The Luther Public School district is fighting the lawsuit filed by ARC Architecture, LLC, of Norman over an alleged unpaid bid proposal regarding completing repairs to the auditorium roof.
Click here for the story about the lawsuit that ARC filed in April.
The Luther school board met with attorney Phyllis L Walta, of Walta & Walta, in Hennessey, during an executive session at a June 2016 meeting.
On June 15, 2016, Walta filed a response in Oklahoma County District Court.
Comes now Independent School District No. 3 of Oklahoma County, also known as Luther Public School District … alleges and states as follows:
- The District denies each and every allegation of the Petition.
ARC claimed during the period it worked for LPS on the Auditorium Roof project it encumbered $17,751.32 in expenses and fees including: $3,500 for schematic design; $2,600 for design development; $7,100 for construction documents and also a $3,100 fee for State Fire Marshall Review, among other charges (included in the suit viewable here).
At the February 2015 board meeting, Superintendent Sheldon Buxton said the bill was a surprise.
“At the time we were talking about moving forward into another bond issue, in which case if there were money left in the bond fund, then the board might consider to reroof this. We needed to know how much it would cost, so he (ARC) ran the bidding process. Out of that we were unable to recommend to the board to put the new roof on the auditorium. What I didn’t realize was the bill for that would be $17-thousand,” said Dr. Buxton in February.
In the court document, Walta asks the court to find in favor of Luther School District and that the Court award the District costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Court costs listed so far amount to about $250. Attorney fees are not known.
The contract attached to the Petition contains an arbitration clause. They may have jumped the gun by filing a law suit.