Agreement expected with ONEOK

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
The Weston County commissioners expect to see an agreement on Oct. 16 between the county and ONEOK Inc. for funds to help repair county roads during and after construction of a pipeline through a portion of Weston County.
The road use agreement has been in the works since the beginning of September when the commissioners were first presented with the idea of asking the Tulsa-based company for roughly $900,000 to use 72 miles of Weston County roads. The agreement has been scaled back to just over $500,000. 
The roads will be used by the company, as previously reported, to complete a 900-mile pipeline from Montana to Kansas, a portion of which will run through a portion of Weston County. ONEOK operates and/or owns natural gas pipelines in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. 
ONEOK reported on Feb. 6 that the construction was expected to begin in 2018 with completion by the end of 2019. 
“We had to revise our road use agreement. The number went down,” Road and Bridge Supervisor Rick Williams said. “Hopefully it is something that will fit them (ONEOK) a bit more than the $900,000 we wrote down first.” 
Williams noted that the stopping point for the project for 2018, according to his sources, is somewhere on Morrissey Road and construction will start back up in 2019. 
“It appears that there is an understanding with some likelihood of being accepted by ONEOK and perhaps by the county in an area upwards of $500,000,” County Attorney William Curley said. “I did review the document and made a few suggestions.” 
He maintained that his change did not affect the objective of the agreement but added verbiage that he felt was necessary. 
“Basically, they will be providing a substantial amount of money to see that in the end after the construction that the roads are in good shape and that during the construction the needed remedial work can be taken care of sooner rather than later where Rick sees fit,” Curley said. “The general point is there ought to be something that I have approved for your consideration at the next meeting (Oct. 16) that will be looked at by ONEOK by then.” 
He noted that it would be nice to know the sense of the commissioners on the road use agreement.
“I think it’s a good document and not just the money side,” Commissioner Bill Lambert said. “I think there is a lot of good things in there, and everyone is agreeing to do something.” 
Commissioner Marty Ertman asked if the agreement was a document that the county planned to send to all companies that use county roads to access their work.  She noted that she questions why an agreement is necessary if the company is willing to do the work or provide the funding for the work. 
“I feel like we are picking on one industry,” Ertman said. “I go back to it should be a blanket and that we are going to enforce it.” 
Curley acknowledged that the current agreement is something that appears to be at the request of ONEOK and that they were asking for an agreement and a process to go through from the county. 
“I think Commissioner Ertman brings up some good points but the only way to start is today,” Lambert said. “ONEOK is willing to work with us and put the agreement together and then that can be used as a template for future agreements. We can’t do it any quicker than today or the next meeting.”