Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said Friday she will recuse herself from both discussion and voting on the proposed sale of the former Rudisill Regional Library in north Tulsa.
Hall-Harper is the registered agent for the Power Group Community Development Corp., which wants to purchase the property at 1520 N. Hartford Ave. for $1.4 million. The Power Group is the economic development arm of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, which is currently undergoing a revitalization effort with plans to relaunch this spring.
Tulsa City Council and the Tulsa Board of County Commissioners will consider approving a joint resolution April 15 to authorize the transaction.
The resolution was originally scheduled for an April 1 committee meeting, but was ultimately tabled since no Power Group representative was present.
Hall-Harper took issue with the assumption that the library purchase was a conflict of interest. Heather Nash, a former political rival who attended the April 1 meeting, levied those accusations.
“I knew the agenda item was there, and when it came down to it I got up and left,” Hall-Harper told The Eagle on Friday. “When we vote on the resolution, I will get up and leave. Having a conflict is not illegal. Having a conflict and not recusing yourself is illegal.”
Nash took to Facebook to credit herself for halting what she described as an “illegal sale.” She did not respond to a request for comment.
“She ran against me several years ago, and I beat her and she’s hated me ever since,” Hall-Harper said. Nash told The Eagle a few days later, she has never ran against Hall-Harper for office. In 2015, Nash did run in a state Democratic primary finishing third behind Kevin Matthews and Regina Goodwin.
Toni Allen, public relations director for the Tulsa City-County Library system, said the process for the sale and bid went by the book, and sufficient notice for the request for bids was given.
“We’re supposed to place an ad in the Tulsa World, and that’s what we did for this regarding the sale,” Allen said. “We received one bid, and that was the Power Group. It went through our attorneys to move forward with the sale.”
The city ethics code states no city officials can participate in any city business in which they have a related financial or organizational interest, nor shall they discuss the matter with any city official who is participating in the action other than to state his her disqualification from the vote.
Hall-Harper said she filed a form acknowledging her conflict of interest with the city clerk’s office, a standard procedure all councilors are required to do.
She said multiple councilors have conflicts that don’t turn into public discussion.
“But when I have one conflict, I probably have one a year, they pounce on it and try to insinuate that I’ve done something illegal,” she said. “I’m following the law.”
The Black Wall Street Chamber’s plans involving the library, Hall-Harper said, will be announced once the chamber hosts its relaunch event this year.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Nash.
Tulsa Flyer reporter Joe Tomlinson contributed reporting.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
