Timeline of Shenanigans in Oklahoma County Government
The past year has brought numerous challenges for government at all levels, and that includes the county level. Oklahoma County, in particular, has repeatedly made headlines for decisions regarding the county jail, what they're doing (or not doing) with federal CARES funds, and their relationship with the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Because it’s such an important and complicated issue, we decided to do an entire podcast episode about it. County Commissioner Carrie Blumert joined us to walk through who all the players are a basic timeline of events. You can listen her and follow along with the timeline below.
Board of County Commissioners Members
Commissioner Carrie Blumert
Commissioner Brian Maughn
Commissioner Kevin Calvey
Tricia Everest (chair)
Sue Ann Arnall, attorney & philanthropist
Francie Ekwerekwu, assistant public defender & law professor
Ben Brown, former state senator
Commissioner Kevin Calvey
Sheriff P.D. Taylor
Todd Lamb, former Lt. Governor
Jim Couch, former OKC City Manager
M.T. Berry, former OKC Police Chief
Budget Board Members
Commissioner Kevin Calvey (chair)
Commissioner Carrie Blumert
Commissioner Brian Maughn
County Treasure Butch Freeman
County Clerk David Hooten
County Court Clerk Rick Warren
County Assessor Larry Stein
Sheriff PD Taylor
ISSUES AT HAND
ICE holds - the jail notifies ICE before inmates are released and will continue to hold individuals for up to 48 hours if ICE wants to take them into custody. The Jail also provides office space for ICE agents inside the jail. (Or they used to; we’ll talk about that)
CARES funds - federal funding designed for various covid-19 relief programs
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
5/2019 Jail Trust created to oversee the management and financial activity of the jail. Prior to the Trust, the County Sheriff was responsible for managing the county jail.
8/31/19 Sheriff submitted his resignation from Jail Trust & CJAC (Criminal Justice Advisory Council). However, the Sheriff can’t actually resign from the Trust, so the effect of this was more along the lines of “I disagree with this whole deal so I’m not going to attend meetings any longer, and in my place our general counsel will be attending as my proxy.”
11/??/19 Trust hired jail administrator hired
1/29/20 BOCC votes to contract with Jail Trust for management of the jail
7/1/20 Date that the Trust officially assumed mgmt of jail
8/13/20 Budget Board voted 5-3 to move $36M of CARES dollars to the Jail Trust. County Treasure Butch Freeman questioned if this was a legal use of CARES funds.
8/19/20 BOCC voted to move $34M in CARES dollars to Jail Trust. The issues was listed as item #22 on the agenda but it was moved up and the vote was called for before Commissioner Blumert was even seated.
8/31/20 Jail Trust voted to accept $37M in federal CARES dollars - $3M for airflow at the jail and another $34M for yet-undetermined expenditures. Members of the public were there, gave comment, and were not happy with the vote.
9/21/20 Jail Trust voted 4-2 to not honor ICE detainers, however, the Jail Trust’s bylaws require 5 affirmative votes, so the vote was not actually valid and thus the decision was vacated. There was consternation about how this all went down. There were a number of very vocal protestors at the meeting, so tensions were running high. Trust chairwoman Tricia Everest was participating virtually and just before the vote was called, she disconnected from the meeting. It is unclear why. In her absence, Co-Chair Jim Couch called for the vote. Calvey & Lamb voted ‘no,’ Couch, Berry, Brown, & Ekwerekwu voted ‘yes,’ Everest was now absent, and because of that, Danny Honeycut, counsel for the Sheriff’s office who was sitting in for Sheriff Taylor, abstained from voting because he wasn’t sure it was a valid vote. So that made the vote 4-2-1. The counsel for the Trust, John Williams, was present in the meeting but did not say anything about it not being a valid vote until hours later
Also at this meeting (Sept 21), the Trust passed a resolution to accept $34 million of federal CARES money from the BOCC, however, the Trust did not have a plan for how it was going to spend it. They had a long list of needs at the jail, but weren’t sure which ones to do. So, the Trust authorized the CEO to hire a Program Assistant to help winnow the list, which they would present at the next meeting.
