Editor's Note: This article was updated at 2:40 p.m. on Jan. 30 to remove a statement incorrectly claiming that Sandra Artman moved to Norman in 2022.
The League of Women Voters of Norman hosted a city council candidate forum Monday evening.
Moderators took questions from Norman residents and answered in a panel format. Each candidate had about one minute to respond.
Ward 1 incumbent Austin Ball and challenger David Gandesbery attended the forum.
Ball has held the Ward 1 seat since 2023, running unopposed after former council member Brandi Studley vacated her seat and ended her candidacy. Gandesbery works as a security coordinator at Norman Regional Health System.
Candidates for Ward 3 include incumbent Bree Montoya and Sandra Artman. Montoya has served in the Ward 3 seat since 2023, where she sits on the Council Finance Committee and Community Planning and Transportation Committee. According to Artman, her family history in Norman dates back to the 1940s.
Candidates for Ward 5 include incumbent Michael Nash, Trey Kirby and Cindi Tuccillo. Nash was first appointed to the Ward 5 seat in 2020 when former council member Sereta Wilson resigned. He served until July 2021 and then was reelected in 2023.
Kirby owns Kirby Land and Cattle and is a facilities manager for a cannabis facility in Oklahoma City. Tuccillo is a realtor and small business owner who moved to Norman from California three years ago, according to her about page on Metro Brokers of Oklahoma Connect, the real estate company she works for.
Amanda Chaffin and Kim Blodgett are the candidates for the Ward 7 seat. Chaffin is a patient advocacy consultant for Medable, a health care technology company, and wants to ensure accessibility in Norman's parks for children with disabilities, according to her website. Blodgett is an elementary school teacher who previously ran for the seat in 2019.
Public safety
Tuccillo emphasized funding law enforcement to counter the growing homeless population and increase public safety. She said that though there are laws prohibiting trespassing and encampments, they do not get enforced.
“If we start using our funds to adequately give tools to our first responders, we’d be able to weed out those that are truly homeless and those who are just vagrants and are here to take advantage, enable and encourage them,” Tuccillo said.
Artman said when she knocked on the doors of Ward 3 constituents, their top concern was public safety. To remedy this, Artman proposed increasing funding for the police department.
“In Ward 3, we have the largest homeless camp in Norman right now,” Artman said. “That affects the houses in the area. It affects everything that happens there.”
Affordable housing
Candidates were asked what ideas they had for affordable housing in Norman.
Gandesbery said an immediate concern is the city-wide disappearance of affordable housing, referencing the closure of the OU Motel.
“We’re days away from kicking every person out of the OU Motel with no plan and nowhere for them to go,” Gandesbery said. “We can look at that rather than letting OU build another high-rise student housing there. If we really cared about the homeless, we’d start there.”
Montoya echoed concern for a lack of affordable housing, saying it can be used to avert homelessness. Along with the OU Motel, Montoya drew attention to the potential closure of the Ray Apartments on Boyd Street.
“We are doing our best to get affordable housing to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place, but we are not able to replace the affordable units as fast as they are disappearing,” Montoya said. “The best case scenario would be to implement our home-based plan, where we’d have a shelter where people can get services … and get on their feet.”
Blodgett said affordable housing must be prioritized, but there are solutions to the problem, including revising zoning practices and incentivizing smaller housing units in neighborhoods.
“We can encourage zoning changes to allow for higher density housing,” Blodgett said. “There are things that can be done as long as we are prioritizing affordable housing. I just feel like it hasn’t been made a priority, and I think it’s time.”
Kirby said he wants to encourage people to own homes rather than rezoning, which would affect property taxes.
“We need to encourage people to own homes. That, or we’re going to have to do away with that seven-story rule we have in our town,” Kirby said. “If we want affordable, we’re going to have to start building up.”
League of Women Voters of Norman city council candidate forum on Jan. 27.
