Edmond mayor Darrell Davis denies conflict of interest with any city contract
EDMOND, Okla. (KOKH) — FOX 25 has a follow-up after revealing in September the city of Edmond is doing business with a contractor who is accused of threatening city employees.
A company owner reportedly told city staff that he would use his leverage with city council to get the deal he wanted. Now FOX 25 is looking into just how deep those relationships go and how they could impact how your tax dollars are spent.
It was a long and, at times, tense renegotiation with Edmond Transfer Station, a company contracted to take Edmond's trash out of town and all the way to the dump.
Mayor Darrell Davis spoke with FOX 25's Wendy Suares before the October 10th city council meeting, saying, "There is no conflict of interest with any of our contracts."
It was our first time hearing from Davis after our investigation revealed what happened when Edmond looked at cutting out ETS, potentially saving hundreds of thousands by taking over the job themselves. In city documents obtained by FOX 25, public works employees detailed how they were threatened by one of the ETS owners, real estate developer Clay Coldiron.
"At what point do you step in and say, this isn't how we do things?" Suares asked Mayor Davis.
"I'm not aware of the question you're talking about," said Davis.
"You're not aware of threats made to your public works employees by a vendor?" Suares asked. Davis said, "No."
Davis denied getting word about the reported threats, but FOX 25 obtained the email sent to him and every member of city council on September 17, 2021. One employee described "intimidation and bullying tactics." Another staffer detailed how Coldiron warned them "it would be super aggressive politically" and that "ETS ownership will come after you."
On February 14, 2022, the issue went before the city council.
The public works committee had already recommended the city end its contract with ETS. Yet the council, led by a motion from Ward 2 councilman Josh Moore, who is also a real estate developer, decided instead to renew the deal.
Mayor Davis was the lone vote to sever ties with ETS. Councilman Moore told FOX 25 he had nothing to gain financially from the deal. He did, however, admit to working with ETS owners Coldiron and Derrick Turner in the past. and considers them "friends."
We asked Mayor Davis when it would ever be appropriate for a council member to recuse themselves from a vote. "When there is a conflict of interest," he said. "When they receive a financial gain from it."
We pulled Moore's campaign records. The very first donation to his campaign, of $1,000 came from Clay Coldiron in December of 2018. The Coldirons gave another $500 in February of 2019. It is important to note that a contribution to his campaign does not mean Moore benefitted personally.
As for when the lines between personal relationships and city business get blurred, Mayor Davis said, "I'm going to leave that up to the lawyers to make that determination. And that individual. They need to look at that themselves."
It is impossible to know any or all of the financial ties ETS has to Edmond city leaders because as a limited partnership, they are shielded from disclosing publicly who their owners are. Turner and Coldiron are two of them. Turner told FOX 25 there are 5 others, but he would not give us their names.
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