I understand from a city councilor that it looks like (in other words it's not final) that the committee will conduct their negotiations behind closed doors to determine what should be in the bond, how it should be financed, and the same way with the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

I have strong feelings about "behind the door" negotiations involving public money. I didn't spend 20 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a lieutenant colonel, and being deployed to three countries to participate in wars to defend democracy/freedom only to come home and have my city conduct a meeting behind closed doors like it was the mafia — the only thing missing would be the cigar smoke. You may say, "Mark, that's pretty harsh." Let me remind you that it was just three months ago that our mayor and city manager stood in front of all the Tulsa TV stations and said they were all for transparency. But then that was when the cameras were present.

The city needs to be transparent. Unless there's a quorum present, they aren't required by the Open Meeting Act to conduct this committee publicly, but if there's nothing to hide, what's the issue? We need to know all the committee member's positions and ensure there isn't intimidation by certain people on the committee. There's no better way to ensure that doesn't happen than to have every meeting open to the public. And besides, it's our money.