Proposed nonprofit to spearhead economic development in OKC

[Midtowner]

Am I the only one wondering if this is just "Oklahoma Industrial Authority II"?

It's set up that way. The OIA's undoing was an AG who the Oklahoman billed as "anti-business" getting at their records through FOIA. The Alliance is set up to attempt to frustrate the purpose of FOIA. Under current law, that will not ultimately be successful.

[BoulderSooner]

Anything they have not falling within certain very narrow categories (e.g., personnel) is open to the public via FOIA or the Open Meetings Act. That the 4th Estate may have been not doing its job or that there was nothing of substance to report is no reason to conclude that the public would be better served without knowing what its money is paying for.

Where we might be concerned is that certain well-connected individuals, even members of this corp, will be privy to important information before the rest of us, e.g., where the convention center will go, and they will be able to make a mint on real estate investments. There's also a concern about TIF appropriations, what developers will be approved, which won't, and all of the information regarding that will be closed to the public. Right now, there are AG opinions which would theoretically protect the public from this, but the way this contract is written, they either don't know those opinions are out there, which I highly doubt, or because they expect that no one will do anything to stop Alliance from hiding information from the public.

midtown thanks for you posts in this thread .. clearly you knwo the law much better than I .... that being said this new org couldn't approve a TIF as they don't have that ability ...

and ? do you think this simply needs a new more defined contract? the idea of pooling the staff functions of several org together is a great idea .. maybe they didn't write the contract well enough ..

[Midtowner]

Oh I agree, re: the TIF issue, and I'm not even intimately aware of what bodies are empowered to approve TIFs, but I'd assume it's the Council. You know.. the Council where a clear majority of the members have either very recently been elected using Momentum money or who understand that there will be dire political consequences for going against the Momentum grain.

I'm not really worried about the pooling of staff and functions. That clearly needs to happen. What is particularly disagreeable with me is that we're talking a body empowered to "coordinate, manage, plan and implement GOLT, TIF districts, retail strategy or incentives, OCURA job creation sites and MAPS III, all without any public input or supervision. From a real-estate investment perspective, this has the potential effect, assuming there's some insider dealing going on, of meaning that a select few would know all of the comings and goings of municipal projects and economic development incentives before everyone else and could invest accordingly. They could even self deal, by which I mean, Billy Bob[fictional character], who is a big donor to Momentum, sits on the Board of Alliance, could decide he wants to develop blackacre. He can make sure that the city, under the guise of economic development, connects a trolly line right up to his development's front door, fixes all the streets, lights and sidewalks at our public schools' expense using a TIF district, declares the property to be an "economic development zone," etc.. Or say Billy Bob, or fictional insider is sitting on the BOD, he knows that the Alliance, in its capacity as managers, coordinators, planners and implementers of MAPS III has decided where it wants the convention center to go. Either Alliance will have the power to say "dominy dominy, the convention center shall be here" or the Alliance will make a recommendation to the Council, by which time, Billy Bob will have purchased (for a song) all of the adjacent land, which he'll of course be able to count on the city for assistance with TIF districts, etc., and Billy Bob will now be able to phone up his councilmen, reminding them that he helped get them elected and that if they wanted to keep his support, they'd vote for this project. And in either of these hypotheticals, all of the insider dealing would be closed to the public. We'd get an exciting press release/story in the Oklahoman telling us about this exciting new development Billy Bob is building, or that the convention center will be located in a certain place (and the why shall ever remain a mystery).

That IS the sort of thing the OIA engaged in, and when they were exposed to the light of day, they basically shut down. But now, the AG is Scott Pruitt, an individual who has a professional history of being the lackey of OKC's billionaires' club, so don't expect him to do anything.

[Doug Loudenback]

Here is the actual discussion had before the City Council on April 12:

Catherine O'Connor's Presentation



Responses by Pete White, Larry McAtee, David Grenwell, & Skip Kelly



Responses by Patrick Ryan, Meg Salyer, Gary Marrs, and Ed Shadid



Additional Comments by Pete White on Momentum Committee

[soonerguru]

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind after today's tawdry editorial that OPUBCO (Oklahoman) is at the center of this cabal. I have some advice for Ed Shadid: be yourself and stand up to this institutional corruption. Don't worry. We have your back and we'll support you even more in the next election. You've already defeated these nitwits once. We'll make sure you're reelected by an even bigger margin next time, and by then, the Joklahoman will have hemorrhaged another 100,000 readers or so.

