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Barnsdall Mayor resigns, planning Osage Congressional run

Osage citizen Brock Moore is resigning as Barnsdall Mayor effective Aug. 1 and said he is planning a run for Osage Nation Congress next year.

In his June 9 resignation letter to City Attorney John Heskett, Moore said “it has been a pleasure and an honor the last two years as Mayor and six years on the City Council to serve our community” and told the Osage News he is moving to Pawhuska for personal reasons, adding he plans to run for tribal legislative office in the 2018 election.

Next June, six seats on the Congress will be open, as well as the offices of Principal Chief and Assistant Principal Chief. There will also be an election for the eight-member Osage Minerals Council with four-year terms for all offices. Filing for Congressional office candidacy opens in March, according to the Osage election code.

“I have had several people suggest the opportunity of running for Osage Nation Congress,” Moore said. “After careful consideration, I have decided to move forward with the plan of running in 2018.”

With regards to running for tribal office, Moore said: “I have three main areas of focus that I believe would serve the citizens of the Osage Nation. 1.) Improving involvement within our communities. 2.) Exploring financial endeavors for the Nation. 3.) Improving healthcare access for tribal members.”

Moore said he is still a casino surveillance supervisor for Osage Casinos, a post he worked while active in Barnsdall city government. 

“I would like to think that Barnsdall is a better community than what it was two years ago when I took over as Mayor,” Moore said in his letter. He noted recent city accomplishments including an update of the water treatment plant to provide quality drinking water in the city and two nearby water districts. Moore also noted the agreement the city reached with the Osage County Commission last year to bring an ambulance service to the city and nearby rural areas.

In his letter, Moore added: “With the sales tax increase voted by the residents of Barnsdall in April 2015, now we are able to resurface streets that greatly need to be repaired. I would like to thank the city employees for their hard work and dedication to the City of Barnsdall.”


By

Benny Polacca


Original Publish Date: 2017-07-19 00:00:00

Benny Polaccahttps://osagenews.org

Title: Senior Reporter

Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

Instagram: @bpolacca

Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

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