Tulsa City Council Public Works Committee Meeting - October 21, 2026

The Tulsa City Council Public Works Committee met at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, in Room 411 of One Technology Center, 175 E. 2nd St., Tulsa, OK. Chair Dutton presided, with Co-Chairs Hall-Harper, Decter Wright, and Bush. The committee received presentations on commission appointments, a proposed settlement payment, two downtown TIF district ordinances, a proposed human remains and cultural artifacts ordinance, and a travel authorization. Minutes were not available for the meeting.

Discussion Items

Appointments and Commission Recommendation

• Marcia Bruno-Todd, CD-1, presented for appointment to the Human Rights Commission, replacing Dezeray Edwards for a term expiring July 1, 2027. Bruno-Todd, executive director of Leadership Tulsa and mother of four Tulsans, said she supported the commission's work on representation, disability/ADA issues, and veterans' communities. She was told the appointment would be voted on at the City Council meeting on October 28 at 5 p.m.
• Eva Pena (Eva Peña Martin), CD-8, presented for appointment to the Tulsa Development Authority, replacing Elian Hurtado for a term expiring July 31, 2029. Pena described her engineering, operations, and community-development background, including helping create the Kendall-Whittier Neighborhood Trust and developing 47 affordable housing units there over about three years. Her appointment was also scheduled for an October 28 council vote.
• The committee considered a recommendation from the Greater Tulsa Area African-American Affairs Commission to replace its vacated Business Agents Networking Group seat with Blackwood, a community organization curating events for young African-American Tulsans and associated with Greenwood. A mayor's office liaison explained the recommendation; councilors discussed the commission's 12 organizational seats and whether organization-specific seats remain appropriate. The recommendation is scheduled for council action on October 28.

Settlement Payment Resolution

• Item 5 was a resolution authorizing payment of $21,923.23 from the Sinking Fund to plaintiff David Perry in David Perry v. City of Tulsa et al., with an emergency clause. The agenda lists the case as CJ-2026-4430; the transcript reads CJ-2026-430. Chad Becker from Treasury said the fund had sufficient cash and that repayment to the fund would be levied over three years.
• City Legal explained the settlement arose from a July 20 collision at West 13th Street and South Denver Avenue involving a Tulsa police officer who entered an intersection on a red light with rear emergency lights but without full lights and siren. TPD determined the officer was at fault. There were no injuries; the payment covered damage to a new truck.
• Councilors asked about officer training and the city's collision review boards. Legal staff described the TPD board and a separate general city board, point systems (typically 2 points for moving violations and up to 4 per incident; 10 points can lead to termination), and four voting members on the general board: management/asset management, city legal, a union member, and city safety. Legal staff said they could follow up on the officer's assigned training but could not discuss it in open session. A councilor suggested a future committee agenda item on the collision review board process.

Downtown TIF Ordinances

• Items 6 and 7 would designate Increment District J as Increment District Number 28 and Increment District K as Increment District Number 29 in the Second Amended Downtown Area Economic Development Project Plan. A Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity representative said the ordinances split the Philcade building TIF into two districts: District J would use sales tax increment and District K would use ad valorem and hotel/motel tax increment. He said this was needed for bond marketing and to maximize TIF proceeds because revenue streams begin at different times. After initially saying sales tax would start in January 2027, he corrected the start dates to February 2027 for sales tax and August 2028 for ad valorem/hotel-motel tax.
• Councilors discussed TIF transparency and public access to TIF information online, and noted that a TIF is a gap-financing tool with time limits and community-benefit requirements, not a general fund pool.

Human Remains and Cultural Artifacts Ordinance

• Item 8 was an emergency-clause ordinance amending Title 7 (Cemeteries) to add Chapter 3, 'Human Remains and Cultural Artifacts.' It would establish procedures for protection, consultation, identification, treatment, and reinterment of human remains and cultural materials connected to racial violence or historically marginalized Black communities; require descendant-centered consultation; cover City projects and City-regulated development; and create a review panel.
• Christy Williams and other members of the Beyond Apology Commission policy committee presented. They cited the 2008 discovery of skeletal remains during ballpark construction with no known follow-up, and later Greenwood-area development finds during Langston University Tulsa and BMX projects that were not properly preserved. Presenters said more than 5,000 artifacts from one project were put in boxes and bags and later misplaced, and that about 1,200 artifacts were lost or not in displayable condition. Councilor Hall-Harper noted the mayor recently transferred recovered artifacts to the planned museum project. Williams said some artifacts had to be sent to Norman, Oklahoma because no Tulsa facility could house them, and that culturally appropriate reinterment processes were needed. She pointed to the first mass grave reinterment using a kilt and bagpipes as not consistent with Black descendant traditions.
• The proposed review panel was described as descendant-centered, including people with expertise in Black communities and not just one decision-maker. City Legal said the city cannot reclassify a state felony as a misdemeanor and that the draft ordinance defers to state, federal, or tribal law in 13 places.
• The state archaeologist explained state antiquities law, burial-law requirements, law-enforcement notification, medical examiner coordination, and pre-development archaeological surveys. Dr. Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist, raised concerns that the draft's stop-work language could interrupt the city's ongoing mass grave investigation in Oaklawn Cemetery, including DNA analysis and genealogical identification work, because each burial pit encountered could trigger a stop. She asked for an exception or separate track for intentional city investigations. She also explained state reinterment law and why remains are being returned to their original places in Oaklawn.
• Councilors and staff suggested revisions: clarify the geographic scope and possibly map at-risk areas; treat intentional city investigations differently from inadvertent discoveries; use 'shall' instead of 'should' for descendant-community representation on the panel; require a written explanation when the city departs from documented descendant consensus; and strengthen pre-review of documented risk sites. Williams said the ordinance was still a working draft and amendments could be made. Hall-Harper said it would not be acted on that night; it would be revised and brought back for committee action the following week.

Travel Authorization

• Item 9 authorized an estimated $1,200 in travel expenses for Councilor Hall-Harper to attend the FirstRepair National Symposium in Evanston, Illinois, December 2-4, 2026, including registration, hotel, transportation, and per diem. Hall-Harper said the conference covered national best practices in reparations work. The committee adjourned after this item.

Key Outcomes

• Appointments for Marcia Bruno-Todd, Eva Pena, and the Blackwood commission recommendation were set for City Council votes on October 28 at 5 p.m.
• The $21,923.23 settlement payment resolution, the two TIF district ordinances, and the travel authorization were presented and discussed; no committee vote on these items is reflected in the transcript.
• The human remains and cultural artifacts ordinance was not approved. Councilor Hall-Harper said amendments would be drafted and the ordinance would return for committee consideration the following week.