A. Fund Established: The Kingfisher County military service memorial perpetual trust fund (hereinafter "trust fund") is hereby created as a separate and distinct financial account for the purpose of receiving any funds transferred to the city by the board of commissioners of Kingfisher County from the designated sales tax fund for the construction and maintenance of the Kingfisher County military service memorial (hereinafter "memorial"). Said funds shall be invested by the treasurer of the city in a secure, interest bearing account.
B. Purpose: The purpose of the trust fund is to fund the ongoing maintenance, improvement and/or expansion of the memorial under the terms of the trust adopted in this section. If at any point the trust fund shall cease to be utilized for the specific purposes stated herein, the remainder of any monies transferred from the county of Kingfisher pursuant to subsection A of this section, together with any interest earned, shall be returned to the county of Kingfisher.
C. Additional Contributions: Any private donations received for the purpose of ongoing maintenance, improvement and/or expansion of the memorial shall be deposited in the trust fund and maintained pursuant to the terms of the trust adopted herein.
D. Trust Fund Advisory Board:
1. Appointment Of Trustees: The mayor and board of commissioners of the city shall serve as the board of trustees for the trust fund and shall consider and act on matters related to the trust during regular meetings of the city or during any special meetings scheduled for such purpose. The board of trustees shall appoint an advisory board, consisting of three (3) members of the Keith Lowry-Henry Ellyson American Legion Post 5 and/or the American Legion Post 114, Hennessey, Oklahoma, as recommended by the Post 5 commander. If at any point the American Legion Post 5 and American Legion Post 114 should cease to exist, the board of trustees shall appoint members to the advisory board at its own discretion, with preference given to military service veterans, when possible.
2. Duties: The advisory board shall collect qualified names for periodic addition to the memorial's roster of honor and may recommend improvements, maintenance, repair or expansion of the memorial to the board of trustees, which shall retain sole and exclusive authority to approve any expenditures from the trust fund. The advisory board also shall have such other duties as may be approved by the board of trustees.
3. Authorized Expenditures: Through the regular budgetary appropriation and expenditure process of the city, the board of trustees is authorized to expend as much of the annual income of the trust fund as is required for maintenance, expansion and/or improvement of the memorial. Maintenance, expansion and/or improvements may include, but are not limited to, the annual addition of names of Kingfisher County military service men and women to the roster of honor by etching them into the existing granite panels of the memorial, replacing flags, lights, stones or plaques, and repairing or replacing sidewalks. If, in any given year, extraordinary expenses are incurred which exceed the income of the trust fund, the board of trustees has the discretion to invade the corpus of said trust fund for the purpose of satisfying the extraordinary expense.
E. Roster Of Honor:
1. Addition Of Names: Additional names of Kingfisher County military service men and women qualified to be added to the memorial's roster of honor shall be collected by the advisory board each year, with March 15 marking the end of the annual collection period. Names collected will be reviewed for qualification by the advisory board and submitted in written form to the board of trustees for approval no later than the board of commissioners for the city's first regularly scheduled meeting in April.
2. Criteria For Inclusion: The names of the following individuals are eligible for inclusion on the roster of honor etched into the granite panels of the memorial:
a. Deceased veterans buried in Kingfisher County whose immediate family member(s) are current Kingfisher County residents.
b. Any individual who was a citizen of Kingfisher County at the time he or she entered military service, regardless of current residence, provided proof of military service is provided. Acceptable proof includes current enlistment with honorable service, DD214 or similar service document and honorable discharge. Dishonorable discharge for desertion, absent without leave, treason or felony violation of the uniform code of military justice or felony violation of civilian law while a service member disqualifies the individual for inclusion.
c. All members of Kingfisher American Legion Post 5 and Hennessey Post 114 of at least two (2) years in good standing or as determined by the individual posts.
d. The term "military service" refers to service at any time following the year 1900 in the United States military services, including the army, navy, marine corps, air force, coast guard or the merchant marine during wartime service which qualifies for veteran status, and any other service in an organization which has been designated a "military service" by the congress of the United States. The national guard and reserve components of the armed services also are included. Wartime service is not specifically required for inclusion.
F. Etching Of Approved Names:
1. If sufficient funds are available from either the income or that portion of the corpus of the trust fund which is within the discretionary authority of the board of trustees, the city shall have the approved names etched into the existing granite panels of the memorial, following its normal contracting procedures. The year of each engraving shall be etched into the granite panel, followed by the list of names approved to be added in that year, etched in alphabetical sequence. Etched listings shall include first and last names only and titles, ranks, branches of service or any other information shall not be included. As far as possible, such additional etchings shall be scheduled so as to be completed by Memorial Day of any given year.
2. If, in any given year, sufficient funds are not available from either the income or that portion of the principal of the trust fund which is within the discretionary authority of the board of trustees, or the board of trustees decides at its discretion to delay the etching of additional names into the existing granite panels, any qualified names so approved may be carried over and added to names etched in subsequent years.
G. Closing Of Roster Of Honor: At such time as the capacity of the existing granite panels has been reached and further expansion of the memorial is impractical, or at the recommendation of the advisory board for any other reason, the board of trustees may by resolution declare the roster of honor permanently closed, so that no additional names shall be added. (Ord. 921, 1-12-2009)