Council to seek judgment on authority for public TIF vote | News

Norman City Council will consider an agenda item Tuesday that could help determine if the city has authority to hold a public vote on the Rock Creek Entertainment District tax increment financing districts, according to the meeting agenda.

City Attorney Rick Knighton told OU Daily in March approving the item would authorize the city attorney’s office to enter litigation that would clarify if the city has the power to send a TIF district ordinance to a public vote.

The agenda item follows a March 6 letter sent to the city of Norman by Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development stating the organization’s intent to sue the city and Cleveland County.

“(The letter) just puts everybody on notice,” Paul Arcaroli, ORED member, told OU Daily Friday. “…What the letter says is we will sue for Open Meetings (Act) violation if you don’t put this to a public vote.”

ORED’s letter claims the city of Norman and Cleveland County willfully violated the Open Meetings Act in connection with the adoption of and attempt to move forward with the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan. 

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The letter claims the city’s adoption of the project plan is invalid because it was approved during meetings that were allegedly in violation of the Open Meetings Act. 

Council consideration of TIF district ordinance

Council was originally set to consider the agenda item in a March 31 special meeting, but the meeting was canceled.

Knighton said there is an outstanding legal question of if council has the authority to bring the TIF to public vote outside of a regular initiative or referendum petition.

“The legal department’s advice to council has been, ‘Maybe you should try to get an answer to that question first, before you even consider whether you think repeal is appropriate or not,’” Knighton said.

“The first question that needs to be answered: ‘Can you even send it for an election?’ Because if you can’t, then there would be no basis.”

In February, Knighton told council he estimated the city could face a minimum liability of $230 million if council sought to repeal the TIF ordinance because the city entered an economic development agreement. During that meeting, he also said he did not believe the city had the authority to repeal council’s September 2024 vote which approved the entertainment district project plan.

In a Friday phone call, Norman Mayor Stephen Tyler Holman told OU Daily council’s consideration of the ordinance will address ORED’s letter and public opinion surrounding the TIF district.

Holman said council is not trying to directly repeal the ordinance, but is working to get a judgment on whether it can legally be appealed.

“Trying to get a judgment on … can we let the voters of Norman weigh in on the decision the city council made in September 2024? …” Holman said. “So, asking if a district judge can make that determination, if we can send it to a vote of the people.”

Holman said he believes the current council is working to find a way to bring the ordinance to a public vote, which he said Tuesday’s meeting will address.

“The goal of most of the people on council has been finding a way to let the voters of Norman decide this public financing piece of this proposal,” Holman said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to get to.”

On March 20, Ward 7 Councilmember Kimberly Blodgett released a social media post saying she, along with Ward 1 Councilmember David Gandesbery and Ward 5 Councilmember Brandon Nofire, added an ordinance repeal to the council’s March 24 meeting agenda through the “rule of 3.”

According to Holman, the “rule of 3” discussed by Blodgett was never submitted. He said Blodgett, Gandesbery and Nofire discussed the repeal with the city attorney and city manager.

Holman said, even though they did not submit the request, Blodgett, Gandesbery and Nofire’s actions triggered discussions about sending the ordinance to a public vote.

“My understanding is that the three of them had talked to the city attorney and city manager about wanting to get something on the agenda, but the three of them didn’t actually submit a request or what exactly they wanted to see on the agenda,” Holman said. “But that got the discussion going about next steps.”

Notice of intent to sue city, county

ORED’s letter references city council’s Sept. 3, 2024 meeting, where students were offered payment to fill council chambers. The letter also references the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners’ March 2 meeting, where the board unanimously approved an up-to $50 million bond anticipation note for the entertainment district.

During its Sept. 3, 2024 meeting, council conducted its first meeting where public comment about the TIF was allowed. The letter claims in 2024, it was typical for public comment to be limited to three minutes per person, but during this meeting, attendees were limited to two minutes of public comment per person. It also claims former Mayor Larry Heikkila “announced and insisted” that comments be in the form of questions only.

The letter claims the presence of the students who were offered payment to attend the Sept. 2024 meeting was in violation of the Open Meetings Act, stating the meeting was “not truly open to the public” as required under the act.

“This secret, undisclosed, paid attendee scheme rendered the second meeting anything but transparent, fair, open, and in compliance with the OMA,” the letter states. “The City’s enactment of the Ordinance, the adoption of the Project Plan, and approval of the Economic Development Agreement were thus all invalid acts.”

The letter also claims the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners did not provide ORED Attorney Rob Norman, who authored the letter, an agenda for its March 2 meeting. 

“It appears that the County and (Cleveland County Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority) are racing to set the Project in stone, are speaking of lawsuits against the City, and are otherwise doing whatever it takes to keep the City from giving the people of Norman a voice in whether the Arena TIF Project happens. This is unacceptable,” the letter reads.

On Friday, Ward 8 Councilmember Scott Dixon told the Daily the city received ORED’s letter at a Cleveland County Commissioners meeting. He said the city’s position is that state law does not allow a repeal of the TIF district. 

“It’s been over a month and they just keep, kind of online, saying ‘Yeah, we’re gonna sue you.’ I’m like, well, just do it,” Dixon said. “They want the public to vote on a TIF, essentially, and it’s the city attorney and right now the city’s position (that) the state law doesn’t allow that.”

Dixon echoed Knighton’s opinion, stating if the city rescinds the ordinance that created the TIF district, it could face lawsuits from companies who have started developing the land. 

“If the council votes to undo, rescind the ordinance that created the TIFs, then that’s us breaching the contract, and then we would get sued by people who have spent millions of dollars and have planned on developing that land,” Dixon said.

Cynthia Rogers, OU economics professor and ORED co-founder, told the Daily Friday afternoon ORED has been disappointed by council’s actions regarding the entertainment district. 

“ORED and all the people that signed the petition had hoped that Mayor Holman, (who) sort of ran on opposing this, would have kind of taken more of a leadership role, to not just read the tea leaves of council, but to actually lead council in a definitive forward motion to bring this to a vote,” Rogers said.

Rogers said she’s been disappointed to hear council members making negative comments about ORED members, specifically naming Dixon. 

“I’ve heard council members make unkind or derisive comments about ORED … which I think is unfortunate because ORED is a nonprofit. It’s grassroots because people wanted to vote on this thing, …” Rogers said. “Particularly councilmember Dixon, he’s just made, I would say, very unkind, not very polite, comments, particularly about Rob Norman.”

Learn more about the Rock Creek Entertainment District:

This story was edited by Macey Thaxton, Audrey McClour and Keaton Shaffer.