Norman City Council Meeting – October 27, 2026

The Norman City Council, Norman Utilities Authority, Norman Municipal Authority, Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority, and Norman Parking and Transit Authority met jointly on October 27, 2026. The council adopted three proclamations, heard ward and mayoral announcements, approved the consent docket, and acted on five non-consent items: two Ward 5 final plats, the city auditor compensation ordinance, the city auditor employment contract, and a public parks ordinance amendment. Most votes were unanimous; the two final plats passed 8–1 and the auditor contract passed 8–1.

Proclamations

• Oklahoma Mobility Week (November 1–7, 2026) was proclaimed. A representative of ODOT and the mobility management program thanked Norman for its partnership and invited residents to walk, bike, and use public transit.
• World Kindness Day (November 13, 2026) was proclaimed. Angela Jimenez Calhoun, founder and CEO of the Beacon Project, accepted and said the Norman nonprofit serves approximately 500 Norman public school teens each year through food boxes, a teen cafe, and essential items. She thanked the Human Rights Commission for bringing the recognition forward.
• Native American Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month (November 2026) was proclaimed. An Absentee Shawnee tribal member and commander of the Absentee Shawnee Veterans Association accepted, and Lucianne Harjo, coordinator of Indian Education for Norman Public Schools, said the program serves about 2,600 students from 75 tribal nations in a district of roughly 17,000 students, about 17–18 percent of the student population.

Council Announcements

• Ward 1 encouraged a kindness challenge on Friday, November 13; noted a local restaurant's Dr Pepper promotion; mentioned Transition House's search for an executive director; and sought applicants for economic development advisory board positions.
• Ward 2 urged safety during Halloween and OU homecoming weekend and reminded residents to vote in the November 3 election, with early voting starting October 28.
• Ward 3 thanked First Christian Church for a $250 donation for document recovery, announced a $700,000 first responders addiction recovery grant to the city, and reported calls about camping, transit/light rail, and ADA concerns.
• Ward 4 congratulated Thunderbird Clubhouse on receiving $126,000 in solar infrastructure, stated the project generates 65 kilowatt hours and offsets 65 percent of the clubhouse's usage, and highlighted the Norman Solar Initiative's 45 completed projects with over 880 kilowatts of solar capacity and over 200 kilowatts of storage.
• Ward 5 announced town halls at the Norman Public Library on November 7 from 4–5 p.m. and November 21 from 9–10:30 a.m., and said residents have called about Turnpike Authority partial property takes, water protection, and data centers.
• Ward 7 also encouraged early voting and Election Day participation.
• The mayor thanked Fall Fest organizers; noted the ribbon cutting for the new airport air traffic control tower; announced the Reese Park kids space groundbreaking and a spring community build; reminded residents that city-sponsored trick-or-treating is not mandated and suggested Friday and Saturday, noting there will not be another Saturday Halloween until 2037; and celebrated the Oklahoma Supreme Court's affirmation allowing the voter-approved shelter project to move forward.

Consent Calendar

• Items 4 through 25, with the exception of Items 13 and 14, were placed on the consent docket and approved unanimously.
• Item 5, Hospital Authority Board appointments, was included. Councilmember Kirby noted the board currently has six west-side members, three east-side members, and two core-area members, and voiced concerns about medical access and fire response times while supporting the appointments.
• Item 24, a resolution to make the temporary shelter compliant with the State Fire Marshal's recommendations and repair HVAC damage from the July 4 storms, was approved. Councilmember Grant said it would make the shelter safe and habitable until a permanent shelter is built.
• Item 6, a camping-on-public-property ordinance, was not acted on; the mayor clarified that action had been postponed to November 24, 2026.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No members of the public spoke during the meeting. Registered speakers for non-consent items, including Stephen Ellis, Floyd Carroll, and Cynthia Rogers, were not present, and no one spoke during the final miscellaneous comments period.