[Hunt4Mayor]

And Today, can you believe it! The Editorial Staff gets Martin Vander Laan (GM of The Skirvin) to write an article about the Skirvin (which as we recall O'conner helped put the deal together on) and the wonders of public-private partnerships. Now let me state I totally supported bringing back The Skirvin. I even had a website savetheskirvin.com in the late 90s (Didn't do much with it) and loved talking to my Grandmother about the old days of the place and how great it would be to get it back and running. Anyway, here is an Interesting excerpt that basically says we need to vote for the Alliance or we'll never get stuff like this again, maybe just more Waffle Houses or something:

"One of the first things I noticed was the Skirvin's place in this city. The relationship is both charming and unique. It is a testament to the exceptional civic pride of this community. It also has its roots in the successful public-private partnership Oklahoma City has developed with the hotel. The vision our city leaders had a decade ago to initiate this partnership is still paying dividends to this community. Lastly, it comes from the history this iconic hotel has in Oklahoma City and the hotel industry. She is truly the star. "


link here

[Doug Loudenback]

Here is a collage of comments relating to the Momentum Committee (Sam Bowman 3/1) and others during the discussion of the proposed Alliance (Pete White (x2), Ed Shadid, and citizen Dr. Jack Warner) on April 12. The Alliance issue will again be on the city council's agenda on April 26.

[barnold]

Wow!!! Is the council finally waking up with the influx of new blood? Another Great Time for us to say "We told you so!" I hope that everyone caught that the Convention Center will NOT be viable unless paired with a Convention Center Hotel and will cost the taxpayers at least an additional $50 Million. The initial study of the feasibility of a convention center told our city leaders this prior to the MAPS3 vote but they buried it. And if you catch the inference by council members they knew it was coming as well..........Trust is something that must be earned. Especially after being lied to time and time again.

[Hunt4Mayor]

Facebook - Citizens Against The Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City

[OSUFan]

Wow!!! Is the council finally waking up with the influx of new blood? Another Great Time for us to say "We told you so!" I hope that everyone caught that the Convention Center will NOT be viable unless paired with a Convention Center Hotel and will cost the taxpayers at least an additional $50 Million. The initial study of the feasibility of a convention center told our city leaders this prior to the MAPS3 vote but they buried it. And if you catch the inference by council members they knew it was coming as well..........Trust is something that must be earned. Especially after being lied to time and time again.

I don't think the need for a Convention Center Hotel has ever been a secret. It was actually discussed frequently during the campaign.

[barnold]

The need for the CC Hotel has never been a secret. In fact it was part of the initial study. What was swept under the rug was the fact that $50+ million in public subsidies will be needed to make the Hotel portion come to life. Missed that little tid bit of information in the pro Maps3 ads didn't they? Wonder where they'll pull that money from when the time comes.

[soonerguru]

I don't think the need for a Convention Center Hotel has ever been a secret. It was actually discussed frequently during the campaign.

O......K....... I'll take your word for it, but if it was discussed, was it also discussed that the taxpayers would ultimately be on the hook for it? If so, please cite the source. I recall nothing about this.

Personally, I was a huge MAPS supporter, and I'm not even opposed to subsidizing a major convention hotel, as long as it is an awesome and recognized major brand, like a Grand Hyatt, Leows, Four Seasons, or something on that level.

Still, this doesn't meet the smell test for transparency.

[Larry OKC]

Not sure about the "frequency", but it was mentioned mainly in passing in most of the mainstream media (if I run across it I will post it). Just as the Phase 1/Phase 2 was mentioned but glossed over (that we are only getting Phase 1 w/MAPS 3). The first mention I recall about the public possibly being on the hook for $50 to $60M in subsidy for the Hotel was during the ULI presentation. Was that before or after the MAPS 3 vote? The Chamber's C.C. study mentioned it but it mentioned that there were various financing methods that could be used (don't recall a cost estimate or breakdown mentioned of subsidy with it), just number of rooms needed and the like.

Along the same lines as the Mayor says he mentioned the $30M substation costs in numerous speeches but no one else seems to remember it and so far, copies of those speeches haven't been produced/links to published sources and the like. Right now it is a "He said"/"They said" where different people are remembering the same events differently.

