Good evening and welcome to the City Council Square Ceremony and Special Meeting of July seventh, twenty twenty-six.

Madam Clerk, where you call the role.

Councilmember Hingles absent Councilmember Blood.

Councilmember Dixon?

Mayor Holman?

All right, please join me in the pledge of occasions.

Okay.

Item one is administering the oaths of office to and seating of council member elect JC Deck, Ward 2, and Councilmember elect Helen Grant for Ward 4.

Councilmember elect Kyle Still, Ward 6, and Councilmember elect Scott Dixon for Ward 8.

And I would recognize Judge Nichols to administer the oaths of office.

Where do you want to remember?

That works.

I state your name.

I JC Depp.

I Helen Grant.

Scott Dixon.

I Kyle Steele.

Do solemnly swear.

Do you solemnly swear that I will support, obey, and defend.

That I will support obey and defend the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma.

And of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma.

And that I will not knowingly receive.

And then I will not knowingly receive directly or indirectly.

Directly or indirectly.

Any money or other valuable thing.

For the performance or non-performance.

For the performance or non-performance.

Other than the compensation allowed by law.

Other than the compensation allowed by law.

I further swear swear that I will faithfully discharge my duties.

That I will faithfully discharge my duties.

As council member to the best of my ability.

As council members to the best of my ability.

I declare you all duly sworn and ceded to the office of council member for the city of North.

Congratulations.

And I'll entertain a motion to elect Councilmember Grant as Mayor Pro Tim.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to approve the election of Councilmember Grant as Mayor Pro Tem.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Sorry, thank you.

Um all votes have been passed in the motion to approve the election of Councilmember Grant as Mayor Pro Tem passes unanimously.

And the just for historical reference, the Mayor Pro Tim is typically been the most senior member of Council, and as of tonight, uh Councilmember Grant is the most senior member of the council besides the mayor, but most senior member of the council, followed by Councilmember Dixon.

All right, item three, election of a representative and an alternate representative to the Oklahoma Municipal League Board of Directors.

I'll entertain a motion to elect Mayor Holman as representative and councilmember Grant as alternate representative to the Oklahoma Municipal League Board of Directors.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to approve the election of Mayor Holman as representative and councilmember Grant as alternate representative to the Oklahoma Municipal League Board of Directors.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to elect Mayor Holman as representative and councilmember Grant as alternate representative to the Oklahoma Municipal League Board of Directors passes unanimously.

Item four is election of a representative and an alternate representative to the association of Central Oklahoma Government's Board of Directors.

I'll entertain a motion to elect Mayor Holman as representative and council member Dixon as alternate representative to the Association of Central Oklahoma Government's Board of Directors.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to approve the election of Mayor Holman as representative and councilmember Dixon as alternate representative to the Association of Central Oklahoma Government's Board of Directors.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion to approve the election of Mayor Holman as representative and councilmember Dixon as alternate representative to the Association of Central Oklahoma Government's Board of Directors passes unanimously.

Item five is election of a city council member to serve on the board of trustees for the City of Norman retirement system.

I'll entertain a motion to elect councilmember Gandisbury to serve on the Board of Trustees for the City of Norman retirement system.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to approve the election of Councilmember Gannisbury to serve on the Board of Trustees for the City of Norman retirement system.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to approve the election of Councilmember Gandisbury to serve on the board of trustees for the City of Norman retirement system passes unanimously.

All right, and then uh council comments.

I'll start at ward one if there are any.

I guess thank you to all the city crew, but also every citizen Norman living by that Norman Ways standard during the storm.

Everybody's been out there doing everything they can to help out that neighbor.

And it was awesome to see a community come together once again to see us through a difficult situation.

I would like to echo your comments, and then also I just want to say thank you to my ward and uh to the city of Norman and especially to my kids who had to deal with me knocking a whole lot of doors right around uh Thanksgiving and Christmas and all those times that they were out of school, and uh I definitely uh would not have been able to be successful without my entire family supporting me.

Also, shout out to my mom and dad who made the trip from hydro just to see me in real life.

So thank you.

Just uh like to thank the state as far as coming in doing the assessment for the emergency management uh decision as far as the emergency declaration.

The uh county commissioners appreciate your help too there in ward four and throughout Norman.

City staff, uh, thank you so much.

I appreciate the heavy lifting.

Um power companies.

I know we're working hard.

I think the target for ward four is 10 o'clock tonight, as far as all the power being back on, but we'll see what happens there.

And for the residents, um I saw a lot of goodness.

Uh really uh it really does a lot of good to see a 70-year-old, 75-year-old try to handle the debris and not blink an eye.

So I hope I can be in that category when I'm 70, 75 years old.

So that's all I have.

Yes.

Welcome, council members deck and steel.

Um, I'd also like to echo thanking city staff.

I had a meeting, I have a monthly meeting uh with city staff, and some of the updates include that if your trash hasn't been picked up yet, leave your polycar out, they will come and get it.

Um we have updated the debris plan, so eight foot uh in length limbs are now accepted and no larger than twelve inches in diameter.

Um I would stay tuned for the routes and the way that we'll continue to pick things up.

