Oklahoma County Commissioners vote to purchase 1901 East Grand Blvd for jail site

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma County Commissioners voted in a special meeting Monday to amend and approve a contract to purchase property located at 1901 East Grand Blvd for a new county jail after fierce opposition from citizens.

In May, the Oklahoma City Council voted 7-1 to deny a special rezoning permit for the site near Del City. In response, District 2 Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan said the county sought to buy the land with no contingencies.

The board agreed 2-1 to spend $4.9 million to acquire the 71-acre property from Garrett and Company Resources and Willowbrook Investments.

Commissioners Push Forward with Land Purchase Amid ARPA Funding Deadline and Zoning Concerns

Maughan and District 3 Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson voted to buy the property. Commissioner Carrie Blumert of District 1 was absent from the meeting but had a representative from her office vote on her behalf.

“In District 1, we have been a ‘no’ on this pretty consistently,” Cody Compton, first deputy to Blumert’s office said during the meeting. “Commissioner Blumert would still like to consider other sites, and we’re going to be a ‘no’ on this one.”

Maughan explained that $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds designated for a mental health facility next to the proposed jail is at risk if it isn’t allocated by the end of the year.

“With the ARPA funds being at stake, I thought it vital that we move forward,” Maughan said. “There’s already zoning, where we’re told we can build this without asking for city permission. So this keeps us with a mental health facility and retaining those federal dollars.”

It would be back to the start in creating new renderings and architectural designs if a new property had to be chosen. Maughan said the current designs were made under the presumption the East Grand Boulevard property would be approved under a special zoning permit.

Maughan said it was time the county could not afford.

“Even if you bought an existing facility, you have to go through and remodel it and retrofit it. It could be an issue about whether or not an existing facility is zoned correctly,” Maughan said. “And to go through again, that process could be too time expensive, which we couldn’t afford to wait that long.”

Del City Mayor Criticizes County Commissioners for Ignoring Constituent Pleas and Prioritizing Campaign Contributors

However, Del City Mayor Floyd Eason said the commissioners have yet to hear the pleas of their constituents for the new jail to be elsewhere. He said other cities in eastern Oklahoma County have stood in support of Del City and its school districts.

“We have had Midwest City issue a proclamation in support of us and nearly every other city in eastern Oklahoma County has come out in support of us fighting that location,” Eason said. “Yet the commissioners refuse to hear their constituents. They’re more interested in serving their contributors to their campaign than they are their constituents and I’m hoping that kind of election time, there’ll be a mass correction on some of these commissioners that are not representing their people.”

Commissioner declines to recuse from voting among ethics violations

During public comment in the special meeting Monday, multiple speakers called for the recusal of District 3 Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson from voting to purchase the property at East Grand Boulevard.

In 2023, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission received a complaint regarding Davidson’s failure to file campaign finance reports.

Davidson’s failure to file reports on time raised questions about the efforts to put the jail at 1901 East Grand Blvd.

Records show William Garret, part owner of the property, donated $2,900 to Davidson’s election campaign.

Del City to petition grand jury investigation into Commissioner

Eason said Del City attorneys are preparing a petition to present to Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna asking for a grand jury investigation into Davidson’s actions and motives about the new Oklahoma County jail.

An open records request filed in February by Eason and Gina Standridge, a member of the Mid-Del Public Schools’ Board of Education, showed text messages involving Davidson and Xavier Neira, a member of the Oklahoma County Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board, discussing the jail site, its proximity to Crooked Oak facilities and a possible Tax Increment Finance district over the existing Oklahoma County Jail.

“Let’s get ready to file for sovereignty as soon as re-zoning is filed. Council seems to think it helps them to go that route. So they will not worry too much about pushing to help us,” Neira said in a text to Davidson on March 14.

Neither Davidson’s office nor Neira responded for comment at the time of publication.

“I don’t think we got all the text messages,” Eason said. “I think we got a sampling of the text messages. They’ve tried to conceal some of the information but it’s too disjointed and too broken up. We didn’t get everything. That’s going to be an issue.”