Del City officials hire law firm tied to OKC councilman to sue Oklahoma County over chosen jail site
This week Del City officials hired two law firms to represent them in the lawsuit against Oklahoma County over the chosen jail site location, but one of law firms they’ve hired has ties to an Oklahoma City councilman.
DEL CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - This week Del City officials hired two law firms to represent them in the lawsuit against Oklahoma County over the chosen jail site location, but one of law firms they’ve hired has ties to an Oklahoma City councilman.
Some wonder if it would be a conflict of interest as the Oklahoma City Council will soon have a vote to rezone the chosen jail site property.
The City of Del City is now one step closer as they prepare to sue Oklahoma County after Commissioners approved to build the new Oklahoma County Jail at East Grand Boulevard and Southeast 15th Street in Oklahoma City.
“We have a full team available to work with everything that we have going on against Oklahoma County at this time,” said J.D. Hock, city manager of Del City.
This week Del City officials announced they’ve hired Fellers Snider as one of the law firms to represent the city in the lawsuit. Ward 8 Oklahoma City Councilman Mark Stonecipher is a shareholder and director with the law firm.
The city manager of Del City J.D. Hock told KFOR that Stonecipher is a Del City graduate and they simply wanted to work with someone who cares about the community.
“We need those that actually have a tie to our community and want to help us...
"The gentleman that we're hiring to work from Feller Snider is the one that's a graduate of 1978 from Del City. And we wanted to make sure that we have our alumni, our folks working on this for us,” said Hock.
A request to rezone the chosen jail site property will soon be presented to the Oklahoma City Council. Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan says Councilman Stonecipher will have to recuse his vote.
“I've visited with the city manager, and he confirmed that. So, it means that you still have to get five votes for zoning. But now we'll only have eight council members to choose from that to get that five vote,” said Brian Maughan, Oklahoma County Commissioner, District 2.
Hock told KFOR they don’t plan to move forward with the lawsuit until the county officially purchases the land. He says they are ready if or when the time comes.
“Our goal is not to go to court. Our goal is to work this out with Oklahoma County. We are part of Oklahoma County. They've been wonderful partners in the past. We don't want to see anything happen. But if we do, if we're going to court, we need a litigator ready to fight for Del City,” said Hock.
KFOR reached out to Stonecipher on Tuesday. He sent the following message from Kenneth Jordan, who is the municipal counselor for the City of Oklahoma City:
Mark spoke to me on this subject last week and he and I agreed that if a member of Fellers Snider represents Del City and/or other persons protesting a rezoning application made to the OKC COUNCIL to authorize the jail site near Del City, then he should not vote or take part in OKC COUNCIL actions for the rezoning application. To follow this advice, Mark will have to leave the Council Chamber - this is because the OKC Charter says any Councilor present in the Chamber must vote, i.e., to recuse, the Councilor must leave the Council Chamber.
So, if Mark is recused from voting, there will only be 8 members of Council left to vote on the rezoning.
Del City officials say the other firm they’ve hired is Mueller, Wheeler & Associates, PLLC. Hock said that firm will be the main litigator.
Del City officials are inviting residents to their call-to-action town hall meeting next week. They will be talking about strategy and answer any questions the community has regarding the opposition of the chosen county jail site location. It will start at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26 at the Del City Community Center.