City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening and welcome to the 5 p.m. Tulsa City Council meeting. You can view this meeting on our Facebook page, our YouTube channel, Cox Channel 24, or at tgovonline.org. Assisting the council tonight are Jack Blair, our city attorney, Lori Doering, our secretary to the council, and Catherine Ong, council staff. If you wish to speak on an agenda item, please see Catherine to complete a request to speak card prior to that item being read. You will not be allowed to speak on any item that has already been read. Please join us in pledging allegiance to our flag of our country and remain standing for a moment of silence.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, you may be seated. Tonight we have our August years of service.

And we have the cheering section.

We have the cheering section with us tonight.

How come you guys don't have shirts?

You guys should be wearing shirts or something. It's all about that. All right.

Let's do it.

Quiet down in the peanut gallery. Good evening. The city of Tulsa has an incredible team of over 3,500 public servants dedicated to making all aspects of city government run smoothly. Each month the city council is pleased to recognize some of these exceptional public servants who have committed decades of their lives in their career with the city and obviously we welcome their fans who are here with us tonight as well. That's right. Whereas these employees have dedicated years of service to the city of Tulsa, its officials and its citizens, and therefore we, Mayor Monroe Nichols, by the way, this is what the proclamations say, and the city council, do hereby express our sincerest appreciation for these employees' hard years of service and dedication and continued service to the city of Tulsa and its citizens. And in witness thereof, we hereby set our hands on this 19th day of August, 2026. And obviously, we really do mean that we are very appreciative of the work. We know you guys spend a lot of hours. You spend decades of your lives in service to the citizens. So we're really grateful. And this is only a small token of that appreciation. So thank you again for all your hard work. So our two individuals are,

All right, we have Donald Snow from Parks and Recreation.

Where are you? I don't know if you're embarrassed, but I'm embarrassed for you.

And Mr. Snow has served 25 years to the city of Tulsa.

There you go.

Thank you so much. We're going to do pictures, so yeah. We'll go down there.

As soon as I saw that. He did?

Oh, wow.

As soon as I saw that sign crossing.

Do you want to do individual or group? One, two, three. All right, our next one is Janet Lyons from finance for 20 years of service.

This is so awesome. All right, many employees who are receiving their years of service award this month could not be here tonight. We would like to acknowledge their contributions to the city for 40 years of service. Kenneth White with police. 30 years, Curtis Langford with water and sewer. For 25 years of service, Raymond Beard with fire, Adrian Seibel with fire, Oscar Espinoza in public works. For 20 years of service, Matthew Arnold, Jason Bell, Adam Dawson, Robert Guardiola, Adam James, James Slay, and Richard Urban, all from police.

Obviously, thank you to our fan club for being here as always. You guys are so dedicated. The continued growth of the city of Tulsa is a direct result of the valued employees that serve our city 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and thank you for that. They are a true representation of service, excellence, loyalty, and commitment. Their work does not go unnoticed, and their many sacrifices are truly appreciated. So thank you to all of you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, here we go. Announcements, people wishing to speak on an agenda item are limited to five minutes total per meeting. Public input is a time for members of the public to provide insight on the agenda item. Due to the meeting format, public input is not a time for question and answer period. All comments should be relevant to the agenda item and directed to the council. We are using an electric timing system in front of the speaker At the microphone, there is a timer that will count down the time used. A green light will indicate your time is running. Yellow light will come on when you have 30 seconds remaining. And a blinking red light will be shown when your time has concluded. We ask that you stay within your time limit so everyone wishing to speak is given equal time. Please keep the podium area, railings, and aisles free from recording devices and tripods, recording equipment, and accessories, including tripods, must be set up in the media center. As posted on tonight's agenda, certain items are subject to consideration and possible approval, adoption, denial, amendment, or revision. Item 10A has been pulled. I call this meeting to order. Lori, please call the roll.

Councilor Hall-Harper? Here. Councilor Archie? Here. Councilor Dutton? Here. Councilor Bellis? Here. Councilor Gilbert? Here. Councilor Bengo? Here. Councilor Dr. Wright?

Here. All right, item one, receipt and filing of minutes 1A, minutes of regular meeting held at 4 p.m. on July 22nd, 2026. B, minutes of regular meeting held at 5 p.m. on July 22nd, 2026. C, minutes of regular meeting held at 4 p.m. on July 29th, 2026. And D, minutes of regular meeting held at 5 p.m. on July 29th, 2026. Do we have any speakers?

We have no speakers.

Is there a council discussion? I move to approve items 1A through D. Second. Please call the roll.

