Key takeaways from Lawton’s first regular city council meeting of 2026

Attending public meetings in your area, especially city council meetings, can make a person more aware of what’s going on. It allows you an opportunity to hear part of the discussions that lead to certain projects or issues being discussed and how your government handles these situations. When you vote someone onto the council dais, these meetings allow you to see how your elected representative is representing you and your neighbors. In turn, knowing how well your representative represents you allows you to make a more informed decision come next election cycle.

New council members

On January 13, Lawton City Council held their first regular meeting of the year. In case you missed it, this article goes over some key takeaways. With an agenda set to decide on 57 items and new faces on the dais, this meeting definitely set the tone for 2026. Following the swearing in ceremony from the previous day, Tiffiney Dimery took the Ward 4 seat, Kirby Brown took the Ward 3 seat and Allan Hampton was sworn in for another term serving the constituents of Ward 5.

New Year Address

Lawton Mayor Stan Booker gave his 2026 New Year Address with the slogan, ‘Brick by brick in 26’. Dark Roast previously wrote a story over the city’s ambitious mill and overlay goal set for 2025. After learning none of the 107 announced roads were completed, much less started, we’re taking notes on the projects discussed for 2026.

With that being said, we’re keeping an eye on the projects discussed in this address. Two of the main projects for this year include the new animal welfare building and the youth sports complex. While there was an item on the agenda to deny the submitted bids for the new animal shelter as they were all over the $5 million budget, it was stricken.

Homelessness

Before the council moved on to regular business, Dr. AJ Griffin gave a presentation to the council. Dr. Griffin has officially been hired on as a consultant for the city, specifically in areas related to homelessness, her contract was previously discussed in a late 2025 Homeless Action Committee meeting. According to her contract, Griffin will be paid $175/hour, not to exceed $100,000 for the entire project.

However, Griffin is not an expert on homelessness, as she stated herself in her presentation. Griffin is a former Oklahoma State Senator and the current CEO of Potts Family Foundation which is a nonprofit dedicated to child development. Griffin's experience aligns with Booker’s ’Kids First Initiative’.

During her presentation, she explained to the council what she planned on doing. One of her main goals is to maximize all available resources. Dr. Griffin said that they are also close to finalizing the members of a steering committee. That committee will meet with one of the purposes being to come up with potential policy recommendations.

After Griffin’s presentation, the council moved on to the consent agenda. For those who use the public transportation in Lawton, one of the major items council approved was a multi-million dollar budget amendment for the Lawton Area Transit System (LATS) to purchase hybrid-electric buses.

Museum of the Great Plains

One of the consent agenda items pulled for discussion was the idea of moving the Museum of the Great Plains artifact storage into Central Plaza. The Museum of the Great Plains is about to go through some major repairs, requiring the entire building to be closed for the duration of construction. Not much was said about this item in particular. Arts and Humanities Director Jason Poudrier told the council that Central Plaza offered them the best deal compared to other options. 

According to the attached lease agreement on the council’s agenda, the minimum rent per month will be $10,281.75. Before the lease was approved, Lawton City Manager John Ratliff’s name was listed as the signing tenant. Ratliff’s wife, Dr. Krista Ratliff, is CEO of FISTA who currently oversees Central Plaza. Many people in the community deem this a conflict of interest. However, the lease went through various amendments to include Booker’s name becoming the signing tenant before it was approved.

Westwin Elements

One of the more important and highly watched discussions was the final acceptance of Westwin Element’s notice to the City of Lawton that the company would not be building their commercial facility here. Executive Director of the Lawton Economic Development Authority and Project and Operations Consultant of LEDC, Richard Rogalski, was the one to present to the council. Rogalski went over the history of the agreement and the delayed Bankable Feasibility Study. He went on to explain that ultimately the study revealed the project wasn’t feasible to be in Lawton. 

The pilot facility only employed 12-16 people, according to Rogalski. He stated that there were talks of Westwin buying the facility from the city, but the conversation didn’t really go anywhere. Obligations for phase one of the agreement will be in place until June 1, 2026. In between now and then, the company still has the option to buy the pilot plant.

Council members asked questions about how much financial loss the city would incur. Rogalski said the City of Lawton has invested $1,000,000, but retained $300,000, and the Comanche County Industrial Development Authority invested $2,000,000, so Rogalski said technically they’re only out $2,700,000. However, if the company buys the facility they would pay that money back on top of paying for the land. It wasn’t specified whether or not the company would have to pay the funds back if they decided not to, but if not, the city would retain the building.

Looking ahead

2026 is geared up to be an eventful year for the City of Lawton. If you want to hear what your city officials are discussing and the potential direct impacts they could have on you, the regular city council meetings are at 6:00 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month.