Um I'll just say this event has definitely put on my radar that maybe we should adopt uh adapt Norman plan like OKC has for incidents around climate change, and I see resiliency in our community um expanding when we build upon stronger neighborhoods.

So it was already on my radar to work to organize neighborhoods, but this event really highlighted the importance of knowing your neighbors and who can help who out with the chainsaw if needed, um, drag limbs, etc.

So anyways, just want to put that on everybody's radar.

Maybe you want to organize with your neighbors, and this was the catalyst.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward five.

I would like to thank the city workers, staff, um, county workers, everyone who's been hard at it since the storm, and then also welcome the two new council members to the that'd be all.

Yeah, I would just like to thank everyone throughout Ward 6 and the City of Norman who supported me during the election process.

Uh, everyone who spoke to me on the doors who addressed your concerns, and even those who emailed me as a council member elect before I was sworn in.

Um, just thank you for being involved in this whole civic process.

I hope to make meeting with ward six residents a priority during my time up here.

And so to that effect, if you already have something on your mind that you want to talk about with me, I will be at uh Beanstock Coffee on the east side this Saturday from 11 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

Just come up, have a coffee with me, have a chat about whatever you want.

The address is 867 12th Avenue Northeast.

And if you're more the night owl that same night on Saturday, I'll be at Hollywood Corners from 8 p.m.

to 9 30 p.m.

And I'd also just encourage everyone to support Hollywood Corners during this month as they are undergoing a transition to new leadership.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um I again just want to echo and um thank uh councilmember Deck and Councilmember Still for um for running and getting elected and um for being willing to sit up here, especially you next to me.

Um I'm a lot of fun.

Anyway, um I want to thank uh city staff and everyone that um uh reached out to their neighbors and helped them during these uh storms and for the um linemen.

Um they've just done incredible work and um that's it.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um congratulations to um councilmember uh deck and council member steele.

Uh it warms my heart knowing that um councilmember Deck's parents live in Grady County, so oh you're in Cato Different part of Hydro.

So sorry.

Oh, so close.

Um that still warms my heart.

Cato's close.

Um just really looking forward to working with with both of you to see like what all you want to work on and and how we can all work with you.

Um we we all will.

Um and just just thank you to the to the citizens um that participated in the electoral process, and a huge thank you to the professional city staff and everybody out there clearing limbs, trees, debris, um EC, OGE, everybody.

It's a monumental task.

Um, and we're doing it.

Um, not we, not me, um, but um staff.

So that's it.

Thank you.

And uh just a few things also welcome to Council and Councilmember Steele.

Um I think you are the 42nd and 43rd council members I've served with, and um and you are the sixth and seventh council members that have served on this council just since last July.

So there are nine of us sitting up here, and almost all of us have our brand new to this council since just one year ago when I took the oath of office to become mayor.

So think of all the divisive, big controversial issues going on in Norman right now, whether it be the turnpike or the arena or the homeless shelter or the whole issue of homelessness, um, the uh the library, whatever it may be, um we're all trying to deal with it, but it's it's people that are getting paid 100 a month uh before taxes, and uh it does get taxed.

And um a somewhat I would say very high turnover rate um uh for it.

So dealing with some very difficult, big challenging issues um for a city like ours, and um a council that we're all we all have regular jobs that we have to do or families we have to take care of and things like that, and we're mostly here volunteering because we care a lot about the city and the people in it.

And so I just want everybody and encourage everybody to remember that and um not for that to be any uh detraction from running if you're thinking of running for city council or some other local office.

I think you should, and you should definitely get involved in what's going on local because this room, this city hall, local stuff is where you can have the most direct impact um on the issues that impact our daily lives.

And so um I just wanted to highlight that and then also thank our um everybody, all the utility workers, all the city employees, all the residents that are out there that are helping to uh clean up this uh you know storm that we just dealt with.

Um everybody that's out there volunteering with a nonprofit that's doing something to help somebody in Norman in some way.

Uh we really appreciate that.

And I did specifically too want to highlight the uh Norman High football team, and I'm sure there were others too, but they were out yesterday and Sunday um helping older folks clear uh limbs and trees, and so it was good to see the high school football team out there doing that.

And I'm again, I'm sure there were other groups that were doing that as well, but I saw them post about it, and I wanted to say something as a former Tiger football player myself.

So proud to see that.

Um and it's a it's a great example to set for others, I think.

And so um and then also would encourage everybody to check the city website and social media pages, um, our uh our individual pages, but definitely the City of Norman's uh Facebook page and actual website.

And so would definitely encourage everybody to check that out and stay tuned for updates on that as they come in.

And then uh finally, just wanted to um since I have the opportunity, want to encourage everybody.

This Friday is Art Walk in downtown Norman, but it also at 9 45 will be uh our rescheduled fireworks show will be taking place at Reefs Park.

So plenty of time to go grab something to eat and walk around Main Street for a little bit and then make your way to Reeves Park and get a good seat for the show.

So, with that, that's all I have, and we will look forward to seeing you all here next Tuesday for our first real council meeting with our two new members.

So, with that, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.