Tulsa City Council Public Works Committee Meeting - September 23, 2026

The Tulsa City Council Public Works Committee met at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, in Room 411, One Technology Center, 175 E. 2nd St., Tulsa, OK. Chair Bush presided; the agenda listed Dutton, Hall-Harper, and Decter Wright as co-chairs/committee members. The committee reviewed a Tulsa Development Authority reappointment, a Tulsa Housing Impact Fund update, floodplain management resolutions, and several property and easement items. No minutes were available for this meeting, and no final votes were taken during the committee discussion.

TDA Reappointment Discussion (Item 2)

• Steve Mitchell appeared before the committee for reappointment to the Tulsa Development Authority (TDA). The agenda listed a term expiring July 31, 2028, attendance at 7 of 15 meetings, and the appointment as Council District 4.
• Mitchell said he has served on TDA since about 2014, grew up in Tulsa, attended Tulsa Public Schools, returned to Tulsa from Los Angeles in 2025, and works as an investor. He said he is proud to have over $100 million invested in North Tulsa and has 300 employees at Prior Aerospace and American Power Innovations, recently leased 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space on Marion, and expects to add about 200 more employees over the next 18 months. He later clarified that the $100 million is investor capital, including Oklahoma firefighters and teachers pension funds and Oklahoma tribal nations' capital, not solely his own funds.
• Mitchell also cited large-scale development experience elsewhere, including 14,000 lots in an 8,000-acre parcel in western Phoenix and a 500,000-square-foot mall.
• A council member questioned his 7-of-15 attendance record and asked what he had done for the western part of North Tulsa in District 1, saying his investments appeared concentrated in District 3 and northeast Tulsa. Mitchell responded that he does not know district lines and does not invest along district lines.
• Another council member expressed concern about TDA decisions affecting District 1, including a past disagreement over dollar stores and food insecurity. She said she had requested a different appointee after Mitchell's previous term and described the reappointment as insulting because the Council had already made a decision. Mitchell said he had voted in favor of a Dollar General store after research and independent advice, and that he had helped recover 44 acres in Kirkpatrick Heights from OSU Tulsa.
• Councillor Decter Wright said a county assessor list of 143 TDA properties showed 82 percent are in zip code 74106, which is District 1. She called the reappointment process highly irregular, said the Council had not gone through a process like this during her eight years at the table, and called questions about Mitchell's personal investments wildly inappropriate and unfair. She said her concern was about the process, not the person.
• Other council members spoke in support of Mitchell, citing his business expertise, commitment to Tulsa Public Schools, willingness to serve, and experience on Partner Tulsa-related boards.
• The chair said the Council vote on the reappointment, originally scheduled for September 30, would be rescheduled so the full Council could be present, and Mitchell would be notified.

Tulsa Housing Impact Fund (THIF) Update (Item 8)

• THIF President Chloe Doss presented THIF's first formal update on deploying IOT3 housing funds. Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is the managing member of the Tulsa Housing Impact Fund and provides staffing, underwriting, closing, and servicing.
• THIF was incorporated in July 2025 and signed a contract with the City of Tulsa for IOT3 funds in January 2026. THIF's goal is to have 1,300 units committed and in closing by the end of 2026.
• Capital raise: THIF reported a $120 million goal, with $101 million raised to date, or 84 percent, including $27 million in closing, plus $25 million in its pipeline. Commitments include City of Tulsa IOT3 funds, $27 million in local philanthropic commitments and grants, an additional $27 million senior debt facility in closing with Bank of Oklahoma, JP Morgan, and Charles Schwab, two PRIs totaling $10 million, and a $2 million grant for a developer accelerator program. The senior debt facility has an accordion structure that can expand to $75 million.
• Deployment: Doss reported $7.25 million deployed in closed projects and $10.75 million in projects in closing. Three closed projects represent $62 million in total housing investment; three in-closing projects represent about $139 million in total housing investment. The presentation contained conflicting unit counts: 218 closed units and 345 in-closing units were cited later, while an earlier portion referenced 532 and 345 units. The discrepancy was not resolved during the meeting.
• Pipeline: THIF reported about 90 prospective projects, roughly 5,600 potential housing units, and about $190 million in funding requests. Funding requests include about $93 million in IOT3 requests, more than the remaining IOT3 balance, and about $48 million in other program/TIP-type funds as transcribed.
• Doss said IOT3 capital is the bottom floor and that without it these projects would not move forward. THIF acts as a gap filler, underwrites projects like a traditional bank, and uses flexible IOT3 financing only to fill the true gap. Developers learn about THIF through word of mouth, forums, website intake applications, and city referrals.
• Jane Bowman, senior advisor to Mayor Nichols on housing, said the city has been actively referring developers to THIF and that many developers are already aware of IOT3 and how to access it through THIF. Councillors asked about policy barriers, zoning, permitting, inflation, tariffs, and how capital will be recycled; Doss said THIF works closely with Housing Forward and city staff on zoning, permitting, and regulatory improvements.

Floodplain Management and RLAA Resolutions (Items 3 and 4)

• City staff presented resolutions to adopt the City of Tulsa Floodplain Management Plan and Repetitive Loss Area Analysis (RLAA) Annual Progress Report 2025-2026, and the 2026 RLAA plans. Both items include emergency clauses.
• Staff explained that a repetitive loss area is an area with federal flood insurance that has had two claims over $1,000 within a 10-year period. Tulsa still has 45 repetitive loss areas; some have had no claims since the 1984 and 1986 floods.
• The last detailed property-level RLAA reports were prepared between 2017 and 2020. Staff said 11 reports have been rewritten and grouped by drainage basin to align with annual flood insurance letters.
• Repetitive-loss status helps Tulsa prioritize stormwater projects, track flood damage and inundated roads, and evaluate benefit-cost analyses as part of the Community Rating System for the National Flood Insurance Program.
• Residents can check floodplain information at cityoftulsa.org/floodcontrol, use the online GIS floodplain viewer, call 311 for a flood zone determination, and request an elevation certificate. Impacted property owners will receive letters with resources. Staff said they were willing to attend a town hall to explain the reports.

Surplus Property, Easement, and License Items (Items 5-7)

• Item 5: A resolution declaring 9415 S. Yale Ave. surplus. Asset Management staff said the city acquired the property through inverse condemnation due to a stormwater condition; there is no specific buyer and it will be offered for sale.
• Item 6: An ordinance closing a detention easement at 1123 N. Garnett Rd., requested by Alan Betchan of AAB Engineering, LLC on behalf of Interiors One Properties, LLC. Public Works staff said the property is being redeveloped and the required detention facility has been re-oriented and completed, so the old easement can be closed. Staff recommended approval.
• Item 7: A license agreement with CJT Real Estate, LLC for approximately 12 feet of parking lot on the west side of 3703 S. Harvard Ave. Public Works staff said the private use of public right-of-way has existed for about 40 years and is now being documented to protect public liability; if the city needs the right-of-way, restoration will be at the user's expense.

Key Outcomes

• No final votes were recorded during this Public Works Committee meeting. According to the agenda, action items are scheduled to go to the full City Council on September 30, 2026, except that the chair said the TDA vote would be rescheduled.
• Staff recommended approval for the floodplain resolutions, the surplus property resolution, the detention easement ordinance, and the license agreement.
• The committee heard the THIF update for discussion only; no action was taken.
• Councillor Decter Wright said she would provide her list of 143 TDA properties to colleagues once confirmed by staff.