Moore City Council approves Police Dept spending, commercial zoning ord

MOORE, OKLAHOMA (Free Press) — Monday evening, Moore City Council met for the first time in October to discuss Police Department spending and a change to commercial zoning.

Councilors unanimously voted on every item proposed, with one being tabled and the rest carried or passed. Resolutions included updates in wording to the City’s Emergency Operation Plan and the budgeted purchase of a new vehicle for the Animal Control Department.

Police Department requests included a reconsideration of hard drive purchases that will be used for body camera footage and the addition of a Digital Evidence Specialist and a Crime Analyst. 

This comes after the Police Department was selected for the “Caring for the Community” award by Channel 9. 

City Manager Brooks Mitchell took time at the end of the meeting to personally congratulate the Department and Chief Todd Gibson for their outstanding work in Moore. 

Animal Control Services

The Animal Control Services of Moore will be getting a new utility vehicle in the coming months.

Tony Mensah, the Moore Public Works Director, asked for authorization of a budgeted 2022 Ford Explorer 4WD XLT for $36,722.00.

This will be used as a staff vehicle and ensure that traditional field vehicles will be available for training.

This resolution passed unanimously.

C-3 Zoning

The City of Moore has expanded greatly since the year 2000.

C-3 zoning designated since 2000 allows for many uses, some that may pose a hazard for nearby neighborhoods and residential areas.

Some of these include:

  • Car washes,
  • Oil Changes,
  • Small Gas Stations, and
  • Drive-in Eating Establishments.

Within the confines of the newly approved Ordinance No. 990(21), These facilities will no longer have the “Use by Right” designation, but rather need to be approved under the title “Use on Review”.

The Community Development Manager Elizabeth Weitman explained how this Ordinance will not cause rezoning but will tighten up code regulations and prevent future land disputes.

Ward 3 Councilman Louie Williams had an important personal connection with this specific issue.

He stated that “This one is really special too because it’s right in front of my neighborhood…This is something we’ve needed to do for a long time.”

The Ordinance was accepted unanimously.

Police Department

First was a reconsideration of a decision made in the September 20th meeting in which hard drives for the Police Department were approved for purchase.

The original price was $36,695 for 40 Terabytes of additional hard drive space for Body Camera Footage, adding to the 200 TB currently owned.

This reconsideration raised that price to $38,697, factoring in the enclosures needed to house the hard drives.

In addition, Todd Gibson made the case for a quote from IAPro/Blue Teams, at a cost of $21,000.

It is a software system that should improve documentation of:

  • internal investigations,
  • tracking of complaints,
  • uses of force,
  • pursuits, and
  • accidents.

Police will be able to consolidate information into one repository by transferring paper and binder bookkeeping onto the software system.

It will also help comply with the state and national accreditation standards and establish a way for executives to be alerted to officer misconduct. 

The Department’s Criminal Investigations Division requested two new positions, approved in the FY 21-22 Budget. 

The first is a digital evidence and media specialist, responsible for collecting photo and video evidence and downloading it to a management system. That system will allow them to disseminate evidence as required or requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

The department also requested a crime analyst who will assist in determining crime patterns and trends in the area.

Both positions had an effective date of October 4th, 2021.

All of these Resolutions passed unanimously.

The Moore City Council Meeting can be found in full on their Youtube Channel, “City of Moore, Oklahoma.”

The next City Council Meeting will be held on October 18, 2021.


Author Profile

Damian Powell is our government reporter for the smaller municipalities in the OKC metro such as Moore, Norman, Bethany, and Warr Acres. Damian is studying Political Science at the University of Oklahoma.