Former long-time Elk City resident, Guy Hylton, retired from city government July 17th, stepping down as City Manager of Sayre. He had a total of 45 years as a city manager. He spent 16 years in Elk City and 15 years in Sayre. Additionally, he served on the Park Commission for eight years and six years as the Elk City Mayor. Hylton and his wife Suzanne, married for 53 years, moved to Elk City and opened Hylton’s Flowers in 1974. They spent 29 years in the florist shop. The couple have three children. The oldest is Anita, who is married to Ken Thompson, and they have two children, McKinley and Meg. Their second child is Penny, who is married to Tom Patten. Their youngest child is Jay Hylton, who is married to Trisha. Together they have five children, Dutch, Luke, Presley, Kennedy, and Landry.
Hylton’s passion for his job was evident with the progress he made happen in both Elk City and Sayre. He said the best part of his job was being able to move the cities forward.
“Moving forward with the infrastructure and getting good employees is what I am proud of. I have been very fortunate to have quality people doing their jobs. Putting the right people in the right places to do the job is like a wood pile. You stack the wood pile, so it is a little higher each piece that goes up,” Hylton said.
He also admitted that the hardest part of being city manager was different for Elk City than it was in Sayre because Elk City had plenty of money most of the time. In Sayre, he had to spend a lot of his time finding money. He had to try to get grants to do anything other than regular business.
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“We could make most people in the community happy. Somehow, there were always a few, but mostly everybody was great to work with. I am really proud of our employees in both places,” he added.
Larry Hart, Elk City, worked with Hylton over the years and complimented him on his ability to get things done.
“He is a driven man who has the ability to make things happen. Nothing was impossible for Guy. He was good to work for and he was responsible for getting the carousel and so many other things started here,” Hart said.
While being a city manager, Hylton not only worked with the many employees of the towns, but he also had to work with different commissions or councils. Elk City’s charter called for four commissioners and one mayor, and Sayre had eight council people and a mayor. Hylton noted that members of the community would go to a particular commissioner to talk to when they needed something.
“When George Easter was on the commission, he was the bread man. A whole group of people would go to him and no one else. It was good that way because they had a good mix of people, and the people were represented pretty well,” Hylton said.
As Hylton thought about the job of a city manager and what was most important to him, he said that looking far into the future to anticipate what may be needed in 50 years was key.
“You can’t think too small, because hopefully you’ll grow. So have your capacity for everything, where you can grow as a town. We’ve added to the landfill at Elk City, we’ve added to the landfill here, so we’d have capacity to grow. The same with sewer and water capacity. We try to update and keep updated to where your whole infrastructure is not garbage by the time you retire. You want to have something, to leave behind that’s actually better,” Hylton said. In being the city manager, one had to be able to make a decision quickly. Hylton said everything should last for generations. When a decision had to be made, Hylton was not shy about making decisions. He said, “You can’t let those decisions get to you. You make a decision and if it is wrong to do better next time.”
The biggest problem Hylton faced every day was getting enough sales tax. He cited the Sayre prison as one of those examples. When the prison was active, the sales tax increased as did the population of Sayre. This helped everyone.
He saw the city manager’s job as a coordinator of different projects. He helped line them up and then supported those contractors or employees. Supporting the employees seemed to be just as important as being supported as a city manager.
Hylton believed that it was important to take care of the infrastructure, that included the water, sewer and garbage. They were not very glamorous, but important to the city’s growth and safety. It was taking care of the infrastructure that had made him a success.
“Everybody comes in here pitching something. The hardest thing a city manager does is to learn to say no and not maybe. People take maybe as a yes, which gets people to be unhappy,” Hylton said.
To Hylton it was about priorities. The law told them what they had to spend the money on. They could only spend 90 percent of what a town could bring in the next year.
It was a brilliant career, although Hylton did not like to talk about what he brought to the table. He was humble with his words but will be missed by the employees he worked with, as well as the department heads. He did not know what he would be doing a month from then except resting.
When asked what he loved to do, his answer was to work. Being City Manager was who he was and who he had been, retirement might not come easy, but he planned on trying to find a new hobby.
Sayre held a reception for Hylton July 16th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
