OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond requested an investigative audit on the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Wednesday.
Drummond said he's spoken with many Oklahomans over the last few months who are concerned about the OTA's conduct.
“I have had many conversations over the past few months with legislators, community leaders, private citizens and state employees who have expressed a wide array of concerns with the financial conduct of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (“OTA”),” Drummond wrote in the March 15 letter to state Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd. “These concerns include but are not limited to improper transfers between the OTA and the Department of Transportation; improper contracting and purchasing practices; and inadequate internal financial controls."
The OTA willfully violated the Open Meetings Act in December, according to a Cleveland County judge, because of vague wording in its January and February meeting agendas.
“Such a blatant disregard for openness and transparency suggests to me a willingness to engage in any manner of unlawful conduct,” Drummond wrote. The full letter to the state auditor can be read here.
OTA responded to the call for an audit, welcoming it, saying, “To be emphatically clear, the Turnpike Authority has the highest regard for openness and transparency and strives to conduct all business in accordance with laws, rules and regulations in every aspect of its duties and responsibilities to the citizens of Oklahoma,” said Secretary of Transportation and OTA Executive Director Tim Gatz.
They also said they appealed the judgment in the open meeting case.
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