Every so often, somebody shrugs and says, “My one vote doesn’t really matter.” In Chickasha, that’s just not true. In last year’s City Council election, less than 900 people voted. We’re not talking about thousands of ballots and landslide victories. We’re talking about races that have been decided by three or four votes. Not three or four percent…three or four people. The size of a family. A carpool. A coffee group. That means if you and your spouse both stay home, you just cut a candidate’s margin of victory or defeat in half. If you, your neighbor, and your co‑worker don’t bother, you may have just changed who’s sitting on the City Council for the next two years. Local government is where the decisions closest to your daily life are made. Our City Council doesn’t control everything, but it does help shape how safe your streets are, whether your road gets repaved or keeps collecting potholes, or how your tax dollars get used right here at home. These aren’t abstract debates happening in some far‑off capitol. They’re choices about your neighborhood, your water bill, and your kids’ future. Here’s something else worth remembering: City Council members in our town don’t get paid for the job, not a salary, not a stipend, not a bonus. They’re volunteers. The people whose names end up on that ballot are your neighbors. Folks who have jobs and families and still choose to spend their evenings in council chambers reading budgets, listening to complaints, and trying to make steady, practical decisions for the town. They get the phone calls when a streetlight is out or a ditch is overflowing. They’re the ones answering questions at the grocery store and at the ballfield. They miss family dinners to sit through long meetings so the rest of us can have a say in how our community is run. Is every decision perfect? No. Do council members always agree with each other, or with you? Of course not. But they are people who stepped forward when it would have been easier to stay home. The least we can do is step into a voting booth. If we want good people to keep volunteering, we need to show up for them. Low turnout sends a message that we’re not paying attention. Strong turnout says, “We care who leads us, and we’re watching.” Do you like what’s happening in Chickasha right now, then get out and vote. Do you think we are on the wrong path and we need to change directions, get out and vote. When most of us vote, City Council starts to look more like the town it serves. Different ages, backgrounds, and ideas all reflected in those seats up front. Next Tuesday, April 7 th is the City Council election. When the results are announced and you hear that a City Council seat was decided by three votes, you’ll know you were one of them. That’s #TheGoodStuff about living in a small community… what you do matters!

OKC is the home of the defending World Champion OKC Thunder. They will be hosting Olympic events in 2028. None of this would be possible without their City leaders dreaming BIG dreams back in the 90’s when they suffered an economic development failure which lead to MAPS. I know we aren’t OKC, but I often wonder if we dreaming big enough here in Chickasha? When you look at the success of the Chickasha Leg Lamp, you can’t dispute that Tim Elliot’s Big Dream worked, but now what? What is our Vision for Chickasha for the next 5-7 years? How do we embrace growth and try to steer it where it benefits our Community the most? Small dreams feel safe. They don’t rock the boat. They don’t risk embarrassment. They don’t invite anyone to say, “Who do you think you are?” But small dreams rarely change a town. They maintain it. They preserve it. Sometimes they slowly drain it. You can see the difference between “maintenance dreaming” and “transformational dreaming” everywhere. One of the quiet tragedies in a lot of small towns isn’t a lack of talent, money, or opportunity. It’s a lack of permission to dream big. We talk ourselves out of it before we even start. What if we changed “We’re just Chickasha” into “We’re Chickasha and that’s our superpower”? Because we have things the big cities can’t manufacture: A tight‑knit Community where neighbors matter, a historic downtown with real character, room to grow, create, and build without being crowded out and people who show up, volunteer and care. Those are ingredients big dreams are made of. So What Could Big Dreams Look Like Here? Not every big dream is about professional sports or the Olympics. But the scale of our thinking? That part matters. What if we asked questions like: What would it take for Chickasha to be one of the top small‑town arts and culture destinations in the region? What would it look like to make Chickasha the best place in Oklahoma to start and grow a small business? How could we become a hub for innovation at our Industrial Park? What would it take to enhance Chickasha’s brand as a must‑visit Christmas destination for the entire country, building on the Festival of Light and the Leg Lamp? How do we become a model community for walkable streets, great public spaces, and quality of life? None of those questions are about pretending to be a city we’re not. They’re about becoming the best possible version of who we are.Look around and you’ll see proof that Chickasha’s capacity for big dreaming is already here. The way local volunteers, city staff, and sponsors pull together to put on events that punch above our weight. The businesses that took a risk on Main Street when it would’ve been easier to go somewhere “safer.” The Community projects and nonprofits quietly changing lives with limited budgets and unlimited heart. That’s #TheGoodStuff right here at home…people who care enough to try. The question now isn’t whether we have dreamers. We do. The question is: Are we giving ourselves permission to dream even bigger?