Councilor Dutton? Yes. Councilor Bellows? Yes. Councilor Gilbert? Yes. Councilor Bengel? Yes. Councilor Dr. Wright? Yes. Councilor Hall-Harper? Yes. Councilor Archie? Yes.

All right, items 1A through 1D are approved. Two appointments and reappointments to a Carolina Ganti appointment to the Tulsa City County Board of Health B John Hewitt appointment to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center G Jeff Evans reappointment to the Tulsa Preservation Commission D Joshua Starks reappointment to the Human Rights Commission. Do we have any speakers?

We have one speaker. Mr. John Huffines for items to a through D. I

Good evening, Mr. Huffines.

Good evening. Peace, yes, peace. I'm thankful for our honorable leaders. I'm grateful for the honorable council chair, Karen Gilbert, the honorable vice chair, Christian Bingle, honorable counselors, staff, team, and security. We're thankful to the citizens of this great city of love, Tulsa, and this great nation under God, the USA. It is a joy to be with you on this 19th day of August in the year of our loving Lord Jesus Christ, 2026. Yes. Appointments and reappointments. Carolina Ganti, appointment to the Tulsa City County Board of Health. B. John Hewitt, appointment to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center 2026. Holy Spirit, Tulsa Performing Arts welcomes you. Jeff Evans, reappointment to the Tulsa Preservation Commission. And D, Joshua Starks, reappointment to the Human Rights Commission. I'm trusting babies in wombs will get to enjoy the human right to be born. I'm glad everyone here was allowed to be born. May we continue to honor our employees and volunteers. Thank you, family.

Thank you, Mr. Huffines. Is there council discussion?

Move to approve items 2A through D. Second.

Please call the roll. Councilor Dutton. Yes. Councilor Beallis. Yes. Councilor Gilbert. Yes. Councilor Bengel.

Yes.

Councilor Hall-Harper. Yes.

Councilor Archie.

Yes.

All right. Items 2A through D are approved. Any of the commissioners that are here tonight like to say anything? Yep. Come on.

good evening good evening okay it is on i didn't see the red light uh no i just wanted to say thanks for the reappointment and the opportunity to serve uh our great city again uh this is my third term so at the end of this one i'll be halfway to retirement as a commissioner in the city which is pretty awesome but uh we've we've covered a lot of ground we've updated the human rights process going through and we've worked that for like nine years so it's nice to see that finally getting traction We've done a lot of ordinance and the cleanup of the city charter, which has been awesome. I get excited when I go in there because I see so many people that are there on the commission that you don't see every day that are out there doing the real work on the ground, helping our Tulsa citizens every day. And it's just I tell everybody that if you have frustrations with government, you should go to the Human Rights Commission because you will see people that do the work every day and make sure that their citizens are getting what they need when they need it and their voice is heard. And so I love being on there, and I just appreciate and am honored that you guys have brought me back up to do this again for another three years. So thank you so much. And if I could add anything, I know Donnie's gone now, but Donnie Snowman, 25 years, I can tell you how many times at 4 o'clock in the morning he and I met down there getting the stage ready from Parks for the Veterans Day Parade, that he was up on overtime because it's a day off, that he came out there with his crew, and a lot of times they did it without any pay whatsoever just because they celebrated veterans. So a lot of kudos to him and appreciate his 25 years of service as well.

Yeah, we do too.

Thank you all.

Appreciate your service as well. Thank you.

Absolutely.

All right, item number three, public hearings. No items this week. Four mayor's items for a report from the mayor or his designee on community events, briefing on city activities, city efforts, and new business. All right, nobody's here. The remaining items, 4B through 4V, will not be read aloud. However, public comments will be received on these items. Do we have any speakers?

We have one speaker, Mr. John Huffines, for items 4K and 4T.

Thank you, counselors. Mayor's Item K, a travel donation from the National Fire Academy for Chad Stokes to travel to Emmitsburg, Maryland to attend the Fire Alarm Plans Review Course. I'm grateful for our excellent fire department, police department, and all our first responders in beautiful Tulsa. Mayor's Item T, a special event application race for victory, Race for Victory, scheduled for September 12, 2026, starting at 7700 South Lewis Avenue. Victory Christian Center loves God and loves people. The Victory Christian Center reportedly this victory Church has over 2,000 Bible schools in other nations, has birthed two dream centers here in Tulsa, has given away millions of meals, was instrumental in getting a supermarket into North Tulsa, and the list goes on and on. Yes, victory loves Jesus. Victory loves people. Yes, victory loves Tulsa. And may we say yes to the race for victory, and thank you, counselors, for always doing your best to help Tulsa be her best.

Thank you, Mr. Huffines. Is there council discussion?

I move to approve items 4B through V with the emergency clause on 4B through 4D.

