Oklahoma
Oklahoma County jail trust member resigning, leaving two open seats
The number of empty seats on Oklahoma County’s jail trust is back to two.
Chad Alexander, who was appointed to the trust in October 2021 by then-Commissioner Kevin Calvey to fill a seat formerly held by Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, is stepping down.
Alexander, who has missed several recent trust meetings, submitted his resignation earlier this month to Joe Allbaugh, chairman of the trust.
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Allbaugh notified Commissioner Myles Davidson of Alexander’s resignation on April 12. Davidson’s office will appoint a replacement.
“I must regretfully resign my position on the Oklahoma County Jail Trust. Family and work commitments are not allowing me the time needed to fulfill the position,” Alexander wrote. “I appreciate the trust put in me to help move the detention center forward.”
Who makes up the Oklahoma County jail trust, who appoints them and how long do they serve?
Oklahoma County’s jail trust consists of nine members, seven of which are appointed by Oklahoma County commissioners (the other two trust members are an elected commissioner who is willing to serve — currently Commissioner Davidson — and Oklahoma County’s sheriff, currently Tommie Johnson III).
The commissioners each get to fill a single trust seat representing his or her district. The other four are considered at-large positions and require at least two commissioners to support their appointments.
When the trust was initially formed, appointees’ lengths of terms — either two, four or six years — were determined by a random drawing. However, all trust seats will transition to six year terms in 2025.
None of the original trust members appointed in 2019 are still on the board.
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There have been numerous recent changes to the board.
Attorney Shelly Perkins attended her first trust meeting earlier this month. She succeeded Sue Ann Arnall, who resigned from her at-large position in February after nearly five years.
Rochelle Gray, a manager in Deloitte Consulting’s government and public services practice, was appointed in January to succeed former state Sen. Ben Brown, who submitted his resignation from the trust in June of 2023.
Gray, however, couldn’t serve after her employer raised potential conflict of interest concerns that might create because of contracts it had with various state agencies, said Brian Maughan, chairman of Oklahoma County’s board of county commissioners. Brown’s seat, which Maughan will fill, remains vacant. Maughan hopes to appoint someone to the post soon.
James Johnson Jr., a criminal justice/social work professor at Rose State College, was appointed to the trust in August 2023 by Commissioner Carrie Blumert to fill a seat previously held by M.T. Berry. Berry resigned in June 2023 after serving about four years.
Meanwhile, Allbaugh rejoined the trust in June 2023 after leaving in 2022 to seek elected office in Kay County.
Allbaugh succeeded Adam Luck, a former member of Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board. Luck had resigned from his seat on the trust in March 2023, just months after accepting an appointment in September 2022.
Steven Buck was appointed to the trust in February 2023, succeeding Jim Couch, Oklahoma City’s retired city manager. Couch resigned from the trust in December 2022.
Maughan said serving out a full term as a trust member isn’t easy to do because the appointment brings additional responsibilities (mostly through reading requirements and occasional meetings with jail staff) that most appointments don’t require.
No trust member has been forcibly removed by a county commissioner because they have the power to serve an entire term once they are appointed without fear of removal.
“It’s like a judge,” Maughan said.
Commissioners also configured the trust to make it possible for someone to serve even if they don’t live inside of Oklahoma County.
Because businesses located in Oklahoma County have a vested interest in the jail’s operation, just being one of those entities’ employees qualifies a willing individual to serve, Maughan said.
“The business community wants to partner with us in terms of figuring out a long term solution” with jail-related problems, Maughan said. “There are a number of people who have long-standing ties to Oklahoma County, but live outside of its borders.”
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Oklahoma is in the top 10 states receiving new residents in the nation in recent years, a new survey suggests.
StorageCafe conducted a recent study utilizing U.S. Census data showing Oklahoma welcomed over 25,000 new residents in 2023, with millennials being the largest-represented generation among those entering the Sooner State.
Here’s what the study had to say about migration into Oklahoma.
Oklahoma among top 10 states to move to
According to StorageCafe, Oklahoma welcomed 25,000 new residents in 2023 in net migration.
New residents in Oklahoma were largely made up of millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, at 27%.
Though Oklahomans and Texans don’t seem to be eye to eye in the football arena, Texas is “by far the largest source” of new Oklahoma residents.
Among the major reasons for the increase in migrants is likely Oklahoma’s affordability, with 36% of millennials buying a home within their first year in Oklahoma.
