Norman City Council meets again to vote on budget that would cut police department's budget koco.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from koco.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules City Violated Law in Cutting Police Budget
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on April 13 that the Norman City Council violated the state’s Open Meeting Act, or Sunshine Act, when it approved a budget that slashed $865,000 from police department funding in June last year, amid calls to “defund the police” spurred by social justice advocates in response to the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The state’s top court unanimously upheld a December ruling from the Cleveland County District Court that found cutting the sum from the police department’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget violated the law, after the Norman Fraternal Order of Police filed a lawsuit against the city council.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Norman Fraternal Order of the Police, deciding the Norman City Council violated the state Open Meeting Act in its June 16 meeting.Â
In that meeting, Norman City Council members voted to cut $865,000 from a proposed increase to the Norman Police Departmentâs budget. In December 2020, Carter County Associate Judge Thomas K. Baldwin ruled the council violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act because the language used in the notice released prior to the meeting was âdeceptively wordedâ and âmaterially obscuredâ the meetingâs purpose, not indicated clearly the action the council would take.
Unite Norman-backed candidate Kelly Lynn won the Norman City Council Ward 3 election Tuesday night, becoming the second candidate endorsed by the organization to earn a city council seat.
Lynn received 52.39 percent of votes cast, with Petrone attracting 47.61 percent of voters, according to unofficial online results from the Oklahoma State Election Board. In the Feb. 9 election, Lynn received 30.24 percent of the votes, while Petrone received 40.34.
A national guard member and general practice lawyer for Pitts, Amend & Lynn Law Group LLC, Lynn previously told The Daily he hopes to âcenter the shipâ on the city council and serve as a voice for conservative Normanites. Lynn joins Ward 5 Councilmember-elect Rarchar Tortorello as the councilmember-elect endorsed by Unite Norman.
2 hrs ago
Norman City Council Ward 3 candidate Kelly Lynn works to rally voters Tuesday on the corner of Robinson Drive and 36th Avenue NW. Kyle Phillips / The Transcript
The Norman City Council will see Unite Norman-backed Kelly Lynn as Ward 3âs next councilor following a Tuesday runoff election between Lynn and incumbent Alison Petrone.
In a close race for Ward 3, the two could not call the win until the last votes were counted.
Voters handed the win to Lynn by 194 votes, preliminary results from the Oklahoma Board of Election revealed Tuesday night. Results showed 4,056 voters cast their ballots with 2,125 for Lynn at 52.39% of the vote, and 1,931 for Petrone at 47.61%. Petrone received 572 absentee votes and 90 early votes, while 241 voted absentee and 138 early voted for Lynn.