Published: February 09, 2008 09:48 pm         

Firefighter challenges councilman

• Bill Burk will seek to unseat Hank Moore in Stillwater City Council campaign

Bill Burk has announced he will oppose Stillwater City Council incumbent Hank Moore in the March 4 primary.

Moore, who holds seat 4, also is being challenged by Darrell Dougherty.

Burk is a lifelong Stillwater resident with 25 years as a member of the Stillwater Fire Department.

“This election is really about returning the empowerment of cooperation,” Burk said. His goal is to bring business, educators, labor and the general public together to solve common problems.

Burk has been politically active as a member of the Oklahoma State Fire Fighters Association, working with the group’s political action committee to draft legislation to improve the safety of citizens and fire fighters. He also was organizing president of the Stillwater Fire Fighters Clown Society, which taught fire safety to elementary school students.

“I was trained to recognize hazards, to educate and eliminate them, and prepare for future catastrophes,” Burk said. “I would like to use those same skills to serve our community as a member of the Stillwater City Council.”

He said his training and service as a fire captain gave him the valuable experience gathering information, analyzing problems and formulating action plans to solve or prevent current or future problems. He said his years of service to SFD allowed him to develop knowledge of training methods, municipal water systems, inspections, budgets and labor agreements, as well as negotiation skills.

“Everybody contributes concepts and ideas, and everyone lives in the satisfaction of self respect from contributing to the common solution,” Burk said. “The emphasis is on cost effective action plans formulated through teamwork.”

Burk emphasized the need for an examination of city management policies toward fire safety. He said resolution of management flaws will help solve infrastructure concerns of current growth.

     

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