The $585,000 change order to Denver, Colo.,-based engineering and design firm Merrick & Company, which was hired through a no-bid contract in 2018, is a more than 50 percent increase from the original $1.1 million contract to plan out a white water rafting park near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border.
The attorney for the landowners asked that the judge sit by the river while considering the case, because “I think the river will have something to say.”
The lawsuit alleges that OWRB’s issuance of multiple short-term groundwater permits since 2018 violated the plaintiffs’ rights.
When I first heard that wastewater from the town of Carlton Landing had somehow gotten into Lake Eufaula, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The raise, which was voted on by the board after it was discussed in executive session, puts Sullivan’s annual salary at $330,000.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of product liability for defective design, product liability for failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, fraud and deceit, breach of warranties, unjust enrichment and violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act.
The agenda contained measures to accept a loan from the town’s developer, consider a special assessment to customer bills to pay for an attorney, and to hire former DEQ attorney Rob Singletary.
On Saturday, Carlton Landing’s water board met and passed a measure that would “not allow any further bypasses to occur” from the lagoon system, unless it was through the DEQ-authorized aeration system or by hauling the water out to an approved treatment facility.
