It may be small geographically, but being the mayor of West Siloam Springs is no easy task. And now, the Oklahoma town's mayor for the past 17 years, Elaine Carr, will be honored for her continuing involvement in guiding the border community by being inducted into the Oklahoma Mayor's Hall of Fame.
"I love doing this, or I wouldn't be doing this," said Carr, who began her time in city government on the city board in 1998. "When I got the call, I was shocked, kind of speechless."
The induction, which is scheduled for Sept. 15, will honor Carr for making a difference in Oklahoma communities beyond West Siloam Springs. As part of the nomination process, both Jot Hartley and Larry Barnett wrote letters to the Oklahoma Municipal League in support of Carr. Hartley and Barnett serve as the city's attorney and police chief, respectively.
Carr has served West Siloam Springs' citizens by growing the town, fostering a relationship with the Cherokee Nation, expanding water and wastewater services, emergency services and natural gas service, Hartley wrote.
"I believe there is no other municipal servant that is more deserving of this honor," Hartley wrote.
"Mayor Carr is always striving to make West Siloam a better place to live," said Barnett. "Mayor Carr goes well beyond her roll as mayor. Mayor Carr deserves to be recognized for her accomplishments and dedication and prestige."
Carr was recognized in part because of her involvement in other communities. In addition to her position as the West Siloam Springs Mayor and her job at the Siloam Springs Post Office, Carr represents Region 1 for the Oklahoma Municipal League. Carr also works to get involved with state-level government representatives to get West Siloam Springs' concerns on the desk of the governor.
"If your town does not get involved with the state issues at hand, they don't know your town exists," Carr said. "But I think they (the state government) finally realized that there's such a thing as rural America."
"There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes," Carr said. "People think you get elected and just go to council meetings. Wrong."
Carr has no plans to sit on her laurels, and is deep in the process of improving her town. The city added a zoning code two years ago and a code enforcement department a few months later, and Carr said she is working to balance the agricultural needs of her community against the business needs of the Highway 412 thoroughfare.
Other priorities for Carr and the city government include job creation for a population that is often forced to commute over distance to find work, expanding water, sewer and gas services to cover the entire town, attracting a grocery store and managing the upcoming merging of schools happening across Oklahoma.
But those are complex issues, and progress will take time, Carr said.
"People need to understand that things don't happen overnight," Carr said.
Carr was born in California, and her parents moved to Stilwell, Okla., soon after. Carr worked for Stilwell Foods and later Walmart. She then moved to West Siloam Springs in 1987, after transferring with Walmart. Carr currently works for the Post Office in Siloam Springs, and she helps manage her husband's nightclub, recreation center and mini golf course.
Carr also helps give back to the community by helping with yearly efforts, including a Post Office canned food drive, a toy drive, and the Veteran's Honor Flight, which flies veterans out to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials.
"I enjoy being involved," Carr said. "That's the key. You have to be involved."
General News on 08/16/2017