9/30/20 In an emergency meeting, the Trust authorizes $3 million in CARES money to be used for a no-bid repair contract with an out-of-state contractor. They also canceled the Trust meeting scheduled for Oct 5th and carried those agenda items over to Oct 19th. This was interesting because the Oct 5th meeting was supposed to be when the Trust would re-vote on the involvement of ICE at the jail.
10/5/20 BOCC approved full cooperation with ICE in a 2-1 vote. Before the vote, Commissioner Blumert raised the question why this matter had not gone through the board’s Policy & Governance Committee. Calvey claimed it didn’t need to. (Then what’s the committee for?) Commissioner Blumert also raised doubt that the BOCC could set policy for the Jail Trust since they are a separate entity independent of the BOCC by design. Calvey said the lease agreement with the Trust for operation of the jail states that they shall follow County policy, which is why he wanted to set that policy at this time.
10/6/20 The next day, Commissioner Calvey filed petition asking the court to order that the Trust must do what the BOCC tells them to do. The petition was filed on behalf of three parties: the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association, Tom Vineyard (an individual), and Commissioner Calvey himself, in his official capacity as County Commissioner. The rather obvious issue here is that Commissioner Calvey was arguably suing himself, since he sits on both the BOCC and the Trust. Furthermore, he filed the suit as the attorney of record for the petitioners. This might not have been a problem if he was party to this as an individual citizen (like Mr. Vineyard), but Commissioner Calvey was listed as party in his official capacity as County Commissioner. In effect, Commissioner Calvey hired a private attorney to represent the County, and that private attorney was himself. This was an unprecedented move, as the county already has legal counsel - the District Attorney.
10/16/20 District Attorney David Prater responded to Calvey’s suit. His motion to intervene basically said that the DA’s office is the official representative of the county in virtually all legal matters. Prater’s motion also said that the BOCC does not have authority over the Trust. He pointed to the lease agreement as saying that while the county owns the jail, the Trust is responsible for management of it.
10/19/20 Jail Trust votes 4-2-2 to remove ICE from jail, but by-laws require 5 votes to pass, so no change
Virtual Civic Saturday: Perseverence
Below are the full text of the “civic scriptures” and “civic sermon” read during the event.
Civic Scripture
From the late Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s “declaration of conscience”:
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americansim -
The right to criticize.
The right to hold unpopular beliefs.
The right to protest.
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us does not? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our won. Otherwise thought control would have set in.
The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as Communists or Fascists by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.
From Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”:
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
From the American author and artist, Mary Anne Radmacher:
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'
From the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower:
As we peer into society’s future, we - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
Down the long lane of history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Civic Sermon
I started to write this civic sermon at least a dozen times over the past few weeks. Sometimes with pen and paper, sometimes on the computer, other times just speaking my thoughts aloud to myself in the car while I drove around. But every time I had the same experience - I hit a wall. I found it hard to focus on writing when there were so many other things in our world that I felt I needed to worry about.
There’s Covid, obviously, where earlier this week our state surpassed 100,000 cases and saw record-breaking numbers of people hospitalized and in the ICU due to the disease. When we crossed the 100,000 cases mark on Monday, I did some quick arithmetic and posted the result to Twitter, stating simply: 1 in 37 Oklahomans has been diagnosed with COVID-19. As of today, that tweet has been shared nearly 300 times and liked by more than 600 people. However, it did nothing to stop the six deaths that were reported that same morning, nor the other 50 deaths that have been reported in our state since then. By the time this is over, the odds are we’ll all have lost someone we know to the disease. Wondering who - and how many - can be downright crippling.
