Norman City Council Meeting Summary: 2025-11-13
City Council Meeting Summary: November 13, 2025
The Norman City Council convened on November 13, 2025, to review presentations and discuss public safety operations regarding EMS services, as well as the potential implementation of high-tech portable restroom solutions in city parks. The meeting featured detailed overviews from MSTAT (Norman's EMS provider) regarding response metrics, fleet capabilities, and the exploration of subscription service models, followed by a proposal from Throne Labs regarding touchless, automated public restrooms to improve hygiene and reduce loitering.
Consent Calendar
- No routine approvals or unanimous actions were formally listed; the council proceeded directly to substantive discussion items.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Kyle Hurley (MSTAT): Expressed support for the current hospital-based EMS model, highlighting strong survey scores and partnerships with Norman Fire and Police. He stated that the current system pushes money back into the health system and expressed willingness to explore a subscription service model if the council provided consensus, provided it could be implemented in Norman and Moore simultaneously.
- Ben Simons (Throne Labs): Expressed a personal mission to expand access to clean restrooms, stating a strong belief that clean and delightful restrooms are a human right. He articulated support for a high-tech, touchless solution that utilizes data and accountability features to ensure cleanliness and deter misuse.
- Councilmember Hinkle: Expressed strong support for the Throne Labs concept, noting the high level of service (cleanliness, air conditioning, automated features) compared to current city facilities. He suggested the potential for the company to customize wraps for special events (like OU football) and advocated for expanding the service to include the OU campus and neighboring municipalities.
- Councilmember Bruce: Expressed interest in the scalability of the restroom model, noting that while a single high-end facility might not fit the current budget, a long-term partnership could be cost-effective compared to building permanent facilities which cost upwards of $300,000 to $400,000.
- Councilmember Gainsary: Asked about the potential for shared regional deployment to lower costs, receiving confirmation that a regional consortium (e.g., Norman with Oklahoma City or Moore) could reduce the per-unit investment.
Discussion Items
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MSTAT Agency Overview and Metrics:
- Agency Structure: Kyle Hurley clarified that MSTAT is a department of Norman Regional Health System, not a municipality, and has been the sole EMS provider in Norman since 1995. They operate 21 ambulances and respond to Norman, Moore, Goldsby, and unincorporated areas of Cleveland County.
- Licensure and Special Teams: The presenter detailed the hierarchy of licensures (EMT, EMT-A, Paramedic, Critical Care Paramedic) and introduced specialized units including the Disaster Medical Response Team, Hazardous Materials medics, and the SWAT Medic team working closely with police.
- Special Events: Discussion focused on the "Bike Medic" program at OU football games and the Gilmer Jones Medical Facility. Hurley noted that bike medics are the quickest method for response in stadiums, handling 60-100 contacts per game (heat-related in early season, dropping later) and providing care up to the level of an ER physician.
- Quality and Response Times: The agency reported a Net Promoter Score (NPS) between 72 and 87, indicating strong patient satisfaction. Average 911 response time was cited as 8 minutes and 3 seconds, increasing to 13 minutes for the 73026 zip code, though fire departments provide ALS care in transit. The presenter advocated for decreasing the use of lights and sirens to reduce risk while maintaining response efficiency.
- Transport Volume and Costs: Hurley explained that a drop in call volume (approx. 2,800 calls) was due to the closure of the Porter Campus, shifting patients to Norman Regional Hospital (Helplex). He emphasized that MSTAT does not charge for inter-facility transfers between Norman Regional locations.
- Subscription Service Proposal: The council discussed implementing a subscription service (similar to IMSS in Oklahoma City or Wadleys in Purcell) to cover the gap in patient insurance payments. Hurley stated the health system has not currently adopted this model due to regulatory considerations and the need to offset lost patient revenue, but expressed openness to a study to explore feasibility, potential capital benefits, and implementation mechanics for both Norman and Moore.
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Portable Restroom Implementation:
- Throne Labs Proposal: Ben Simons presented a solution involving smart, touchless portable restrooms that require no permanent water or sewer hookups. Key features include a 10-minute time limit to prevent loitering, automatic cleanliness monitoring via QR code scans, and a 95% uptime rate. The service includes all cleaning, maintenance, and repairs.
