TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum shared his 2022 Annual Report this week, highlighting City of Tulsa successes.
It touches on a variety of topics from public safety, economic development, and major infrastructure projects impacting daily commuters. Since his time in office, Bynum has touted the efforts to make Tulsa a globally competitive, world-class city.
“I think every year we are focused on continuous improvement,” Bynum said. “So, we want to be better at the end of the year than we were at the start.”
Bynum said 2022 was a big year for the city, especially in public safety. The City Council approved the largest pay increase in Tulsa police and fire department history.
“We did this, not just because we love the folks that work as first responders in Tulsa, but because we need to be competitive as an employer to retain the police officers and firefighters that we have right now,” he said.
He stated it is also to add new people into these professions, which has paid off. Recruitment has improved remarkably. However, the Tulsa Police Department is still understaffed with a gap of about 150 police officers. To fill that gap, the City Council approved the funding for a Real Time Information Center.
“I’ve had officers tell me that this is going to be the biggest change in policing in Tulsa since they put radios in squad cars,” Bynum said.
The mayor is also proposing an external policing liaison office of sorts. Unlike what is already in place at police divisions, where board members serve as an oversight, this office fills a different kind of gap when it comes to getting help through the city.
“It’s basically a liaison for citizens, not just with the police department, but any city service where you have a complaint, or you need help and you don’t feel like you’re getting through,” Bynum said.
This fills a void with getting through to services you may not have access to with 311. When it comes to infrastructure, the mayor said the fix our streets program is moving in the right direction.
“When we do a street project, we are not just replacing the pavement you drive on, we are also replacing most of, if not all, of the utilities that run underneath that street,” he said.
Water, sewer, gas lines and electric cable are all being replaced at once to stay proactive.
“We don’t want to come back and open a brand-new street a few years later to do that kind of work,” Bynum said.
It’s a move the mayor said will build the streets to last for decades and shift the city into proactive maintenance, which will make better use of taxpayer dollars in the future and cause less interruption for commuters.
For the Mayor’s full report, you can visit www.cityoftulsa.org/Mayor
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