Citizen Portal
Sign In

Lawton council refuses retroactive $74,000 TBRA payment to housing authority after legal review

Lawton City Council · December 3, 2025

Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts

Subscribe
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Lawton City Council voted 8–0 to accept legal counsel’s recommendation not to approve a retroactive $74,000 payment to the Lawton Housing Authority tied to a tenant‑based rental assistance agreement, though staff said it would consider prospective agreements going forward.

The Lawton City Council on [date not specified in the transcript] voted unanimously to decline a retroactive reimbursement request from the Lawton Housing Authority (LHA) for tenant‑based rental assistance (TBRA).

Legal staff told the council there was no executed agreement covering the period for which LHA sought reimbursement and recommended against backdating payments. “They recommend that we do not,” the city attorney said when asked about counsel’s advice.

LHA and its supporters disputed that characterization at the meeting. Jervis Jackson of 1310 Northwest Cherry Street addressed the council and summarized a series of documents and notices he said established an ongoing agreement dating to Aug. 1, 2019 and a notice to proceed on Aug. 14, 2019. Jackson said an amendment in 2021 added $200,000 and that a later 2022 agreement was administered even though, he said, signatures were missing. “We had an agreement, with a notice to proceed of 08/14/2019,” Jackson told the council.

City staff and the city attorney countered that no signed agreement existed for the Jan. 2022–Jan. 2024 period and that council approval would be required to ratify any contractual arrangement. Staff recommended council approve any future agreement prospectively and avoid retroactive payments.

After discussion, a motion to accept the attorney’s recommendation not to authorize retroactive payment carried 8–0. The mayor noted that council could later consider a prospective agreement if members wanted to continue a working relationship with LHA.

What happened next: The council left open the option to negotiate a forward‑looking contract with LHA and asked staff to return if members want to pursue a prospective agreement; no retroactive funds were approved at the meeting.