Then there’s the impending election, which is arguably of larger consequence for the future of our great nation than any other presidential election in two generations. It sure feels that way, at least. You can’t escape it. Billion-dollar campaigns are now the new normal, with ad buys designed to permeate every form of media we consume. In the face of unprecedented attacks on voting rights and our electoral process itself, we find ourselves looking for help from the companies we love to hate - Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all reminded me to register to vote nearly every day for at least the past six weeks. Even Yelp got in on the action, interrupting me with an election reminder while I was trying to look up what time Roxy’s Ice Cream store closed one night. I wanted ice cream, and I got politics. Maybe that’s smart marketing, though - catching people in their moment of vulnerability.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the impending election are stress-inducing events for lots of reasons, and it's important to acknowledge that not only have they added stress to our lives, they have amplified other, baseline, "normal" stressors that we all experience every day. Something as simple as going to work or buying groceries now requires additional research, planning, and strategy. Getting food from a restaurant, buying toilet paper, going for a run, voting - it's all different now. We find ourselves cut off from our friends and family, restricted to open-air hangouts at the end of the driveway, nervously wondering if our children are asymptomatic carriers and fearing they'll infect their grandparents. Hugs, once relished in my family like chocolate icing on a big slice of yellow cake, have been sidelined completely.
How do we carry on when everything feels so bizarre, so distant, so uncertain?
While the circumstances have changed, the associated feelings are not new to most Oklahomans. Amongst our American brethren, we are uniquely accustomed to the sudden and complete interruption of life. Many of us know someone - or several someones - who have had their trees and lives uprooted by a tornado. I vividly remember my friend Jon tweeting that he had just watched his house in Moore get blown away on the news...on a television in the hospital, where he sat with his newborn child in the NICU. Or my friend Amy, who sat across the desk from her boss at 9:01 am on April 19, 1995; and a moment later the wall and the floor and her boss were all gone.
This year was supposed to be the 20th annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, but, like everything else, the event was forced to become "virtual." Registrants received boxes in the mail with their shirts and blankets and medals, along with instructions to run their selected race sometime in the two weeks between October 4th and tomorrow, October 18th. I don't know if you know this, but there are a lot - I mean, a LOT of marathons out there - but the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is different from all the rest. It was the first half marathon I attempted when I started running in 2014, and this year will be my sixth time. Once I actually run it, I mean. Because, as I mentioned at the beginning of my talk, I don't know about about you, but lately I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to keep going. I don't know what I'm waiting for, exactly...but I do think it seems appropriate for us to talk about perseverance today.
Regardless of how you feel about running, we can all admit that it provides a wonderful analogy for just about everything in life. And while sports drinks and fancy, stretchy clothing have renewed our interest in running for exercise and sport, running has been a part of human existence since…forever, really. Scientists believe that one of things helped humans rise to the top of the evolutionary food chain is our ability to run long distances and simply wear out our prey and other predators. People, it seems, were built to keep going.
And, perhaps that’s why running has been used as an analogue for getting through life for thousands of years. You can even find running analogies in the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to the church at Corinth and to his friend Timothy that include phrases like "running to win" and "finishing the race,” which is somewhat ironic because history records Paul as being not just blind and bald but also bowlegged, an affliction that would have made running unduly difficult for him. Perhaps that’s the reason why running analogies resonated with him so strongly. He knew, quite intimately, how hard it was to simply keep going.
I took up running when I was in my early 30s, after the birth of my first child. I was pretty clearly running from existential dread; it was my attempt to avoid or postpone or at least slow down the inevitable aging and weakening of the human body that befalls all of us. When I started running, I learned a lot about myself, about other people, and about how we all interact and flow together as one community. When you run through the streets of your town you see and feel all the cracks, all the bumps, all the glistening lawns and empty lots, the formidable mansions and the homeless shelters, the exhaust of our cars and the exhaustion of our resources, the children at the park and the dirty needles in the gutter.
Obviously, I’m not here to talk about running. I’m here to talk about stuff that’s way harder than running. Community-level change. Making a difference in the lives of our neighbors. And why it is so danged important that, even when it gets hard, you keep going.
To do that, I’m going to share with you the three most important lessons I have learned from running: It’s easy starting out, Just make it to the next block, and Never waste a downhill.
Lesson 1: It’s Easy Starting Out
This one seems obvious. All you have to do find a place to run, lean forward a little bit, put one foot in front of the other, and let gravity do the rest. It feels…natural, right? After just a few steps you begin to build up some momentum and feel the breeze in your face and, Wow! Look at you! You’re doing it! You are running!
