Canadian County prosecutor won't charge city with crime for violating meeting act

Feb. 15—A Canadian County prosecutor said Wednesday the city of Norman did not intentionally violate the state's Open Meeting Act in 2020 and will not be charged with a crime.

Assistant District Attorney Tommy Humphries said in a statement the City Council and city staff did not intend to violate the act.

"The wording of the agenda item in question violated the letter of the law," Humphries' statement read. "City staff, Mayor and Council all should have known the wording was defective.

"However, there was no evidence of a deliberate effort to violate the Act, stifle public participation or obscure the citizenry's understanding of government processes."

The Fraternal Order of Police sued the city in 2020 after the council voted to cut the police department's proposed budget by $865,000.

A district court judge and the Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed the city willfully violated the act because the budget amendment voted on by the council did not appear with others listed on the agenda.

At the time, the council was comprised of Mayor Breea Clark; Kate Bierman (Ward 1); Joe Carter (Ward 2); Alison Petrone (Ward 3); Lee Hall (Ward 4); Sereta Wilson (Ward 5); Bill Scanlon (Ward 6); Stephen Holman (Ward 7) and Alex Scott (Ward 8).

In his statement, Humphries noted the council had set aside the police budget after public outcry to cut funding erupted during the June 9 meeting when the city's annual budget was to be adopted.

The council scheduled a second meeting June 16 to allow for more public comment.

"These actions had the actual effect of promoting the goals of the OMA because it gave the public additional time and opportunity to participate in the discussion," his statement read. "It allowed for more public participation and more public scrutiny."

Reached late Wednesday, FOP attorney Stan Ward said he'd like to understand why the district attorney did not interpret a willful violation as intentional.

"The court basically found a way to say a willful violation doesn't mean what the dictionary says it means, or the law says it means, that both those sources say its a deliberate or intentional act," Ward said.

The word intent is missing from the language of a 1984 Oklahoma Attorney General Opinion which defined a willful violation of the Open Meeting Act "to include any act or omission which has the effect of actually deceiving or misleading the public regarding the scope of matters to be taken up at the meeting."

Ward said he was not surprised by the decision not to prosecute.

"The moral to be gained by this story is count on a state white collar crime, go ahead and commit one and count on a prosecutor to find a way not to prosecute it," he said.

Case history

Following the judge's ruling in Dec. 2020, Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to determine if there was a criminal violation of the Open Meeting Act, The Transcript reported.

In November, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn recused himself from the case.

Humphries' statement indicated the attorney general then asked Canadian County District Attorney Mike Fields' office to review the OSBI investigation.

Humphries statement indicated the agency's probe determined that the staff conducted its annual budget process as it had in years past and completed the June 16, 2020, meeting agenda without deviation from its normal practices.

"...the investigation showed City staff followed its routine practice to create the meeting agenda," the statement read.

The FOP's lawsuit "served its purpose and was an appropriate and sufficient remedy that cured the violation by invalidating the Council's actions," Humphries' statement read. "Under this narrow set of circumstances, the public interest would not be served by criminal prosecution."

City Attorney Kathryn Walker did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

Mindy Wood covers City and County government news and notable lawsuits for The Transcript. Reach her at mwood@normantranscript.com or 405-416-4420.