Arbitrary and capricious

Back to that pre-meeting: Tulsa City Councilor Bill Christiansen was concerned about his personal liability over his vote (along with Henderson, Medlock, Turner, and Mautino) to deny the final plat for F&M Bank. Acting City Attorney Alan Jackere had advised the Council that legislative immunity would not apply for that action and F&M could sue individual councilors for violating the bank's right to fair treatment. After an executive session in which the Council conferred with city attorneys, the Council voted 4-4 on Christiansen's motion to rescind denial of the plat, with only Christiansen changing his vote. Without a majority in favor, the motion failed and at this point F&M cannot proceed with construction.

If there is any lawsuit, Christiansen may be the target. By changing his vote, he implicitly admits that he wasn't using his best judgment on his initial vote. The other four voting to deny the plat can fairly and truthfully maintain that their judgment was that there was no scrivener's error on the PUD and therefore granting the plat would have been inconsistent with the approved zoning. The proper remedy for F&M is to seek a major amendment to the PUD.

The situation has inspired a very funny audio montage created by Bobby of Tulsa Topics. Bill Christiansen, Darth Vader, HAL 9000, Don Vito Corleone, Daffy Duck, Regis Philbin, Mr. Spock, Buddy Hackett, and Yoda all in one clip.

UPDATE: Bobby has a first-hand report from the pre-meeting, and a link to a Wiki entry about acting City Attorney Alan Jackere.