Ward 5 council challenger looking to build trust, communication

Jan. 30—A California resident and business owner who moved to Norman for a better life five years ago has entered the race for the City Council's Ward 5 seat.

Cindi Tuccillo said she wants to see Norman avoid the mistakes California has made with policies that affect the lives of residents.

She promises to build trust and communication in her ward and find solutions to problems faced by her ward and the city.

Tuccillo, 62, a realtor, will face incumbent Rarchar Tortorello and former council member Michael Nash in a Feb. 14 primary election. Council terms last two years.

The ward faces a new challenge as the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority plans to build two new toll roads in Norman, one of them in the ward's Lake Thunderbird Watershed — the city's primary source of drinking water.

Knocking doors in the ward revealed the matters on the minds of voters, and the top complaint is not the turnpike, Tuccillo said.

"Probably the number one issue is homelessness," she said.

Tuccillo said she watched hundreds of homelessness programs fail in Los Angeles, where some family members still live. On a recent visit back home, she learned people drive through that city to see the homeless because it's become a "tourist attraction."

The causes of homelessness have to be addressed, Tuccillo said.

"Most of it is substance abuse," she said. "We need to get a handle on substance abuse."

Programs that address the underlying causes and offer a "hand up" and not a "hand out" are policies that make sense, she said.

"Before we take care of the situation and the problem, we've got to stop the bleeding," she added.

The turnpike issue has come up on Tuccillo's campaign radar as residents worry about the encroaching development it could bring to the ward.

"Ward 5 is a gift to Norman and it needs to remain that way," she said.

Those concerns in mind, Tuccillo said the ward also needs to consider itself as "part of a whole" and that policies for prosperity affect the ward as well.

A water rate increase, she noted, would have helped the city maintain its water supply without harming the ward. Voters declined the increase last year.

"We need to be conscientious and not just vote it down because it doesn't affect us," she said. "We want them to flourish because that will keep us safe with what we've got. We need to see ourselves as part of the community, but not lose our identity."

After the water rate increase failed, a city commissioned a study revealed one of the reasons voters declined to support it was a lack of trust in local government.

Tuccillo hopes to change that and said playing partisan politics is not in her playbook.

"I think we need to be diligent in giving information to citizens," she said. "We have to quite allowing activists on both sides to manipulate the message."

If elected, Tuccillo said she will ensure the message is clear, unlike the message she said residents got on the recent OG&E franchise agreement election — another voter approved initiative that failed.

The agreement gives legal right for the utility provider to access city right-of-ways and ensures a franchise fee is paid to the city.

"People don't trust what they don't understand," Tuccillo said. "I was asking people and I was having a hard time understanding, 'what is it are we actually voting on?'"

Tuccillo said she decided to seek the seat because she loves Norman.

"When my kids and grandkids asked me why I was running, I told them it was because 'I love you and I love the city you're growing up in,'" she said. "When you love something, you step up and fight for it and you do whatever it takes to make it better."

Tuccillo brings with her to Norman years of experience as a business owner in California, where she operated a landscaping business with husband Frank. In Norman, Frank is a general contractor.

She believes that her experiences with accounts, contracts and permits will serve her well on council and to help new businesses find a better experience at City Hall.

Tuccillo graduated with honors from Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California, in 1978.

She has volunteered for numerous nonprofits, including Desert Streams Food Pantry, ZOE International, a human trafficking prevention organization, and the Santa Clarita Homeschool Sports League.