Editor's note: OU Daily conducts a background check on all candidates in all elections. While examining a past record, the Daily will take into account any case details, timeframe of the incident and overall record while deciding what to include in election coverage. All Norman city elections are nonpartisan, and OU Daily will not note party affiliations unless a candidate self-declares as part of their campaign platform. This article was updated at 2:34 p.m. on Jan. 28 to clarify Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman's comments regarding the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
To secure a win in the Feb. 11 election, a candidate must receive over 50% of the total vote. If no candidate receives the required votes, the two candidates who received the most will compete in a runoff election on April 1. The person elected will be sworn in on July 1 and serve a three-year term.
Incumbent Mayor Larry Heikkila, Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman and attorney Riley Mulinix are running for mayor in the Feb. 11 election.
Larry Heikkila views, platform
Heikkila said he is running for reelection to finish plans from when he became mayor in 2022. He said such plans take time due to waiting on funding for projects.
“We haven't gotten done everything I wanted to get done from the beginning,” Heikkila said. “It's just gonna take some more time to be able to get this done.”
Heikkila said his main priorities if reelected include public safety, economic development and preparing Norman for future growth.
Public Safety
Heikkila said he is prioritizing public safety because he does not believe Norman is as safe as it was when he moved in 1978. Heikkila said he plans to increase surveillance to document petty crimes.
“Let's have more surveillance so the petty crime goes down,” Heikkila said. “We want to be able to surveil certain areas and do stuff, and we'll work towards it.”
Heikkila said he wants to fuel economic development to create funding for public safety and police officers, adding the use of technology like cameras can be more affordable than hiring new workers.
“I can buy a camera a heck of a lot cheaper than I can buy a cop. That camera will work 24 hours, seven days a week. He's not a union guy,” Heikkila said.
Homelessness
Heikkila said homeless shelters should not be a function of government, adding he wants philanthropic organizations like Bridges of Norman and the Salvation Army to preside over shelters.
“We’re accountants and engineers and things like that, we're not mental health people. I want to extract the city of Norman from the responsibility of running a shelter (and) paying for a shelter,” Heikkila said. “Get us out, get it to the people that can do that kind of stuff.”
Heikkila said he also does not want to keep people in addiction or “throw money away.” Instead, he wants to assist individuals who are working towards recovery.
“We're really being cruel to those people for not helping them with their addiction, to force them into the fact that they need to sober up and that's the primary condition,” Heikkila said. “To force them into that by making their life harder is, to me, more kind than letting them persist there.”
Heikkila said efforts toward affordable housing are unreasonable and potentially detrimental to housing overall, adding addicted residents could “abuse” low-barrier structures. He added the city permits houses but does not construct them.
“What does affordable mean? It's a buzz word. Unless we want to build ghettos, unless we want to build something that we know is going to be lousy, substandard … I don't want anything to do with that. That is cruelty to human beings,” Heikkila said.
Economic development
Heikkila said he wants to create jobs and expand economic development in Norman as the city grows. He said graduates can mature for a few years following graduation before returning to Norman and starting families, citing his experience in the military.
“We’re at a growing up point; we’re moving off into the minor leagues,” Heikkila said.
Heikkila said the Rock Creek Entertainment District is a part of his ideas for economic growth, adding it could incentivize more entertainment possibilities in the city, along with creating more housing.
“You've got some free time, and you've got to have something to do in your free time other than sit in the park and watch birds. You want to do something; we want to have those somethings here that bring those kids down here,” Heikkila said. “That's all we're trying to do. There's nothing nefarious about it.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority expansion
Heikkila said the city can not reject the OTA’s eminent domain abilities, adding the city should have worked with the OTA months ago for access and service roads. He believes there would have been an increase in apartments along such roads.
“They would have worked with us a few months ago to help us make it better for Norman, but it's just going to be a solid turnpike that goes through,” Heikkila said. “It was a bad, bad thing that that didn't work out. People disagree with me, but come back to me in 10 years, you’ll see that we missed out a lot.”
Stephen Tyler Holman views, platform
Holman is the current Ward 7 council member, having first been elected over 11 years ago. He hopes to become mayor in order to increase transparency and accountability within the city government, adding his supporters have advocated for his mayoral candidacy for years.
“After serving with four different mayors and almost 40 different council members over the last 12 years, I felt strongly that this was the right time to step up and make this kind of leap,” Holman said. “I felt very inspired by the support from people all across Norman, bipartisan support, which really lets me know that I've been doing what I think I've been doing the last 12 years, which is making an effort to work with everybody as best as I can.”
Transparency and accountability
Holman said he wants to serve as a transparent and accountable mayor, which would include ensuring city hall is open to the public and providing residents with equal time to express their opinions.
“It's important that the mayor be someone that is there that people see out, supporting the community, supporting locally-owned businesses in different organizations and things like that, and so that'll be a big part of my mayoral ship,” Holman said.
Homelessness
If elected, Holman would correspond with multiple parties involved in addressing homelessness. He said he would work with each city council member to determine the state of homelessness in each ward, including the suggestions of themselves and their constituents, and create a mayoral round table to coordinate multiple organizations and nonprofits.