I love the beginning of a race, especially big ones, like marathons. Thousands of people joined together with a common purpose. It’s dark, the music is thumping, the air is absolutely electric. There is a collective sense of We’re going to do this. We’re going to run and we’re going to finish, and it’s going to feel great. Look at how awesome we are.
And as you stand in that corral, you may begin to look around at the other runners, sizing them up, trying to decide which ones "look like real runners,” which ones you think you can beat, trying to make yourself feel better and justify your presence there by devaluing others. “Look at them. Psh. What do they know about running? Look at those shoes. Look at that old guy. Is that a fanny pack? Ugh." Don't give in to those thoughts. Viewing your neighbors as competitors rather than teammates is a surefire way to suck the joy out of the experience.
Because once you start running, you'll soon realize that what you thought was a solo exercise is really a group project. The more you try to look out for yourself, the more likely you will collide with someone else, particularly if they are only looking out for themselves.
Like so much of life, running a marathon is a community effort. The road is long and if we’re going to get there, we must realize that we’re all in this together and therefore we need to lookout for one another, encourage one another, and try not to get in each other’s way.
Lesson 2: Just Make It To The Next Block
Before long, you notice the crowd around you is thinning. Some people are still cruising along, but others are breaking to walk or stand and stretch and catch their breath. You begin to question yourself and what you’re doing. Doubt creeps in. "Should I walk? Why did I start down this road in the first place? Ugh, what if I can’t finish? Do I even want to finish any more? Is there a way for me to quit so that no one will notice?”
In any race, there are a million points along the way where you may feel like giving up. I get it. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, it feels lonely, it makes you hurt. Caring about something and sticking with it to the end requires incredible stamina and grit. While things were easy starting out when everyone was there together, now you look around and may not recognize the people around you. The rallying music has faded and the finish line feels impossibly far away. So you pull over to the side, step out of the flow, and disconnect a bit from the community around you.
It's okay to take a break if you need it; there is absolutely no shame in that. But, I have found that if you tell yourself "just make it to the next block" before you stop, often you'll end up going two or three more as well. Sometimes, just giving yourself permission to stop provides enough relief that you don't need to actually stop at all. You're doing the best you can, and you can make it to the next block.
Lesson 3: Never Waste a Downhill
Every race has hills. Some are well known and highly anticipated, like Gorilla Hill in the Oklahoma City marathon, where the local residents of a big yellow house along the route rent a 30-foot inflatable gorilla and volunteers dress up and hand out bananas to runners. Other hills are smaller, less flashy. Some are low and long, like the rolling highways of western Oklahoma. Regardless of the size of the hill, I am always thankful to reach the top. It feels like an accomplishment, something to be celebrated, and, too often, a permission slip to stop trying. After all, what goes up must come down, and what better time to walk than when gravity is pulling you along?
One of my former running buddies has a habit of shouting “Never waste a downhill” whenever we reached a peak. She recognized that our natural inclination is to put in less effort when the road gets easier. Which is silly, of course - that kind of complacency is exactly how the hare lost to the tortoise in Aesop's classic fable. When we see that things may be easier ahead, we should press on even harder. If the wind is at our back, we can accomplish more than we might otherwise. We should call to the others around us, rally them to the cause, and not let that downhill go to waste. We. must. keep. going.
One more thing
Before I bring Chris back up to take us out with a song, if you'll permit me, I'd like to add one more lesson that I learned from running. I wasn't really planning to share this, but as we've gone along today, I think it's fitting for where we're at as a country and as a community.
On April 30, 2017, I was running the Memorial Half-Marathon, per usual, and I just was not into it. I had not really trained for it, it was cold and rainy, and I was grumpy about the whole deal. I was running by myself and felt disconnected from the event and the people around me. As I came west down 23rd Street, under the highway and started up the hill toward McDonald's, I ran into my friend Adi. Adi is a gifted yoga instructor and a talented writer and, I recently learned, when she was younger, Adi was an aspiring advocate who wanted to “free the dolphins.” As luck would have it, Adi is also a runner. Not a “runner” like me - she is a legit ultramarathoner. 50 milers, 100 milers, this girl can get after it.
