A bevy of bowties flooded the Edmond City Council chambers Monday evening.
Aside from current Ward 2 Councilman Barry Moore, who regularly sports the symmetrical neckwear, Ward 1 Councilwoman Maggie Murdock Nichols, City Clerk Kory Atcuson-Coly, interim City Manager Randy Entz and multiple members of city staff donned the accessory to honor departing Mayor Darrell Davis, who is now set to leave city government for the first time since November 2011.
Budget business and agenda items temporarily took a back seat to sentiment and ceremony at the start of the meeting, which was also the final night on the dais for Ward 3 Councilwoman Christin Mugg and Ward 4 Councilwoman Stacie Peterson. The trio’s departure ends the tenure of a historic council for Edmond, one which featured the city’s first Black mayor and one of the few times elected leadership was primarily woman-led.
Moore, who will become the city council’s elder statesman after incoming councilmen Phil Fraim and Preston Watterson join the dais alongside Mayor-elect Mark Nash on May 5, took the lead in honoring his departing colleagues.
Moore praised Peterson, Mugg and Davis in turn. He highlighted Peterson’s dedication to mental health initiatives and the joint YMCA-library project, Mugg’s efforts to finalize the Uncommon Grounds sculpture park and “dedication to the arts,” and Davis’ patience and “historical knowledge” of Edmond.
“The most important thing my mother told me was when you meet someone and become friends with them — become very good friends with them — don’t be afraid to hug them and tell them you love them,” Moore said. “And I love each of you. Thank you.”
In her parting message, Mugg discussed the contributions of city staff and reflected on misconceptions she commonly corrected during her four years representing Ward 3, including what revenue streams Edmond has. Mugg also took time to note Edmond’s many board and commission meetings, which are open to the public along with their agendas.
“It’s all transparent, it’s all available. Is it complicated? Yes, but there is a real effort to make that available to everyone,” Mugg said. “So if you hear people criticizing, you might say, ‘Hey, where did you hear that? Do you know that to be true?'”
Peterson similarly reflected on her role as a “cheerleader” for Edmond since 2021 and recognized the “behind the scenes” work of city staff to support the council.
“Some people are ready to roll off council, but this old lady is not, because I’m going to miss my people so much,” Peterson said.
Davis, who has served in an elected or appointed role on the council since 2011, noted the absence of his “naysayers” at Monday evening’s meetings.
“But that’s fine, because you know what? I know they care about Edmond, too,” Davis said. “We just don’t agree on how that should be done.”
Despite some of Edmond’s 100,000 residents disagreeing with his decisions over the years, Davis said he was glad to lead a city government where critics felt able to air their concerns.
“I appreciate the letters people sent me saying, ‘Hey, we don’t like what you’re doing,'” Davis said. “Because guess what? They had an environment where they could speak to me, and that’s all I wanted.”
Edmond City Council eyes ‘conservative’ budget as revenue dips
The Edmond City Council’s final regular meeting was preempted by an early afternoon workshop on the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund and Internal Services Fund budget, the penultimate workshop before the scheduled May 12 budget hearing and May 27 final workshop to consider changes. Adoption of the FY 26 budget is set for the June 9 council meeting.
Edmond finance director Kathy Panas noted the city is “budgeting conservatively” for next year, with sales tax collections still down year-to-date. During the city manager’s update, interim City Manager Randy Entz said sales tax collections are down about 2.23 percent, marking the fourth straight month of reduced sales tax revenue compared to last year.
Use taxes are up roughly 7 percent, and lodging taxes increased by 6 percent, Entz said.
“Really we’re looking at trying to do without things we don’t have to have this year so we can try and stay in line with our reduced sales and use tax,” Panas said.
That decline in revenue, while alarming if it were to continue, does not necessarily signal long-term issues, according to Frank Crawford, president of the accounting and consulting firm Crawford and Associates.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Crawford said, the “once-in-a-generation” transfer of federal funds to municipalities in need served to “mask” actual declines in revenue collection. Now that those funds are being committed and drying up — such as money from the American Rescue Plan Act — Crawford said the “COVID high” is subsiding.