In addition, Oklahomans found major success in recruiting former California and Colorado residents to move to the state, rounding out the top 3 states bringing new residents.
What are the states attracting the most residents?
These states are the states with the highest migration numbers:
- Texas (138,000)
- Florida (137,000)
- North Carolina (111,000)
- South Carolina (72,000)
- Georgia (62,000)
- Arizona (57,000)
- Indiana (32,000)
- Colorado (31,000)
- Tennessee (28,000)
- Oklahoma (25,000)
NORMAN — High highs and low lows defined John Mateer’s first season at Oklahoma.
Mateer, who transferred to OU ahead of the 2025 season, led the Sooners to a 10-3 record and their first College Football Playoff appearance since 2019. He threw for 1,215 yards and logged 11 touchdowns in OU’s first four games, helping them win each of them.
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“His best football was as good as there is in college football,” OU coach Brent Venables said.
In the back half of the season, though, Mateer wasn’t as efficient. After returning from a hand injury that kept him out of the Kent State game, Mateer completed only 59.4 percent of his passes for 1,670 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions over the Sooners’ final eight contests.
Venables is well aware of the good and the bad from Mateer’s first season in Norman. And the coach is pleased with Mateer’s focus throughout the first few months of the offseason.
“He’s in the building every day with his coaches, and very focused in that space,” Mateer said. “And I’ll meet with him frequently as well, from a leadership standpoint.”
Mateer’s up-and-down campaign came after his superb season at Washington State in 2024. As the Cougars’ starter that year, he threw for 3,370 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
The SEC, though, is much more challenging than the primarily-Mountain West schedule that Mateer faced at WSU.
Venables is confident that Mateer will be more consistent in his second season with the Sooners, thanks to one year in the conference under his belt and the reps against Oklahoma’s defense throughout its spring and fall camps.
“I try to give him a defensive lens with plays that we’ve made some different cut ups for him,” Venables said. “The more you know about the other side of the ball, like intimately, deeply, like you know it maybe better than your side of the ball you can just elevate your game to another level.”
Though Mateer’s production dipped late in the season, he was far from the only inconsistent player on OU’s offense.
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The Sooners scored more than 30 points in only one of their final eight games. Oklahoma also averaged just 316.3 yards per game during that stretch and rushed for only 3.4 yards per carry.
OU’s front office did plenty to reinforce the unit during the offseason.
The Sooners signed three wide receivers — Trell Harris, Parker Livingstone and Mackenzie Alleyne — from the transfer portal. Oklahoma also added multiple tight ends, offensive linemen and running backs from the portal. The Sooners will also have several true freshmen — like running backs DeZephen Walker and Jonathan Hatton Jr. and wide receiver Jayden Petit — who may contribute immediately.
Venables noted how Mateer has grown as a leader since the start of last season and that he is much more “relational” than he was previously.
Ultimately, the coach believes that Mateer is in a better position to be one of college football’s best quarterbacks in 2026.
“He cares about the freshman walk-on guy as much as the new right tackle, and those are some of the qualities that John has that make him very endearing to everybody in the building,” Venables said. “He’s a passionate and an enthusiastic guy too, but he’s never been an over-the-top fake kind of guy, and you can’t fabricate just being genuine and authentic. And so he’s very relational with the guys.”
Oklahoma will begin its 2026 season against UTEP on Sept. 5.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has chosen Alan Armstrong, an oil and gas executive, to finish out the remainder of Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s term, three sources told NOTUS.
The two men are expected to meet with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday to iron out the details of the appointment and discuss it further, two of the sources said.
The sources cautioned that the pick could change following that meeting.
In March 2021, Armstrong gave $5,800 to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who voted to impeach Trump, according to FEC records. Sources said the donations are likely to be a topic of conversation at Mar-a-Lago.
Armstrong, who chairs the board of directors for the energy company Williams, was one of three main names Stitt presented in meetings he had in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. While multiple names were floated, Stitt was focused on three people: his senior advisor Dustin Hilliary, oil baron Harold Hamm and Armstrong.
Stitt is expected to announce the appointment shortly after Mullin is officially confirmed by the Senate as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, as early as Sunday.
Representatives for Armstrong and Stitt did not return a request for comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
In accordance with Oklahoma law, Armstrong will be required to sign a sworn affidavit saying he will not seek election to a full six-year Senate term and instead will only serve out the remainder of Mullin’s current term.
Rep. Kevin Hern has already essentially cleared the field in the race for the Senate seat.
This article has been updated with additional information.
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