Petition seeking grand jury probe of Owasso officials is filed
By RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer on Sep 11, 2013, at 2:24 AM Updated on 9/13/13 at 1:54 PM
Vicki Goodson and Carlene Voss of the Tulsa County Court Clerk's Office receive from J.B. Alexander more than 1200 pages bearing more than 9,000 signatures on a petition to empanel a grand jury to look into an Owasso government scandal. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World
Owasso
The upgrade from 96th to 106th streets north is a candidate for federal funding assistance.
The former city manager ordered the purging of police videos showing a DUI stop of the vice mayor because he wanted to save the councilor the "embarrassment" of the images reaching the public, a top municipal official said.
Correction
This story originally incorrectly reported how many pages were delivered to the Tulsa County Clerk. The story has been corrected.
A petition supporting a grand jury probe into a former Owasso city manager and others associated with the city was filed Tuesday with the Tulsa County court clerk.
J.B. Alexander, who spearheaded the drive, delivered to the clerk 1,267 pages containing 9,642 signatures of reported Tulsa County voters, he said. The court clerk has a working day to copy the pages and deliver them to the Election Board, which has seven working days to verify the signatures.
By law, 5,000 signatures of registered county voters are needed to convene a grand jury, for which Presiding District Judge William C. Kellough must issue an order.
"At this point, we're just hoping to let the grand jury process work and see what happens," said attorney Christopher Camp, who represents Alexander. "I'm really proud of Mr. Alexander and the voters of Tulsa County for standing behind him and his call to investigate possible wrongdoing in the city of Owasso."
Alexander's petition asks a grand jury to look into "possible criminal activity and a possible pattern of public corruption in the Owasso city government," the petition states.
The documents claim that the offenses allegedly were committed "in relation to or resulting from the actions of former City Manager Rodney Ray and his political allies and allegedly involved certain business transactions."
Ray has declined to comment.
After an executive session at a special meeting June 25, the City Council approved a resignation pact for Ray, extending him a severance package worth $185,073.
He was suspended with pay May 24, the same day the council ordered an investigation into his office to look into an undisclosed employee ethics complaint.
In June, the city released two police videos of a Feb. 1 traffic stop involving Vice Mayor Chris Kelley, who was driven home by police after first being told he was being arrested for DUI. Kelley never was charged or jailed in connection with the stop, during which he told officers he had "had a few drinks."
According to an internal memo, Ray ordered the deletion of the videos in April.
Accompanying Alexander and Camp to the courthouse Tuesday were Chuck Wichmann and D.J. Gall. Alexander and Wichmann lead a watchdog group called Owasso Taxpayer Alliance, and Gall is a former city councilor.
The grand jury petition includes 17 witnesses, all but one of whom - Alexander - remain under seal, he said.
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Petition seeking Owasso grand jury probe is filed
Owasso
The upgrade from 96th to 106th streets north is a candidate for federal funding assistance.
The former city manager ordered the purging of police videos showing a DUI stop of the vice mayor because he wanted to save the councilor the "embarrassment" of the images reaching the public, a top municipal official said.
