Last Updated on April 12, 2022, 7:05 PM | Published: April 12, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — The City Council of Oklahoma City held their regular meeting on Tuesday morning. During the relatively brief meeting, the Council undertook several significant items of business.
Budget Director Doug Dowler gave a brief presentation about a budget amendment that adds $85.4 million spread across ten different city funds. The budget expansion comes after better-than-expected revenues on the year so far.
Some money will be given to the MAPS 3 whitewater facility, Riversport Adventures, who also requested money for consulting at Tuesday’s meeting, raising questions about the financial responsibility of the amusement attraction.
A large portion of the meeting was taken up with discussion of a project under the direction of the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA). The Creston Hills redevelopment project is a new sort of effort from OCHA, which will combine public housing with mixed income housing and commercial amenities.
Some community members believe OCHA has failed to treat the existing residents of the development with respect and dignity. Allocation of money for the project was yet again deferred on Tuesday after sometimes heated discussion.
Marty Peercy reports Local government
Budget Amendment
Revenue expectations for the current fiscal year have been far higher than anticipated, the Council was told on Tuesday. City Budget Director Doug Dowler explained that approximately $85.4 million dollars have been generated for the City above what was projected for the budget year.
That money will now be put into ten separate City funds, including the General fund.
Budget items to be expanded, should the amendment ultimately pass, include $27.8 million in infrastructure projects. Some of those projects are deferred maintenance on some municipal properties that were previously de-prioritized. They also include $5 million for additional street resurfacing.
A public hearing on the budget amendment will take place on April 26th at the regular City Council meeting.
One portion of the budget amendment that raised eyebrows accounted for a $1 million “pandemic supplement” for Riversport Adventures.
An additional item, including money for Riversport, came up later in the meeting with much discussion.
Riversport Adventures
Oklahoma City’s MAPS 3 whitewater attraction Riversport Adventures was the topic of two agenda items on Tuesday’s City Council agenda.
Those agenda items centered on the proposed hiring of a consultancy firm to assess the potential revenue enhancements for the facility.
Riversport has seen a lot of attention over the last few years, including international competitions and praise for practice facilities for Olympic whitewater athletes in training.
The facility has also required substantial sums in cash assistance from the City after being built debt-free using MAPS 3 tax money.
Riversport is asking the City for an estimated $62,500 to hire PROS Consulting Inc. to provide an assessment of the market potential for the multi-million dollar facility in hopes of raising future revenues.
The foundation that operates the City-owned facility also requests an expansion of their board of directors. They wish to have 25 members of the board, up from the current 10 members plus a Chair and an ex-officio and an emeritus member. The foundation wishes to enhance “diversity” and “community input” to the board.
Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell expressed skepticism about adding more money to the facility.
Greenwell first asked if the City Council would have any say in the new members to be added. He expressed a desire to see more Council members or City staff involved.
It was explained that Doug Dowler sits on the finance subcommittee, and that Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice is on the board. Also, it was explained, the Parks and Recreation Department plays an advisory role to the foundation.
Greenwell went on to say that it seems that at the end of every year this facility shows up to ask for another cash infusion from the City. And, each time, according to Greenwell, they seem to think the next thing is what will fix their situation. Greenwell stated that it has made him become skeptical about further spending on the facility.
Mayor Holt disagreed, saying that the facility has been a home run for the City.
Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper expressed some hope about the future of the facility in offering access to more people across Oklahoma City, but also said that he shared some of Greenwell’s concerns.
Nice, who is on Riversport’s board, made a case for connectivity with multi-use trails and other local amenities that would further enhance the financial viability of the facility. She also touted the world-wide acclaim the whitewater facility has gotten from Olympians and other enthusiasts.
The item was ultimately passed as part of the consent docket. A timeline for reports from the consultancy firm, which features a whitewater facility expert, is 4 to 5 months.
Creston Hills
A beleaguered project from the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA), the department that oversees publicly-owned housing in Oklahoma City, as well as administering some Housing Choice vouchers that some readers might know colloquially as “Section 8.”
The proposed project, which was initially proposed and moved forward in 2019, has been slow moving. Representatives from OCHA have heaped effusive praise on their project. At the meeting of the City Council two weeks prior, OCHA Executive Director Mark Gillette used questionable language, calling the development something that people on the East Side could finally be proud of.
On Tuesday morning, Ward 7 Councilwoman depicted many experiences of residents at the previously existing housing units at the Creston Hills site being displaced by new construction.
In the Council meeting two weeks prior, Nice shared a video of OCHA Assistant Director Ian Colgan saying that new units would be constructed first so that existing tenants could be moved before demolition began.
That did not happen, according to Nice and some constituents of the existing development.
According to Nice, residents were displaced with no good options for transplant. Some students were forced to change schools in the middle of a semester. At least one resident has so far refused to move.
Nice called the project “gentrification,” and related some history of redlining and exploitation of the community where the project is slated to exist.
Ward 6 Council member JoBeth Hamon* took several minutes to address the issue.
Hamon said that the City and it’s residents need to reckon with the idea that housing as a human right has seen disinvestment in housing as a human necessity and a human right. Instead the culture of housing in America has been focused on housing as a commodity.
Hamon went on to say that commodification of housing has created a financial segregation of residents of our community, where some live in housing that has seen no improvements since the post-war era.
Nice and Cooper both endorsed an idea to include some language in the resolution to include more extensive oversight from Council on the project.
Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecpiher seemed intent on having an up or down vote on the issue, saying that he wanted the project to move forward or he would vote it down and wait for a new project from OCHA. Stonecipher cited rising building costs.
Instead Cooper, over Stonecipher’s protest, moved to defer the item for an additional two weeks, giving the legal department time to draft language for oversight in the resolution.
The deferral passed 5-3.
The Council will address this issue again at their next meeting.
The Council meets again on April 26 at 8:30 a.m.
*Disclosure: Reporter Marty Peercy is the husband of Oklahoma City Council member JoBeth Hamon.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