“When COVID hit we stayed home, we stayed local, we bought local,” Crawford said. “[Current revenue numbers] are nothing to be terribly concerned about, other than we don’t want to drop any further.”
With federal money now either fully committed or already spent, Crawford said the city is transitioning back to tighter “fiscal discipline.” The City of Edmond’s overall financial position remains healthy, Crawford said, especially since revenue streams such as property taxes remain untapped.
Crawford also provided an overview of Edmond’s “Performeter” financial status, a system in use by municipalities across the United States and 11 international governments to track their financial wellbeing. Edmond’s full Performeter rating can be viewed online.
This year, Edmond scored a 6.9. The score is a dip compared to previous ratings that hovered between 7.3 and 8, with a peak of 8.1 in 2020, partially owing to the “COVID high” Crawford discussed. The slight decline is not an issue on its own, Crawford noted.
“[A 6.9 score] is well above satisfactory, just not typically where Edmond historically lives,” Crawford said.
Mayor-elect Mark Nash previously signaled he may be open to pursuing a smaller GO bond package in the future to introduce property taxes to the city’s revenue. During the campaign, Nash said his opposition to last November’s failed measure was based on his belief the proposed 14 percent increase to property taxes was “too much, too fast.” But with no such bond package approved heading into FY 26, Edmond leaders will have decisions to make about what projects to prioritize despite the falling sales tax dollars.
The General Fund budget, which accounts for services like street maintenance, “general government” operations and park upkeep, is proposed for reduction by $2 million compared to last year, for a total of $104.6 million. Panas said the Internal Service Fund budget, which Panas equated to the city’s “overhead” and which accounts for “any division that doesn’t have its own revenue source” such as Human Resources, the city clerk’s office and city manager’s office, is down $7 million for FY 26, to a total of $87.5 million.
“We are also looking at a hiring freeze for all non-utility and non-public safety positions,” Panas said.
Since the City of Edmond’s debt load became a contested topic during the recent mayoral election cycle, Panas also provided an update on the city’s outstanding debts.
The principal amount of Edmond’s current debt is around $700 million, Panas said, including low-interest loans taken to further Edmond’s water resources master plan, including new water lines and an expanded water treatment plant as Edmond pursues water independence from nearby Oklahoma City.
“That $1.2 billion that was kind of out there in the public for a while included interest,” Panas said. “And it was before several payments.”
During his presentation of Edmond’s Performeter ratings, Crawford also noted Edmond’s debt repayment score was “outrageously high” compared to most municipalities, indicating the city is able to easily handle its current debt load.
As the financial workshop neared an end, Mugg, who has vocally rebuked those perpetuating “misinformation” about the city’s debt load and spending practices, noted her disappointment in the relatively empty council chambers.
“I wish more people from the public were here,” Mugg said. “I think there is a lot of transparency and accountability, and the information is available if folks want it.”
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City funding local charities as some fear federal funding cuts
Edmond’s Community Agency Review Commission annually makes recommendations for how about $1 million of city grant funds are distributed to local “social and community enrichment agencies.” The FY 26 recommendations were discussed at Monday’s workshop.
Edmond director of housing and community services Christy Batterson said 23 organizations applied for CARC grants, including five new applicants. Of the money awarded, Batterson said:
- 31 percent is proposed for counseling or mental health service programs
- 25 percent is proposed for groups focused on “feeding Edmond Residents,” and
- 15 percent is proposed for “community enrichment” programs like Edmond Fine Arts and UCO’s Endeavor Games
The only organization that applied and did not receive funds was Be Different, which Batterson said lacked “supporting documents” in the organization’s request for endowment funds to construct a building.
Batterson said cuts to federal agencies that oversee national programs like Meals on Wheels and smaller food banks have left some Edmond organizations uncertain of their broader funding futures.