Second. Please call the roll. Councillor Dutton? Yes. Councillor Bellis? Yes. Councillor Gilbert?

Yes. What? When did you become Councillor Gilbert? I'm sorry. I misheard. Sorry, Lori.

Councillor Bengel?

Yes. Yes. Do we need to repeat the whole thing? Councillor Dr. Wright?

Yes.

Councillor Hall-Harper? Yes. Councillor Archie? Yes.

Sorry, I'm trying to calm down from that. All right, items 4B through 4V are approved with the emergency clause on 4B through D. Five, authorities, boards, and commissions, no items this week. Six, ordinances, first reading, the following items in this section of the agenda will not be read aloud, and without objection, items 6A through 6F will be forwarded to the next council meeting for action. All right. Seven ordinances. Second reading seven, a ordinance amending the fiscal year 2026, 2027 budget for making supplemental appropriations of $500,000 recognized from the unappropriated fund balance within the tear refuge operating fund. B, ordinance amending the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget to make supplemental appropriations of $34,200.89 recognized from the inappropriate unencumbered fund balance within the Tulsa Stadium Improvement Trust Fund. C, ordinance closing a certain portion of an alleyway vertical airspace located at 316 East 2nd Street, Tulsa original town addition do we have any speakers we have no speakers council discussion move to sorry I'm on the wrong page I move to approve item 7 a through C second please call the roll yes yes yes

Yes.

Councilor Dr. Wright? Yes. Councilor Hall-Harper? Yes. Councilor Archie? Yes.

All right. Items 7A through 7C are approved. I just never know what you're going to do. All right. Eight council items. 8A, councilors' announcements and reports on current community events, activities, efforts, and concerns other than announcements and reports. No action will ensue. Councilor Archie?

Yes, everybody wanted to give a big shout out to everyone that joined us on the west side at Celebration Park for our back to school bash. It was just a little hot, only like 104 and maybe even hotter in the direct sunlight. But we had plenty of shade and about 120 students came out all the way from Bartlesville down to Sepulpa and lots of folks on the west side. We gave away lots of backpacks. Josh Snowcones was there. And I want to give a shout out to HF Sinclair for sponsoring us. Also, University Village as well. all organizations within District 2 that are supporting the community. And so today was the first day of TPS, back to school, so it's time to start rocking and rolling. So I want to wish everyone going back to school a happy new year, is that what we say? A happy school year, for sure. Thank you.

Right, Councilor Dutton? Yeah, so along with that, I want to remind everybody to be very aware of children walking to and from school. Obey the traffic signals to slow down in the school zones. And it doesn't mean slow down just until you get past the lights. There are signage posted that the school zone begins and the school zone ends. And please stay within those parameters before you decide to hit the gas. Also, I want to remind everybody tomorrow that early voting begins. And if you're going to be voting early tomorrow at the Tulsa County Election Board, That is now on the east side of Tulsa. While you're there, check out District 3, Route 66. Enjoy yourself, get your vote out. And this will go on through the 22nd and then the official precinct vote will commence on the 23rd. So get out and exercise your democratic. 25th. 25th, my bad, sorry. I knew that, I was just making sure everybody else did. Be sure to get out and exercise your rights to vote. Thank you. All right. Councilor Bangle?

Yeah, so I'll stack on to what my colleagues just said a little bit ago. If you're in a school area and your car isn't in park, put your phone down. Don't be distracted. It only takes a second for a child to cross the street in front of you. Obviously, we all, if we've had children, we know that they're extremely unpredictable, so we never know when they'll cross the street. We don't know what goes on in their head. I don't even remember what went on in my head. But to add on to Councilor Dutton's reminder about the early voting process, the locations are at 4000 West Florence Street in Broken Arrow, and the one at Skelly Drive is at 1200 East Skelly Drive. Early voting starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. So if you plan to vote early, make sure you get to that location. And to my colleagues that are in this process right now, good luck to you.

Thank you. All right. Item 8B. Counselor Archie? You need to repeat.

That's right.

all right item 8b donation from Lovewill Collective Tulsa FOP Ok Toffee Company the University Village and to the City of Tulsa for school supplies and refreshments for a back-to-school bash valued at $2,775 do we have any speakers we have no speakers council discussion I move to approve item 8b second

Please call the roll. Councillor Dutton. Yes. Councillor Bellis. Yes. Councillor Gilbert. Yes. Councillor Bengel. Yes. Councillor Dr. Wright. Yes. Councillor Hall-Harper. Yes.

All right. Item 8B is approved. Nine, we have no new business. Ten, the hearing was pulled. So hearing 11, hearing of public comments, this concludes the televised portion of our meeting.