The Rogers County Commissioners will decide Monday which company it will pay to develop “Better Together,” its planned mental health app.
The county put the project out to bid May 27; its scope covers designing, branding, coding but not marketing the app. Receiving Clerk Samantha Sherman said July 14 the county had received seven bids from the 20 invitations it sent out.
The commissioners moved to table choosing a contractor until Monday, when they will receive a spreadsheet — Sherman said the costs were too amorphous to clearly explain out loud.
“A little uncommon bid,” said District 1 Commissioner Dan DeLozier.
One bid came from Inhouse Web Services, the Tulsa web developer that provided a cost estimate of $19,850 in an October presentation to the county commissioners. Inhouse came up with the name “Better Together,” a nod to the Better Together in Rogers County resource group.
Rogers County announced last September it had received a $290,000 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, part of which would fund a mental health resource app.
The county envisions three core uses: on-demand mental health help, a list of local community support organizations and immediate disaster relief assistance. It took inspiration for the app from Erie County, New York, which launched an app in 2023 with immediate crisis help and a hyperlocal resource guide.
According to bid documents, the county plans to release “Better Together” within six months of signing a contract.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the commissioners renewed the county’s annual $125,000 contribution to Heritage Hills Golf Course. Rogers County has been helping Heritage Hills with funding through an interlocal agreement for six years, said District 2 Commissioner and Chairman Steve Hendrix. Claremore and the county each pledge part of their budgets each year to keep the golf course open.
Hendrix said the agreement has made it possible to modernize the once-outdated course.
“This arrangement has been really a good, nice success story for the past six years,” Hendrix said. “… Each and every year, the comments and the financials that we receive from the golf course are trending in a very positive direction, and it’s just a great story for our community and our county.”
The board requested more money for the Rogers County Technical Training Program. Since 2023, Claremore Economic Development’s technical training program has offered 200 scholarships to students studying at Northeast Tech and Rogers State University.
It has spent more than $340,000 in state Community Development Block Grant funds to do so. CDBG money flows from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to city and county governments, which then pass it on to agencies like Claremore Economic Development.
Meggie Froman-Knight, executive director of Claremore Economic Development, said in April the funds are temporary and limited. Her organization is pondering how to continue the program without CDBG money.
The commissioners approved grant manager Andy Armstrong’s application to request an additional $180,000 in CDBG funds.
“We’re helping them spend the residual amount of their state allocation for this program,” Armstrong said. “This results in more activity and scholarships.”