This article provides a brief history of the referendum petition related to the proposed UNP arena district in Norman, Oklahoma. Link to project plan
City Council approved an ordinance creating the Rock Creek Entertainment TIF district by a vote of 5 to 4. There were two public hearings held two weeks apart. These were contentious for multiple reasons. The opposition to the ordinance led to the creation of the non-profit, Normans for Responsible Economic Development and a referendum petition effort that submitted 11,602 signatures to the City Clerk.
FIRST PUBLIC HEARING
The first hearing on September 3, 2024 was intended to be a question and answer format. Residents were not aware that comments had to be made in a question format and some were deterred from commenting.
Notably a group of OU students showed up two hours early for this meeting.
SECOND PUBLIC HEARING:
The second hearing on September 17, 2024 was grossly one-sided. OU Foundation and the Texas Development partners (Rainier) were given as much time as they wanted. OU President Harroz was given time to make comments even though OU is not a party in the economic development contract. OU Foundation is the landowner and developer of record.
Subject matter experts were limited to 3 minute comments. Attorney Robert Norman, who sits on the University North Park TIF #2 committee and has knowledge of the contents of the ordinance and the development agreement, was given 3 minutes to make comments. Dr. Cynthia Rogers (that's me), OU professor of Economics and subject matter expert on TIF, public finance, and local economic development was also limited to 3 minutes.
OU STUDENTS WERE OFFERED PAYMENT TO OCCUPY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Over 60 OU students attended the meeting, showing up early and taking seats in the City Council meeting room. OU President Harroz pointed them out and a made a big deal about their attendance.
It was later discovered that those students were offered payment to show up and serve as props. When OU Daily asked students why they showed up (audio) none mentioned they were offered payment. OU Daily obtained a message sent by OU Sophomore, David Echols, which offered payment to students to attend the meeting. Echols denied sending the message despite the evidence (OU Daily article).
OU Daily's investigation discovered the source of the payment offer - Jayke Flaggert, an OU alumni, a former employee and current subcontractor for Norman Economic Development Coalition (Link to OU Daily article). It is unclear who covered those payments. NEDC, OU Foundation, OU Athletics, OU President's office have all denied knowledge of the payments. Link to OU Daily video
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WAS NOT DISCUSSED
The development agreement which creates the contractual obligations related to the TIF ordinance was released to the public a mere 4 days prior to the second public hearing. There was little time to dig into the peculiar and vague language and there was not additional/separate public discussion on the actual contract.
COUNCIL APPROVED TIF ORDINANCE
City Council approved the creation of the UNP Arena TIF with the minimum number of votes needed in a 5 to 4 vote. Voting for were Mayor Heikkila, council members Scott Dixon (Ward 8), Matt Peacock (Ward 2) , Joshua Hinkle (Ward 6), and Austin Ball (Ward 1). Voting against were council members Bree Montoya (Ward 3), Michael Nash (Ward 5), Helen Grant (Ward 4), and 2025 mayoral candidate Stephen Tyler Holman (Ward 7).
OKLAHOMANS FOR RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (ORED)
ORED is a grass roots, non profit organization formed by Norman residents who seek to provide residents with a voice in economic development matters. Their first action was to organize a referendum petition allowing Norman residents to vote on the UNP Arena TIF ordinance. ORED website
A referendum petition is built into the Local Development Act which enables the formation of TIF district in Oklahoma. It is the last recourse for voters if they do not agree with a legislative action. A petition requires considerable effort and organization. There are specific requirements for the petition packets, including the wording of a gist statement summarizing the issue, the signature page, and a copy of the actual ordinance to be put up to vote. Once the packet is drafted, it is filed with the City Clerk who reviews it and then stamps the date it was filed.
REFERENDUM PETITION SUCCESS
The referendum petition on the UNP Arena TIF ordinance was filed by three Norman residents, Pamela Mccoy-Post, Paul Arcaroli and Richard Sondag, on Sept. 20. If successful, the petition would put the ordinance approving the UNP arena TIF to a public vote on February 11. The required number of valid signatures is 25% of the number of voters who cast a ballot in the most recent Mayoral election, which was 6,098 in this case.
Over a hundred volunteers participated in the signature gathering process. Women in Action for All of Norman organized training events for volunteers to understand the legal requirements for collecting signatures. Volunteer notaries were available for notarizing signed petition packets. Several businesses, including Stash, Green Feather, Alameda Market, B&B Liquor Market, supported the effort by having petitions on hand. Roots Salon allowed a tent to be in place daily for drive-up signature gathering. The location was moved to Yellow Dog Coffee's parking lot for better traffic Flow. Pink Pig and St. Stephens UMC allowed petition collection and notarizing on their premises.
On October 15, 2024, ORED and petition volunteers submitted 11,602 signatures on the referendum petition.
"Municipal Referendum Act and the Local Development Act required us to get 6098 signatures, I am happy to tell you that our official signatures we are submitting is 11,602," said Attorney Rob Norman. (Fox25news)
WHAT COMES NEXT?
The city clerk has 30 days to validate that enough signatures from registered voters in Norman were collected.
Then there is a 10 day period for challenges. There was a challenge by 3 former Norman mayors the last time residents filed sufficient signatures for a referendum petition on the UNP TIF #2 amended project plan.
If the petition survives legal challenges, then voters will get to cast a ballot on Feb 11. Legal challenges could delay the vote to the April election.
