Plans are in the works for an Osage Nation government satellite office in Skiatook to offer services including membership and vehicle tags to Osage constituents living in the region or the nearby Tulsa metropolitan area.
On June 11, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear and BIA Osage Agency Superintendent Adam Trumbly signed a warranty deed for the Skiatook property as part of placing the Nation-owned land into trust. Real estate officials from the Nation and BIA joined Standing Bear and Trumbly for the signing commemoration at the Executive Branch office in Pawhuska.
The proposed ON government satellite office will be in the building that housed the former Skiatook Wah-Zha-Zhe Early Learning Academy (WELA) along South Hominy Avenue, an area located behind Skiatook High School. The structure sits on a 0.48-acre plot of land and will be renovated to fit the satellite office’s needs.
“We are going to create a satellite office for people to stop there for license tags, Constituent Services, Membership, so we’ve got to set all that up over the next year,” Standing Bear said. When the building is renovated and staffed, the satellite office will open sometime during the Nation’s 2026 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
With a Skiatook satellite office, that will mean a shorter commute for Osages needing services who live in town or nearby Tulsa and Rogers County communities. Skiatook and Pawhuska are nearly 45 minutes apart, depending on driving routes.
According to a May 30, 2025, Membership Office report, more Osages are choosing to live in Skiatook. For the first time, the Skiatook Osage community has surpassed that of both Fairfax and Hominy, making it the second-largest Osage-populated city behind Pawhuska on the reservation.
With the main offices headquartered on the Nation’s government campus, Constituent Services provides information on services and programs, as well as answers questions and complaints from the Osage public. Membership offers services and applications for enrollment, as well as Certificate Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) for individuals. The Tax Commission offers services including vehicle registrations, tags and business licenses.
As part of the land-into-trust process, there is a 30-day public comment period, which included one that came from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office in opposition to the transaction, Standing Bear noted, adding the comment came after the deadline passed for comment submissions.
“We did receive an objection from Gov. Stitt’s team that was one week late, so it doesn’t count,” Standing Bear said. “Adam [Trumbly] and Eddie Streater (BIA Regional Director for Eastern Oklahoma Region) discounted it because it wasn’t filed in time, which is only fair.”
Standing Bear said he found the objection reasons “a bit disturbing” as the concerns were over land jurisdiction. “It was lack of jurisdiction to provide (state) governmental services,” BIA Realty Specialist Katie Yates Free said, recalling the filed objection.
Trumbly added Stitt’s office also objected because putting the land into federal trust “diminishes the (state) tax base as well,” and Free noted the amount of state tax that would be paid on the property is approximately $3,000.
Free said with the notice of decision issued on the land, there would be cross-deputization with the Osage County Sheriff’s Department and ON police.
For the future, Standing Bear said, “We’re going to keep going, but Gov. Stitt’s objection is an indicator of the future. We have other properties that we want to move forward on (for land into trust applications), so I was just very disappointed in the Governor’s response.”
In preparing the building for the satellite office, Standing Bear said the department directors for Constituent Services, Membership and Tax Commission will be working on plans and operations budgets for the 2026 fiscal year to include the added Skiatook office. The 9th ON Congress will consider and approve the FY 26 budgets during the Tzi-Sho Session in September.
