Small victory Tues but future still uncertain for Oklahoma City day cares

Times are uncertain for day cares in Oklahoma City after the fight over new requirements took an unexpected turn. The city washed its hands of the controversial proposal in its regular council meeting Tuesday, tabling it for now. The rules were written to update the city code regulating all day cares, but home day care owners argued the rules would unfairly impact them. In Oklahoma City there are 337 home day cares registered with DHS. They have a total capacity of 3,250 children.Kami McManus runs one of them. She watches three young children plus two of her own. She's licensed by the state and keeps strict to the code. But she's afraid of what could happen with the new set of city rules. She says they threaten to change everything."They could possibly shut a lot of us down," she said.The proposal was drafted over two years by a mayor-appointed Board of Governors, which includes representatives from the fire dept., health dept., code enforcement, local day camps, the YMCA and the Oklahoma Child Care Association. The rules decrease the required adult-to-kid numbers, regulate the type of kitchen appliances and designate where owners can change diapers. They require children under four have an additional adult in the car when being transported and that the person who changes diapers cannot also prepare food. It's a problem for one-person day cares like Kami's.And she and many of the others affected heard about the proposal for the first time last week. "This was last minute for everybody!" said home day care owner Marcella Rivers who visited City Hall, "nobody knew what was going on."Dozens of home day care owners flooded City Council with concerns, scoring a temporary victory Tuesday morning."This may be too fast, too soon and perhaps we just need to let this one go," said Mayor Mick Cornett, before helping to table the issue."It wasn't an easy task and it affect a lot more people than we ever expected," said City spokesperson Kristy Yager in an interview with Fox 25.Yager promises transparency as the proposal heads back to the drawing board. That's something Kami hopes the City abides by."They really need to have us represented us too," she said, "cause right now we feel like we've been stabbed in the back."The Board of Governors for Child Care will meet again July 8 at the Health Dept. Chairperson Kathy Cronemiller says at that time she will recommend eliminating the city's code regulating child care completely. She says in light of the issues business owners have brought to light she thinks the state should continue to oversee day cares in Oklahoma City and other municipalities. She says there's no need for double regulation.

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