Mayor Monroe Nichols says he is one of Tulsa’s most accessible mayors while some city councilors say he doesn’t keep them informed. Disagreements began last year when the council put off a sales tax increase vote, and tension appeared to rise again last week with a decision to shift a high-paid appointee into a more permanent civil service position.
On Thursday, the Tulsa Flyer first reported the posting of a public safety commissioner job on the city’s website that reclassified the job as civil service. Long-time Tulsa Police officer Laurel Roberts was appointed by Nichols into that newly created role after his election in November 2024 to oversee police, fire and emergency operations. It is an at-will position, meaning the person serves at the pleasure of the mayor.
Civil service jobs come with added protections including only being fired for cause. If a future mayor eliminates the position within the civil service structure, the employee can apply for other city jobs.
Councilors, including chair Karen Gilbert, vice chair Christian Bengel and District 8 councilor Phil Lakin, said they didn’t know of the change. Nichols pushed back, saying his public safety approach under a commissioner model has reduced the crime rate. He told the Flyer organizational decisions are within his power, and the council is aware of his public safety priorities. The council Special Budget and Project Committee at 1 p.m on Wednesday will be discussing the mayor’s moves to create positions within the civil service.
“It is unfortunate with something so important like public safety, we have folks trying to play politics on it,” Nichols said. “Councilors who say they don’t know about stuff, I don’t know what to say about that. My door is always open, my cell phone is always ready to go and my calendar is full of meetings with councilors.”
This is the second higher-paid employee to go through this reclassification. Mike Miller was hired by Nichols as an at-will city administrator and was switched to civil service about 10 months later. Miller earns $225,000, and Roberts earns $170,000.
No pay range was included in the public safety commissioner job post. It was listed as an “exempt-80 position,” but the highest pay scale is for “exempt-71” that ranges from $141,119 to $263,254 yearly.
The job shift comes after the creation of the Department for Emergency Management, which was formerly a shared responsibility with Tulsa County. Nichols recommended the city have its own operation. During the May 20 Council Budget and Special Projects Committee Meeting, councilor Lori Decter Wright pointed out an employee had been hired before the budget was approved.
“I’m having a little bit of frustration where the train has pulled out of the station and we are then asked, ‘Do you agree this is what we should do?’ but we have no choice,” Decter Wright said. “It feels like we have not a lot of control over (a decision) that will be 60% more expensive than the way we were doing it.”
Councilors unanimously passed the budget June 17 that included $425,000 for the new emergency management department. Nichols announced the next day that Roberts would be interim head of the department, and the public safety commissioner civil service job was posted.
Nichols told the Flyer the change to the more permanent civil service designation is a “good government move” that would continue positive public safety trends long-term. He said the decision was not “made in a vacuum.”
“We very much believe a seasoned professional who has the experience, who has the aptitude needs to be somebody to make sure the citizens get the very best for their investment in public safety,” Nichols said. “Councilors may completely disagree with me on that, but on my side, I have data and evidence.”
He described their frustration with Roberts in civil service as just an opportunity for council to “throw a fit for something that is already happening operational today.” There has been “tremendous consultation with our council” regarding public safety, Nichols added.
“If councilors say, ‘Well we don’t know what is going on with public safety,’ I think that is more of an indictment on them than it is on me,” Nichols said.
Council is updated regularly on crime statistics and improvements under Roberts in the police, fire, animal services and the municipal court, the mayor said.
“I think it is a little goofy that the council says, ‘Oh we don’t know what is going on.’ (Roberts) is currently serving in that capacity right now,” Nichols said. “What (council) should just say is, ‘We don’t like the mayor’ or ‘we don’t like (Roberts).’”’
Nichols said he’s unclear where the disagreements between his office and the council began.
“I don’t know where we got out of step, their level of frustration is just one additional example,” Nichols said. “There are not that many people who think that this city is on the wrong track. Unfortunately, there are several on the council that feel this way. They would rather air their grievances in the media than just having a conversation about it.”
Nichols said councilors keep his office in the dark, including on how they were planning to vote on budget issues.
“We get blindsided all the time with things, but we go and do it. We don’t run and complain about it. We do our job,” Nichols said. “There are plenty of ways for us to communicate. If councilors don’t pick up the phone and ask questions, that’s a bigger problem for them. We are doing this every single day of the week. We are not just doing this on Wednesday.”
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