Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development and Women in Action for All Norman held a community town hall Friday evening to discuss recent developments regarding the University North Park entertainment district petition and the proposed $90 million bond for improvements to the Moore Norman Technology Center district.
Nearly 150 Norman residents packed into St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church. Several attendees wore support on buttons that read “Norman Mob Member,” after Mayor Larry Heikkila called petition supporters “the mob” in a Monday press release following last week’s court ruling against the referendum petition.
University North Park entertainment district
Attorney Rob Norman presented information about the possible appeal on the University North Park entertainment district referendum petition case.
During his presentation, Norman reminded attendees of the right to petition as outlined in the Oklahoma Constitution.
“We reserve the right to decide whether that law is what we want or not, and there’s a process for doing that,” Norman said.
On Sept. 20, three Norman residents filed a petition to turn the district to a public vote. Petitioners collected 11,602 petitions over 30 days, exceeding the 6,098 required by law. Of the 11,602 submitted, 10,698 signatures were certified by City Clerk Brenda Hall.
Last week, a Cleveland County judge ruled that the gist contained in the petition was insufficient and argued it did not comply with an Oklahoma Statute that requires a referendum petition to summarize the nature of the proposed referendum vote in a manner that can be understood by those who do not practice law.
“We could have written 1,000 gists here, and it was going to be challenged,” Norman said. “It’s kind of ‘you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’”
Once the appeal is filed, Norman said the case will either stay within the Oklahoma Supreme Court or will go to the Court of Civil Appeals. He stressed the importance of having nine justices on the Oklahoma Supreme Court instead of three on the Court of Civil Appeals and said ORED will ask the Oklahoma Supreme Court to keep the case.
“If you really want to know what the real gist is, it’s that we want to bring this to a vote of the people,” Norman said. “That’s all.”
Moore Norman Technology Center bond
Brian Ruttman, Moore Norman Technology Center superintendent and CEO, outlined how the center will use the $90 million from the proposed bond.
“We are really working to make sure that the workforce that’s needed for today and tomorrow is being trained at a high level,” Ruttman said. “A lot of people don’t know that those high school students attend 100% free.”
According to Ruttman, the center is 86% locally funded, 8% funded by the state and 6% funded by the federal government. With a bond passed in 2016, Ruttman said the center was able to increase capacity on its campuses by about 20%. However, the campuses are still in need of more space.
According to its website, the Moore Norman Technology Center turns away qualified applicants every year due to limited classroom capacity, and placed 25% of qualified applicants on waitlists last year. This year, Ruttman said it’s projected to increase to 30%.
“That is not acceptable for any student that is qualified to get into our programs to not be in there,” Ruttman said. “By 2033, we want a seat for every qualified student.”
According to the center’ “Bond 2025” page, the $90 million investment would be accrued through a 1.25% property tax increase that would span for 10 years. For an average household, this will equate to about $40.
Ruttman divided the $90 million into three categories. $33 million would be used for traditional trades like construction and aviation maintenance, $25 million for health careers, and $32 million for a common area to connect the proposed health buildings.
“We know how sensitive everyone is to taxation, but we feel like this is something that adds value to our community (and) adds value to the workforce that we’ll be providing for the future,” Ruttman said.
After the presentation, several people made comments about the bond in comparison to the entertainment district.
“I would much rather have my property taxes going to something worthwhile like this than the arena,” an attendee said, sparking cheers from the rest of the audience.
This story was edited by Ana Barboza.