Amid controversy, Oklahoma County commissioners are purchasing land for a new jail

Calls for the resignation of Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson intensified as county commissioners voted Monday to purchase land for the proposed site of a new jail.

The Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 to purchase 71 acres of property at 1901 E Grand Blvd., a heavily industrial area in Oklahoma City near Crooked Oak Public Schools and just a block from the Oklahoma City/Del City border. Board Chairman and County 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan said the move was an attempt to use $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked for the behavioral health facility.

“We simply purchased the property outright without any of the additional terms we had previously offered, and that means we don’t have to ask the landowner to approve any application from (Oklahoma City),” Maughan said. “We think this will allow us to make progress on building the mental health center and save ARPA money.”

Maughan said whether the county will pursue other goals related to the site — such as building a new correctional facility — will be determined at a future meeting.

Maughan and Oklahoma County District 3 Commissioner Myles Davidson voted to support the purchase. Board Vice Chair Carrie Blumert, County Commissioner District 1, was not present Monday, but her first deputy, Cody Compton, voted “no” on her behalf.

“In the case of District 1, we have consistently opposed this issue,” Compton said. “Commissioner Blumert would like to continue to consider other locations.”

A majority of county commissioners moved to purchase the Grand Boulevard site despite strong opposition from Oklahoma City Council members in late May to rezoning the property. Residents of the neighboring Del City community have often expressed their opposition to building a new jail near the city limits, arguing that it would negatively impact Del City’s economy and property values.

Maughan said the county could declare sovereignty over the Grand Boulevard land to build a jail without city council approval. Del City leaders are considering legal action against the county in an attempt to stop the project, but Maughan said a lawsuit will likely be filed regardless of where the county decides to build the jail.

“I think that’s why it’s important to establish whether we have sovereignty or not,” Maughan said. “It would probably take a court case to determine that. We already have plans in place for this place and they would have to be completely redone if we went elsewhere, so it’s a step backwards.”

The current 13-story jail has been in operation since the 1990s at 201 N Shartel Ave. Some thought that transferring control of the facility from the county sheriff’s office to the jail trust would improve conditions and reduce deaths, but a year-long investigation by The Oklahoman found that the facility remains one of the deadliest prisons in the United States.

In 2022, local voters approved a $260 million bond to fund construction of a new prison, but price estimates from earlier this year showed the facility would actually cost between $610 million and $677 million.

Residents are calling for the resignation of the county commissioner due to an alleged conflict of interest

Several Del City and Midwest City residents, along with Oklahoma City-based activist groups, called on Commissioner Davidson to withdraw and resign on Monday. Calls for his removal stem from allegations of collusion after Davidson accepted donations from the Garrett family, co-owners of the Grand Boulevard property, during his election campaign.

Mid-Del Public Schools board member Gina Standridge requested text messages, communications and emails from Davidson, the Oklahoma County Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board and Crooked Oak Public Schools regarding a proposed real estate swap agreement as part of the county’s prison plans.

Text messages between Davidson and his appointed oversight committee member, Xavier Neira, were later obtained and shared with The Oklahoman. In conversations spanning February through May, Davidson discussed Neira’s request to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce “to aggregate as much land as possible for the old jail site so we can do a larger tif (sic),” or tax increment financing district.

Davidson also expressed frustration with the House’s 2022 elections for “putting the cart before the horse by asking for money for a project we had no idea how much it would cost.” Other text messages exchanged between Neira and Davidson in February described Maughan as a “moron” and “coward”, while additional messages in March indicated a plan to “submit a sovereignty application immediately after submitting a rezoning application” and were further critical of both Maughan and former District 3 County Commissioner Kevin Calvey for “f***ing up the county.”

Most of the direct criticism came from the appointee, with Davidson at one point saying “Clearly.” Some of these text messages also indicated that Maughan had “changed his tune” and was now willing to continue working on the Grand Boulevard plans.

On Monday, Standridge openly called for Davidson’s resignation, arguing that “your donors benefit from your votes” and that he had not followed ethical reporting guidelines.

“When it comes to sovereignty, this is just madness,” Standridge said. “This is usually reserved for unincorporated lands or Native American lands. Or kings and queens that don’t exist here in the United States.

Asked about calls to withdraw, Davidson responded dismissively, saying, “If we had to withdraw on every vote, the Legislature would never vote.” He also said he speaks regularly with his appointees to keep abreast of proceedings and that he has “no idea” why he is being accused of backdoor use.

“I only have one vote on the three-member committee,” Davidson said. “I can’t make any deal with anyone. Only politics can work. These are ideas that I present not only to my appointee on the board, but also to the board(s), and they can tell me to say no right away.

“But I always said that this facility, this place down there, was 300 meters from the stadium and I voted against it originally for that reason,” Davidson added. “And when I went and sat down and talked to Crooked Oak and they said they would be willing to move, I started to put together a plan to make that happen so that we could protect the children here.”

However, Del City Mayor Floyd Eason expressed concern that county commissioners are not listening to their constituents and that a potential TIF development district is being prioritized over residents’ concerns.

“It looks like you’re listening to your donors more than your voters,” Eason told the board of commissioners. “We kept hearing how unprofitable it was to rebuild or renovate the city center prison. Now we learn that a TIF program is already underway to renovate the existing prison. It sounds to me like someone is trying to make money by moving the jail out of downtown and renovating the area. I think in this case you are putting the financial interests and developers ahead of the citizens’ concerns. You are selling their safety and rights for profit in the city center.

Others oppose building a mental health facility on the 71-acre site on Grand Boulevard because of the likelihood that a jail will still be built on the site. Last week, commissioners said the county’s intention was to build a behavioral health facility separate from the jail, but residents weren’t buying that explanation.

“You are planning to build a mental health center, but I don’t know how many acres it will take,” said Scott Tatom, councilor for Del City’s Ward 4. “Let’s say five, let’s say six. What do you plan to do with the remaining 65 acres? Are you going to build a park? Are you going to build a playground? What are you going to do? We all know what it will be. There is no point in avoiding this issue. I mean, everything is as clear as day.

Mark Faulk, organizer of the People’s Council for Justice Reform, called efforts to continue work on a mental health center at the site a “scam” and that ARPA funds could be better used.

“We think it’s important to take this money and either build it in the community, in a separate place, so that we don’t criminalize mental health,” Faulk said. “Or you should divide that money among some communities and let them build their own mental health centers, or use existing buildings and have the community run them.”