City staff outlines legal path to transfer Whittier and Irving recreation centers to Norman Public Schools

City staff told the City Council Finance Committee on Jan. 16, 2025, that the city can likely transfer the Whittier and Irving recreation centers to Norman Public Schools but that the transfer raises legal and administrative issues tied to how the properties were purchased and how they have been used.

The city attorney, Rick, told the committee that Oklahoma law distinguishes property held for a “corporate use” from property held in trust for a public use and that the city may only alienate property held for public use with special legislative authority or if the public use has been abandoned or the property is unsuited for continued use. “The municipal governing body may make gifts of any real estate belonging to the municipality to any school district which is located in the municipality,” Rick said, citing Title 11 as the statutory basis often relied on in these cases.

That legal framing matters because the two recreation centers were constructed with voter-approved bond proceeds in the 1970s and the proceeds or the proceeds of any sale generally must be used for the same public purpose or deposited to the sinking fund. “If bond funds were approved, you constructed the facility with those funds, you subsequently sell the facility, you have to use those bond funds for the same purpose or you have to deposit those in the sinking fund as a rebate to the taxpayers,” Rick said.

Why it matters: transferring ownership would shift maintenance…