City begins release of Mayor’s emails after 7 month runaround

LAWTON, OK - Open records are just one of the few tools the public have in maintaining the checks and balances of their government. When government officials are reluctant to speak, open records requests implement a statutory obligation. Earlier this year, Seth Marsicano, during his time at KSWO, submitted open records requests for Lawton Mayor Stan Booker’s email correspondence for the duration of a year and a few months.

As of this article, two of the five requests have been completed. The first is over public safety and the second is over KSWO at the time of submission, including Marsicano.

For clarification, the reason Marsicano submitted this size of a request was because multiple sources throughout the city had informed Marsicano it was by direction of the Mayor not to speak with him. Additionally, many of Marsicano’s requests to Council Liaison Julia Mantzke went unfulfilled when requesting information.

You can read a more detailed account of the open records below:

The Request’s Runaround

A few weeks after the original request was sent in February, a notification was given that due to the size of the request it would be delayed. Another month later, in April, Marsicano was notified the request was too burdensome and needed to be amended. In addition, city officials also threatened to send a press release over the matter saying it would cost taxpayers nearly $70,000 to fulfill. 

It’s important to note, with exceptions, as much as a member of the public has the right to submit a records request, the fulfilling party maintains the same right to request more specific information. However, the phone call from city officials was the only notice given to adjust the request. After Marsicano rescinded the original request and instead submitted five new ones, each with specific keywords for a more direct search, there was never communication on whether the new request was too broad.

Multiple Council Conversations

During a May 2025 city council meeting, multiple council members chimed in on the open records request after Mayor Pro Tem Randy Warren brought the subject up after a budget hearing. 

Lawton City Clerk Donalynn Blazek-Scherler said the request would cost almost $70,000 and was asking for two to three years worth of emails. The amended request, which was never brought up during the conversation, was for just over a year's worth. This raises the question as to whether the cost of fulfillment would actually cost as much as the city was claiming. One of the main reasons this was a concern for the council was because media requests are exempt from fees. Typically, if a member of the public requests a large amount of records, the entity has the ability to charge for the records. 

During that meeting, Ward 4 Councilman George Gill called Marsicano out multiple times by name, saying it was funny he wasn’t in attendance. The conversation also took a turn when Warren brought up amending the open records laws within Oklahoma. Booker then brought the council back on track before calling the request a form of harassment.

It was then brought up again in a June council meeting. However, this council meeting didn’t yield any fruit either.

Looking Ahead

The Dark Roast team will sort through what has currently been provided and plan stories from there. Emails show a potential request to encourage KSWO to do more feature reporting over Westwin Elements, a council member denying a meeting with the Local 1882 Firefighter Union and many attempts to compare the City of Lawton with the City of Norman.