Owasso City Council Accepts City Manager's Resignation

After a month-long investigation, the Owasso City Council accepted the resignation of City Manager Rodney Ray Tuesday night.

Ray had been on paid administrative leave for the past 4 weeks, while the city council investigated him. He'll leave office on July 1, 2013.

Ray has been embroiled in two controversies, one personal and one professional.

One has to do with an internal investigation over his request to erase a video of Vice Mayor Chris Kelley's traffic stop and improperly handling a donation from a reserve police officer.

Ray was also charged in Tulsa County with writing a bad check and filing a false police report about it.

6/18/2013 Related Story: Owasso City Manager Accused Of Demanding Police Tapes Be Destroyed

"If you think you've covered it all, you're probably going to get in trouble, so we've tried to vet just about everything that's come to us as closely as we could, make sure that were making the rights decisions. And I believe we have," said Owasso Mayor Doug Bonebrake.

The city council appointed Assistant City Manager Warren Lehr as the Interim City Manager.

"There are so many good things happening that we just need to keep moving forward with full transparency," Lehr said.

Citizens we spoke to are hoping the next city manager keeps them filled in on city business.

"We would like to know...more about what goes on behind closed doors and things, and the citizens of Owasso deserve that," said Dian Finnell, of the Owasso Taxpayer Alliance.

According to the resignation agreement, Ray will receive a lump sum of $60,073 in severance pay, which the contract says is the same as six months of his salary. Owasso will also pay Ray $100,000 in deferred compensation next month, and another $25,000 at the end of the year.

6/24/2013 Related Story: Owasso City Council Expected To Accept City Manager's Resignation Tuesday