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September 5, 2012

Fairburn looks toward future of Chickasha

BY LAUREN CARTER The Express-Star

CHICKASHA — Chickasha’s City Manager Stewart Fairburn has been in office since April 1, 2011 and this isn’t his first big job in city government.

Before moving to Chickasha, Fairburn worked as a City Manager in Gardner, Kansas. He successfully managed the city for over a decade, during which it almost doubled in size.

According to Chickasha’s official website, the City Manager and his office are responsible for the day-to-day administration of Chickasha’s city government, including managing the city’s budget, the city’s departments and operations, and programs for communicating with residents and employees.

When Fairburn first took office, Mayor Hank Ross was optimistic about his background and what he could offer Chickasha.

“With Stewart’s experience and leadership, I am excited about the future about Chickasha,” Ross said.  Fairburn earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Colorado and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. According to Fairburn, both he and his wife had previously made friends in Oklahoma, so it seemed logical to move further south from Kansas.

“I was interested in Chickasha because of its potential, and the redevelopment issues would be a great professional challenge,” Fairburn explained.

Fairburn said there is one thing he wished he could easily fix.

“I would remove the flood zones to make it easier to redevelop and invest in town,” he said.

All business aside, Fairburn is simply a proud Chickasha citizen. He enjoys going to the movies every month and enjoys going to Shannon Springs Park. For vacations, according to Fairburn, he likes to go to historical places, as well as the high country of Colorado to flyfish, jeep and hike. You’ll probably catch Fairburn eating Mexican food around Chickasha from time-to-time.

By Fairburn’s side is wife Anne, who is the robotics coach at Chickasha High School.According to Fairburn, Anne is working on expanding the robotics department to fourth through eighth grade.

Fairburn works on day-to-day issues, but looks toward the future for big improvements.

“The Chickasha Area Economic Development Corporation has recently contracted with a firm that will help determine what business would be a good fit for our size and location,” Fairburn said.

“For general quality of life, we could have more retail and restaurants, but for solid community growth I would like to see our current employers continue to expand, and additional business with permanent jobs.”

The next 10 years will provide lots of room for improvement and Fairburn knows his targeted projects.

“I hope that within the next 10 years we have made significant strides in upgrading the city infrastructure – roads, parks, storm water structures, water treatment plant, water and waste water lines.”Club. Grady County Sheriff Art Kell said the two teenagers lost control of their car around a bend running it into a ditch.

"They just took the turn too fast," he said.

Paul said he and his wife were stuck behind a cement truck when the accident took place, but had a pretty good idea that the suspects car had come to a stop.

"We saw dust in the air and trees moving," Paul said.

Neither suspect was injured in the accident.

Paul said construction workers that happened to be working near the scene of the accident surrounded the vehicle in an effort to help the suspects.

"They were all checking to see if they (the suspects) were ok," he said. "I came out yelling 'stop, they're thieves.'"

Earl Miracle and his wife own and live in the house that was burglarized.  He said the thieves took guns, a TV and expensive vases.

 

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