Tulsa's river task force hears an idea for structuring the trust that would oversee a series of low-water dams in the Arkansas River.
City Councilor Phil Lakin proposes an 11-member authority with an endowment group supporting it. Setting up an authority supported by an endowment would allow the trust to receive private donations.
"OU's foundation is separate from the University of Oklahoma — same with OSU, same with River Parks Authority," Lakin said. "They have a friends of organization. You don't give money to the authority itself, you give money to their foundation, and their foundation then makes grants to support River Parks Authority–type activities."
Lakin said the endowment's bylaws wouldn't allow it to spend distribute money for anything other than the authority's dam-related expenses.
He said this is a model commonly used by hospitals, universities and nonprofits.
"That's also helpful in that it provides a firewall," Lakin said. "If lawsuits were ever to take place at the authority level, the endowment monies couldn't be tapped, and if they were to take place at the endowment level, the authority monies couldn't be tapped."
There would be five to seven people on the nonprofit endowment board, with most of them appointed by the authority.