Anyway, there I was, wallowing in my own self-loathing about my poor performance in the race when I see Adi stopped in the middle of the road, on a hill, trying to hold still the wheelchair she was pushing while she stretched a rain fly over the little girl who sat in the chair. I helped her get situated and then we continued on along the course, laughing and talking as we jogged.
After a couple of miles, Adi paused and graciously said “Andy, you don’t have to stay with us. We’ll just slow you down.” Little did she know - they were the only things keeping me going.
I had never run with a rider before. I saw people in chairs during races, but I knew nothing about them aside from that very passive awareness. I assumed whoever was pushing them was a friend or relative, but in this case, I learned that Adi had simply volunteered, and by sheer luck of the draw she was paired up with Mariela.
From the moment I started running next to Mariela, I...disappeared from public view. There were still runners streaming past us on all sides, and literally everyone offered words of genuine encouragement - “Good job!” “You’re doing great!” “Keep it up!” - all of it directly squarely at Mariela. Who, I must admit, soaked it up with a smile from ear to ear. “Thank you!” she’d call back after each one.
We didn’t run the whole way, and when we did run, we were slow. It’s hard enough to push your own body down the street for 13 miles; an additional 70 lbs of chair and rider makes it that much more difficult. My time ended up being a full 30 minutes slower than the year prior, but I didn’t care.
When we were about a mile from the end, Adi leaned over to tell me that Mariela’s family would be waiting near the finish line with her walker, and we were going to get her out of the chair so she could walk across the finish line herself. And so, we did. This photo explains how it felt.
My entire perspective on running changed that day. I had been focused on just getting to the finish line and doing it for me. And if that’s where you’re at because that’s where you need to be, that’s perfectly fine. You gotta be present for yourself, I get that and I affirm that. You do you. But, hear me out - what if you also show up for the folks around you?
America has this weird thing about rugged individualism and bootstraps and blazing your own trail and all this. We’re like a teenager who thinks they can make it in the world on their own without any help from anyone because they have a car and a job making sandwiches at Subway. Too often we - collective we, societal we - fail to appreciate or even acknowledge the relationships and reciprocity we have with other nations, with other states, with other cities, with the people who live in the neighborhood across the highway or the house right next door.
What if we acted like we’re all running side by side? What if it wasn’t a “race,” but rather, just run with friends? What if your neighbor needed you to push them? What if you needed them to push you?
2020 Election Resources Compendium
Tens of thousands of Oklahomans have already voted safely and securely by mail, which is truly great and exciting news! If you haven’t yet voted and are still looking for information about some of the nonpartisan names and issues that appear on the ballot, we’ve got you covered. Take a look below for information about the judges up for retention, state questions 805 and 814, and, for those of you in Oklahoma City, the proposed changes to the city’s charter.
Oklahoma is one of a handful of states that places state Supreme Court, Appellate Court, and other judicial officials on the ballot. This year, the only judicial elections are retention elections, which means that the justices in question were appointed to their positions and voters are simply deciding if they should be retained or if the Governor should appoint someone else to the position. If you aren’t an attorney who has practiced in front of these justices, it can be difficult to find information about them to help inform your decision. Thankfully, the Oklahoma Bar Association has created this resource concerning the retention ballot and the candidates thereon.
There are two state questions on the ballot this fall, both of which are somewhat nuanced in what they do. We’ve covered both questions on Let’s Pod This; links to the video & audio versions of those episodes are below.
State Question 805: Video | Audio Only
State Question 814: Video | Audio Only
Our 2020 State Questions Guide is embedded below as image files; you can also download it as a PDF here.
Read:
The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County, in conjunction with the OKC Municipal Counselor’s office, has created a “plain language” summary of the proposed changes.
Watch:
Listen:
2020 OKC Charter Amendments
The following information was created and shared by the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County. We are cross-posting it here with their permission.
