Thursday, April 25, 2024
63.6 F
Pawhuska
HomeGovernmentBusinessON and Tulsa Fire Department to develop MOU for casino fire calls

ON and Tulsa Fire Department to develop MOU for casino fire calls

TULSA, Okla. –Osage Casinos is in talks with Tulsa city officials to develop a memorandum of understanding so the city’s fire department may respond to emergency calls at the Tulsa casino.

Hailed as the Osage Nation’s flagship casino, the Osage Casino along north 36th Street is currently served by the Turley Fire Department and the Tulsa region’s Emergency Management Services Authority (EMSA) responds to other urgent 911 calls at the casino, according to casino management.

Osage Casinos CEO Byron Bighorse said the MOU issue was discussed at a recent meeting with casino, ON government and city officials including Mayor Dewey Bartlett. Bighorse said during the casino management’s research for the proposed Tulsa casino expansion project, it was discovered no such agreement was in place for fire-related calls with the City of Tulsa.

“There’s a Tulsa Fire Department literally half-a-mile from our front door and it makes sense to have” an MOU with TFD for faster response times, Bighorse said at the Aug. 19 Gaming Enterprise Board meeting.

According to online maps, the nearest Tulsa fire station is located on Peoria Avenue east of the casino with driving time of 3-4 minutes. The Turley Fire Department is north of the casino with nine minutes drive time.

Tulsa city spokeswoman Michelle Allen said no final decisions on an MOU have been reached as of Aug. 27. She added the city has similar agreements (also called multi-jurisdictional contracts) with the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) nations for their Tulsa area casinos.

Gaming board vice chairwoman Dawn Harrington asked Bighorse if board action is needed for the MOU to be developed noting that summer and fall seasons bring dryer conditions for wildfires. Bighorse said the Nation’s Attorney General’s office is working on the MOU, which will be similar to the MOU that is in place with Skiatook Fire Department for the nearby Skiatook Osage Casino Hotel property.

Discussion of the casino MOU comes as Osage Casino officials announced preliminary plans for an expanded Tulsa venue with a 132-room hotel, convention center space and a casino with 1,500 slot machines. The Fourth ON Congress will consider the casino plans as part of the 2016 ON gaming plan of operations, which they will review and take action on during the 24-day Tzi-Zho Session starting on Sept. 8.


By

Benny Polacca


Original Publish Date: 2015-09-02 00:00:00

Author

  • Benny Polacca

    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.

Get the Osage News by email!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Benny Polacca
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.

RELATED ARTICLES

In Case You Missed it...

Upcoming Events