12/13/2024
Experienced city councilman seeking Bethany mayoral seat
Matt Montgomery
Managing Editor
“I have a really good outlook for the City of Bethany,” said Bethany mayoral candidate Jeff Knapp. Knapp is running for mayor in the February 2025 municipal election. “Bethany has a lot of momentum right now, and I’d like to continue that.”
He recently resigned his seat on the Bethany City Council in order to seek a bid to become the next Bethany mayor in the February 11, 2025 municipal election.
Knapp brings a wealth of experience in municipal government to the table. He has served 11 years on the Bethany City Council. During his tenure, he was also appointed to serve as Bethany’s vice mayor.
During his time serving the citizens of Bethany, he said he is most proud of being part of a team that helped get the city a new library, an all-abilities park and playground, pond and walking trail behind city hall. Knapp said those projects took close to 10 years to accomplish.
Some of the most recent projects Knapp and the council helped to facilitate include the General Obligation Bond presented to and passed by Bethany voters in 2022. This bond project has paved the way for critical infrastructure needs to be met.
Specifically, road repairs have been completed and more are in the process of beginning. Renovations have been made to the police department, fire department and animal welfare facility, and stormwater drainage projects are about to commence.
“I’ve tried to emphasize getting these projects done now and done right, so they will last another 50 or more years,” Knapp said. “That is something we are having to do now, is go in and fix those water and sewer lines that have been in place for more than 50 years.”
Input from the community in what their specific needs are is something that he said is important to accomplish before starting a new project. He said he supports the idea of citizen committees. A citizen committee was established during the conception of the GO Bond, he said.
“No one wants to pay more for taxes and services, but we always want the best for our community,” he said. “We want the best bang for our buck, and that is what I am really interested in accomplishing for Bethany is, what can we get accomplished for the lowest cost.”
Knapp said he would like to see Bethany get more businesses the city doesn’t already have. Thinking outside of the box may be what it will take, he said, to generate new sales tax revenue opportunities for the community. He said he’d like to see Bethany get an auto parts store and another grocery store.
“There are untapped markets we don’t have in Bethany that I’d like to bring back,” Knapp said. “There is virtually nowhere to buy clothing anywhere in Bethany, except on a small scale. I do have concern with repetition in our retail options. Let’s look at getting stores that sell different items, and not have five stores that sell the same thing.”
Getting people into Bethany in general, whether that is in the form of new businesses or attracting customers to shop in those businesses is an idea Knapp is very
committed to facilitating.
He said part of the reason for the success in accomplishing projects for the city has come down to funding. More specifically, applying for grants at the federal, state and county levels. In his tenure, the city has been very successful in not only receiving grant funds, but applying those funds to help offset some of the costs of construction projects throughout the city.
“I remember working with Senator James Lankford’s office, when he was a congressman, to see what kinds of funding might be available to help with different
aspects of our city,” Knapp said. “It takes a long time, but some of those funds are starting to come through.”
Post-COVID, more funding has become available, Knapp said.
Knapp has spent most of his adult life in community service. Before his time on the horseshoe in Bethany City Hall, he retired from a 23-year career at Francis Tuttle Technology Center. Additionally, he was a
liaison within state government organizations. Within that position, he spent a lot of time doing community
outreach. Knapp was also the former chairman of the Northwest Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.
He and his wife Tammy have lived in the Bethany community since 1992, and have two children—Wyatt and Annalisa. She and her husband Justin have a two-month-old son, Owen.
“I think we have a lot of positive things to look forward to, but it will take time and work to accomplish them.”
