Tulsa City Council Questions Utility Bill Negotiations

By Emory Bryan, The News on 6

TULSA, OK -- A new controversy erupted Tuesday during a meeting of the Tulsa City Council over a $239,000 utility bill for Tulsa County.

The City of Tulsa provides utilities for the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, but Tulsa County has not paid a portion of its bill in a dispute over the City of Tulsa's annexation of the landlocked fairgrounds.

Tulsa City Councilor Bill Christiansen said he has an email that shows Tulsa County Commissioner Fred Perry was communicating about a possible deal with Mayor's Chief of Staff Terry Simonson via a personal e-mail account.

Read Fred Perry's email to Terry Simonson

Jeff Mulder, Director of Transportation for the City of Tulsa, didn't have an answer when he was asked why the two might be communicating outside of their government email accounts, but said the administration would be meeting again Thursday with Tulsa County and he would brief the council next Tuesday on the status of negotiations.

City Councilors are demanding more transparency in the negotiations.

Councilor Jack Henderson said without the email, "We would never know the kind of back door deals that's being made and the council at some point could be responsible for a deal we know nothing about. That puzzles me."

3/31/2010 Related story: City Of Tulsa To Discuss Legal Action Against Tulsa County