Councilman questions transparency of meetings with staff

A councilman who contends City Hall practices subvert the state Open Meetings Act could get a vote on a transparency measure as soon as next week.

Ed Shadid says the public’s input on proposals to offer millions in job-creation incentives to businesses is limited by behind-the-scenes consensus-building.

New transparency measures would require a public hearing as part of the Oklahoma City Council’s review of economic development deals and real estate sales.

Private informational briefings for city council members would be subject to new rules intended to block the city manager and economic development officials from “counting votes.”

Attorneys for the city say those private briefings, for small groups of council members, are legal and deny they are used for acquiring consensus on particular issues.

Currently in draft form, the transparency measures are under review this week and could be finalized in time for consideration at the Aug. 28 city council meeting.

State law requires that decision-making by elected officials occurs in public, with a quorum of members of the public body present.

Shadid has been critical of transactions he says were discussed in private, with small groups of less than a quorum of council members, then pushed through with limited public notice or debate.

His proposals would set a minimum of 32 days from public notice of potential council action to a decision. They would apply to economic development and real estate deals.

The deals would be discussed in at least three public meetings. One would be a public hearing.

New rules for private briefings by City Manager Jim Couch or his staff would require representatives of the city clerk’s office and city attorney’s office to be present.

“No vote shall be taken or cast by city council members … and no consensus of council members shall be asked for by city staff,” according to the draft resolution.

Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecipher began talks this month with Shadid after the Ward 2 councilman threatened to file a lawsuit against the city.

Friday, Stonecipher said those talks had been productive and it was time to see whether the framework they produced could be viable “in the real world.”

“We’re going to move forward,” he said.

At the July 31 council meeting, Shadid said the primary purpose of private briefings was “to suppress public knowledge of economic development projects.”

If the transparency proposal is brought before the council next week, a scenario illustrating Shadid’s complaints could unfold the same day.

The council could decide on four days’ notice whether to allocate $1 million in taxpayer incentives to Heartland Payment Systems, a credit card processor.

In exchange, Heartland would commit to creating about 345 jobs in the next five years.

The Economic Development Trust was to consider the deal Tuesday. If approved, the proposal could go on the Aug. 28 council agenda.

Public notice would be issued Friday, the day the agenda is posted, four days before the meeting.

Legal question

In the past year, companies have negotiated for taxpayer funds for such facilities as a distribution center and warehouse (Amazon), an aircraft maintenance facility (SkyWest), and national defense support services center (CACI Inc.).

Shadid has been particularly critical in recent weeks of the $1.7 million Amazon deal, the $22.5 million sale of the Santa Fe parking garage, and a $2 million cash infusion to the Boathouse Foundation, operator of the city-owned Riversport Rapids whitewater rafting and kayaking park.

The whitewater park is seen as an important resource for promoting economic development.

Shadid’s criticisms bring into focus the question of how, and whether, the law limits the ways city managers may communicate with elected officials.

Kay Hunt, communications director for the Oklahoma Municipal League, said the organization does not provide “any specific” city manager training on open meetings.

Wiley Williams, a deputy city attorney, said representatives of the city clerk’s and city attorney’s offices typically are not invited to the city manager’s private briefings for council members.

He said the briefings are “for the sole purpose of providing information, thereby allowing the council members time to consider and to make an informed decision about an upcoming issue.”

Williams said in the few briefings he has been invited to attend, “I have never seen any effort to take a vote or to build a consensus among the attendees.”

Couch also communicates with council members with written “issue summaries.”

Those memos review various facets of issues likely to come before the council. Issue summaries are public records available to anyone who asks for them.

In the past year, those memos have covered topics including sale of the Santa Fe parking garage and managing “dockless” bike and scooter sharing services.

The latter erupted in controversy this month when rental electric scooters popped up downtown.