One On One With Commissioner Brownlee

ENID, OK - There has been a flurry of discussion, disagreement and comments on social media over the recent revelation that a casino has shown interest in Enid. Things really sparked when the city commission voted 7-0 on November 16 to purchase land near Government Springs Park to one day use the land for a possible park expansion. The discussion and vote on the land purchase are on the video below.
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Immediately after that vote, in executive session, commissioners Brownlee and Timm informed the commission that a casino has shown interest in the land near Government Springs or possibly land east of town. The commissioners and the developer had only been in the discussion phase at that point. That revelation led Commissioner Ben Ezzell to break protocol and publicly discuss the situation outside of executive session.
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This week the city commission discussed executive sessions and what changes could be made to better guarantee confidentiality. The discussion is towards the beginning of the December 6 meeting on the video below.
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Many residents supported the actions of Commissioner Ezzell while others were left scratching their heads. There have been many questions left unanswered and the community would like to know more about a possible casino deal. Commissioner Aaron Brownlee seemed to be the most informed on the initial meetings with the casino developers.
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I sat down with Commissioner Brownlee to discuss the land purchase, the casino and executive session. We spoke for 90 minutes and these are the highlights of that discussion. This is not meant to show support for or against a casino coming to Enid.
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Hopefully this will answer a few questions that many of you have had. If other commissioners would like to shed more light on this process I will sit down with them and provide that information as well. I turned the interview into a Q&A format for this article. The question is in bold and Commissioner Brownlee's response follows.
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Why did the city want to purchase the land next to Government Springs Park south?
Commissions have been trying to buy that land for three or four years. We do not have plans to expand the park although we would like the option of expanding onto that property at some point in the future. In the same way we do not have plans for the frontage of that property either. And in the event that something came along, whether it's a casino or some other development we could look at that on a case by case basis.
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Was a casino deal part of the reason the commission wanted to purchase the land?
We had been trying to purchase that land for a few years and had more recently discussed the land as an option for the BMX track. As the discussions surfaced about a casino, it probably added pressure to obtain that property, but it was most certainly not speculatively purchased for a casino project. It was a property that we didn’t want lose control of what might happen there.  If a casino were to come in and meet our needs as a community, we could visit about that location and negotiate in necessary elements to protect the city.  Conversely, if they didn’t meet the needs of the community, they would not be able to purchase direct from the current landowners thereby bypassing our needs. Regardless, it is valuable property to the Government Springs South area and should continue to be as such.
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Is there a proposal for economic development or a casino on that property?
We don't have anything to say yes or no to. So we don't have a proposal. It's just a discussion of what could happen here. First of all the commission would have to approve whatever proposal were to come to light if it involved that property. It may involve other properties, who knows. Second of all I'm not sure that it's zoned the right way, there could be challenges with that. I'm not sure of environmental issues. So to just make a blanket statement that says a casino can go there, I don't even know.
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How did the talk of a potential casino begin?
Sometime before we were approached by the developer, his group of investors had already purchased the old UniFirst building, a lot on 8th street and additional tracts of land out east on Highway 412.  Their intent was to work with a tribe to establish a casino. At some point they began working with a tribe and resolutions were passed beginning the process of putting all of that land into an Indian trust. Well if that's the case, they were positioning themselves, one way or the other, to move forward and that is when we began to discuss the “what-if’s” and various hypotheticals with them.
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Why didn't the full commission know about the questions from the casino developer in the beginning?
Individual citizens bring ideas directly to various commissioners all the time. As soon as the idea is ready for input by the full commission, it is brought forward and discussed. That’s exactly what happened in this situation. As soon as the developer, Rodney and I felt it was ready to begin discussions with the full commission, we set it up for executive session and everyone was informed, exactly as it should have been.
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Why was there a nondisclosure agreement?
That's probably the hard part because ideally we would all like to be able to talk openly about stuff. You do that and its really hard to protect any kind of confidentiality, there's just leakage.
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During early discussions, what ideas did the developer have?
