If anybody doubted the necessity for Hochatown to have the ability to present native authorities providers, or puzzled whether or not the group was prepared to face by itself as an precise city, the numbing, pipe-freezing Christmas of 2022 ought to be convincing.
Pipes burst far and wide and water soaked lots of the 3,000-some luxurious cabins and lodges in the brand-new Ouachita Mountain city north of Broken Bow. Hochatown Facebook pages lit up like a Christmas tree with cabin homeowners and managers on the lookout for solutions, and assist, and discovering it.
The water was off for days as leaks have been positioned and stuck. Hot tub water went down bathrooms to flush them. Water for consuming needed to be hauled in. Cody McDaniel, McCurtain County emergency providers director, labored with Choctaw Nation Emergency Services to get potable water to Hochatown.
“Chaos. It’s the best definition of the historical low temperatures we experienced in Hochatown,” mentioned Janet Cress, a newly elected member to the city of Hochatown’s board of trustees.
The deep freeze hit simply weeks after the tiny city of fewer than 300 everlasting residents, which swells to 1000’s on peak vacationer weekends, voted to include. It hit only a few days after election of the city’s first trustees, which was Dec. 20. It was one among Hochatown’s worst climate disasters, for enterprise particularly.
“We had broken water lines, busted tankless hot water heaters, frozen water well heads, septic tank lines frozen, no electricity in some areas for five days,” said Cress, who came home to Broken Bow-Hochatown area after a career in hotel-motel management in Houston. She started Last Resort Cabins in the early 2000s and now manages 20-plus cabins around Hochatown.
Not that the crisis left Hochatown high and dry, so to speak.
”Fortunately, our group has been self-sustaining for many years,” Cress mentioned. “The outpouring of help that the cabin management companies received from their crews was enormous. Workers were out and working at 2 a.m., mopping up gallons of water inside cabins due to broken water lines. It was a cabin management nightmare.”
With about 3,000 cabins in the world, she mentioned, the shortage of water and electrical energy had a devastating impact.
“Thousands of tourism dollars were lost. Tourists were forced to go home with full refunds, and arriving guests were told not to come because the cabin they booked was shut down because of water damage or no electricity or both,” Cress said.
Holiday memories were lost by those turned away, and ruined by anyone caught up in the mess, she said.
Forming the town of Hochatown can’t stop the weather, especially a once-in-a-generation deep freeze, but a local government can put building codes in place to help make sure construction is sound.
And, incorporation will lead to an official entity, in addition to volunteers, to help property owners and guests deal with the next crisis, whether fire or ice.
“The number of complex and protracted needs to protect tourism in our small town of Hochatown has dramatically increased. This weather event made these needs abundantly evident,” Cress mentioned. “As a result, the need to move quickly in the first year of our town government is essential.
“Through city management and good communications, we’ll be capable to be extra strategic in find out how to enhance our infrastructure growth and put together for the longer term.”
Town building is under way at Hochatown. It started Dec. 20 when 75 residents cast ballots at the town meeting to elect the first trustees and officers. Open nominations yielded 13 candidates for the five trustee seats, and one candidate each for the positions of town clerk and town treasurer.
Helen Harden was confirmed as clerk, and Charles Ward as treasurer. In addition to Cress, Chad Sargent, Dian Jordan, Todd McDaniel and Howard Haggard will serve as the initial trustees until the first municipal election on April 4.
But already, work is underway to determine town revenue options, a location for a town hall, as well as ordinances, insurance, and how to deal with requests for plat approval and annexation.
Annexation? Why not? The details of governing have to be worked out, but little Hochatown, the municipality, after decades of gestation, was about born grown.
Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has coated housing, building, industrial actual property and associated subjects for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize.
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