LAWTON – The Comanche County Board of Commissioners has a new chairman and vice chairman for 2024.
The board voted 3-0 Jan. 2 to elect Josh Powers and John O’Brien, respectively, as the new chairman and vice chairman for 2024. The two men will hold those titles until January 2025.
Powers replaces former Chairman Johnny Owens, who served in that role in 2023.
As chairman of the commission, Powers is responsible for conducting the board’s weekly meetings. His other duties include making appointments to some county trust boards and overseeing the Tax Correction Board and attending Excise Board meetings.
Powers’ goals for 2024 include making sure the commission follows protocols for open meetings, he said.
“Making county business more efficient and transparent at the same time,” he said. “Those would probably be my big ones.”
Powers said he would also like to see the commission identify areas of potential waste and find ways to better utilize those resources. He added that the county began taking steps toward those goals when he took office in 2023.
“I’ve been working on several things – working on policy and procedure, getting us back on track to where we’re following the current policy and procedures that we already have in place,” he said. “Several of these things are not things that are even going to be new. They’re just going to be being accountable for making sure that we’re following the rules that are already in writing.”