The Public Works Committee of the Tulsa City Council met on September 16, 2026, at approximately 3:42 p.m. (originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m.) to consider eight agenda items, including appointments, bond sales, property closures, agreements for signs and decorative wraps, and a major ordinance proposing independent oversight of public safety. The meeting included presentations from city staff and councilors, discussion of a contested alley closure, and a detailed introduction of the proposed Title 16 establishing an Office of Independent Review and Oversight of Public Safety.
Item 4 – Ordinance closing remaining portion of alleyway at 608 E. 3rd St. : Staff explained that the applicant initially sought a partial closure, but the city’s standard practice is to close entire alleys to avoid maintenance issues. The applicant agreed to extend the closure. However, after public notices were sent, an adjacent property owner (Mr. McDaniels) objected. Staff recommended proceeding with the evening public hearing and then suspending the matter while the applicant and owner work out a solution. The city would retain an easement over the alley if closed.
Item 8 – Ordinance adopting new Title 16, Tulsa Revised Ordinances, titled “Independent Review and Oversight of Public Safety”: Councilors Hall-Harper and Decter Wright presented a detailed proposal establishing an Office of Independent Review and Oversight of Public Safety, staffed by a full-time director and an 11-member civilian oversight board. The office would monitor and review the most serious incidents involving police, fire, 911, emergency management, animal control, code enforcement, and other public safety personnel. It would not replace existing command structures but would provide independent quality control and public reporting. The estimated startup cost is $500,000 per year. The discussion covered the history of the initiative (originating from the council’s 2019 equality indicators work and the 2022 Trust and Accountability report), the scope of covered incidents, and the independence requirements for board members. Councilors noted the parallel with existing oversight bodies like the Sales Tax Oversight Committee. The committee agreed to continue the item to the next committee meeting for further discussion.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 4:45 p.m.
No, I don't know. Oh no, you don't have to do that. I'm living over the back. Okay. Welcome to the two thirty, which is now the three forty two. Um public works committee meeting. Number one, call to order. Number two, we're going to reschedule the reappointment of Larissa McNeil to the Human Rights Commission because we're running late. So we'll put her on the next one. So number three resolution to award bid for the sale of general obligation bonds, Series 2026A and the sum of 65 million six hundred and sixty thousand dollars awarding the sale to the lowest best bidder. Hi, you have handouts this time. Wow, okay. Wow. So first for me. I've never seen Chad. I know. I think I've never had a handy one all around. It's kind of fun. Okay, okay. Introduce yourself and have that is. Yes, good afternoon. Chad Becker from Treasury. And uh we sold some bonds this morning at 11 o'clock. 65,660,000 of general obligation bonds. Um our rates came in. Um there's quite a wide range, 0.05% to 5%, uh, which made our um all-in true interest cost around 4.46 percent or some rounding there. Uh we received a premium of $836,000 $836,792,000. It was a very uh well-received sale. We had seven qualified bidders. Um if you look at the summary page and count eight listed there. We actually we had to exclude one because they didn't follow instructions, so we were not qualified. They didn't send us a good faith deposit ahead of the sale. Uh Mizero Financial was the uh winner. And uh I say competitive because uh the rate difference between the winning bidder, Misero and the third place bidder was um less than one basis point separating first from third place. So it was a very, very, very, very close type sale. Um we were a little higher than we had projected back in uh July. We think the market reacting to some potential rate increases a little preemptively today. So uh we were we were forecasting rates, uh our church cost to be just right around four percent, so we were just a little bit over there. So but still a great sale. Uh very much uh lots still lots of interest in our bonds. Um as you can see, it was very competitive. So we will be back before you this evening to ask for your approval to um authorize this sale and award to the lowest invest bidder, which is Lisa Ref Financer, and then we will close the sale on November 5th. Okay, do we have any questions? Fantastic. All right, thank you so much. Thank you all. See you this evening. Number four, ordinance closing an alleyway as a public way located at 608 East Third Street, situated between lots one through four, lots five through nine. Uh requested by Kyle Gibson and aligned design group, a portion of the alleyway was previously closed, and this request is to close the remaining portion of the alleyway. Welcome.