Del City opponents want detailed look at Oklahoma County's jail plans

Opponents of Oklahoma County's plans to build a jail at 1901 E Grand Blvd. are escalating their efforts to get the project stopped.

Two Del City residents — Mayor Floyd Eason and Gina Standridge, a member of the Mid-Del Public Schools' Board of Education, filed a complaint with an Oklahoma County sheriff's deputy May 16 that accuses District 3 Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson of failing to fulfill an open records request made to his office in early February by Standridge.

Standridge sought text messages, communications and emails involving Davidson, the Oklahoma County Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board and Crooked Oak Public Schools about a proposed deal to swap properties as part of Oklahoma County's jail plans.

Davidson's office provided records to Standridge on Monday, but she believes those records are incomplete.

On Friday, the commissioner said he's learned because of her scrutiny that Oklahoma County lacks cohesive policies related to open records requests, to data retention issues and more.

"We are learning things left and right, that there are huge holes in the way we operate," Davidson said.

While Standridge and other opponents are convinced he has done something in appropriate, he flatly denies the accusation.

"I will not dirty this process. If you remember the way the current jail was built, the scrutiny it was under and all the back-door dealings that happened, there's no way I will repeat those. We are literally dealing with someone who is convinced there is wrongdoing, when there is none," Davidson said.

Meanwhile, Eason announced May 20 that he, Standridge and state Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, are drafting petition language as Oklahoma County residents that will ask for a grand jury investigation into Davidson and his efforts to build the jail at the Grand Boulevard location.

They plan to submit a request to circulate the petition calling for a grand jury to Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna soon. If Behenna decides the request is warranted, Eason said they will have 45 days to collect about 5,000 valid signatures from Oklahoma County residents to trigger the jury's investigation.

More: OK County hundreds of millions short of what's needed to build new jail

The petition's language is still being drafted, but the mayor said it generally will ask a grand jury to investigate Davidson for dereliction of duty because of his failure to respond to the open records request in a timely fashion and because of his failure to file campaign finance reports as required by state law.

Davidson filed overdue reports May 13 after a Midwest City resident filed a complaint with Oklahoma's Ethics Commission.

Eason also wants the grand jury to investigate Davidson's campaign donations to see if those influenced his decisions to push a plan to build the jail at the controversial location, Eason said.

Those records show William Garrett, part owner of the 1901 E Grand land, donated a total of $2,900 to Davidson's election campaign.

"I just don't believe it is accurate. I don't think it shows everything," Eason said about the reports.

Eason told The Oklahoman he believes finding 5,000 people to sign the petition will be easy.

"My phone was blowing up with messages from people asking where they could find a copy of the petition to sign before I could even return to my seat," Eason said.

County commissioners haven't treated each site equally as they have evaluated where to build the jail, Eason said he believes.

"I just feel like there is some stuff going on we don't know about. The only way we are going to get all the documents is through a grand jury investigation," Eason said.

What open records were Oklahoma County jail opponents requesting?

Standridge's open records request sought all text messages, communications and emails between Davidson and Crooked Oak Public Schools, all communications from Oklahoma County Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board member Xavier Neira to Crooked Oak and all communications between the oversight board and Oklahoma County officials.

Standridge said records provided by Davidson's office Monday only provided text communications between Neira and Davidson as they worked with Crooked Oak Public Schools' Superintendent Bradley Richards to develop potential plans for a land swap between the county and school system intended to move the school's athletic fields farther away from the jail's proposed location.

"They were working to cut a deal" before those plans were ever publicly disclosed, she said.

"I didn't really get what I was looking for," Standridge said.

Davidson said Friday he campaigned on a platform of being open and honest, and to that end, said he would be happy to furnish records from as far back as 2007 to anyone who asks that show Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County were considering building a jail at 1901 E Grand.

He also told The Oklahoman he will cooperate with whatever investigation might come.

"Although I feel the weight of being investigated, I understand that cooperating with the process is crucial," he said.

Davidson said he continues to believe 1901 E Grand is the best location currently available for a new jail and its selection was the correct choice for commissioners to make, even though their decision was not unanimous.

"I have made my decision in good faith. I will let the truth prevail," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Del City jail opponents want a grand jury to evaluate county plan