McLoud Man Running For City Council Petitions To Shrink City

The McLoud city council race has sparked mudslinging and talk of a de-annexing the city.

Wednesday, March 27th 2013, 11:07 pm

By: Karl Torp


The McLoud city council race has sparked mudslinging and talk of a de-annexing the city.

Four of the five council seat are up for grabs on election day and an unprecedented number of candidates are running: 14.

One of those is Pete Pendley, who petitioned the state three years ago to de-annex McLoud back its boundaries of 1895, which just included the downtown area.

"I'm sick to death of the city running over the people," says Pendley, who says he's sick of paying for city services he doesn't utilize.

Pendley even joked that he would rename his property in McLoud "Pendleyville" if the city was de-annexed.

"I don't want to be told," says Pendley.

Pendley's petition has become the source of campaign material for others in the race. City Council member Ron Kenyon, who is running for re-election, just mailed out 2,000 flyers with an email Pendley wrote abound his one-time plan to de-annex McLoud.

"How do you come up with an idea like that?" says Kenyon. 

Kenyon says de-annexing McLoud would mean lost tax revenue to pay for police, firefighters and sewage systems. He says the city would have to default on the loan it took out for the water treatment center. Kenyon says it would destroy the city.

The Mayor of McLoud, Jon Barrett, says the de-annexing petition may sound unrealistic, but it has cost the city thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight it.

The case has been appealed to the Oklahoma Civil Court of Appeals. Election Day is April 2.

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