:32

But if you'll put something on this, down the window of catch on the road.

12:39

Okay.

12:40

Cause it's like my office, like if I go sit on this side of the roof, it's fine.

12:46

And like, do I move my furniture?

12:48

Yeah.

12:50

Last time.

12:52

Yeah, the mic was a little bit.

12:54

I noticed that towards the end of the meeting.

12:59

Yeah.

13:03

Okay.

13:06

Okay.

13:08

Got my light coat on and my thank you.

13:16

So the open records request.

13:19

I don't think they'll find too many emails.

13:23

No, they shouldn't.

13:24

Because that would be a problem if they did.

13:27

Another kind of problem.

13:45

You all ready?

13:46

Call the uh emergency meeting of the Cleveland County Commissioners.

13:50

Uh, real quick, please.

13:53

Here.

13:54

Here.

13:55

Please then.

13:58

We have a quarrel.

13:59

Uh, notice of the meeting was properly posted on February fourth, twenty twenty-six.

14:04

Um item number one is described nature of emergency as re uh required by twenty-five OS three twelve B.

14:13

This emergency meeting is necessary because a situation exists involving immediate injury to persons or injury and damage to public or personal property or immediate financial loss.

14:25

Time requirements for public notice of a special meeting would make such uh procedure impractical and increase the likelihood of injury or damage.

14:33

Uh, or immediate financial loss.

14:36

Specifically, this emergency relates to one or more public entities to preserve documents from the damage due to water leaks.

14:44

Uh Brian, you might just give us uh like just for the minutes, kind of give us a briefing of what happened uh to the board, and then that way um get a little bit more context for the situation.

14:56

So over at the uh twenty uh East Gall building in South Anyways.

15:25

Yeah and it could also be that the snow may have you know hardened up one of the joints and cracked one of the joints open that it was in the roof and okay and you know if we have a rain too it's absolutely I do have roofers that have been on the roof today they're gonna send me the public and log next and I can have some things patched up to keep it from getting worse.

15:46

Okay.

15:46

But we did suffer some damage to some records that are water log um that were sitting on the floor water seeped into the records we've had been picked up um we need this uh approved so we can take them start the freeze drying process and uh it's pull all the moisture out of the documents and it's obviously what we are and then we'll say go through another go into some more steps but they'll be with Maryland and you guys to second determines the more we've saved the records we've got to get this process they've got to get them in a freezer ASAP or we could basically lose the document 2500 was not to exceed uh we got the information here uh the freeze drive process won't reach that 2500 mark but okay the first part that's absolutely critical sounds and we had probably thirty to thirty five boxes of I think you told me court clerk's documents when we actually came up with some boxes oh wow okay some of them just have minor damage minor some of them are full soaks so we we had to replace at least six boxes that were completely distributed the box itself the records inside we didn't spend a great amount of time looking at the individual records how much it's so records but we do know that it wasn't until yesterday about three three thirty that we see the cancel that's we are we approving the contract with the for the clerk on behalf of the clerks the court clerk and she's gonna sign that contract to get her records.

17:19

I know at this point we've got to get started I don't know that's that's a reasonable need to figure out is who is fine this portion of these extensions.

17:28

I didn't know I just commissioner I had a conversation with Pam and Maryland yesterday.

17:34

I'm not trying to throw anybody in the bus but uh according to her office that they had alerted at some point in time building maintenance and they were under the understanding it was going to get covered by plastic I don't know what happened in it but uh they were just wanting the the records fixed.

17:53

I you know we didn't even I didn't have a conversation with them I just assume at this point in time we come in and fix it.

17:58

Uh they've got it housed in one of the county buildings but you're welcome to talk to them.

18:02

No that I just asked I was just asking that question if that if if if we're doing on behalf of them would think if they're if they're gonna be managing that or or if we as commissioners office being you gonna manage it.

18:13

That's all I was we're gonna mention up to this point and then pass this point.

18:16

I think I remember it is our building so and I told Maryland pass this point that needs to be done with them that's something maybe you can take care of because the discussion was were they scanned or not scanned and things that those were ones I needed to go through to figure out what kind of people scan they know they have most of the records any of the new records they will be scanning those in uh well they mean be will they be moving all those records out of their out of that building to their new building that they rented that's a great question I haven't involved with that problem I didn't know if they mentioned anything just curious.

18:52

I mean I might I thought that's I thought that was the idea at some point but uh I I think it is their intent to move them but yeah we've you know I was trying to learn from easy for reasons hey number one we don't want boxes to be on the floor anymore some kind of that's yeah we did agree we've always we took some the boxes out of five we put them on pallets and one of the things I think we'll work with them on is we'd we should start putting some kind of do we just need right now just a do we have an estimate in the of every of the he said it would be well under the 25 thousand he didn't have the exact so we have between one dollar and twenty five thousand dollars I'm gonna say we're probably about eight to twelve thousand I did I did ask Brian that I think they've got a they've got a pretty tight schedule on the but I just wonder if they've given us an estimate yet and everything and stuff we just need to get the the contract so they can get in there.

19:46

The main thing is trying to get them we gotta start this process immediately well we kind of need an estimate so we can at least get a PO.

19:53

Yes.

20:01

They should be able to throw a lot higher now, which is more 35 months.

20:05

All right.

20:07

I think Brian, you've been on top of it.

20:09

I think um we did talk to a roifer, I think you said, and we've got somebody to come out, check it out and see where we're gonna rough coming to look at it anyway.