The Oklahoma City Council called a special election on Nov. 3 for proposed City Charter amendments that are primarily intended to modernize wording, address inconsistencies and resolve discrepancies with state law.
The proposed changes were introduced August 4 and the approved for the ballot at the final hearing during the City Council meeting on August 18. The election will be the same day as the November 3 nationwide general election, but on a separate ballot available to all Oklahoma City voters at their usual polling place or via mail if voting absentee.
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The OKC Municipal Counselors office and Former LWVOK President, Jean McLaughlin, has assisted the LWV of Oklahoma County with the following summary to prepare voters with this information before voting.The City Charter is like the City constitution and can only be changed by Voters. The purpose of these propositions (amendments) is to delete obsolete wording, improve clarification, achieve consistency with state law and make minor changes for improved government functioning. There are no tax issues. Oklahoma City Voters will receive a separate ballot with the 9 propositions at the polls or if they vote by mail.
LWVOKC Explanations of the 9 proposed City Charter Amendments:
Proposition 1 relates to Mayor and City council elections. The name of the February “primary” election would become the “general” election and the April “general” election will become the “run-off” election. It lengthens the time when elected officers take office from one week to four weeks after the April run-off election. The Mayor and Councilmembers will continue to have overlapping 4-year terms.
Proposition 2 relates to the qualifications for the offices of Mayor and Council members and reformats the section for easier reading. To file as a candidate a person:
A. Must be a citizen of the United States and Oklahoma
B. Must be at least 21 years of age
C. Must have been a resident of Oklahoma City for at least one year before filing for office. The wording in the current Charter requires 3 years of residency that may be found unconstitutional if challenged.
D. The Mayor must have been a registered voter in Oklahoma City for at least one year.
E. A City Council candidate representing a ward must have been a registered voter at an address within the ward for at least one year. Previously, a 6-month residency was required.
Proposition 3 provides for filling a vacancy in the office of Mayor. If the vacancy were to occur within the first three years of the Mayor’s term, Council would have 30 days instead of 15 days to call a special election. If the vacancy occurs within the final year of the Mayor's term of office, it shall be filled by a majority vote of the Council within 30 days instead of the prior 15 days.
Proposition 4 relates to when regular meetings of the City Council will be held. The current language states that meetings will be held every Tuesday. This is changed to read: meetings will be held at such times as the Council may designate by ordinance to reflect current practice.
Proposition 5 relates to the City Manager having exclusive control of city employees. A new section is added to state that the Mayor and any Councilmember may provide information to the City Manager regarding the positive or negative performance of any officer or employee under the City Manager. This information must be based on direct personal knowledge or on a signed written statement provided by a resident.
Proposition 6 relates to the two divisions of the city government and specifies more clearly their responsibilities. The Division of Public Affairs under the Mayor and the City Council shall include the City Manager, Municipal Counselor, City Auditor, Municipal Judges, and all City boards, commissions and committees created by the Mayor or City Council. The Division of Public Management shall comprise all city departments, functions, agencies, commissions and boards not placed under the Division of Public Affairs.
Proposition 7 would be a new section in the City Charter that changes the terms of Councilman and Councilmen to consistently refer to such officers as Councilmember, Councilmembers, Councilor, or Councilors as grammatically appropriate.
Proposition 8 would amend the charter to add the word “welfare” to the list of reasons for enacting and enforcing ordinances. The new wording is: ordinances may be enacted to protect health, safety, welfare, life, or property.
Proposition 9 prohibits City officers and employees from accepting anything of value from certain privately owned businesses within the city that is not granted to the general public. This prohibition applies to any transportation business or utility company that has a franchise or contract with the city. The wording of this section is changed to more clearly state its intent.
2020 State Questions Guide
There are two state questions on the ballot this fall, both of which are somewhat nuanced in what they do. We’ve covered both questions on Let’s Pod This; links to the video & audio versions of those episodes are below.
State Question 805: Video | Audio Only
State Question 814: Video | Audio Only
Our 2020 State Questions Guide is embedded below as image files; you can also download it as a PDF here.