Norman City Council member Elizabeth Foreman made her intentions for the coming year known Tuesday, and they do not include another run for Ward 6.
Foreman told Facebook followers she will not seek reelection in 2024, choosing instead to focus on two jobs, her daughter, a postgraduate degree, and the council’s response to mental health in the wake of Shannon Hanchett’s death.
Hanchett died in the Cleveland County Detention Center on Dec. 8, nearly two weeks after Norman police arrested her on complaints of making a false 911 call and resisting arrest.
“I think we did Shannon a disservice, kicking the can down the road,” Foreman said. “For three years we’ve allocated money to something and we’ve never pulled the trigger, and so it is absolutely imperative, and we have to start right now, this very second.”
Foreman told The Transcript she was referring to allocations for a program to supply the city with mobile crisis units to respond to mental health calls.
“We never even had a study session over how to actually do it,” she said. “We’ve just spent our time fighting and playing politics instead of doing the work.”
Several council members have requested a Jan. 10 study session to discuss the merits of city-operated mobile crisis units.
Foreman first won election to the council in 2020, defeating Ward 6 incumbent Bill Scanlon. She defeated challenger Alexander Torvi to win reelection in 2022.
She said her time campaigning for and serving on the council has taken a toll.
“The threats, harassment and cruelty from the public is not worth it,” she told The Transcript. “Good people get burned out.”
Foreman, a finance director for a nonprofit and an adjunct professor, is also working on her doctorate. She said she loves policy and the work and would feel differently if the council was her only job.
“I don’t know where that’s going to take me down the road and I don’t want to commit to try to run for another term if it’s not doable,” she said, “because I don’t know what the future holds … so I will not be seeking reelection in December.”
Mayor Larry Heikkila told The Transcript on Tuesday he was surprised to hear Foreman wasn’t going to run for another term.
“She’s done a great job,” he said. “She’s a careful considerer of the issues. She reads through and understands the issues.”
