Norman City Council seeks budget do-over
Budget said to ‘defund’ police, leads to recall attempts, lawsuit
The Norman City Council on Tuesday ratified budget decisions made last June that were criticized as “defunding” police and sparked recall efforts against some council members and the mayor.
The do-over was prompted by a state Supreme Court ruling this month, in a lawsuit brought by council critics, that notice of the June 16, 2020, meeting at which the fiscal 2021 budget was adopted, violated the Open Meeting Act.
Due to insufficient public notice, the high court ruled, the budget’s approval was invalid.
At issue was a shift of $865,000 from the Police Department budget to community “outreach and programs” and to establish an internal auditor’s office.
The decision left police with a smaller-than-anticipated budget increase for 2020-21.
The vote last year followed hours of public comment, taking place at almost 4 a.m. on June 17. Some council members said they received threats in the aftermath.
That continued when a recently elected councilman, Kelly Lynn, who ousted a supporter of last year’s budget and will take office this summer, called in to Tuesday night’s virtual meeting and concluded his remarks by saying, “Scoreboard.”
“We have made national news so many times for all the wrong reasons,” Lynn said.
The council spent about four hours Tuesday hearing from the public and voting on 11 non-controversial measures, followed by votes on the three police-related items and the budget as a whole, a $264.4 million document.
Votes on two of the three police-related items were 6-2, with Mayor Breea Clark in the majority. Clark changed her vote on the auditor’s measure, saying, “this is one where Clark the timing got us.” She returned to the
majority to approve the overall budget. Clark agreed with council members who favored an approach besides law enforcement to issues rooted in mental illness, addiction and poverty.
Advocates for change said police are asked to do too much.
“In case you missed it, the status quo is not benefiting everybody,” Clark said.