Five Norman City Council members went to sleep Wednesday wondering why they missed Mayor Larry Heikkila’s first State of the City address, which was held privately from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the NOUN Hotel, when his predecessors have delivered theirs in free, public meetings within city chambers in recent years.
The event was hosted by the Norman Economic Development Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to improving Norman residents' quality of life through job creation and retention. The coalition hosted its quarterly luncheon Wednesday with Heikkila, who campaigned on facilitating economic growth, as its keynote speaker. Heikkila gave an address titled “State of the City: ‘A Time Such as This,’” and community members were charged $30 to attend.
He discussed his desire to “align the synergies” of the city, with entities like OU, Cleveland County, Norman Public Schools, the Norman Chamber of Commerce and others, according to the Norman Transcript.
He also criticized Ward 1 Councilmember Brandi Studley and Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant, without naming them, for not standing during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance since July, according to the Transcript. He said he wants the council to get away from “branding itself by politics,” and that he needs five “fiscally conservative, pro-growth, pro-business, pro-citizen voices” on council.
Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Holman said former mayor Lynne Miller, who served from 2016 to 2019, was the first he knows of to hold a State of the City address. He said Miller had two, and former mayor Breea Clark held two — all as posted meetings in the city chambers at no charge.
An agenda from former mayor Breea Clark's Nov. 30, 2021, State of the City address.
Holman said council members are usually notified about the address, and the mayor promotes it during council meetings and through other public channels. This time, Holman said nothing was announced during a City Council meeting, over social media or on the city’s website.
Holman said he first learned of the address Wednesday night when he came across coverage from the Transcript. It was unusual for the longtime councilmember to miss a meeting, so he went to check his council email for an invitation.
Holman said he found his invitation in a Sept. 9 email from Crystal Romanyszyn, the senior vice president of the Norman Economic Development Coalition, labeled “external email (marketing)” with the subject line “State of the City Luncheon.” He said he’s not surprised he missed it, as over 90 percent of emails he receives with that labeling are spam.
An email sent Sept. 9 by the Norman Economic Development Coalition to Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Holman with a flyer for Mayor Larry Heikkila's first State of the City address.
Studley, Grant, Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler and Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman confirmed to the Daily they were absent for the same reason. Only Ward 3 Councilmember Kelly Lynn and Ward 5 Councilmember Rarchar Tortorello attended the meeting.
Schueler also wrote in a Facebook message that she, Studley, Tortorello and Ward 8 Councilmember Matthew Peacock received email invitations on personal email accounts.
Lynn and Tortorello are self-identified conservatives who were elected in July 2021. Their wards, alongside Wards 1 and 7, are up for election in 2023, and Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8 will be up for election in 2024.
Holman, who has been on the council since 2013, said it doesn’t look good for the mayor to transition a traditionally public meeting at city hall to a private venue where the public has to pay to attend.
“I'm not sure that's the best way to go about increasing transparency with the City of Norman government,” Holman said.
Lawrence McKinney, president and CEO of the Norman Economic Development Coalition, said about 165 people filled the room, which could accommodate 172 people. He said the $30 entrance fee went toward covering the cost of food and the hotel rental but noted that did not cover all the event costs.
The city reserved two tables with 16 chairs total. McKinney said the tables were almost full with staff members like City Attorney Kathryn Walker, Director of Public Works Shawn O’Leary, Director of Parks and Recreation Jason Olsen and Retail Marketing Coordinator Sara Kaplan in attendance.
He also said Peacock, who is the city’s mayor pro tem, didn’t attend despite being registered for the event.
Lynn said he attended the meeting because he saw the email invitation.
Norman City Clerk Brenda Hall said her office was not involved with planning the event, though it did prepare materials for it using the city logo and the words “State of the City.” The document includes a biography of Heikkila, the names of Norman’s City Council members and talking points on business relations, planning and community development, parks and recreation, city communications, Norman fire and police, and public works and utilities.
Hall said the information included in the packet was not discussed during the address, although the packet was handed to attendees.
When asked by the Daily whether the Norman Economic Development Coalition’s event was a formal State of the City address, Heikkila said the event’s title may have been a misnomer.
“I think what (the coalition) was after was the inventory of the city at this point,” Heikkila said. “If we're thinking of this as a business transaction, if you're going to talk about something, you need to list the things that are wrong and the things that we need to fix and where we need to go from it. That's all that was. It was merely a conversation — a one-sided conversation — out of me about what I found during the first 100 days, which isn't much of a time period.”
Holman said State of the City addresses are generally about issues like the function of city infrastructure projects, city budgets or services. He can’t recall an address involving criticisms of other council members, and he doesn’t think that’s what Norman residents are concerned about.
“(Past mayors) have not used (the address) to personally go after all members for differences of opinion or political beliefs,” Holman said. “I’ve definitely not ever heard a mayor proclaim that they need a certain political affiliation majority to enact whatever agenda they want to do. Typically, I haven't seen the State of the City address used to campaign against sitting colleagues on the council.”
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt has hosted a State of the City address since 2019, and although his most recent address cost $75-100, he offered a recording and transcript to those who couldn’t attend, as he did in 2021, 2020 and 2019. Edmond Mayor Darrell Davis also hosted his 2022 State of the City address at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, and it was later uploaded on YouTube.
McKinney said a few people recorded the address, although he doesn't know if it will be made available to the public.
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. attended the event and spoke about “uniting the town and gown.” The Daily asked a university spokesperson how Harroz felt about the lack of representation from City Council — especially from Ward 4 and 7 council members, who represent OU — and the $30 charge. The spokesperson referred the Daily to the Norman Economic Development Coalition for questions.
Foreman posted a Facebook video the morning after the address saying she doesn’t believe calling out people’s actions and behaviors in a State of the City address is appropriate.
In an email to the Daily, Foreman wrote that she understands that divided opinions and criticisms are part of the job. She wrote that she never made personal comments about these things or publicly called anyone out despite serving during contentious times.
In the past three months, Foreman wrote that she’s seen a subtle affront to the principles of democracy, and that’s a hard line for her.
Foreman wrote that the majority of the council has been left in the dark about meetings, told not to show up to things and given no public promotion or reminders on certain meetings. Foreman wrote that the consent docket is no longer being read out during meetings, which obscures transparency in an effort to compress meeting time.
She wrote that it also limits the time the public can engage their representatives.
Study sessions also no longer have agenda items attached, Foreman wrote, meaning council members are going into meetings blind and can’t prepare questions that staff could answer before meetings.
“We are intentionally being muscled out,” Foreman wrote.
Foreman wrote that the right for residents whose taxpayer dollars cover city expenses to hear about their city’s state of affairs was denied alongside city representatives unless they paid $30 for a ticket to an event held during the middle of the workday.
“It should also be very concerning to the public that you have to be in the ‘in crowd’ to get invited to learn about what is happening in your city,” Foreman wrote. “That is not transparent. That is not open. That is not honest. That is limiting the public on pertinent information about things that affect their daily lives.”
Foreman wrote that this should be a red flag for all Normanites.
“What this boils down to is someone trying to minimize the voice of the people,” Foreman wrote. “The people have spoken. Again, like us or not, we were chosen, and any attempt to minimize our presence or withhold information from us, impeding us from doing our jobs to the best of our ability, is a slap in the face to democracy.”