It involved things like putting up their own event center. We were able to say no we don't want you to have your own event center, let's come up with a collaborative use for the Central National Bank Center, it's a $40 million dollar center, we've got to use it and we sure as heck don't need someone coming in and competing with that.
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Did you all discuss any other ideas?
The developer asked how they could get people back and forth because they wanted the guests to park at the casino. We told them we've got public transit, maybe there's a way we can subsidize that. We were just brainstorming trying to figure out how to protect that asset, not just that but all of the sudden you've got an event center that most likely is profitable and you've got an EPTA that most likely is funded in a different capacity. We were also able to say we'd really like your headquarters to move to Enid. That's an important deal. It's not an option we're going to get with a larger tribe who would have the financial capacity to dictate their own terms.
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What type of casino would the developer like to bring to Enid?
He told me they were looking at an Artesian style attraction. We're not talking about a box with machines in it. If we can control these things we kinda get to determine what gets put in. If we don't control them they get to put in whatever the heck they want.
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Was the commission trying to hide the fact that a casino was looking at Enid?
We weren't trying to hide anything, it was just premature to talk about. Until we have an actual proposal from them then it's just all a bunch of smoke and what's the point in creating so much public outcry?
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If a casino wants to come to Enid could the city commission stop them?
A casino is a business just like Academy or TJ Max. Even though Enid can object, the bottom line is if a casino wants to come to Enid bad enough they’ll do it even if they choose to locate outside the city limits, then Enid would have no say. If a casino wants to come to Enid and the population doesn't want it to come to Enid then don't go to the casino, it's a personal choice. They have a reason to believe that the demand would be there.
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How do you think the publicity has hurt the ability of the city to work with a casino?
The thing is we'd like to be able to control what, if anything, is there. Because we want to make sure it's a positive thing for the community. We've heard that a casino is going to happen either way inside or outside the city limits, that doesn't necessarily mean it's with this tribe either way and at this point I have no idea. The story has received enough publicity now that a larger tribe could come in and do anything they want just outside the city limits and not really care what the city wants or needs. They could put a box out east and call it a casino and there's not going to be a competing casino to come in because they would already own the area. They could put up a hotel and control their own area and they could pay more for artists if they want to attract them to their own event center.
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Would the commission have looked for public opinion on the subject?
I wish we would have had a chance to continue conversations to see if it was something we needed to discuss further, see if it was something we needed to involve the population and get some opinions and really plan it. But instead we were kind of cut off at the knees and the action of others potentially damaged Enid in a significant way.
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Can a city commissioner divulge what is discussed in executive session?
Legally a commissioner can do what they want and talk about it. I don't think it was a very professional way to see the full picture of the possibilities of what could happen and the ramifications of what might happen if it someone does that. It now doesn't sound like we're going to be able to meet with some developers that were wanting to meet with us, even as early as this week. Developers are starting to back out because we lost our credibility.
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Were you or Commissioner Timm pushing for a casino?
I don't like the way that it was handled and I sure don't like the way that it was advertised to the newspaper as Rodney and I recruiting or lying or doing anything unethical. Our plan was to bring it up for discussion, if it was something the commission had interest in, we could continue to discuss it; if not, then we let it die. No one should have left that meeting with the idea that we were pro casino, I couldn't have said that fewer than twenty times, I'm not pro casino, I'm pro Enid.
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In executive session, did the commission create a plan to use that property for a casino?
No, we still don't have a plan and we may never have a plan. It has nothing to do with the nondisclosure we still don't have a plan. If we would have had a plan to propose at that point, even under a nondisclosure, I would have said yes we have a plan but wouldn't have given any details of the plan. We weren't talking after executive session because there was nothing to talk about. Everything Commissioner Ezzell said was just fluff. It was a scare tactic to try to keep them from locating in Enid. Maybe his personal agenda worked, but at what cost?
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Do you think the commission has been transparent with the public?
I can't think of a time that we haven't been transparent. You've got to trust us at some point to bring things to the media or to the public at the right time. And it's a hard balance because sometimes it's just too early. Like this deal was just too early. We're there because we love Enid, we want to do good things. We want to create a better, brighter community for our kids to come back to and for everyone involved.
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