The City Council has appointed former Councilman Lee E. Cooper, Jr. to serve as the new Ward 7 Councilmember. Councilman Cooper will take the oath of office at an upcoming City Council meeting and will serve until the next elected Councilmember takes office on April 29, 2025.
The Council was required by the Oklahoma City Charter to appoint a Ward 7 Councilmember after the occupant of the seat resigned on November 12. There is a regular election already scheduled to fill the seat, and it will be held Feb. 11, 2025, with a potential runoff April 1, 2025. The filing period to run is Dec. 2-4.
Councilman Cooper previously served on the City Council in 2018. He has also previously served as a Planning Commissioner and as an appointee of Mayor David Holt on the city’s Urban Renewal Authority and Redevelopment Authority. He was also asked by Mayor Holt to co-chair an effort to commemorate the city’s sit-in movement, and that monument is expected in 2025.
“Ward 7 needs someone who can immediately step into the role and make an impact, and thanks to his previous experiences, Councilman Cooper clearly meets that need,” Mayor Holt said. “And since there is no election, it was also important that the person we appoint be held in the highest regard, and that certainly describes Councilman Cooper.”
Councilman Cooper has served as pastor of the Prospect Missionary Baptist Church since 1987. He earned a doctorate of human letters from the University of Virginia at Lynchburg in 2005.
Cooper has also served as a board member on the One Church One Child Advisory Board, past president of the Progressive Oklahoma Baptist State Convention, board member of KIPP Reach College Preparatory School and chaplain of the Oklahoma State Senate. He has served on the Education and Publication Board of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Southwestern Urban Development Corporation Executive Board. He was the first Black member of the Capital Baptist Association Committee and the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.