Q&A with David Greenwell as he prepares to say farewell to OKC city council

While 13 candidates filed to run for Oklahoma City's city council last week, the city council's current longest-serving member has decided not to seek reelection.

David Greenwell, who was elected to represent Ward 5 in 2011, will have served 12 years on the city council when his successor is sworn in next May. Greenwell was formerly a partner with the accounting firm RSM US LLP. In 2020, Greenwell retired and began working as an assistant professor at Oklahoma Baptist University teaching accounting. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Since serving on the Oklahoma City Council, Greenwell has seen the city implement MAPS 3 and begin to implement MAPS 4, has become an advocate for better public transit and increased safety for bicyclists, and was involved in the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also has served on several city council committees as well as city boards and trusts.

Greenwell said his time serving Ward 5, during which he said he tried to take a listen-first approach, has been "a great honor."

"It's been very enjoyable, but it's like anything," Greenwell said. "You can eat too much ice cream or too much cake. It's time to slow down."

The Oklahoman sat down with the accountant-turned-city-councilor-turned-professor to discuss why he isn't running for reelection and his experience on the city council.

Here's what he said.

Why did you decide not to run for reelection?

"It's mainly just due to my schedule. When I was in public accounting, and our offices were just a half a block from City Hall, it was very easy for me to attend meetings. My schedule was much more flexible.

"Now that I teach full time, I have to be here for classes at certain times. And the administration has been great in working around my schedule on Tuesdays, the day we have city council meetings, but outside of that — and there are other requirements, in terms of committee meetings and things like that — it just makes it extremely challenging for me to do all that. …

"I didn't realize the time commitment that is involved in being a full-time professor. It's more than just going to class. The prep time, and I prep for every class in terms of reading the material, and then creating the exams, grading, working with students, plus I'm working on my doctorate degree. … So that's added a lot of time requirements going through all the coursework for that."

What made you decide to run for city council in the first place?

"The quick and easy answer is, I just didn't think we were being represented in a manner that I thought we should be, we being Ward 5. Interestingly enough, the longer I stayed on the council, the more that faded. I began to recognize, we were probably being represented in a very good manner. I just didn't realize that.

"It's hard for people to understand what's involved with serving on the city council unless you've gone through the experience. An issue may arise, say in your neighborhood, that you're very concerned about. But that's just one small aspect of what we have to address. It's complicated. I don't want to use that as an end-all, but it's more complicated than what appears to be the issues that we may vote on. There's a lot of other aspects involved with serving on the city council."

Tell me about the more interesting aspects of your service on city council. Is there anything you specifically pushed for?

"This is where the lack of excitement is going to show up. I perceive my role as being one of nine votes, representing a segment of Oklahoma City, Ward 5. I try to do as much listening, whether it's attending homeowners' association meetings, phone calls, emails, people coming down to City Hall to address the City Council on certain issues.

"I try to gain as much perspective and insight from those forms of communication, and ... a lot of these issues, they're just seeing maybe one perspective or one side of it, and we're provided with a lot of information. So I try to vote in a manner that I believe the majority of the residents (and) voters of Ward 5 would agree with, if they had the same amount of information that's provided to each member of the city council.

"And then I also have to say this, I do this from a biblical worldview. It's just a part of my nature. And so I try to take that into consideration in my decision-making. And so I'm probably going to look at things differently based upon my age, my life experiences and my education than someone who may be 25 or 30 years old, based upon their age, education and life experiences. Those things we can't transfer. I'm stuck with mine. You have yours. I try to be empathetic towards everyone and recognize that there are differences of opinions. But at the end of the day, you still have to make a decision."

Did you agree with the city's handling of COVID-19, including a mask ordinance?

"I did. At first, we were, like a lot of areas, I think we were doing too much. I mean, proposals to stop church services. That's something that I can remember. People wanting to eliminate access to the YMCA and gymnasiums, which I was totally against, because … just to work out was very healthy mentally, in addition to physically. So at first there's too much concern I thought. And then we gravitated towards 'Well, let's at least have a mask requirement.'

"And finally it was like in March or maybe April, we eliminated any type of requirement … We evolved, we gained a better understanding, more data became available to us.

"And that's the part that I think I'm still frustrated at times, that we as a city council don't necessarily strive to get as much data as is available out there. Now it requires some work on our part, (but) we shouldn't be so eager to accept a proposal to do something just because it worked in another municipality. And that's more often than what it should be, in my opinion, the reason why we say we should do something is because it worked in another location."

How many hours did you put into the job?

"When I had the ability to, it could be unlimited, meaning that job will accommodate as many hours as you have available. I would say on average, it would be 15 to 20 hours a week. If you go to your various committee meetings, and you get brought in on issues that will be coming up before the council — because we get briefed on issues that we see on the horizon that will be coming up — go into those briefings, have interactions with other members of the council, with staff, just getting data, looking at stuff. Yeah, 15 to 20 hours a week is not uncommon.

"In public accounting, my standard work week was 60 hours year-round and then during certain timeframes it was up to 70-plus hours. So there's a limit."

Describe some of the challenges from your time on city council?

"When I joined the Council in 2011, MAPS 3 had been approved. And we were going through, that summer, the process of selecting priorities, which program would be completed next, which was enjoyable. The first few years were exceedingly enjoyable.

"We had a great camaraderie that does not exist today. When I joined the Council, we were not concerned with one ward receiving more attention than another ward. Nowadays, it's devolved to a mindset of protecting your ward in terms of having access to resources.

"The first, I'd say, eight years were very enjoyable. When somebody had an issue developing in their ward, the whole council would look at it and try to provide input. For example, James Greiner had an issue in terms of vacant apartments out on NW 10th … they had been abandoned for 15-plus years. That was his ward, his main focus, but we all shared with that concern and anytime he had recommendations or suggestions to improve upon it, we just readily went along with him."

What do you feel like you are taking away from the experience?

"I have a much better understanding of people, because you will encounter all sorts of people. You see people doing exceedingly great things in our community, and you get to meet them.

"I am exposed to so much more information than what I would have read on my own. It has been very educational.

"I would encourage everybody, not just people that have a political mindset, but everybody should attempt to run for an elected office, whether it's school board, municipal office, state or county, because it's a snapshot, or a microcosm, of life.

"When I first ran for city council, I didn't know what I was doing … I jumped into it without any background. And what happens is you meet people who say, especially before you decide to run for office, 'Well, I'm backing you 100%,' … and then they never show. And then on the other hand, you've got people you've never met before. And they go, 'I enjoyed what you had to say, and how can I help?'

"Which is what we experience in life. We'll have great moments of uplifting experiences where people have come to help you without any prior relationship. And then you'll also encounter people that you've had previous relationships with that just didn't come through, right when you thought they would."

Will you endorse any candidates running for Ward 5?

"No, I will stay completely out of it. Really, it's up to the voters. They should be the ones making that decision, and I shouldn't attempt to influence them one way or the other."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Councilman David Greenwell is not seeking a fourth term