June 28, 2024

6/28/2024

Friday | June 28, 2024

A Fond Farewell.....

GODSPEED, PONCA CITY…Today is my last day at PCDA. I am so incredibly grateful to all of Ponca City for these past two decades. It’s almost a cliche to say that you can’t thank everyone…but I’m at least going to try. Let’s start with you. You may not, and probably do not, fully recognize how important you are to this community. People make Ponca City, and like the pebble in the lake, the ripples we all make spread far and wide.

We live in our own little worlds; However, there are people with whom we come into contact daily. I have been very fortunate to rub elbows with leaders who were and are focused on making Ponca City one of the finest examples of success in rural America.

Rather than name them all due to space limitations, the following are their initials. Some of these are three initials but most are two. To save space, some represent more than one person with the same initials. Sadly, some are no longer with us but, happily, the vast majority still are. All represent the finest of Ponca City. They may be in business, city or county government, education, health care, non-profits, the PCDA staff or private citizens. The one thing they all have in common is that they all call Kay County home, and I have been blessed to have the opportunity to stand by them all at one or more points over the last 21 years. The lift can be heavy, but the load is lighter with more hands lifting.

My thanks to them all:

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You may have noticed that there is one set of initials, the first two and the last two, that do repeat: JM. When I walked into PCDA on September 8, 2003, my wife Janice was at my side. As I head into retirement today, I’ll be at her side. Words fail me. I tried to thank her in public recently for all she has meant not just to me but to Ponca City. No deal, however, is ever truly done until it’s in writing so here it is. No one could ask for a better life partner. Thank you, Sweetheart.

I leave PCDA under the guidance of a remarkable group of leaders, PCDA Trustees, city leadership and the most qualified economic development staff in the state of Oklahoma. I’m not just saying that; the data backs that up.

Please never forget that economic development means different things to different people. At its core, it is about guiding and growing an ever-changing local economy, influenced far more by having what people and companies want than by other factors. There are different ideas about the how, the why and the which way. It can be a messy, time-consuming business where you give a little and get a little. Welcome to life. But having a tool such as PCDA in the toolbox to get us where we collectively want to go can make all of the difference. Disagree, sure. Disengage, never.

The next generation has begun.

David Myers