'OTA would never play games with the agenda': Secretary of Transportation speaks out
The Secretary of Transportation is speaking out for the first time since a judge ruled the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) violated the Open Meeting Act.
"The turnpike authority would never play games with the agenda," said Tim Gatz, Secretary of Transportation and the Director of OTA.
Monday's meeting might have been uneventful, but it gave attendees the chance to find out what happens next with the Oklahoma Access Project after a judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit that says the OTA "intended to mislead the public."
"It's an iterative process that we're having to go through," Gatz said. "First and foremost, we acknowledge the court's ruling. While we don't necessarily agree with it, I wouldn't go as far to say the project is in jeopardy. What I would say is conditions are different."
After approving the OTA's budget, board members went into executive session expected to discuss legal proceedings with Access Oklahoma.
"I feel like it's an atrocious plan to put this so close to the water shed," said Tassie Hirschfeld, an attendee of Monday's meeting. "The City of Norman has voted unanimously several times they do not want this in their community. All of the legal arguments, all the thousands of dollars they spent contesting this, resisting turning over evidence for discovery, none of that had merit."
In many ways OTA will have to start over with this process, which Gatz says he believes is "appropriate to progress" the Access Oklahoma Program.
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