[Hunt4Mayor]

I hear a new agreement put forth by The Alliance will be out Tomorrow to try and get more Council Members on board. Seems like they may not have the votes just yet...

[Pete]

Today it was announced that JoeVan Bullard is resigning as head of OCURA and that this new non-profit will likely be taking over their operations, with Larry Nichols coming back on board as Chairman:

http://newsok.com/joevan-bullard-res...adlines_widget

[Midtowner]

Then it seems it's a done deal.

[BoulderSooner]

Today it was announced that JoeVan Bullard is resigning as head of OCURA and that this new non-profit will likely be taking over their operations, with Larry Nichols coming back on board as Chairman:

http://newsok.com/joevan-bullard-res...adlines_widget

larry nichols was appointed a few weeks to the OCURA board by the council .. he was then elected chairman ...

the ocura board voted to go into negotitions with the Alliance .. not done yet ..


they will need a new director .. the alliance proposal makes cathy occonor the new OCURA director ..

[soonerguru]

I'm frankly glad to see Joe Van go. Geez. I couldn't stand that guy. Still, I'm getting tired of Larry Nichols throwing his weight around on everything. Who appointed him king of OKC? He's a good guy but he has some really backward views as well.

[Larry OKC]

I am a little confused on this, isn't OCURA a public trust (entity of the City)? Yet the Alliance is a non-profit, non-City entity, that Cathy O'Conner (current Asst City Manager) is going to head up and also be the new Director of OCURA??? Is she keeping her City job too?

[Hunt4Mayor]

Perhaps. But just look at the agreement "...The City agrees to assign certain City employees to the Alliance to carry out the scope of work. " This is a pretty sweet deal for the Alliance, terrible for most everyone else. Please everyone consider attending AND speaking at City Council on Tuesday. Got to sway the Council voters on this one. It's not impossible. Skip and David, if they care about their wards, should vote no. Pete probably will and Ed too. McAtee isn't to crazy about this thing...so, we shall see.

[Popsy]

I'm frankly glad to see Joe Van go. Geez. I couldn't stand that guy. Still, I'm getting tired of Larry Nichols throwing his weight around on everything. Who appointed him king of OKC? He's a good guy but he has some really backward views as well.

Would you mind detailing some of Larry Niichols' backward views as I am unaware of them? Until I hear otherwise factually, I would consider him the least corruptable and the most positive force in advancing OKC.

[SouthsideSooner]

Would you mind detailing some of Larry Niichols' backward views as I am unaware of them? Until I hear otherwise factually, I would consider him the least corruptable and the most positive force in advancing OKC.

I agree with you, Popsy...and while I understand the concerns about a lack of transparency, I can't think of anyone I would rather see as Chairman of OCURA than Larry Nichols. If he feels like the Alliance is the best way to move Urban Renewal forward and get things done in an expedited manner, I would be in favor of trusting his judgement...

[Pete]

As a reminder, Nichols was on the OCURA board for quite some time until recently. IIRC he resigned just as Devon entered into negotiations with the city to buy the parking garage and land for Devon Tower.

So, he's been involved with OCURA for quite some time, although his role as chairman is new. If anything, that can be a reduction in power because the chairman typically only votes (like when selecting a developer for the Mercy site) when there is a stalemate.

[Doug Loudenback]

Major changes to the original proposed contract between the Alliance and the city and various trusts now appear at the city's website. To see the April 26 agenda documents, go here and find agenda item VIII (Items Requiring Separate Vote -- last time, the item was on the Consent Docket), sub-item A. Three PDF files are located there.

The first is a cover memo from Jim Couch, City Manager, dated April 26, 2011, and significant excerpts from it read as follows:

Since the April 12, 2011 deferment, staff has met with Councilmembers Ed Shadid and Pete White and as result of the meeting, amendments were proposed. The proposed amendments were agreeable to The Alliance, who also proposed an amendment. The revisions are as follows:

The first paragraph of Section 3 has been amended at the request of The Alliance to read as follows (underlined is new language):

"On behalf of itself and on behalf of its sole beneficiary, The City of Oklahoma City (a party with beneficial interest in this Agreement), the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust engages The Alliance and The Alliance agrees to provide the professional services and resources which include, without limitation, managerial services, administrative services, professional economic development and redevelopment services, and other contract professional services and resources needed to accomplish the Scope of Work and to carry out the economic development programs undertaken or supported by the City and/or the Trust in furtherance of economic development and redevelopment within the City. It is agreed that the Board of Directors of The Alliance will not and shall not make public policy decisions regarding economic development, which decisions will remain with and shall be made by the City Council of The City of Oklahoma City, the Trustees of the Trust, and other public bodies."

