Norman Oversight Committee Meeting on October 9, 2025: Opportunity Knox and Portable Restroom Updates
Norman Oversight Committee Meeting – October 9, 2025
The Oversight Committee met on October 9, 2025, to receive updates on the Opportunity Knox litter abatement and wraparound services program, and to discuss new portable restroom options for city parks. The meeting featured detailed presentations by Environmental and Sustainability Manager Michelle Ladenbach and staff member Jason Olson.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar was provided or discussed.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony were presented.
Discussion Items
Opportunity Knox Program Update (June–September 2025)
- Program Overview: Michelle Ladenbach presented the results of the first quarter operation (June to September) of the Opportunity Knox program. The program is a joint city–Mental Health Association of Oklahoma initiative that combines litter cleanup with wraparound services to help participants achieve stability. It is funded by opioid settlement funds and a city allocation.
- Cleanup Results: 89 participants have ridden the van; the program collected 32.9 tons of litter, putting it on track to nearly double the highest prior annual totals (previous high was 29 tons in 2023). The crew focuses on city-owned property, stormwater easements, priority mowing areas, and resident service requests.
- Wraparound Services Outcomes: 57 participants have elected to receive services; 2 were referred for permanent housing, 2 for recovery services, 5 for benefit applications, 11 for medical referrals, and 6 for mental health referrals. 64% enrolled in the employment program (benchmark 10%), 100% submitted job applications, and 3 participants have already secured permanent jobs (at Taco Mayo, Salvation Army, and one other employer). 7% have achieved stable employment (against 25% benchmark).
- Partnerships: A new partnership with Goodwill will provide certification programs in forklift operation, customer service, unarmed security, and warehouse work.
- Budget: Approximately 25% of the budget has been spent, with a vacant van driver position temporarily covered by an employment specialist.
- Participant Recruitment: Participants are recruited from City Care, food and shelter providers, and the drop-in center. Pickup locations are flexible and based on participant preference.
- Future Steps: Fill the van driver position, expand beautification efforts and employer/partner relationships, and issue quarterly reports.
- Councilmember Holman praised the program and noted that reported litter corridors were addressed within a day. Councilmember Grant highlighted that the opioid settlement funding provides an 18-year horizon for the program. Councilmember Deansbury requested brochures for distribution at hospitals.
Portable Restroom Options Update
- Good to Go: A vendor offering QR-code-based restroom access for retail spaces. The system provides a timestamp but no user feedback or data collection. It is not designed for park use and would require integration with surveillance systems.
- Throne Labs: A more complete solution—a self-contained, ADA-accessible, air-conditioned/heated mobile restroom that can be moved quarterly. Features include QR-code access with user registration (including cards for unhoused individuals without phones), 24/7 monitoring, timed use, and ability to revoke access for bad actors. Cleaning can be arranged 1–3 times per day.
- Cost and Installation: Throne Labs units cost about $80,000 per year (lease), compared to a permanent Portland Loo at $225,000–$250,000 plus $100,000–$150,000 for installation.
- Considerations: Throne Labs requires 15 units in the metro area to reach critical mass for maintenance. The city is interested in 2–3 units, potentially placed at Andrews Park, downtown, and a rotating location. Other possible sites include Reeves Park and Saxon Park (which currently has no restroom).
- Councilmember Holman raised concerns about QR-code access for unhoused individuals and suggested gathering data on cell phone ownership among shelter users. Councilmember Grant noted that the lease model makes the program flexible and could be funded through hotel bed tax revenue.
Key Outcomes
- Opportunity Knox: Committee members expressed strong support for the program and its dual mission. The committee agreed to receive quarterly updates going forward.
- Portable Restrooms: No formal decision was made. The committee will hear a full presentation from Throne Labs at the next Oversight Committee meeting.
Meeting Adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
He's going to just joke once it right. Just gonna say the charms up. Sorry. Hi. Good afternoon and welcome to the Oversight Committee, our October 9th, 2025. First on the agenda is an update on the Opportunity Knox program. Sweet. Hi, I'm Michelle Ladenbach, and I'm your environmental and sustainability manager. And today I'm gonna talk a little bit about a better way, Opportunity Knox. It's our day beautification litter program with wrap around services. That's prior. Well, I'll go into that during the PowerPoint. But before I do that, I want to highlight that we have some great things coming up on October 18th. We have a cleanup at Sutton Wilderness. On October 26th is the Lake Thunderbird workshopping cleanup event at the state park. November 15th is e-waste. Everyone loves that one. It's gonna be at Westwood Aquatics Center though this year because of the construction at Jenkins right now. So and then on the 16th, we'll be cleaning up Colonial Estates Park. So I hope somebody will join us at those. All right, a better way opportunity knobs. Just to remind everyone, originally, oh, and to tell people who don't know yet. Originally, the litter program was designed to do open dumping abatement, to do litter control, crew stuff, to do water quality improvement. Water quality, yes, part of our TMDL stuff. Um ABWAC has a dual focus though, because now it's doing those litter crew functions, but also have the wraparound services to try to lead to a pathway of stability, right? It's managed by Mental Health Association of Oklahoma. This is Ronnie Warrior, he's the program manager, and it's overseen by the city. The purpose, a cleaner community, but also a pathway to stability. And it's funded by the opioid settlement funds and a city allocation. All right, so how does it work? Well, we have a van. It's a roving outreach van, and on a two-week period, so it's a two-week period, they take up to eight participants. It's voluntary, so they don't force eight people to come on, but up to eight people can participate for the two-week period. It's a series of three days doing litter control one week, two days doing it that the next week. The days that they're off is when they do wraparound services. So that's how the program works. Um $65 per day is the daily wage, and of course it's low barrier. There are no applications or anything like that. Participant impact, there's a daily wage and a pathway to stability, community impact, cleaner community, and also I feel like improved community relations, right? For everyone. So here's the staffing model. They do have four um permanent positions within ABWAC. You met Ronnie Warrior, the program manager. Right now, we did have an internal promotion. I was very excited. The van driver was promoted to the employment specialist, which means the van driver position is now open. It's being covered by the employment specialist, but it's open and it will be filled soon. Let's talk about results though, right? That's what we really want to hear. What have they done?
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