Rick Westcott (incumbent)



Q&A

  1. A recent presentation by a city councilor showed Tulsa's overall police and fire budget has grown more than three times above the rate of inflation over the last 40 years without adding manpower in at least the last decade. It has been described as "unsustainable growth" with the city's current level of revenue. How would you propose to address this situation?
  2. I don’t have a magic, sound-bite sized solution. I wish I did. The City Council, the Mayor, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Union Presidents have to begin a series of meaningful conversations. This situation will be difficult to solve and it will take true cooperation and some sacrifice.

    The MGT of America study shows that we need to hire about sixty additional police officers, transfer about thirty from certain duties back onto the street and then hire about thirty civilians to fill those spots. Yet, the police department’s budget for personnel costs is far too high. If the police department and the FOP want us to hire additional officers, they have to work with us to trim their budget. We cannot keep trying to pay for more cops at the expense of other departments.

    The Fire Department’s manpower level appears to be about where it should be. But, their budget is also too high. We need to look for cost savings there, as well. I’d like to take a look at reallocating our fire stations and possibly combining some companies. There may also be a way to trim costs by adjusting their first-responder duties and trying to avoid duplication of services with EMSA, while maintaining the rapid response that Tulsans currently have.

    The point is, this will take a genuine, cooperative effort, and putting Tulsans’ interests first.
  3. Over the last several years, controversy between the City Council and mayor's administration has triggered discussions about changing from the current strong mayor- council form of government to a city manager-council form of government and about having Tulsa's elected offices be non-partisan. Would you support either of these ideas? Why or why not?
  4. Most of the controversies between the City Council and our current Mayor have not arisen because of our form of government. I don’t think those issues should be the reason for considering change.

    It concerns me that a council-manager form of government would place all power in the hands of the council, with the city manager having none.

    I also think that some tension between the Mayor and the City Council is a good thing. There should be disagreements on policy issues. There should be open, honest debate. A system of checks and balances are a part of our country’s representative, republican form of government.

    Nevertheless, nearly half of the cities in the country with significant populations are using a council-manager form of government. It’s an idea that is worth discussing and I would not reject it out-of-hand.

    I don’t believe that Tulsa should adopt nonpartisan elections. Some say, ‘There’s no such thing as a Republican or Democrat pothole.” That’s true, but there are conservative and liberal approaches to fixing that pothole.

    Mayor Taylor’s assessment for the downtown baseball stadium is an example. She instituted a flat assessment rate on all downtown properties. The state Attorney General’s Office says that’s illegal, because it doesn’t take into consideration the benefit that each property would receive. It forces some businesses to pay a disproportionate tax so that others can receive a higher benefit.

    A person’s core philosophy will guide their approach to issues. Voters need to know how that person will govern.
  5. Improving mass transit (i.e. additional bus service, rail lines, etc.) has been a major topic of discussion through the city's ongoing PlaniTulsa comprehensive planning process. Do you believe Tulsa's public transportation system needs improvement? Please explain.
  6. I served on INCOG’s Ad Hoc Committee to study transportation policies. There are several reasons why Tulsa and the suburbs should pursue a true multi-modal transportation system. Some of those reasons include the volatility of the price of oil and gasoline, the tremendous cost of deferred maintenance of our aging highway system, the aging of our population, and the need for development planning.

    The cost to widen and rehabilitate I-44 is about $150 million per mile. The rail lines which we would need for a commuter rail system are already in place. Our capital costs for a rail system could be as little as $3 million per mile. We can’t afford to keep adding concrete lanes to our existing highway system.

    Transit-oriented development creates walkable neighborhoods. In every city that has implemented commuter rail, mixed-use development has occurred around the train stations. Senior citizens, people with physical limitations, and those with limited incomes have the ability to get to work, to the doctor’s office, etc., without driving a car.

    A rail system is better for the environment. The EPA has recently tightened their ozone standards. Even if Tulsa and the suburbs maintain the same emission levels that we had last year, we will exceed the EPA standards this year.

    But, we also need a more efficient bus system. Bus routes are flexible. They can be changed to meet population trends and needs.

    We need both, passenger rail and a bus system that serve the entire area.
  7. What would be your top three priorities if you are elected?
  8. Most people talk about hiring more cops and fixing Tulsa’s streets. But, we need to get beyond sound-bites and develop long-term plans to solve those problems. We need to look beyond the next fiscal budget or the next election cycle.

    The first priority of our city government should be to find a more stable, long-term source of municipal finance. Nearly all of our infrastructure and personnel issues involve budgetary problems. We can’t continue to finance our city government only with sales tax revenues. We must work with the County Commissioners and the state Legislators to possibly reallocate a portion of Tulsans’ property taxes and refund a portion of the sales taxes that Tulsa sends to the state legislature.

    If we are successful in addressing that issue, we will be better able fund our core services and address the problems that we face.

    We need to more properly fund and staff our police and fire departments. We need to address the budgetary problems that have been recently identified and find a responsible way to hire sixty more cops. Over the last several years, we have not kept pace with the attrition rate.

    We need to adopt comprehensive transportation plan that fixes Tulsa’s streets and begins to adopt an efficient mass transit system. Smooth streets, of a sufficient number of lanes, are a must. But, a mass transit system solves more problems just than adding lanes can. A multi-modal transportation system will serve Tulsans’ for generations.