The law firm of Collins, Zorn & Wagner PLLC did not handle 2022 legal notices for a new hospital election, as this newspaper erroneously reported in its July 1 edition in a story primarily about a jail trust meeting. We regret the error.
Actually, it was Collins, Zorn & Wagner that correctly ran four required legal notices ahead of a 2020 hospital election, which were published in this paper.
Voters did not support tax changes for a new hospital in that first election in 2020.
Before a new attempt in November 2022, a historic meeting was called by county commissioners due to voter concern about the proposed ballot wording. An attorney came down to discuss the matter, which became so contentious over what critics said was confusing language that at least one attendee predicted to the attorney that litigation would follow if the proposed ballot wording were used.
The prediction turned out to be accurate.
But the Gazette reporter covering that meeting did not notice that commissioners had apparently changed law firms from one election to the next. The firm of Collins, Zorn & Wagner was not used in the 2022 election.
The firm that the commissioners used that year also did not represent ACCO.
“Collins, Zorn & Wagner had no involvement whatsoever in the November (2022) election in McCurtain County,” attorney Andy Artus reports.
“The firm was never tasked with publishing the 2022 election notices on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, did not perform any work regarding the notices or the election, and did not provide any legal advice connected to the notices, the election, the vote or the subsequent litigation which overturned the vote.”
Voters strongly approved an increased lodging tax in support of a new hospital in 2022, but four required legal notices had not been published, causing the election to be thrown out after a challenge to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
No new attempt has since been made to seek tax support for the construction of a new hospital. Instead, the current facility has been greatly upgraded without additional tax support.
