Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman granted a joint dismissal order for the lawsuit filed by two former Norman mayors against the special election for the proposed Rock Creek Entertainment District Project Plan, the Daily confirmed via documents obtained Monday morning.
On July 10, OU Daily obtained documents of a lawsuit filed by former Norman mayors Bill Nations and Dick Reynolds aiming to cancel the special election. The lawsuit cited issues, including the Norman City Charter requiring all special elections be called by ordinances, yet the Norman City Council called the special election by resolution on June 11.
The defendants in the lawsuit are the City of Norman and the Cleveland County Election Board.
On July 11, Balkman granted a temporary restraining order against the Aug. 27 special election. Lawyers Sean Rieger, Daniel Sadler, V. Glenn Coffee, Denise Lawson and Michael Fields represented the plaintiffs.
Rieger, of Rieger Sadler Joyce LLC, represents the OU Foundation, which owns the land the proposed project would be on.
According to the documents received Monday, the plaintiffs and the defendants came to a mutual understanding that the special election couldn’t be held on the originally contemplated Aug. 27 date or the next legally permissible date thereafter, Nov. 5.
The plaintiffs, with the consent and agreement of the defendants, requested a dismissal without prejudice, meaning they could re-file the case “should circumstances change in the future,” according to the documents.
Rieger and Coffee signed the document on behalf of the plaintiffs. City Attorney Rickey Knighton and Assistant District Attorneys Robin Moore, Kristina Bell and William Lewis signed on behalf of the defendants.
The $1 billion entertainment district, announced in September 2023, would include an arena to succeed Lloyd Noble Center as the home of OU basketball and women’s gymnastics programs as well as a district for businesses and residences in Norman’s University Park area adjacent to Interstate 35. A statutory review committee approved the project plan on May 23.
It would divide the district into two tax increment financing districts, or TIFs, which are used to support redevelopment, infrastructure and community-improvement projects within a certain area to stimulate private investment in the area in need of economic revitalization.
On June 11, the Norman City Council voted to approve a special election for residents to vote on the TIFs for the proposed entertainment district. However, the state’s Local Development Act doesn’t require voter approval for a TIF to be established.
On June 12, Mayor Larry Heikkila issued a Special Election Proclamation and Notice of Election, directing the proposition to be placed on the ballot for an election on Aug. 26 or some date thereafter, according to the document. However, during the June 11 meeting, the city council stated that the election would occur on Aug. 27.
According to the lawsuit documents, the City Council called the special election by resolution, did not call the special election on a certain date and failed to follow the procedures of passing an ordinance.
The ordinance also has to specify the object and time of the election, according to the Norman City Charter.
Even if the resolution was done as an ordinance, the document states that under the Norman City Charter “no ordinance shall be adopted on the day of its introduction before the council; but all ordinances, after being introduced, shall lay over for at least one week before being finally voted on and adopted.”
The lawsuit also mentioned the potential costs of a special election. On June 10, Jo Robinson, assistant secretary for the Cleveland County Election Board, told OU Daily it would cost approximately $20,000 to hold a special election in Norman but the cost may be greater.
In an email sent on Monday to OU Daily, a spokesperson for the City of Norman wrote it didn’t have any statements regarding the joint dismissal order and that it would make another entry to its Proposed Entertainment District webpage with updated information.
The Daily has also requested comment from Rieger and will update this story if one is subsequently received.