“(A mayoral roundtable)'s something we don't have currently that I would reconvene so that we can get back to working together instead of everybody doing their own thing, and that includes the city,” Holman said.
Holman said he also wants to prevent homelessness from taking effect, which would include affordable housing initiatives like the Crimson Flats and examining city development policies to make housing development less expensive.
Holman said he would like to create a 24-hour shelter on the Griffin Memorial property, adding he would like to restore and convert historical buildings on the property into housing. He said council has been looking at using a tax increment finance model on the property, believing the area could fulfill a TIF’s purpose of revitalization.
“As long as homelessness exists, I believe we're going to need a shelter, and an emergency and low-barrier shelter. The higher the barrier, the more people that aren't going to be able to get in, which means they're going to be sleeping on the street,” Holman said.
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority expansion
Holman said his priorities regarding the OTA’s East-West Connector include protecting Lake Thunderbird and assisting properties in the turnpike’s path.
“The quality, the health of the lake, is vitally important to the city of Norman. It has to be a priority over anything else,” Holman said. “My biggest concern is there is no way possible that the construction of this turnpike is going to improve the quality of Lake Thunderbird. It could only have a negative impact.”
Holman said that he stands with the residents in Norman.
“People live out there for a reason, and if they wanted a faster way to Newcastle or a faster way to Oklahoma City, they would not live in east Norman out by the lake,” Holman said. “I firmly stand behind the residents (and) with them, and I have no desire to work with the OTA on these plans any further because it's clear that the vast majority of residents in Norman do not want this, and they do not want the city government to collaborate with OTA any further.”
In a text message to OU Daily on Monday, Holman clarified his views on the OTA. Holman wrote that he will always be open to work with anyone who wants to do business in Norman, but to him, residents will always come first.
Riley Mulinix views, platform
Mulinix is an attorney who works at Mulinix Ewert PLLC, a law firm in Oklahoma City. He said he is running for mayor of Norman to reform the chemicals used by the city, preserve Lake Thunderbird and Norman’s water supply and address homelessness.
“I've been in a lot of high-pressure situations in court, in trial, different meetings, high stakes, multi-million dollar cases,” Mulinix said. “That prepared me to deal with the issues the city is going to face.”
Environment
Mulinix said he does not want the city to purchase Roundup or glyphosate and instead fund more nature in the city.
“I would propose using the money that is set aside for spraying poison right now to be invested into fruit trees and fruit bushes and perennial plants, food forests and plant those in the parks and the schools, police stations, libraries, public spaces,” Mulinix said.
Homelessness
Mulinix said he would like to see the city coordinate multiple nonprofit and religious organizations to address homelessness, along with determining root causes.
“The city's role I see in this is more of a connector, a facilitator, because there's a lot of groups that are working on the homeless issue,” Mulinix said. “It's not the city's job just to hand out a bunch of free things to homeless people, necessarily, but I think the city can take a leadership role by coordinating the efforts of these different groups into one effort.
“A lot of them, they don't want a hand out. They want a hand up.”
Mulinix added he disapproves of dehumanizing language towards individuals experiencing homelessness.
“Some people I've talked to, they talk about the homeless as vermin and a plague and words like this, and that pisses me off really, because these are real people,” Mulinix said. “I could be on the street; (anyone) could be on the street.”
Mulinix said he does not want to ship people experiencing homelessness to other cities, adding the city must address it within its limits. He also said he’d like to address the trauma in people that creates homelessness.
“You can't just ignore the problem. You can't ship it off to Oklahoma City or some other city, and so I'm interested in actually addressing root cause issues for this,” Mulinix said. “These people have a lot of trauma, not just from living on the streets, but from their life. They've experienced a lot of trauma, and that has to be addressed, and often the trauma is the root of the mental health and the addiction issues.”
Entertainment district
Mulinix said he believes an OU arena would be good for the city, but residents should vote on the district. He added he is uncertain how relevant the district is for his campaign.
“It’s up to the people at this point,” Mulinix said. “My position is: let the people decide.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority expansion
Mulinix said he opposes the OTA’s East-West Connector and its expansion into Norman. He said he believes the turnpike would be “really bad” for wildlife in east Norman.
“It's a balance between what's important to Norman. Is having (a) wildlife area around Lake Thunderbird important to people? Is having more strip malls and cookie-cutter fast food places and stuff important to have on the east side of Norman, so that land out there that people have lived on for generations is divvied up into smaller plots and sold?” Mulinix said.
Mulinix said he would also like to create wildlife bridges on the turnpike in the event it is inevitable.
“Why aren't we talking about putting wildlife bridges on there, so that these deer aren't getting mowed down on the Turnpike, or that their habitat is not just restricted further and further?” Mulinix said. “If it is inevitable, I would certainly very much advocate for wildlife bridges so that we're not just cutting off the habitat of all these animals that live out here.”
This story was edited by Ana Barboza, Anusha Fathepure and Ismael Lele. Riley McDaniel and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
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