New Durant city council member for Ward 2 Clint Morrison was sworn in during a special meeting Monday.
Morrison won the Feb. 10 against Lisa Jensen and Johnny Manners Jr. by 63.68 percent.
He is filling the unexpired term that ends in 2029 of Lauran Fuller who resigned last August after accepting a position at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
Morrison said he was excited about being sworn in.
“It’s great to see all of my friends, family, co-workers,” Morrison said. “Everyone here to support me, I can’t say enough good things about them.”
He has lived in Durant with wife Ashlee since 2008, and they have two daughters, Grace, who is a freshman at Durant High School, and Kate is a fifth grader at Durant Intermediate School. Morrison is a pharmacist for the Choctaw Nation, and the Morrisons own the family business Corner Drug that was founded in 1955.
Morrison said the No. 1 thing is the city moving forward, including with the Main Street and wastewater treatment projects.
“Continuing to move the momentum forward and keep growing Durant,” Morrison said.
He said a big issue is funding all the projects.
“I think everyone wants to talk about roads for instance, but I think that’s more of a symptom of a problem of us not having enough money, and a lot of people aren’t always aware that we operate pretty much solely off of sales tax,” Morrison said. “So, how do we increase that and keep those dollars here instead of going across the border over into Texas and doing all of their shopping and eating, right? We’ve got to make sure those people stay here as much as they can.”
Asked if Durant is experiencing growing pains with its economic growth, Morrison said, “I would think we would all say that. You’re going to experience the growth, but also, we’ve had not only
Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat the growth, but also like the infrastructure. It’s getting old at this point. I think not just Durant, but municipalities across Oklahoma are all facing the same issue. How do we fix that?”
In a statement after the swearing in, the city said, “Today, we proudly swore in our new Ward 2 Councilman, Clint Morrison, as he officially begins his service to our community. We are proud to welcome him to the city council and look forward to the passion, ideas, and commitment he will bring to serving the citizens of Durant. There is great work ahead, and we’re excited to see the positive impact he will make.”
