Last Updated on February 16, 2024, 11:47 AM | Published: February 11, 2024
DEL CITY (Okla) — In a unanimous vote Thursday evening, the City Council for Del City took the first step toward suing Oklahoma County if a proposed new county jail site is chosen next to Del City.
With a full house in the City Council chamber, councilors voted to have city staff and the city attorney begin financial and procedural preparations for a lawsuit against Oklahoma County if they proceed with a new jail site at 1901 E. Grand Boulevard.
The resolution calls for the City of Del City to:
- Set aside $150,000 “for the express purpose of exploring all available legal remedies against the County of Oklahoma County to challenge the proposed relocation of the Oklahoma County Jail to 1901 E. Grand Blvd, Oklahoma City.”
- Authorize the city manager and the city attorneys to “retain outside legal counsel to explore all possible legal challenges to the proposed relocation of the Oklahoma County Jail to 1901 E. Grand Blvd, Oklahoma City.”
Free Press obtained this copy of the completed resolution:
Resolution-No.-02-08-2024AThe City Council of the City of Midwest City that neighbors Del City to the east passed a resolution at their council meeting earlier in the week in support of Del City’s fight against the nearby proposed jail site at 1901 Grand.
The resolution cited detrimental effects on Midwest City if the jail is built on the 1901 Grand land.
‘Fight‘
Del City leaders and residents have been models of civil discourse at the Board of County Commissioner meetings, respectfully disagreeing without shouting or threats.
But several residents who spoke during the public comments time Thursday urged the city leaders and residents to become more forceful.
“We’ve been nice long enough,” said Wendell Kluge, a resident of Del City since 1948. “It’s time for us to take the gloves off and fight.”
Later in the meeting, one of the City Council members, Claudia Browne, said, “The gloves are off!”
And, yet another resident, Jim Hightower, said, “let’s fight.”
Site being strongly considered
The site in question is at 1901 E. Grand Boulevard, only a couple of blocks away from a strong Del City neighborhood to the east that has an elementary school in full use.
According to Councilmember Michael Dean, it’s 1250 feet away from land Crooked Oak School acquired on its west (to the east of the original sports complex) to expand its sports complex. The law will not allow sex offenders to be housed any closer than 1200 feet from a school site and so it barely meets the current restrictions.*
Also, the site is only a few blocks away from the northern end of Trosper Park Golf Course and park.
Same site as failed Hamilton Courts
Significantly, the site is the exact same one as the failed, and now razed, Hamilton Courts public housing project that stranded Oklahoma City’s poorest residents in a remote area with no amenities or even bus service available. It was opened on the isolated site in 1969 and was closed and razed not even a decade later after becoming a byword for urban planning failure.
And, today, there are still no amenities — not even a convenience store — within walking distance.
All of those facts have not been lost on Del City leaders and residents who have said that putting the jail on the site would have the same stranding effect on those who are let out of jail sometimes in the dark, very early hours in the morning.
One resident who spoke told of a friend of theirs who had been in the Oklahoma County Jail before. They said that those who are let out often feel “desperate” to get back to familiar surroundings or any kind of place with resources.
Several speakers mentioned that with no bus service or nearby amenities the only place to go at 2 AM from the very dark area around 1901 Grand would be to go toward the lights in the neighborhood just a block to the east to try and find help.
Need for more police and city services
Lloyd Berger, Del City’s Chief of Police, told Free Press after the meeting that he was also concerned that with no amenities nearby, people let out of jail at night would naturally gravitate toward the only lights they could see, which is the neighborhood to the east in Del City.
Berger said that at present, Del City has not quite 50 people on the entire force, and those employees are not all on patrol. The number includes detectives and other staff whose duties are not patrol.
Del City has five officers on patrol each of their three shifts.
“If this jail is built, we will have to hire eight more just to take care of the extra load of calls we will receive,” Berger told Free Press.
‘Divide Crooked Oak and Del City’
Several of the speakers referred to a proposed deal between Crooked Oak School and Oklahoma County for a “land swap.”
As we reported Sunday, the superintendent of the small district has officially told commissioners that if they decided to build a jail at 1901 Grand, then the district would want the land swap to keep their students away from the jail.
The land swap was criticized by several speakers as well as Del City Mayor Floyd Eason.
Eason criticized county and Oklahoma City leadership, who seem to be “willing to spend money on a land swap but not on keeping the jail downtown.”
And, resident Jim Hightower, who graduated from Crooked Oak High School, accused county commissioners of trying to divide the community with the land swap offer.
Economic development harmed?
Joshua Shultz, Executive Director of the Del City Chamber of Commerce, stood to address the economic impact of putting the jail at 1901 Grand.
“We are in full support of what the council is trying to do,” said Shultz in public comments.
Shultz pointed out that the reason why some other sites have been taken out of consideration, such as the Stockyards, is that the presence of the jail would “injure economic development.”
“But, it doesn’t seem to be the issue when it comes to Del City,” said Shultz. “Oklahoma City has proven that they are incapable of monitoring their areas which surround Del City already, which means that we would have to take care of that area ourselves. We would be the first to respond because we are the closest.”
Shultz argued that police, fire, and ambulance services would be strained in response to the jail, which would cost the City of Del City considerably more.
Council members’ comments
After the public had an opportunity to speak, each member of the council spoke on the issue.
Ward 4 Councilman Scot Tatom argued that when the 1901 Grand site first showed up on their list, they should have said “No! Absolutely not.”
“A lot of times they don’t have a posture of listening,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Claudia Browne, referring to the commissioners. “And, sometimes, you feel like you’re not getting heard or respected.
So I believe that, you know, these kinds of actions [are] called for because we are not getting heard, I don’t believe by all of them. And then this is also going to bring more attention, that people just need to pay attention that we will not be giving up and that this is very serious for us.”
“So, we have not gotten transparency. We have been lied to. We have been talked down to. We’re here to fight,” said Ward 2 Councilwoman Pam Finch.
“We’re trying to make sure that we do not waste taxpayer dollars,” said Ward 1 Councilman Michael Dean. “They built a horrible jail that was doomed from the beginning, you know, 35 years ago down in Oklahoma City. And they’re planning to go and do this again here. And they think it’s going to be the best thing of all, until they finally realize that it’s against the law where it’s going to be going.”
Dean also pointed out that land sold just to the south of the proposed jail site was sold to the City of Oklahoma City to create a park. And, Trosper Park and Trosper Park Golf Course were the result.
Dean described it as one of Oklahoma City’s “premier parks.”
“And now Oklahoma County and Oklahoma City has decided, ‘you know what? We’re just going to go ahead and ruin that park.’ How could you go and look at that gift and go and ruin that gift that a nice family gave to him by putting that jail there?” asked Dean.
The meeting closed with one resident standing up and pledging $500 to the effort to sue the county if necessary.
*CORRECTION, Feb. 16, 2024 – In the original version of this report we repeated information that Councilmember Michael Dean stated in the meeting that the closest Crooked Oak land was 700 feet. Upon further study, Dean has found that the distance is 1250 feet. We apologize for the error.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
