Council endorses film incentive program, Innovation Hall management

Last Updated on March 15, 2022, 3:21 PM | Published: March 15, 2022

OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — The business of the day for the City Council of Oklahoma City Tuesday started with resolutions to commend outgoing President/CEO of the Alliance for Economic Development, Cathy O’Connor. 

That was followed by a commendation of preservationist Catherine Montgomery, who passed away in February.

A service agreement contract was approved for the operation of the forthcoming MAPS 4 Innovation Hall with the Innovation District winning the bid to administer the facility.

The Council went on to approve a new film incentive package presented by the Chamber of Commerce.

All Council members were present at Tuesday’s meeting except Ward 1 Councilman Bradley Carter.

O’Connor

Cathy O’Connor, President and CEO of the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City, recently announced that she will be moving on from that position after ten years.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council honored O’Connor with a resolution for commendation. The lengthy resolution touted the many financial gains the City has seen under O’Connor’s watchful eye.

O’Connor began working for the City 4 decades ago as an intern during her undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma. She advanced in her position through the years, working on City finances and helping implement new programs such as the MAPS sales taxes.

O’Connor left the employment of the City as Assistant City Manager ten years ago to become the head of the newly formed Alliance for Economic Development.

Critics of the Alliance have claimed the organization was formed to shelter financial decisions for the City from public scrutiny.

At Tuesday’s meeting, many of the Council members and City Manager Craig Freeman hailed O’Connor’s transformative work in bringing the City to the 21st century as a prospering city.

Montgomery

Beloved historical preservationist Catherine Montgomery passed away unexpectedly on February 17. On Tuesday Ward 6 and 7 Councilors JoBeth Hamon and Nikki Nice brought forward a resolution to commend Montgomery.

Montgomery has been a fixture in the architecture and preservation community in Oklahoma City since 1999.

Montgomery began her service to our community as a preservation architect with the State Historic Preservation Office. More recently, her business, Preservation and Design Studio, has been instrumental in efforts to save historic buildings in Oklahoma City and across the state.

In Tuesday’s meeting Montgomery was celebrated for her contributions to saving many familiar and historical buildings including notably the Brockway Center, which is on its way to a new life as part of MAPS 4, and some of Historic Greenwood in Tulsa.

Montgomery’s husband was present at Tuesday’s meeting and shared warm memories of Catherine and her love for this community.

Innovation Hall

One of the early entries for MAPS 4 action steps, Innovation Hall is being treated as a centerpiece project for the so-called Innovation District in the area east of downtown surrounding the OU Health Science Center.

A crucial part of the process for MAPS 4 projects is to secure operator agreements for many of the projects that will be funded by the penny sales tax.

On Tuesday the Council, under the auspices of the Public Property Authority, heard a brief presentation of the contract for the Innovation District to be the operating partner of the Innovation Hall.

David Todd, MAPS Program Manager, explained the broad strokes of the contract, but focused particularly on “measurable benchmarks” for the project. Those benchmarks include detailed requirements for reporting on the following:

• Visitors
• Programming
• Social media and website engagement
• Room and Event rentals
• Community Engagement

During Todd’s presentation, he read contract language that implied that these benchmarks could be abandoned in the future if so chosen.

Nikki Nice, Councilwoman from Ward 7 where the Innovation District resides, voiced concern about those benchmarks being removed in the future.

Innovation District President Katy Boren reassured Nice that they would not be likely to remove benchmarks but would probably add some. Boren referred to the language as “unfortunate” wording. Nice then asked if the language was unfortunate, could it not be simply removed?

A member of the City Attorney’s office explained that the terms of the contract would require a contract amendment in order to remove a benchmark, and that would mean it would have to come before Council for approval.

The contract was approved.

Film Incentive

The Council passed a joint resolution with the Economic Development Trust on Tuesday, for the establishment of a local film incentive package.

The incentive, a brain child of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, was developed with an eye on bringing larger film and television productions to the Oklahoma City area. The new package also includes micro-grants for local filmmakers trying to break into the industry.

Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell spoke to the issue saying that he didn’t support the incentive, as recent history has shown no significant benefit to government entities offering film incentives, according to Greenwell. He said, however, that work-force development does provide benefits. He encouraged the Council and Chamber to focus on workforce development and suggested that some form of apprenticeship would be an appropriate model for local talent to develop skills for the industry.

Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper countered that when a large production comes to town they usually bring most of their own crews instead of hiring local talent. Conversely, local production professionals have a network of people they work with, and will hire each other locally for most work.

The Council approved the incentive 7-1, Greenwell opposing.

City Council will meet again on March 29 at 8:30 a.m. 

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