Reding’s primary responsibility is the care and maintenance of the Payne County Courthouse and Administration buildings. He has been modernizing systems as they break or wear out to make the buildings more efficient and reliable, and reducing the time needed for repairs. As energy prices continue to increase, these improvements become even more important.

Reding was an early adopter of the LED retrofit lights to replace the florescent lights, seeing them pay for themselves in savings in less than ten months. Additionally, instead of changing light bulbs all the time, the increased reliability of the LEDs makes replacement a rarity.

He has also had the opportunity to replace the heating and cooling systems as they wear out with more efficient units. These improvements have made the buildings more reliable, comfortable, and cheaper to run.

Reding is fully trained in the FEMA Emergency Management Incident Command Systems courses required and suggested for elected officials, and is trained to the Master’s Level, the highest available, for local government training from Oklahoma State University.

Reding serves as a Trustee for Payne County Economic Development Authority (PCEDA), currently beginning work on the $79 Million bond for the Stillwater High School. PCEDA is the bonding authority for the county. The authority also provides grants to current businesses to promote growth across the county.

Reding is Payne County Representative for the Stillwater Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District 3, encouraging business growth around Downtown Stillwater. The TIF committee vets potential projects and makes recommendations to the Stillwater City Council for funding. These forgivable loans and grants encourage new businesses like Stonecloud Taproom, Empire Pizza, and EM (Every Man) restaurant, bar, and venue and more.

Reding’s biggest project to date is the Countywide Radio Program. He is currently working with all the cities, fire departments, law enforcement, and other emergency personnel across the county on a first-of-its-kind Countywide Radio Program, making it possible for all the first responders in the county, some surrounding counties, and state agencies to all communicate with each other directly. Many fires and events across the county end up being mutual aid events, where departments team up to be able to have adequate manpower for the incident. However, most departments cannot communicate directly with the other due to incompatible radio systems. This countywide system would allow everyone in the county to be able to talk on a common radio, increasing the communication and safety of the first responders, and making it easier for entities like the Stillwater Police department and Payne County Sheriff’s department to communicate. To anyone’s knowledge, no other county in the country has instituted a similar program. This is a very complicated and expensive program, but the rewards for the safety of the citizens and first responders of Payne County will be huge.

Reding has been an innovator since he took office. One of his first projects was the C.L.E.A.N. program (Cleaning our Land, Environment and Neighborhoods), a court ordered community service program for non-violent offenders who could be sentenced to jail, but work for the county instead. Many clients end up cleaning illegal dumpsites around the county or assisting with maintenance work around the courthouse and admin building. This program has provided over 13,163 hours, worth $198,000.00 in free labor to the county, and has kept 657 people out of jail, but still paying their debt to society. Just as importantly, though, by working with the offender’s schedule, clients can keep their jobs, continue schooling, and not turn their lives upside down like extended jail time can.

The Payne County Pollinator Protector Program evolved from Reding’s work with the state Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, studying the problems that pollinators were facing and ways the state could be involved in solving them. Selected as the only County Commissioner representative for the state, Reding developed the County Pollinator Protector Program, a scalable program where counties replant freshly reworked rights-of-way with seeds of bee and butterfly friendly plants native to the area. This stabilizes the soil faster to slow erosion, feeds the local bee and butterfly populations, helps pollinate the local crops, and reduces mowing during the pollination season. This saves the county money in mowing, helps pollinate crops for the farmers, and improves the conditions for bees and butterflies, all at very little to no cost to the county.

Reding modernized the Environmental Enforcement department by using a special form generation program and database to provide simplified forms and then automatically file them instead of writing each report by hand and placing it in a notebook. The department also instituted a social media presence that involved the public in reporting illegal dump sites, and provided follow-up reports when complete. He also grew the department from three men working out of half a shipping container to a full shop and office converted from the former Sheriff’s Maintenance Facility. Through the aggressive pursuit of grants, the department was able to purchase enough equipment to perform their duties easily and safely with minimal cost to the county.

Under Reding, Environmental Enforcement, the department was recognized as one of the best in the state. It was used for instructional videos by the state. The last year that Reding oversaw it, the department not only received the maximum available for the grants, but was also awarded additional money for the quantity and quality of their work.

Under Reding’s direction, the Emergency Management Department put on training events that were attended by 30 to 40 different departments across the state and were relevant to the topics of the day. The latest exercise was adopted by the State Election Board for use across the state. The consistent excellence of the department’s deputy director was even recognized nationally by Homeland Security Magazine, the official trade magazine for Homeland Security professionals, as one of the best in the country.

The county acquired a former AT&T microwave tower and is converting it into an Emergency Operations Center, providing space for dealing with large scale emergencies and Continuation of Government (COG) activities in a worst-case scenario.

Reding works with the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce on economic development projects. While they cannot currently be discussed, they will potentially bring a large positive impact to the city and surrounding areas.

As Vice-Chair of the E911 Emergency Communications Committee, Reding works to maintain the E911 system for the county, providing equipment and training to the dispatchers, and providing reliable service to the people. He is working with the committee and banks to get a better return on the money invested between equipment replacements.

Reding serves as President of Central Oklahoma Community Action Agency, (COCAA) a six-county regional organization that provides resources and housing for the elderly, the poor, and homeless. This organization has been in a rebuilding process over the last six years, and just opened its new headquarters and senior adult apartments in Shawnee. It also has an office in Stillwater.

Reding has good working relationships with other government agencies. Works well with the City of Stillwater as a member of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District #3 committee, and with the Chamber of Commerce on economic development projects. The county Economic Development Authority is currently working on the $79 million bond for the new high school with the Stillwater School Board. He often works with our representatives and senators, both state and federal, giving input and sharing concerns over legislation.