Oklahoma County Commissioner shares event rental agreement with Flintco LLC
OKLAHOMA COUNTY (KFOR) – Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson wants to clear up questions about a campaign kickoff party. That party was originally supposed to be held at the headquarters of the company that’s being used to build the new Oklahoma County Jail. It is sparking concerns about a conflict of interest.
This comes after News 4 uncovered records showing Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson received campaign donations from the property owners of the chosen jail site.
Then, as the Oklahoman reported, Davidson announced a campaign event to be held at Flintco LLC, the company that’s been hired to build the new jail.
“Flintco was not hosting a fundraiser for me the way that it was reported,” said Myles Davidson, Oklahoma County Commissioner District 3.
Commissioner Davidson originally planned to host his “Second Annual Grand Slam Event” at Flintco LLC at the end of March.
Back in January, Oklahoma County Commissioners voted to hire Flintco LLC to build the new Oklahoma County Jail.
On Monday, just one week after The Oklahoman reported Flintco LLC was hosting Davidsons campaign kickoff, Oklahoma County Commissioners approved a $121 million contract for pre-construction services with Flintco LLC.
“That’s just the first step of a multifaceted contract that they will be the ones constructing the jail. So that was the preconstruction phase. What that will do is that will allow us to look at our timelines and they’ll be able to come in and tell us the parts that take three to five years to manufacture,” said Davidson.
You may remember, News 4 uncovered records showing Davidson received campaign donations from the property owners of the site chosen for the new jail. Davidson denied that donation influenced his vote on the jail location.
But now there are rumors surrounding Flintco LLC. Davidson said the construction company has never made any donations to him. He even provided News 4 with an invoice showing the $200 charge he would have paid for renting out the facility for his party.
“They have a very nice little spot that you can rent out. We had rented that spot out the same way that community organizations from all over the city and state use that same facility for it,” said Davidson.
Now Davidson says following the controversy surrounding the reports, they’ve switched locations for the party and will be holding it at Rococo instead.
“But the reason that we chose Flintco was that it was open. It was a drawn-out process. It was a bid process. It went through numerous committees, of which none of those any commissioner sat on it. So, it’s been 100% aboveboard. It’s all open record,” said Davidson.
News 4 reached out to Flintco LLC. It is unclear how to apply to rent out the facility for an event on the website. So, we’ve asked them for clarification and a response to the controversy.
News 4 also reached out to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office to ask if any of this represents a conflict of interest between Davidson and Flintco LLC. We are also still waiting for a response from them.
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