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.

When Alex Reynolds was the chairman of the board of the Muskogee War Memorial Trust Authority, the trust sent out a Request for Proposal to fix a sinkhole endangering the USS Batfish. About eight companies submitted proposals all of them regional or national companies with decades of experience. A small company out of Tulsa, Bison Civil also submitted a response, and the owner just happened to be the half-brother of Alex Reynolds. Unlike state ethics rules, federal ethics rules are much more strict and won't even allow an APPEARANCE of an ethical conflict. Reynolds should have completely withdrawn from the entire RFP process as soon as he found out his brother's company was involved. I submitted an Open Records Act request asking for all the responses to the RFP. The Trust couldn't find Bison Civil's RFP response (how convenient), but found all the others, although FEMA rules require that such paperwork be maintained. In fact, Reynolds/the board couldn't/wouldn't provide me any information in my Open Records Act request until the city attorney got involved and provided what little they could find. Apparently, the trust doesn't believe in filing cabinets. Reynolds was on the subcommittee that selected the contractor to fix the sinkhole, along with two of his best friends from the board and another member of the board. Somehow they thought Bison was the most qualified and got the contract along with several other "extensions" to that contract. No matter how many times I went before the board of trustees pointing out this conflict and what the federal ethics guidelines required, they took no action. This is public proof that the majority of the board of the war memorial trustees had no backbone and couldn't think for themselves or else were afraid too. And if you think Reynolds' example of putting his family's finances ahead of taxpayer's money is just an anomaly in Muskogee, you are sadly mistaken. I have just emailed the city attorney asking for a copy of FEMA's letter and will post it as soon as it's received. Special Call War Memorial Trust Authority Information AGENDA ITEM TITLE: Discuss and take action to authorize the immediate termination of all contracts, agreements, and amendments with Bison Civil, LLC. BACKGROUND: FEMA has noted a perceived conflict of interest related to Bison Civil, LLC, and the awarding of contracts and amendments thereto based on a previous board member being related to a member of Bison Civil, LLC. This contract may prevent the War Memorial Trust Authority from receiving funds to aid in moving and restoring the U.S.S. Batfish. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve the immediate termination of all contracts, agreements, and amendments with Bison Civil, LLC, and authorize the Chair to execute all termination documents.

My answer is a resounding "yes!" You can tell when an organization is scared is when they disseminate misinformation. The anti-forensic audit group says that the audit could cost Muskogee hundreds of thousands of dollars. Do you know where they got that information? From three Florida newspaper articles. I know, I saw them. The Wagoner city council recently voted to conduct a forensic audit and said it would cost them $80,000. Why such a rabid response to a forensic audit unless you have something to hide. Leon Davis, Muskogee's former economic manager, was fired because he was exposing extremely questionable financial transactions. According to his lawsuit, several times he tried to bring questionable financial transactions to the attention of Mayor Coleman and the city's legal department. He was rebuffed. He also offered to provide, free of charge, an independent audit, and he asked for a total separation of Muskogee Redevelopment Authority funds, and a separate accounting system as required by the MRA service agreement with the City of Muskogee. Davis tried to bring to light reporting violations, unauthorized expenditure, misappropriation of funds, and fraud. All of these "common sense" requests were ignored. And that's just one of many!! Why? Because "they" have something to hide. When it comes to financial reporting city officials are else ignorant of the law or trying to hide something. One of the requirements of Muskogee Code of Ordinances, Section 2-553 is "At least quarterly the city treasurer shall have posted on the website a budget report for the current calendar quarter as well as fiscal year to date by department or fund as appropriate." I suppose the concerning verbiage is ". . . as well as fiscal year to date by department or fund as appropriate." What's interesting is that the city complies with this part of that ordinance — "The city "website" shall include among other information as required by the city council and state statute the approved current fiscal year's budget of the city. The website shall also have available to the public the previous five years approved fiscal year budgets." So that shows someone knows that ordinance exists so why not comply with all of it? Do you every wonder why the city manager, city council, and the head of the legal department doesn't hold townhall meetings? Are they afraid of our questions? Why should they be afraid? I returned from the Marine Corps in 1996 and city officials haven't held a town hall meeting since then. City officials constantly talk about how to get a better response from us, the taxpayers. Yet they won't talk to us. Has your city councilor ever held a ward meeting? When you came to a city council meeting and addressed an issue that you were concerned with, how many city councilors and/or city officials approached you offering to help. You know whay they don't? BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE! And they don't care about the law or the Bill of Rights. And that will be my next topic.