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Chamber Rejects Charter Changes

Dr. Gerard Clancy, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and OU-Tulsa President.
KWGS News Photo
Dr. Gerard Clancy, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and OU-Tulsa President.

By Sarah Rayner

Tulsa, OK – Today the Tulsa City Chamber vocalized its opposition to the proposals for ballot changes to the Tulsa City Chamber. The Chamber feels that making the mayor part of the City Council alters the checks and balances system, while the council's proposal for a city manager simply needs more debate and input from the community.

Dr. Gerard Clancy stated that the council has been studying these options since December of 2010, and feels that the proposals have "proceeded at a pace that has not allowed sufficient broad-based input." The lack of inclusion was one of the main reasons cited for rejecting all the proposals, as the Council stated there needs to be more community input, especially from minorities.

Shane Fernandez, a member of the Chamber's executive committee and chair of the Chamber's Mosaic program, sited the lack of community inclusion to the dismissal of the Save our Tulsa proposal to add three at-large councilors. The main message of the conference was that regional advocacy was part of the main strategic plan being developed at the Tulsa Metro Chamber, and that the proposed ballot changes simply did not promote that.

Both Mike Neal, the President and CEO of the Tulsa Metro Chamber, and Dr. Gerald Clancy, chair of the Tulsa Metro Chamber, stated the proposals need to be slowly and thoroughly developed before they are put forth on the ballot