Nowata Elects The City's First African American Mayor

The Nowata city council made history last week by appointing Garry Gibson as the city's mayor. He is the first African American to hold that position.

Mayor Gibson said he's honored to be mayor and his number one priority is securing basic needs for the city.

"I want to see success for Nowata and I'm going to give my all," Gibson said.

Mayor Garry Gibson has been on the job for one week in his hometown of 3,715 people.

City manager, Melanie Collins, said he is always approachable.

"The citizens love him, the commission loves him, everybody loves him. He's super friendly and super sweet. He's just amazing," Collins said.

He plans to work with the previous mayors and commissioners to help accomplish his top three goals, starting with improving the city's water.

"Target everything that's dealing with our water for a cleaner and higher quality of water," Gibson said.

Nowata has had issues with water in the past and he said they plan to build a new water tower, thanks to some new grant money.

Residents said they also want to see the roads fixed and Mayor Gibson said that is also in his top three priority list.

"We can focus on and actually implement times when we can do road repairs and road replacements," Gibson said.

The third priority is to expand opportunities for the people who live in Nowata by bringing in jobs, so the city will be a place people want to come visit.

"It's going to offer a lot of revenue and a lot of business for Nowata and also to have the opportunity for employment. So, those are the opportunities that we want to bring to the table and bring to the citizens," Gibson said.

Mayor Gibson said he will need the support from the town's citizens as they work together to make Nowata the best it can be.