Dirt Issue Surfaces Again at Cedar Oaks

Work on utility construction at Phase III at Cedar Oaks Leisure Living in Grove has been halted until a certified engineer report on compaction can be provided the city.
Part of the dirt is the same fill dirt that was hauled off the Grove Municipal Airport property last year and according to the deposition testimony of Frank Hallacy, owner of Cedar Oaks at the time, he "questioned the material that he (the contractor) was hauling in here that didn't look like it had enough clay in it to maintain the compaction that we wanted."
The city hired an independent inspector who two weeks ago submitted a report stating that the fill dirt did not have enough compaction qualities, or clay.
When the city learned that utility work was underway on Phase III at Cedar Oaks, City Manager Bill Galletly on Aug. 16, 2005 sent a letter to Robby Blair advising that the "City will not accept these utilities, streets, or other public donations wthout an Oklahoma registered engineer signing off that the fill and all public fixtures installed in said fill has been compacted to ASTM standards, and that no building permit is to be issued for any structure without said engineeer's certification that the site to be built on meets all compaction requirements."
Records in the County Clerk's office indicate that on Aug. 11, 2005, Christopher D. Marion purchased Lot 2 Phase 1 and a second tract of acreage of 2.49 acres and 22 lots in Phase 1, financing $658,000 with the Bank of Joplin and taking a second mortgage with Sunset Development Company LLC for $320,000. The fill dirt is in Phase 3.
According to his deposition testimony taken on May 12, 2004, Hallacy paid Larry Morris just over $94,000 to haul the fill dirt. The deposition was part of a lawsuit by Hallacy against the Grove Sun Daily newspaper, Dorothy Parker, and Bill Galletly, which was ultimately dismissed in District Court.
Hallacy also testified that about $7,800 was donated to the Delaware Baptist Church for "other material" to mix in with the fill dirt from the airport.
City Manager Bill Galletly said this week that due to Hallacy's own admission in his deposition testimony that the fill dirt would not compact properly, he could not approve work on the utilities until the issue of compaction was cleared up by an outside engineering company, hired by the developer.
"We would have foundation problems and all sorts of issues if we approved something that later on caused homeowner problems," Galletly said.
Phase II at Cedar Oaks was built on dirt dredged from Grand Lake, according to Hallacy's testimony. The cost of this was "in the neighborhood of $400,000, he testified.
Phase III covers about four acres, he said and enough dirt was needed to bring the elevation up to 757 feet above sea level. Some 28 units are planned in Phase III including 14 duplexes.
In his testimony, Hallacy said "I questioned him (Frank Morris) on the quality of the dirt after about the second day of hauling. And he assured me that even though it wouldn't be compactable by itself, that he had an alternate source to pick up more clay substance to mix in with it, which would give us the compaction that we needed."
Hallacy testified that between 200 and 250 loads came from the "alternative source" and that $7,824.00 was donated to the church, based on "approximately $2.00 per yard."
Since a truckload contains about 10 yards, this would compute to about $20 per truckload which would mean about 391 truckloads of alternative source dirt was hauled.
Hallacy also testified that "in excess" of 900 truckloads of dirt was hauled from the airport property. He also stated that he "left it up to the contractor to come up with a ratio that he needed" of airport dirt vs. alternative source dirt.
The contractor currently hired to do the utility work is Jack Bowers, Field Superintendent of GMSA, who works after hours on his own time on utility construction projects.