Debate is brewing on social media over texts allegedly sent between three Tulsa City Councilors during a public council meeting.
A handwritten records request made by District 5 City Councilor Grant Miller shows he requested texts between Councilors Lori Decter Wright, Vanessa Hall-Harper, and Laura Bellis sent between 10:30 and 10:50 a.m. on March 23.
Miller responded to a comment on Facebook saying he requested texts during that time frame because "they started smirking and rolling their eyes as they texted each other during an open meeting when I began asking my question."
Decter Wright, Hall-Harper, and Bellis all posted the records requested to their Facebook pages, which show texts sent between 11:30 and 11:50.
All the councilors declined interviews.
"What they did is 'I just posted a statement online and said, here it is. We're being transparent. We have nothing to hide,'" explained Laurie Phillips, who represents Decter Wright, Hall-Harper and Bellis as individuals, not councilors. "This is something small, that's been blown up into a big thing."
Miller denied claiming anyone violated the Open Meeting Act.
"I have hypothetically considered that it might be a violation if I were to take similar actions as they did, but I have never accused anyone of a violation," he wrote on Facebook.
NewsChannel 8 reached out to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office for insight.
"Is this a violation of the Open Meeting act?" asked reporter Daniela Ibarra.
"It really depends," said Deputy General Counsel Thomas Schneider. "So, there's a couple of things going into this when you have a majority of public members that are discussing matters that are, you know, not in the public space. So it's going on and that public communicate, or that private communications. What they do need to consider is that it is a open violation, to have those communications for meetings through electronic communications unless otherwise authorized under the Open Meeting act. So it's a very problematic thing to be using your phones even in a public meeting where you could just be more or less caucusing."
NewsChannel 8 asked the councilors if they thought the debate around the texts was distracting from their work in the county.
“As you can imagine between being a mom, a city councilor and a public health worker, I have a lot of work I’m focused on to serve people in our community and I am 100% committed to that work and am not distracted from it," responded Bellis via text.
Hall-Harper responded by saying "as far as your question concerning distraction from my council work the answer is NO it’s not! I have nothing else to add, thank you!”
Miller sent NewsChannel 8 a statement.
“It’s unfortunate that some councilors chose to send private messages about city business and funding amongst themselves during the city council meeting March 22nd. We should demand that Open Meetings remain open to the public. The purpose of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act is citizen participation and transparency in government actions. If groups of councilors are allowed to text amongst themselves about City business in an open meeting, the citizens will not have a chance to see and be informed of the decision-making process, which they are entitled to. This is a position I would hope all councilors and residents of Tulsa would take because the alternative is an opaque government closed off to the public. We should all fear that. I call on the councilors in question to apologize for trampling on the rights of Oklahomans and commit to keeping their communications open to the public during open meetings moving forward.”
Decter Wright said she is not taking media requests about the issue.
Michelle Brooks, a spokeswoman for the City of Tulsa shared a statement saying "per the City Charter, the Tulsa City Attorney provides legal advice to all elected officials and employees of the city specifically. The City attorney will speak to the elected officials by request regarding matters related to the Open Meeting Act.”