HOCHATOWN – The group of residents seeking to incorporate this small southeastern Oklahoma town met this week to consider new legal options against the McCurtain County Board of Commissioners.
Earlier this year, the group presented the commission with a petition signed by a majority of the residents of Hochatown. The petition asks the commission to call an election on the possible incorporation of the community.
But despite a law requiring the commission to act within 30 days, no action has been taken.
Dian Jordan, the Hochatown’s unofficial mayor and the organizer of the effort, said the county commissioners continue to delay acting on the petition. “They were supposed to do something by April 28,” she said. “That’s hasn’t happened.”
Jordan said she was told the commission was concerned about another state law “that prevents one town from incorporating if the town making the request lies within three miles of another town.”
She said Hochatown residents have – on two different occasions – gotten court rulings which says the three-mile rule doesn’t apply. “A district court ruled in our favor and so did the Court of Civil Appeals,” she said. “But the commission is still dragging their feet.”
Jordan said the commission also requested an opinion from McCurtain County District Attorney Mark Matloff about the issue. At the same time, she said state Sen. Justin Humphrey requested the Attorney General’s opinion.
However, records show that once Matloff became aware of the requested for the AG’s opinion, he declined to issue his own ruling.
Since then, the Hochatown incorporation question has remailed stalled.
Liz George, the Edmond attorney representing the Hochatown group, said organizers would continue their push.
“We are currently review all possible legal options and remedies to move incorporation forward,” George said in a statement to Southwest Ledger. “We intend to vigorously pursue the incorporation through its completion.”