Ada Oklahoma Free Press

02/18/2026

I'm optimistic, how about you? I mean, it can't get much worse, can it?

02/12/2026

If you think The Ada Oklahoma Free Press has been quiet, you'd be wrong.

We've been been focusing on Reddit, which is where we publish the latest "investigations".

If you're not on Reddit, you might want to check it out. If you are, stop by our subreddit to read story updates, rantings, ravings, and all the opinion our arthritic fingers can hammer out!

Direct link to the latest story is in the comments!

02/11/2026

Congratulations to Jeremy Johnson, the new Ada City Council member for Ward 2.

02/04/2026

02/04/2026

The $13,000 Question

Ada pays its City Attorney $13,000 every month. Not per case. Not per hour. Not based on workload. Just a flat, automatic, subscription-style fee. Essentially, the Netflix model of municipal legal services

Most cities our size do not do this. They pay hourly. They pay per case. They pay based on actual work performed. They contract the work out. Ada pays the same amount whether the City Attorney handles a major lawsuit or spends the month reviewing a single email.

And here is where the structure gets interesting.

The City Attorney is married to the Assistant City Manager. So, when the Assistant City Manager recommends renewing the City Attorney’s contract, she is recommending her own household income. And when the City Manager signs off, he approves a contract that directly affects the salary dynamics inside his own leadership team.

It is not illegal. It is not hidden. It’s just bizarre, the kind of thing that only makes sense in a town where the phrase conflict of interest is treated more like a suggestion than a boundary.

So, the real $13,000 question is not “Is this allowed?” It is “Why is this normal?”

In Ada, the answer is usually the same.

Because nobody ever changed it.

02/02/2026

Why Is Ada’s Assistant City Manager Making Almost 50 Percent More Than the City Manager?

Ada’s latest salary disclosures landed with a thud because the Assistant City Manager makes almost 50 percent more than the last City Manager. That’s not a rounding issue. That’s not a “well technically if you include deferred comp” situation. That’s a real gap. The kind you notice even if you’re just skimming OpenGovPay on your lunch break.

Public records show how it happened. The Assistant City Manager’s pay crept upward year after year through routine adjustments tied to tenure, certifications, and extra responsibilities. Meanwhile, the City Manager’s salary stayed mostly flat because it only moves when the contract gets renegotiated. It’s a slow drift, not a dramatic moment, but the end result is hard to
ignore.

People who’ve worked inside the city say the Assistant City Manager has taken on more
day-to-day operations in recent years, especially during turnover. Others point out that the City Manager job has long been treated as a political appointment, while the Assistant role is the steady hand that keeps the place running. Different expectations. Different rhythms. Same building.

And I’ll be honest. I’ve been in this exact spot before. Different town, different title, same
feeling. You do the work, you keep the wheels from falling off, and then one day you realize the org chart is more decorative than functional. It’s not about the paycheck. It’s about what the paycheck says. A gap this wide doesn’t whisper. It tells you exactly who the institution cares about, most.

For residents, the question isn’t who deserves what. It’s what the pay structure reveals about who and what the city values. Clearly it’s not the role of City Manager.Compensation is a mirror. It
reflects priorities whether anyone meant for it to or not. And right now, that mirror shows a city government that has shifted more weight onto the person in the number-two chair.

Whether that shift was intentional or just the result of years of drift is something only the City Council can answer.

02/02/2026

01/31/2026

The Johnson vs Johnson Edition (No Relation)

Just got the latest edition of the Ada Evening News and I’ve got to hand it to Randy Mitchell. The man still believes in neutral reporting. Straight facts. No seasoning. No sly nudges. Just two profiles built from what each candidate chose to say. In a world where half the news feels like a group chat argument, that kind of restraint deserves a nod.

But reading the two pieces back to back, the contrast in coverage is hard to miss.

The article on Holly Johnson feels familiar. Almost too familiar. Same themes as two years ago. Same origin story about being encouraged to run. Same emphasis on caring about Ada and wanting to serve. Nothing in the piece points to specific accomplishments from her time on the council, and nothing signals a new direction. It reads like the campaign flyer you forgot to take off the fridge from last time.

The article on Jeremy Johnson leans in a different direction. The coverage highlights modernization and transparency. Not the flashy kind. The basic civic infrastructure most cities our size already have. Archived meetings. Searchable budgets. Recorded votes. Full packets online. The kind of digital housekeeping that makes a city easier to understand and harder to misinterpret. The article frames him as someone trying to bring Ada’s public information practices into the present tense.

And before anyone starts drawing family trees, no, the two Johnsons are not related. Ada just has a lot of Johnsons. It’s like the town bought surnames in bulk and never ran out.

So the reporting gives us two different portraits. Not opinions. Just portraits.

One article presents a candidate running on continuity.

The other presents a candidate running on modernization.

And that’s the value of neutral reporting. It lets the contrast speak for itself.

01/31/2026

Ward 2, we’re down to the wire.
If tumbleweeds can show up to vote, so can you.
📅 February 10th
🗳️ City Council Election
👀 Less than 20 people voted last time. Let’s fix that.

VoteAda

01/31/2026

Ward 2, we’re down to the wire.
If tumbleweeds can show up to vote, so can you.
📅 February 10th
🗳️ City Council Election
👀 Less than 20 people voted last time. Let’s fix that.