Homelessness
Cleveland County’s 2024 point-in-time count found that 240 people were homeless in Norman, with 91 of them being unsheltered.
The city of Norman is currently in an emergency shelter services contract with City Care to operate an emergency shelter. Before Jan. 15, nonprofit Food and Shelter managed shelter operations for the city.
Candidates were asked how they’d address homelessness in Norman, and if they supported a homeless shelter run by the city.
Nash said the city must strengthen the existing network of shelters and other resources for people experiencing homelessness before spending additional city funding on the issue.
“We need to completely rethink the way that we’re addressing it,” Nash said. “Instead of focusing more on beds and temporary housing, we need to work harder to build a network that connects individuals with organizations and routes to permanent housing that already exists.”
Gandesbery encouraged communicating with the city’s homeless population, saying Mayor Larry Heikkila has never done so, but the council often “blames” the homeless population for negative attributes of the city.
Kirby reinforced his rejection of a bond package posed for Norman voters in 2020, which contained a proposition to allocate $5 million to build one or more homelessness solutions.
“I think the people spoke a few years back when they voted no on four bonds for a homeless shelter,” Kirby said. “I know the Supreme Court passed … that cities and states can ban encampments, so if we’re having a problem with encampments, we should write an ordinance and ban them.”
Blodgett approves of a city-run shelter, saying Norman has had a shelter for as long as she can remember. For that reason, Blodgett said she supports increasing services for the homeless population.
“Because affordable housing in Norman cannot keep up … to keep our unhoused friends off our streets, …” Blodgett said. “We need a shelter for them.”
Chaffin disagreed with a city-run shelter. Instead of the city, Chaffin said she encourages more involvement from nonprofits and churches to alleviate the issue.
“We’ve always had a shelter, but we’ve never had this capacity of a shelter,” Chaffin said. “This is not an issue that the city can take on by itself, and that has shown with the no vote in the years past.”
Entertainment district and TIF
In September, the council voted 5-4 in favor of a $1.1 billion entertainment district to be built in University North Park, with an arena featuring OU basketball and women's gymnastics as its anchor tenants. The total cost of the arena would be $330 million, with $230 million proposed to come from public funding and $100 million from OU. It is estimated the city would pay around $600 million for the broader entertainment district.
Three Norman residents filed a referendum petition to allow a public vote on the entertainment district following the city council’s vote. The petition garnered over 10,000 signatures, exceeding the 6,098 needed. However, the public vote on the district has been delayed due to a court hearing contesting the petition’s certification.
Candidates were asked if the tax increment financing district for the entertainment district is worth it, as critics say it puts city funding at risk.
Ball said the TIF will not put the city’s general fund at risk and there has been misinformation and lies spread about it.
“The only single time anyone in this city will pay a single penny toward that TIF is if you actually go and shop there after it’s developed,” Ball said. “Them coming out and telling you it's going to raise your taxes, no it’s not.”
However, Nash said the TIF will impact the general fund as spending in the district will divert sales tax.
“If you’re going to dinner somewhere, and you decide instead to go to the entertainment district for its new restaurants and you spend your dollars there, it's no longer tax going to the general fund, it’s tax going to the TIF,” Nash said.
Blodgett said she agrees with her constituents’ worries that the entertainment district may cost them money.
“I had a lady just cry to me about that issue because she was so worried it would end up costing her money,” Blodgett said.“I feel like there are a lot more pressing issues in Norman that we could be focusing on rather than putting a big arena in.”
Regarding economic growth, Chaffin said that the TIF sounds promising. Chaffin also highlighted other developments included in the district, including land for Norman Public Schools if needed.
“It’s not just the arena. There’s a school, there’s housing,” Chaffin said. “I know there’s a 25-year deal on this, but I have a feeling it will get paid off very quickly.”
The municipal election is Feb. 11. Early voting is Feb. 6-7. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held on April 1.
This story was edited by Ana Barboza. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