20:17

Um working on uh I I've got two quotes.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Emergency Management█████████████████████████████████████████████48%
Procedural██████████████████████████████████36%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████████16%
Summary of Proceedings

Cleveland County Board of County Commissioners Emergency Meeting – February 4, 2026

An emergency meeting was held on February 4, 2026, at 1:00 PM to address water leaks that threatened county documents. The board declared an emergency under 25 O.S. § 312.B and authorized measures to preserve damaged records.

Emergency Declaration and Discussion

  • Chairman Jacob McHughes read the emergency justification: immediate risk of injury or damage to public property (documents) from water leaks, with no time for standard notice.
  • Brian (facilities/staff) briefed the board on a water leak at the 201 South Jones building (East Gall building). He noted recent snow may have cracked a roof joint, leading to water seepage. About 30–35 boxes of court clerk documents were damaged, with six boxes completely soaked and boxes destroyed.
  • The priority is to freeze-dry the records to save them. A contract with a vendor (Maryland) for up to $25,000 was proposed; Brian estimated actual cost at $8,000–$12,000. The process must start immediately to avoid losing the documents.
  • Commissioner Rod Cleveland and Rusty Grissom discussed coordination: the contract will be signed by the court clerk on behalf of her office. The board agreed to handle the immediate preservation, while future document scanning and relocation to a new building (rented by the court clerk) are separate matters.
  • Roof repair was also discussed. Brian reported the roof has multiple leaks and is in poor condition. He obtained two quotes and a third pending. Commissioners considered patching vs. full replacement; they favored replacement and noted that ARPA funds could be used.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion to approve the contract with the freeze-drying vendor (not to exceed $25,000) was made by Commissioner Cleveland, seconded by Vice Chairman Grissom. It passed unanimously (McHughes: aye, Grissom: aye, Cleveland: aye).
  • The board directed staff to proceed with roof replacement using ARPA funds, with patching as an interim measure to stop further leaks.
  • The meeting adjourned on a motion by Commissioner Cleveland, seconded, with all in favor.

Meeting Transcript

That is so funny, we'll do it. It's fine if you can get like a tower. Okay. Okay. Okay. So the one you need right here. Block is stretched. Here we go. Uh-huh. But if you'll put something on this, down the window of catch on the road. Okay. Cause it's like my office, like if I go sit on this side of the roof, it's fine. And like, do I move my furniture? Yeah. Last time. Yeah, the mic was a little bit. I noticed that towards the end of the meeting. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Got my light coat on and my thank you. So the open records request. I don't think they'll find too many emails. No, they shouldn't. Because that would be a problem if they did. Another kind of problem. You all ready? Call the uh emergency meeting of the Cleveland County Commissioners. Uh, real quick, please. Here. Here. Please then. We have a quarrel. Uh, notice of the meeting was properly posted on February fourth, twenty twenty-six. Um item number one is described nature of emergency as re uh required by twenty-five OS three twelve B. This emergency meeting is necessary because a situation exists involving immediate injury to persons or injury and damage to public or personal property or immediate financial loss. Time requirements for public notice of a special meeting would make such uh procedure impractical and increase the likelihood of injury or damage. Uh, or immediate financial loss. Specifically, this emergency relates to one or more public entities to preserve documents from the damage due to water leaks. Uh Brian, you might just give us uh like just for the minutes, kind of give us a briefing of what happened uh to the board, and then that way um get a little bit more context for the situation. So over at the uh twenty uh East Gall building in South Anyways. Yeah and it could also be that the snow may have you know hardened up one of the joints and cracked one of the joints open that it was in the roof and okay and you know if we have a rain too it's absolutely I do have roofers that have been on the roof today they're gonna send me the public and log next and I can have some things patched up to keep it from getting worse. Okay. But we did suffer some damage to some records that are water log um that were sitting on the floor water seeped into the records we've had been picked up um we need this uh approved so we can take them start the freeze drying process and uh it's pull all the moisture out of the documents and it's obviously what we are and then we'll say go through another go into some more steps but they'll be with Maryland and you guys to second determines the more we've saved the records we've got to get this process they've got to get them in a freezer ASAP or we could basically lose the document 2500 was not to exceed uh we got the information here uh the freeze drive process won't reach that 2500 mark but okay the first part that's absolutely critical sounds and we had probably thirty to thirty five boxes of I think you told me court clerk's documents when we actually came up with some boxes oh wow okay some of them just have minor damage minor some of them are full soaks so we we had to replace at least six boxes that were completely distributed the box itself the records inside we didn't spend a great amount of time looking at the individual records how much it's so records but we do know that it wasn't until yesterday about three three thirty that we see the cancel that's we are we approving the contract with the for the clerk on behalf of the clerks the court clerk and she's gonna sign that contract to get her records. I know at this point we've got to get started I don't know that's that's a reasonable need to figure out is who is fine this portion of these extensions. I didn't know I just commissioner I had a conversation with Pam and Maryland yesterday. I'm not trying to throw anybody in the bus but uh according to her office that they had alerted at some point in time building maintenance and they were under the understanding it was going to get covered by plastic I don't know what happened in it but uh they were just wanting the the records fixed. I you know we didn't even I didn't have a conversation with them I just assume at this point in time we come in and fix it. Uh they've got it housed in one of the county buildings but you're welcome to talk to them. No that I just asked I was just asking that question if that if if if we're doing on behalf of them would think if they're if they're gonna be managing that or or if we as commissioners office being you gonna manage it.

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