Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation severance agreement is public record, judge rules

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma County judge Wednesday ruled the state’s wildlife commission wrongly withheld a severance agreement involving the departure of its former director and must make it available to the public.

Oklahoma County District Court Judge Don Andrews ordered the state’s Wildlife Conservation Commission to release the severance agreement it entered into with former Director J.D. Strong to Oklahoma Voice. Strong received $169,341 in severance when he resigned.

Andrews ruled the agreement is a public record and must be released under the state’s open records law. The record had not been released as of Thursday afternoon.

He determined that a confidentiality provision that the board reportedly included in Strong’s severance agreement does not exempt it from public inspection under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.

Leslie Briggs, an attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who represented Oklahoma Voice Editor Janelle Stecklein in the suit, said the ruling could set “good precedent” for journalists seeking such severance agreements in the future.

“This is a six-figure payout of taxpayer money to a public official upon his departure from the agency,” Briggs said. “The public has a right to know what those terms are. This is a success for public transparency and open government, and we’re very happy with the result.”

Lexie Norwood, an attorney with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, which represented the wildlife department and its governing board, argued a confidentiality clause in the agreement shielded it from public access and maintained there was no “foul play” associated with Strong’s abrupt departure. 

Norwood declined to comment on Andrews’ ruling after the hearing, citing pending litigation. The wildlife department and its governing board could appeal the decision.

Oklahoma Voice filed suit in May 2024 after the agency refused to make Strong’s severance agreement public. The lawsuit followed a Dec. 6, 2023, executive session in which the wildlife commission accepted Strong’s resignation and agreed to the $169,341 severance payment.

The lawsuit sought a declaration that the record was being withheld in violation of the Oklahoma Open Records Act and reasonable attorney fees.