Priorities
Roads. Responsible growth. Public safety. Your tax dollars. Everything else is noise. Here's how James Hanning shows up on each.
01
A county commissioner's first job is roads. Everything else downstream — safety, business, emergency response — rides on it.
Under Commissioner Hanning, District 1 has seen 21 miles of road paved, chipped and oiled. Two bridges built. Low-water crossings repaired and elevated so your commute doesn't disappear with the next hard rain.
Safety striping — the white and yellow lines that keep drivers on their side of the road — wasn't on a single road in Wagoner County until James Hanning made it a priority in 2011.
An online request portal lets District 1 residents flag road and bridge needs directly. Crews treat each concern as a top priority, because it is a priority — to you.
02
The only way to hold down property taxes in Wagoner County is to bring in businesses that pay their share — and that take pride in our communities.
Commissioner Hanning serves on the Wagoner County Economic Development Board, and has been instrumental in attracting new business to reduce the tax burden on individual residents.
That doesn't mean saying yes to everything. When a 241-megawatt solar farm was proposed near Porter and residents made clear they didn't want it, James Hanning said no on their behalf.
Responsible growth means good to great — not any growth at any cost.
03
In his first month in office, Commissioner Hanning worked beside road crews day and night for nearly a week to clear a record-breaking snowstorm. That's the standard. He's kept it since.
He helped bring the Oak Grove Fire Department into being — one of the first rural fire departments Wagoner County residents could count on. He worked with rural water districts to install fire hydrants across District 1 using REAP grant funding.
Day to day, the commissioner's office works directly with the Sheriff's Office, 911 dispatch, and Wagoner County Emergency Management. Safety is a coordinated job — Commissioner Hanning makes sure all the pieces talk to each other.
04
James Hanning believes government should operate as debt-free as possible. In his first 18 months in office he paid off four pieces of equipment — $5,035.68 off the monthly equipment bill. Savings got re-invested into roads.
When voters rejected the eight-proposition sales tax measure in March 2024 because the package was too much too fast, Commissioner Hanning respected the result and went back to work with the budget the county already had.
Every project, every penny: District 1 residents are welcome to walk into his office and review detailed records of both.
Every penny of District 1's budget comes from landowners and consumers.
Commissioner Hanning treats it accordingly.
June 16 is coming
Pitch in however you can — yard sign, volunteer hour, five dollars, or just a vote on primary day.