Tulsa City Council Sued Over Contentious Executive Session

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK --  Three Tulsa residents are suing the city council because they say the council  violated Oklahoma's Open Meeting Act.

Their lawsuit claims the council overstepped its legal bounds by excluding Mayor Dewey Bartlett from an executive session on June 17th.

That was the day councilors discussed their investigation of Mayor Dewey Bartlett and what his chief of staff Terry Simonson said about federal grant money the city was seeking for the police department.

The suit claims the council had no legal right to exclude the mayor from their closed meeting.

Violation of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act is a misdemeanor.  Anyone convicted of violating the Act can be punished by a fine of up to $500 and a year in jail.

The lawsuit against the council is a civil lawsuit, and the citizens who filed it are seeking the release of all the council's records from that day.