City: ONEOK unresponsive

Alexis Barker 
NLJ News Editor
 
City officials are struggling to discuss road repairs needed after ONEOK Inc. caused damaged to Morrissey Road, according to City Attorney Jim Peck. 
He told the Newcastle City Council on May 20 that ONEOK has been unresponsive to attempts made by the city to discuss an agreement. 
“I am still yet to hear from ONEOK to an agreement,” Peck said. “I’ll keep pushing for that, but as of now I am yet to hear anything. 
Peck said that he has sent emails and made calls and always gets the same answer: the company will get back to the city with an agreement and then nothing happens. 
ONEOK damaged a portion of the city’s part of Morrissey Road in April, according to City Engineer Mike Moore, and the city hopes to reach an agreement similar to the one Weston County has with the company to repair damages to roads caused by heavy truck loads. 
“What I proposed to ONEOK apparently wasn’t good enough,” Moore said. “I sent back my proposal and costs but haven’t heard anything either.” 
Moore said that his attempts to set up a meeting to determine the best route to repair the road have unsuccessful. 
Peck said that Morrissey Road is not built to support heavy truck traffic. He said that city ordinance is clear about where trucks can drive and that Morrissey is not one of those streets. 
“We have ignored other truck use of that road, but usually there is not heavy truck traffic,” Peck said. 
He suggested that the city should probably set a dollar amount on the damages. 
“We can say that we want this amount of money from you, and until we get that amount, stop driving on the road,” Peck said. “There
is another way into their
location.” 
The city does not want a marginal repair on the road, Moore said, that would have to be taken out and redone in the near future. 
“Let’s get to the point and do what Jim (Peck) said. If they don’t do this, then the ultimatum is getting a different route,” Council Don Steveson said. At that point the city would be responsible for the repairs, he said. 
“I understand. You (the council) have the absolute right to control traffic. We don’t have this road built to hold trucks, and that is why we have designated truck routes. Every town has them,” Peck said. “One option is to make the ultimatum effective immediately and enforce the weight limits until they open up a meaningful dialogue.”
Mayor Deb Piana asked Peck to prepare a letter to the company stating the ultimatum. Steveson agreed with her suggestion.
“So until we have an agreement, Morrissey is a no-truck route because they have failed to work in good faith with
the city to repair to road,” Peck said. 
The council approved a motion to that affect. 
“I think they are feeling dismissive of the road because it is just a couple of blocks of street but that few blocks is worth $500,000. Paved
streets are costly and even though that road is near the end of design, they went in and tore up what we have. We were not prepared for this,” Moore said. 
Piana said that before the damage caused by ONEOK, Morrissey Road was not on the city’s priority list for
road repairs.