“Project 66 and Edmond Mobile Meals have both questioned if they’ll have additional federal funding,” Batterson said. “Project 66 gets some of their funding from the USDA and the Regional Food Bank, which as you know have been under scrutiny. (…) We will continue to support those entities with every federal dollar we can support them with.”
‘I’m blue hot about this’
In a temporary departure from the sentimental tone of Monday’s council meeting, the night’s most contentious agenda item centered around the embattled contract between the City of Edmond and Lap 7 Development, a builder attempting to construct a downtown brewery in Edmond’s Festival Market Place.
In May 2023, the city approved a 25-year lease to Lap 7 to construct a 4,200 square-foot brewery. A site plan for the project was greenlit by the city council in August, after the City of Edmond issued a default notice to Lap 7 earlier that year, since the project had not begun construction by the Jan. 1, 2024, date outlined in the two parties’ contract. At the time, developer Brandon Lodge attributed the delay to high construction costs. Initially envisioned as a one-floor taproom and brewery, Lodge’s project has since expanded to a 8,300 square-foot, two-story structure with a first-floor brewery and second floor dedicated to golfing simulators.
After the January 2024 notice of default, a revised agreement was reached in May 2024. Under that revision, construction was intended to begin between Nov. 11 and Dec. 15, 2024, to be completed no later than July 31, 2025. Construction, however, has still not begun, leading the Edmond City Council to issue a second notice of default in March and consider an agenda item Monday evening to explore “remedies” available in the contract, whether that be termination of the agreement or self-fulfillment of the contract by the city.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Maggie Murdock Nichols, whose ward includes Festival Market Place, said she began to ask for further updates on the construction in February and “did not receive that.”
“I saw it as my duty as Ward 1 councilmember to keep asking questions and be able to answer the citizens that were asking me,” Murdock Nichols said.
Todd McKinnis, an attorney representing Lodge and Lap 7, said the deadlines outlined in the May 2024 agreement were “unfair to both parties” and much more “aggressive than what usually happens in a private development.”
“The idea of having site plan approval, building plans approved and a building permit issued within seven months, when you haven’t had an application yet, I don’t know that that’s been done in the City of Edmond,” McKinnis said.
Moore, who placed the item on the agenda alongside Murdock Nichols, expressed his frustration in the lack of communication between Lap 7, Lodge and the city throughout the process, despite a previous request for weekly meetings that McKinnis said never received follow up.
“I haven’t had a weekly meeting, I haven’t had a twice-monthly meeting, I haven’t had any meetings except until last month,” Moore said. “I’m always willing to listen, but I’ve listened a lot. Something’s got to be done here. I don’t want to be back here in a month having this same conversation. (…) And I don’t want to go many months without hearing anything from the applicant or the City of Edmond.”
Lodge later addressed the council directly, insisting there was “nobody on planet Earth” looking to start the project sooner than him, given the personal financial risks he has staked.
“All of [the delays] were necessary to keep the tenants in place,” Lodge said. “Without the tenants, there is no project. In this economic environment, you can’t do a project like this on speculation.”
Although Mugg acknowledged that Lodge and McKinnis said the dates were tight for their process, she said the contract was still signed. Moore agreed.
“I am blue hot about this,” Moore said. “I’m pissed that it’s 10 ’til 10 (p.m.) and here I sit. (…) I could go on until 10:30. I’m not.”
Moore further emphasized that he arrived at the council chambers Monday evening “ready to pull the plug” on the entire project.
No action was taken on the issue Monday evening, with Murdock Nichols motioning to continue the item to the Edmond City Council’s May 12 meeting.
McKinnis said Lap 7 is planning to propose a contract amendment at that point to outline an eight-week period from adoption of the amendment for Lap 7 to begin construction. From the start of construction, the builder would have six months to complete the project. The amendment could also contain requirements for regular communication between the City of Edmond and Lap 7, as well as regular updates to councilmembers from Leana Dozier, Edmond’s downtown transformation manager.
“It’ll be up to the new council on May 12 if they want to do that,” McKinnis said, “but I’m hopeful.”
