Tulsa’s newest county commissioner wants local government to be more efficient and transparent.
District 2 County Commissioner Lonnie Sims cites as inspiration both state and national initiatives around fiscal transparency. Most recently, President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been in the news for its aggressive goals.
Sims’ idea is to hire someone to gather data about government efficiency and work as a liaison with the public, and with federal and state partners.
Sims says the county needs to gain back the public’s trust.
“Every level of government is having to reassess that lack of trust and how can we better meet our constituents where they’re at. That’s what this position will be, and I hope my fellow commissioners will support it and the budget board as well.”
Federally, there has been concern about billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk’s access to citizens’ private information, like social security numbers, within DOGE.
Sims says there are legal protections that would stop this at the county level.
“We have internal processes, obviously you know a lot of it comes from the federal government as far as privacy laws. Any of that will be guidance from our legal internally. Yeah, they would be required to follow those processes as strictly as we all are internally with information like that. That’s privy and private to the individuals. You bet.”
When it comes to the budget for the position, Sims says the job would be funded using unallocated money for a government relations specialist.
Sims plans to bring forward his proposal to fellow commissioners Stan Sallee and Kelly Dunkerley during a management conference later this month.
