Tulsa City Council Rejects Cooperation Pact

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The City of Tulsa and Tulsa County won't be collaborating on common issues – at least formally – anytime soon. The City Council turned down a resolution that called for the two overlapping governments to study ways to economize and improve services by working together.

Councilor GT Bynum spearheaded the effort, but a majority of councilors objected to it, citing everything from slow payments from the county for city utilities, to the fear it would lead to consolidation of the governments.

"There are a lot of areas to look at, areas we can work together, without talking about controversial areas like public safety," Bynum said.

He said the agreement was set up to address problems "in a way that doesn't open up complicated problems that don't need to exist."

The City Council vote turned down the resolution to form a "Collaborative Government Advisory Committee."

Read The Resolution

The committee would be composed of 10 members. Five would be appointed by the chair of the Tulsa County Commission, one by the Mayor of Tulsa, and four by the Tulsa City Council.

The resolution stated both governments should "coordinate efforts and maximize efficiencies." It does not specifically mention police services, but limits the review to areas that do not include the work of sheriff's deputies and police officers.

The potential use of sheriff's deputies to fill gaps in the police department is a continuing controversy between the police officer's union and the administration.

The resolution limited the scope of the review to areas such as shared facilities, purchasing, support functions and tax collection. It does state the committee should explore areas where "joint government ventures are in the public's best interest."

The committee was to study issues and make recommendations to the Mayor, Council and County Commission about which ideas deserve further consideration. It would not have had any authority to merge any functions between the governments.

Before voting against the resolution, City Councilor Chris Trail said, "There's a lot of nervous, anxious people about this."

Councilor Jack Henderson chided councilor Bynum and said, "I don't know why you keep pushing this forward then it's obvious we're not ready to go that direction."