Tulsa Mayor Open To Mediation With City Council

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK – Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said Friday he wants to begin mediation with the Tulsa City Council over a variety of issues.

"We must act now," Bartlett said. "We need to identify our common ground and begin working together again as soon as possible."

The two groups have clashed over several issues: federal grant money used to rehire Tulsa Police Officers, in which the city accused Bartlett and his Chief of Staff Terry Simonson of lying.  

The Council also filed an ethics complaint against Bartlett on Tuesday, August 10th. The  complaint is based on Bartlett's use of free legal services from Wohlgemuth, who is also a contract attorney for the City of Tulsa. Wohlgemuth, according to the Mayor's spokesman, has pledged to take no city work while he is representing Bartlett.

Both groups took a step in the right direction Thursday after meeting with two retired judges about whether they could repair the mayor and council relationship.

8/12/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Mayor And The City Council Consider Mediation

"We have too many other important issues that we need to solve together instead of spending more time on these differences," Bartlett said in a statement Friday.

The Mayor said he would like to start mediation next week.