HOCHATOWN – The McCurtain County Board of Commissioners on Monday shot down an effort by a group of residents in Hochatown to hold a public vote to incorporate the town.
Commission members voted unanimously to table action on a petition calling for an incorporation vote. Commissioner Chris White made a motion to table action on the petition because the board had not received an opinion from McCurtain County District Attorney Mark Matloff.
Hochatown petition organizer Dian Jordan said she was disappointed by the action.
“This delays our attempts to move forward which gives us the authority to create a fire department and a police department and provide services to our citizens,” she said. “We can’t start those things without a formal government.”
Oklahoma City attorney Lysbeth George, the attorney for the group seeking to incorporate, said organizers weren’t counting on a positive vote. “The statute says they have to make a decision in 30 days, so this (action) is likely to put them outside of 30 days unless they call a special meeting,” George said.
George said her group will now evaluate “all its legal options.”
“Most likely this will result in some form of petition,” she said.
On March 18, more than 100 Hochatown residents filed a petition with the commissioners seeking a public vote on incorporation. State law required the group’s petition to be in writing and be signed by at least one-third of the registered voters residing in the town, as shown from the last general election or by at least 25 registered voters who live in the proposed town.
Jordan, the petition organizer, said more than 125 residents had signed the petition. Jordan said the group needed 107 to get on the ballot.
The fight for Hochatown’s incorporation is a long-running one in southeastern Oklahoma. After a dust-up over annexation debate in the 1990s, state lawmakers passed a law in 2015, that made it more difficult for municipalities to annex property into their corporate city limits.
But just days before the new law went into effect, the city of Broken Bow moved to annex the portion of Hochatown where most of its businesses were located, along the north entrance of U.S. 259.
The case went to trial in February 2019. Following a two-day hearing held in McCurtain County District Court, District Judge Jana Wallace issued a ruling against Broken Bow in July 2019.
Since then, Hochatown residents have pushed to incorporate the town.