A civil negligence lawsuit against the Town of Hennessey was expected to be settled by both municipal boards in special meetings held at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23.

The meetings were held after this issue was printed because of an early printing deadline due to the Christmas holiday.

The 2023 lawsuit is about property water damages at 300 N. Arapaho St. and calls for $14,000 in actual damages to landowners Esther Gonzalez Ramirez and Gerardo Ramirez (wife and husband) and Ana Ehrenzeller (formerly Ana Maria Gonzalez).

The town would also be required to make other specific changes and repairs to that property:

• Remove the drain and spout channeling water onto the plaintiffs’ property located near the manhole and construct a drain and line channeling the flow of water northward in an existing public easement located in Osborn Acres that is adjacent to the east boundary of the (Ramirez/ Ehrenzeller) property;

• Fill and level the land located on the north side of the barn with 12 tons of gravel;

• Repair the fence located along the east side of the property...where the posts have been pushed out of vertical alignment and, if necessary, move the fence to the eastern boundary line, as reflected in an Oct. 11, 2024, survey and permit entrances from Hennessey’s alley onto the north boundary of the property.

The Gonzalezes and Ehrenzeller filed their civil negligence lawsuit against the town Nov. 16, 2023, and asked for relief of “more than $10,000.”

Hennessey Town Trustee and Utilities Authority board members are Mayor Harold Shaw, Bert Gritz, David Jones, and Randy Bohnstedt.

Public Complaint Made in 2022 “Why was the builder allowed to build that before the ground was ever level?” Esther Gonzales Ramirez asked the board of trustees members at their August 2022 meeting.

“All that water will come in to my house,” she said about the new sewer line going in the Osborne Addition near her home on Arapaho Street.

Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman said, “They are bringing in loads of dirt to build it up so it wouldn’t cause a water problem for her.”

Mrs. Ramirez complained about the sewage smells and asked Tillman why she didn’t tell her the sewer line “was going to the north of us” when she paid her water bill.

The board was told that her husband, Gerardo Ramirez, had been told about the work.

Lawsuit Filed 2023

In the lawsuit, the three landowners stated the town constructed a sewer line adjacent to those two properties in the summer of 2022 and “the sewer line is covered by a berm extending above the surface of the ground.”

It also said the line “includes a drainage culvert which alters the natural flow of water by retaining stormwater runoff and emptying directly onto the Ramirez property and the Ehrenzeller property causing flooding, erosion and damage to land and livestock.”

Also, “the sewer line encroaches on the Ramirez property” and the owners didn’t give town their permission to be there.

Construction Bids Were High

Tillman told the board at its Feb. 10, 2022, meeting that bids on the Osborn Addition sewer line came in much higher than expected ($237,510.71 from Marsau Enterprises, Enid, and $240,823.75 from Orr Construction, Hennessey) and none was accepted.

“I think we should do some of the work in-house,” Tillman told the board that night.

She estimated the town could save about $50,000 on the project and three public works employees would need to get additional certification.

“They believe they can do the work,” she told the board, “and those certifications would also allow them to work on future projects.”

Builder Jay Ladwig was in the audience at that 2022 meeting and Tillman asked if he could help by doing some clearing and leveling on the property.

Ladwig said there is a big tree there and he’d have it done in a couple of days.

He also said that years ago town crews had made many repairs and upgrades without needing to have other companies do the work.

Tillman said Ladwig planned to build 2,005 square foot homes in the northwest section of town, but there were no sewer lines.

The 1970s addition apparently failed to complete the job, she told the board.

“The town accepted the final building plans back then,” Tillman said last summer, “but there were no sewer lines installed, and there is a water line on the east side, but he (Ladwig) wants one on the west side.”