OILTON — As March marks Women’s History Month across the country communities will be reflecting on the contributions women have made to life, business, education, public service, and much more. This year’s observance happens to coincide with a historic moment for Oilton as the town prepares to swear in its first female mayor — Julia Bagwell.
Bagwell became the official mayor-elect following the end of the contestation period for the mayor position this past weekend — meaning she came into Women’s History Month having made local history herself. Creek County Election Board records confirmed the past Oilton mayor elects have all been male.
Bagwell announced the matter on social media stating “This position isn’t about power. It’s about service,” — a message that set the tone for how she views the role. She described her leadership style as being steady, strategic, and solution-focused. She said her overall goal is to move Oilton away from reactive crisis management to proactive planning in order to create an environment of progress rather than confusion and collaboration throughout leadership for coherence rather than confrontation.
“Leadership should create calm and clarity, not chaos,” she said.
Looking ahead, Bagwell listed her priorities to be compliance, infrastructure improvements, and financial stability. She said she looks to focus heavily on infrastructure stabilizations and financial health. She specified bringing the city’s lagoon into compliance with the
This position isn’t about power. It’s about service. “ —Julia Bagwell, Oilton’s first female mayor Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) standards, pursuing loan forgiveness, replacing lead lines, securing a secondary water source, modernization of meters, and aggressively pursuing grant opportunities as a few projects she would like to put into action.
“These aren’t glamorous projects but they’re foundational,” she said.
Bagwell has been involved with the community for a number of years through local organizations, youth sports, chamber leadership, and volunteer efforts. She had never initially planned to add a mayoral position to that list.
“I didn’t grow up saying, ‘I want to be mayor’. What I’ve always done is step up when something needs fixing,” she said. “Watching our town struggle with infrastructure and compliance issues made it clear — if I wanted better, I had to help build better. That’s what inspired me to run.”
According to her, becoming Oilton’s first female mayor-elect carries layered meaning.
“Becoming the first female mayor of Oilton is deeply personal — and deeply historical,” she said. “It represents resilience.”
She recounted her personal history of hardship — recognizing Oilton as the town that has shaped her through such times. She described her path as one of perseverance and not privilege. At the same time she said she views the historical aspect as an important sign of what can come.
“Historically, it proves something powerful: leadership here is not limited to gender anymore,” Bagwell said.
Rather than dramatic change she expressed viewing recent events as steady progress — another chapter in the town’s evolving story.
While campaigning Bagwell noted a focus on accountability — emphasizing stability, not spectacle, was to define her time in the position because for her, credibility is earned through consistency and results.
During a month dedicated to recognizing women who have shaped history at every level, Bagwell hopes her election normalizes female leadership for the next generation rather than framing it as extraordinary.
“I hope they see that strength and kindness can coexist,” she said of young girls in the community, expressing a desire for leadership to feel accessible, not groundbreaking.
When her term concludes, Bagwell said she hopes her tenure will be measured not by headlines but by stability. She wants residents to believe their town is stronger, more secure and better positioned for the future than when she began.
“I hope they say: ‘She brought stability.’, ‘She rebuilt what needed rebuilding.’, ‘She left the town stronger than she found it.’ And most importantly — that the foundation we lay now allowed the next generation to run a smoother path than the one we walked,” she concluded.