- Cost and Deployment: Simons indicated a minimum market entry requirement of 15 to 20 units, with potential to scale to 25-30. The model operates on an annual service fee with no upfront installation costs. Council discussion revealed that while the current city budget cannot absorb the cost of 15-20 units alone, a regional approach involving Norman, Oklahoma City, Moore, or other agencies could make the project feasible.
- Strategic Next Steps: Mayor and Council directed staff to identify potential partner agencies within a 40-mile radius (including Moore, Goldsby, and potentially OU) to consolidate demand. Councilmembers Hinkle and Gainsary emphasized the need to explore how this could be integrated into the fiscal year 2026-27 budget and requested staff to contact counterparts in neighboring cities and Ann Arbor, Michigan, to gauge interest and share best practices.
Key Outcomes
- EMS Discussion: The Council expressed consensus to explore the feasibility of a subscription service for EMS transport, with staff instructed to consult with finance and legal departments and potentially bring back a formal recommendation. This includes working with MSTAT to determine if the health system is open to the venture and how to finance potential capital needs through this new revenue stream.
- Restroom Initiative: The Council directed staff to actively reach out to neighboring municipalities (Oklahoma City, Moore, etc.) and potential partners (OU, local agencies) to gauge interest in a joint deployment of Throne Labs' high-tech restrooms. The goal is to aggregate enough demand to meet the minimum deployment threshold (15-20 units) and assess budgetary implications for the upcoming fiscal year.
- Data Collection: Staff were tasked with gathering specific data on the potential cost savings of the Throne Labs model versus building permanent facilities, which currently cost between $300,000 and $400,000 each without the ongoing maintenance benefits provided by Throne Labs.
Meeting Transcript
Mayor. There you go. I'll get one print out. So do the one we get homework. So anybody can work. Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. One free ride professor is for November 13th, 4 p.m., let's go ahead and start with our first agenda item, which is a presentation discussion regarding ambulance service in the city of Norman. And I'd like to recognize Kyle Hurley to present. Okay. All right. Thank you for having me here. I've never gotten to present in front of you at this group for things. So when people think of public safety, usually they're thinking about police and fire, which is you know the municipality that you all oversee. But MSTAT is a partner or is a department of Norman Regional Health System. We have been the sole EMS provider in the city of Norman since September of 1995. Prior to that, it was with Norman PDEMS from 1978 until 1995. So it was a municipality, and I don't know what happened. That was before my time, but uh the city uh parted ways with EMS and it was acquired by um by the health system prior to 78. I think it was through like a Hearse or something like that. So I can't I can't get that part back. But anyway, so uh I was asked to present just kind of just a general overview of like you know what we do, our response time, some of the metrics that you know we follow. Um and I can talk about you know our relationship with the health system since you know I am I I work for Norman Regional, so we're a department of the health system, so interrupt me at any point and I will answer things. So just to uh just to start the overview. We have in our fleet, we have 21 ambulances. Are they all deployed at once? No. Um, but and we'll get into the staffing here in just a little bit. We do have six support vehicles, so those would be like supervisor vehicles. Uh, and then as far as our staffing goes, we have five ambulances that we staff 24 hours a day. So, and you know, we work very closely with the Norman Fire Department. So if you think about the nine stations, we have we have three here in Norman, but they have multiple ambulances per station. Um, but then we will ramp up during our volume as it peaks up like during the day. So at three in the morning, we're not doing a whole bunch. At 3 p.m., we're doing everything. So past two of my trucks on the way here. Um, and so and then on other days, such as, and I'll talk about like like OU football coverage and stuff, you know, then we ramp up, you know, even more, you know, from there. Uh so these are the locations of the three fire, excuse me, three ambulance stations uh in Norman, and then we also have a station of Moore, as some of you may know. Um we also have a contract with the uh city of Moore. Chief Marlar is here representing Moore. Um, and so we've had that contract since 2015. We also respond to the city of Goldsby, uh, so we have a contract with them for the very northeastern portion. So we do go into McLean County as well. Now, as compared to Norman Fire, which is limited to the city limits, we also go into uh unincorporated Cleveland County as well. So we will go all the way to Pott County Line, we will go north into some unincorporated areas where we will have either more fire or we will have most likely Oakland City fire respond as well. Okay, I have a question for you. So all those ambulances are dispatched from those four locations no matter where they go in Cleveland County, or speed. Yes, that's correct. So or wherever they're located at the time, they may be you know in transit for things, but yeah.
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