Section 4(E) has been amended at the request of The City/Trust to read as follows (underlined is new language):

E. The parties agree that The Alliance is responsible to the General Manager, the Program Coordinator, and to the Trust for its day-to-day operations in providing the professional services and resources contracted for under this Agreement; for the accomplishment of the responsibilities
set forth in Section 3; for accomplishment of the Scope of Work; and for providing any required or requested professional contract services, periodic Reports and for attendance at any required periodic meetings. The periodic Reports shall include, but not be limited to, a financial report/statement itemizing the use or expenditure of all public funds received by The Alliance during the current fiscal year. The President/CEO of The Alliance shall submit any required Reports to the Program Coordinator for processing.

At the request of The City/Trust the prior Section 12 has been stricken in its entirety and replaced with the following mutual agreeable language (all new):

SECTION 12. DISCLOSURE OF DOCUMENTS.

The parties recognize that a purpose of this Agreement is to allow Oklahoma City to participate in the most effective manner possible in the national and international competition for local economic development and job creation, with the further recognition that premature disclosure of economic development prospects may lead to the elimination of Oklahoma City from economic development competitions. It is further acknowledged that The Alliance will not make public policy decisions regarding economic development, but that the Oklahoma City Council, the trustees of the Trust and other public bodies will make such public policy decisions and that documents and records coming into the possession of these public bodies, or their employees or representatives will be subject to public inspection. It is also recognized that the citizens of Oklahoma City have a legitimate interest in having the opportunity to inspect documents associated with economic development.

In an effort to give balance to these factors, the parties agree as follows:

A. Certain professional services to be rendered by The Alliance in fulfilling the Scope of Work have previously been performed by City employees. All documents and records that come into the possession of City employees, including those assigned to assist The Alliance, shall be available for public inspection to the extent required by the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

B. All documents and records of The Alliance directly related to Scope of Work shall be available for public inspection, except as otherwise provided by this Section.

C. All final studies or reports procured by The Alliance shall be subject to public inspection regardless of the funding source. Any preliminary or interim study or report received by The Alliance or any of its employees or agents, funded directly or indirectly with public funds received from the City or any public trust or entity, shall be subject to public inspection if the study or report is abandoned or terminated for any reason.

D. The Alliance shall not be obligated to make available for public inspection the following:

(i) Business plans, feasibility studies, financing proposals, marketing plans, financial statements or trade secrets submitted by a person or entity seeking economic advice, business development or customized training from The Alliance. However, those documents may not be kept confidential when and to the extent the person or entity submitting the information consents to disclosure.

(ii) Proprietary information of the business submitted to The Alliance for the purpose of business development or customized training, and related confidentiality agreements detailing the information or records designated as confidential.

(iii) Except as provided in Subsection (C) above, preliminary and working drafts of documents and records.

(iv) Documents and records that disclose a prospective economic development prospect or location and related financial data and other information in the possession of The Alliance for the purpose of evaluating and advancing an economic development prospect. Documents and records exempt from public disclosure by this Subsection (iv) shall nonetheless be made available for public inspection one year after the work of The Alliance terminates with respect to an economic development prospect.

(v) Those materials that would not be subject the Oklahoma Open Records Act if The Alliance were a governmental entity subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

E. The receipt of any request by the City Clerk or Secretary of the Trust for public inspection of documents in the possession of The Alliance shall be promptly forwarded to The Alliance, which shall respond to such request in a timely manner.

F. Nothing herein is intended to alter or impact otherwise legally required compliance with the Oklahoma Open Records Act by any person or entity.

Couch's memo contains some further explanation but I see nothing else new in it as yet. I'll have all of the new stuff in this blog article shortly, as well as other relevant information about the Alliance and the complete city council discussion and action taken on April 26.

[Midtowner]

I like the changes, and the disclosures part, at least on my initial review, looks to balance the public's interest with the city's interest in keeping certain aspects of economic development confidential.

It is very encouraging to see the Council's and public's concerns being heeded.