Former Norman Safety Manager Larry Heikkila won the Norman mayoral seat in the Tuesday night runoff election over incumbent Breea Clark, according to unofficial online results from the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Heikkila received 53.39 percent of votes cast, with Clark attracting 46.61 percent, according to unofficial online results from the Oklahoma State Election Board. In the Feb. 8 election, Clark received 36.46 percent and Heikkila received 32.01 percent.
In a speech following the election results, Heikkila said the energy, support and money he received from supporters is "absolutely honorable." He said he gives his win to God and prayed thanks to God for freedom of expression and wisdom and perseverance to "do his will" in Norman.
Heikkila noted that as the elections for odd wards approach in 2023 that voters will have to get "people who are conservative" to join Ward 3 Councilmember Kelly Lynn and Ward 5 Councilmember Rarchar Tortorello so "we can make the town that we want."
"I have a feeling we're gonna have to do it again in three years," Heikkila said.
In a concession speech, Clark said the past three years have been the greatest in her life besides being a mom. She said she felt like she was the best person for the job, but Norman residents felt otherwise, and she is OK with that.
Clark welcomed mayor-elect Heikkila and said she looks forward to working with him because the election is about Norman. She said Heikkila will face a handful of challenges, especially as the water rate increase proposition failed, and she will do everything in her power to support him as he faces these challenges.
"The future of our community and the future of our estate is not something I'm willing to risk," Clark said. "And it's also time to put the drama and the partisan politics behind us on all fronts."
Clark thanked her volunteers, team, family and extended family for their support. She said tonight's vote is the beginning of the rest of a very important year and encouraged residents to stay engaged.
"I love the progress we made under my term, and now it will be incumbent upon our mayor-elect to do the same, and I hope you hold him to the same high standards that I was held to," Clark said.
Heikkila said in a campaign video he ran for mayor because he was concerned about the “destructive direction” Norman was going because of Clark. He said indicators of this include increasing crime rates, “inadequate funding for police and fire departments" and an increase in Norman’s homeless population.
Norman Police Department Chief Kevin Foster and Captain Stacey Clements cited an 11 percent increase in Part 1 crimes and larceny, a 19 percent increase in aggravated assaults and a 50 percent increase in stolen cars in 2021, as of Sept. 1, 2021, during an October 2021 city council study session. They also noted that 2020 was the deadliest year for vehicle accidents resulting in serious injuries or death in decades.
The Norman Police Department’s expenditures from the FYE 2022 budget include $23,565,826 from the general fund, $30,505 for police CLEET training and $8,681,343 through the department’s public safety sales tax fund. The fire department receives $16,788,906 from the general fund and $4,764,992 from the department’s public safety sales tax fund.
The largest departmental expenditure from the general fund is from the police department, which sits at 27 percent of the city’s over $87.3 million budget. The fire department’s expenditures constitute 19 percent, which is the third-largest expenditure next to the 21 percent allocation to public works.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in Norman and Cleveland County’s January 2020 Point-in-Time count — a total of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness — has increased by 100 percent since 2015 from 133 individuals to 266 in 2020. A homelessness gap analysis noted that the Continuum of Care engaged in more recruitment and training of volunteers in 2018 to improve the accuracy of the count. Improvements in the count methodology can only account for a portion of the increase, according to the analysis.
As mayor, Heikkila said he would foster a community that values “firemen and policemen,” encourages businesses to prosper and serves its residents. He said in a campaign video that Clark has tried to shape the city into a “progressive utopia” that “contradicts most traditional Oklahoma values,” and he hopes to reverse those efforts.
Heikkila also said in an interview with The Daily that he has been working to address the negative impacts of the ACCESS Oklahoma Turnpike in Norman by meeting with state legislators like Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman) and tribal leaders like Absentee Shawnee Gov. John Raymond Johnson.
When Clark was elected in 2019, 13,068 people voted in Norman's mayoral election, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board. In the February 2022 mayoral election, 22,712 people voted, and in tonight's election, 24,345 people voted.
Heikkila will serve a three-year term and will be sworn in July 5 along with current Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler, Ward 4 Councilmember-elect Helen Grant, current Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman and Ward 8 Councilmember Matthew Peacock.