Discussion Items

Item 13 – Norman Groundwater Facility Final Plat

• Staff member Nathan Maddenwald presented the final plat for the Norman groundwater facility at 4020 East Tecumseh Road, about one-half mile east of 36th Avenue Northeast in Ward 5. He said it implements a preliminary plat approved by council in March 2025.
• The facility will centralize chlorination for the city's 43 groundwater wells, which currently send untreated groundwater directly into the potable distribution system. The state Department of Environmental Quality requires chlorination; the facility will add chlorine and ammonia to form chloramines.
• Staff said the project does not include drilling new wells or increasing pumping, though the site is sized to handle additional wells if the city later chooses to drill them under the AIM water plan. Councilmember Bruce noted the project was tied to the voter-approved utility rate increase of June 13, 2023.
• Councilmember Kirby raised concerns about aquifer depletion, the Garber-Wellington aquifer, and impacts on Ward 5 residents and farmers. She moved to postpone the item to December 8 for hydrology studies, but the motion failed for lack of a second. She also referenced long-range water plans increasing from 4 billion to 8 billion gallons and questioned future water supply choices.
• The final plat was approved 8–1, with Councilmember Kirby voting against.

Item 14 – Summit Valley Edition Section Four Final Plat

• The final plat is located one-half mile north of State Highway 9 and 300 feet west of 36th Avenue Southeast in Ward 5.
• Councilmember Kirby asked that it be considered separately from the consent docket because of concerns about recharge-plate coverage and the city's 10-acre rule. No other discussion or public comment was offered.
• The plat was approved 8–1, with Councilmember Kirby voting against.

Item 26 – City Auditor Compensation Ordinance

• The ordinance fixes the city auditor's compensation consistent with the city manager's compensation under Article 18, Section 1 of the Norman Charter and includes an emergency clause.
• City Attorney Rick Knighton said the ordinance gives council authority to enter into the auditor contract but does not itself guarantee employment. Councilmember Steele asked whether it was consistent with the voter-approved charter change; Knighton confirmed the requirements would be in the ordinance.
• Councilmember Bruce noted the city has more than 1,000 employees, a budget over $300 million, annual grants of $40–70 million, and 13 departments, calling the auditor role a tough job.
• The ordinance passed second reading and final reading unanimously. The emergency clause was moved and seconded; Councilmember Bruce questioned whether it was a true emergency, while Councilmember Steele supported using it to hire an auditor promptly.

Item 27 – City Auditor Employment Agreement

• Council considered an employment agreement between the city and its related authorities and Deborah Rohrbaugh, setting terms for her service as city auditor.
• Councilmember Bruce questioned a provision providing 12 months of salary plus insurance and benefits for certain terminations, saying it appeared higher than other municipalities. Knighton responded that the contract was consistent with the prior auditor's contract, that the city manager, city attorney, and city auditor are at-will employees of the council, and that severance provisions help attract qualified applicants given political risk and annual council turnover. He also reviewed the prior auditor's departure and the job announcement error that had led to a severance payment.
• The contract was approved 8–1, with Councilmember Bruce voting against.

Item 28 – Public Parks Ordinance Amendment

• The ordinance amends sections 2-316 and 24-50 of the Norman code to provide oversight, prohibit certain activities in public parks, establish exceptions and enforcement, and include an emergency clause. It passed first reading by title only unanimously.
• On second reading, Councilmember Steele moved to adopt the revised ordinance in the agenda packet and then moved to amend it to keep camping prohibited in Sutton Urban Wilderness. He explained that without the amendment, adopting the revised ordinance would remove the current camping prohibition at Sutton while the broader camping-on-public-property ordinance is still pending.
• City Attorney Knighton said Sutton Urban Wilderness is owned by the state and leased to the city, and the lease requires certain ordinance provisions. Councilmember Kirby asked whether a similar special clause was needed for Cates Park; Knighton said that lease does not contain the same camping-specific provision.
• The amendment passed unanimously, and the revised ordinance as amended passed second and final readings unanimously. The emergency clause was moved; no separate vote tally is recorded in the transcript.

Key Outcomes

• Consent docket (Items 4–25 except 13 and 14) approved unanimously.
• Item 13 final plat approved 8–1 (Kirby dissenting); motion to postpone to December 8 failed for lack of a second.
• Item 14 final plat approved 8–1 (Kirby dissenting).
• Item 26 auditor compensation ordinance adopted on second and final readings unanimously; emergency clause moved and seconded.
• Item 27 employment agreement with Deborah Rohrbaugh approved 8–1 (Bruce dissenting).
• Item 28 parks ordinance amended to retain the Sutton Urban Wilderness camping prohibition; adopted on second and final readings unanimously; emergency clause moved.
• Next steps: a postponed camping-on-public-property ordinance is scheduled for November 24; Ward 5 town halls are set for November 7 and November 21; and a community build for the new Reese Park kids space is planned for spring 2027.