District 2

Darry Stacy first took the oath of office as the Cleveland County Commissioner representing District 2 on Jan. 2, 2013. He is currently serving his third term in office.

Stacy was a career police officer with over 23 years with the Norman Police Department when he retired and ran for public office.

“I love public service, and it was a great opportunity,” Stacy said. “I had had the chance to see a different side of public service when I served on the Norman School Board for six years.”

Stacy had always been interested in county government and the job of county commissioner appealed to him because it’s a line of public service that works closely with the people he serves.

“The perfect opportunity arose when the previous commissioner retired,” Stacy said.

Shortly after he took office, Stacy clearly saw that his first responder training included very transferrable skills to the office of county commissioner as the county was still recovering from the August 2012 wildfires when tornadoes hit in two Cleveland County communities — east Norman / Little Axe and Moore — on May 19 and May 20, 2013, respectively.

Prior to being elected, Stacy’s two biggest accomplishments were graduating from the FBI National Academy and the DEA’s Drug Unit Commander’s Academy, both hosted in Quantico, Virginia.

Education and Family History

Stacy graduated from Norman High School in 1985, then earned a BA in political science from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Management from the University of Central Oklahoma. He lives in East Cleveland County with Tasha, his wife of 25 years. The couple raised two sons in Cleveland County. Heath Stacy is currently in the U.S. Army and Karson Stacy is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas studying pre-med.

Accomplishments in Office 

During his tenure in office, Stacy has served on the Cleveland County Board of Health, Community Services Board, Inc., as chair of the Cleveland County Educational Authority and as chair of the Public Facilities Authority.

One of his biggest accomplishments resulted from his work with the city of Norman, coordinating the application process for CBDG funds. Jointly, District 2 which Stacy represents, and the city received $26 million in funds for road improvements in east Cleveland County to repair roads damaged by natural disasters — 2012 wildfires and 2013 tornadoes — and the subsequent recovery efforts which involved the use of heavy equipment along those roadways.

“It literally put us at least a decade ahead,” Stacy said. “It’s the most grant money ever received by the county, and it’s the most infrastructure and road projects ever completed within the county in that amount of time.”

Stacy also advocated and got $2 million in additional CBDG funds for rural fire equipment to respond to wildfires like those in 2012 in the future.

Stacy said the real heroes are the D2 crews who are on call 365 days a year.

“Most people don’t realize they’re first responders when things happen,” he said. “They’re on call 24/7 and, particularly in the winter, they work unbelievable hours to get roads cleared for people and for school buses and emergency vehicles to get through.”

Stacy said in addition to working in snow, rain and cold weather, those crews work through scorching summer months on asphalt, all while maintaining good attitudes and a strong commitment to Cleveland County residents.

“They are often the unsung heroes and they do it day in and day out,” he said.

At the state level, Stacy was appointed by the governor to represent Cleveland County in two different capacities.

Stacy, whose combined 29 years of experience in law enforcement includes training with the FBI National Academy, 18 years on the Norman Police SWAT team and 15 years teaching active shooter response both professionally and privately was called to serve on the Oklahoma School Security Commission in 2012 and again following recent school shootings.

Stacy testified before the Common Education Committee on school safety and active shooter response in September 2018.

Governor Mary Fallin appointed Stacy to the Oklahoma 9-1-1 Management Authority Board on June 13, 2018.

In addition to countywide and statewide agencies and boards, Stacy has been able to work for Cleveland County in our nation’s capital, representing Oklahomans at the federal level.

In March 2018, Stacy was invited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as one of several select stakeholders from across the nation to Washington D.C. so the agency could share its proposed strategic plan and discuss how that plan would affect communities.

Also in 2018, Stacy was appointed to chair the National Association of Counties (NACo) Homeland Security and Emergency Management Committee. He was also elected as president for the National Conference of Republican County Officials (NCRCO). Stacy had previously served as vice president of that organization.

Looking Toward the Future

Stacy is heading up major projects for the continued growth and improvement of services to Cleveland County residents. Those plans include a parking garage and a healthy living block that will serve the Norman Farm Market in the future, opening up more space at the County Fairgrounds to meet the growing demand for events at that facility.

“We’ve got some incredibly exciting projects on the horizon,” Stacy said. “We’ve completed the master planning and are in the process of hiring an architect and construction managers for the parking garage and healthy living block with the county plaza in the next phase.”

In addition, the County Fairgrounds will be upgraded.

“We’ve also completed a master plan for the Cleveland County fairgrounds and have started projects there as well,” he said.