By Traci Chapman/Staff Writer
published April 23, 2008

County commissioners tabled three interlocal agreements Monday, saying they wanted further time to determine the county’s “responsibility” for road repairs and other services.

The agreements — one each with Mustang, El Reno and Oklahoma City — would provide the basis for the county to provide the labor and equipment to handle road maintenance and repair, mowing and other “general maintenance.” Each city would then reimburse the county the cost of the materials for those services.

The problems, commissioners said, are the county’s liability and whether it will be reimbursed for its costs.

“One of the big issues I have is the fact that Oklahoma City and El Reno are over the (15,000 population) threshold, so we have no business handling anything in their cities,” District 1 Commissioner Phil Carson said. “I’m also extremely leery of entering into any agreements with Oklahoma City after they cheated us out of $20,000 or $30,000 on Cemetery Road.”

In that instance, Carson said, the county and Oklahoma City had an agreement for mowing services, which the county performed. Midway into the contract, he said, Oklahoma City changed the agreement.