City of Tulsa authorities, boards and commissions under former Mayor Dewey Bartlett were criticized for being too male, too white, and too focused on midtown and downtown.
"You know, I have, I think, over 400 of these to make over the next four years, but our initial group does a much better job from a diversification standpoint," said Mayor G.T. Bynum about his first 52 nominations submitted this week.
"Our initial slate begins to — or does, I think, begin to change the, really, just embarrassing imbalance of men versus women," Bynum said. "There's two men for every woman on one of our authorities and boards."
While Bynum is trying to make city authorities, boards and commissions more diverse, he said there's a balance to strike.
"We don't want to punish and throw out good people who have been serving on our authorities and boards for years, have tremendous expertise, bring a lot to the table, just because they might happen to live in midtown Tulsa," Bynum said.
City councilors have held off on confirming appointments since the June election. Bartlett is among Bynum’s potential appointments. The former mayor is up for a spot on the City of Tulsa/Rogers County Port Authority.
Bynum has also brought back the city’s Economic Development Commission, which went away in 2014. Among those nominees are major downtown players Warren Ross and Elliot Nelson.
