No charges filed for filter damage at treatment plant

No charges will be filed against former Eureka Springs Public Works employee Rick Clark for allegedly destroying the trickling filter at the city's wastewater treatment plant on Highway 23 North in mid-May.

Deputy Prosecutor Chris Flanagan interviewed Public Works Director Robert Forrest, Project Manager Marilyn Kelley Still and consulting engineer Ron Tracy Friday and concluded "there is no case," according to Police Chief Earl Hyatt.

Mayor Kathy Harrison said Monday that Still will no longer be the project manager.

"She works for Ron Tracy and I believe he has removed her from the project," Harrison said.

Tracy Engineering of Tulsa, Okla., has been hired to design the new facility.

"We have all the specifications and information we need to go ahead the new plant. When we hire a contractor to do the work, a project manager will be supplied while construction is going on," Harrison said.

Flanagan did not interview Clark or another employee, Todd Carter, although Hyatt had said early last week they would be questioned.

"We called in the prosecutor's office to help with the investigation because we didn't want anyone to think we were trying to cover something up," Hyatt said.

"We wanted to be fair about this and to have someone outside the city handle the investigation."

Forrest filed an incident report with the police department June 1, accusing Clark, then treatment plant supervisor, of cutting a hole in the concrete wall of the trickling filter, taking the armatures off the center post of the filter, removing the filtering plastic media and placing it on the ground nearby, starting May 12.

According to the report written by Detective Morris Pate, Clark cut a 12-foot by 6-foot hole in the wall and drove a backhoe into the tank to remove the plastic filter media.

Forrest has estimated the damage to the tank and replacement cost at $1 million, although he says the concrete tank will not be part of the new plant's daily operations.

The trickling filter had gone out of service in early May because of its age and inability to properly treat the liquids passing through it.

Forrest told this reporter May 24 the tank was being emptied so it could be repaired, relined and used to hold rainwater from large rainstorms so it could be slowly processed through the treatment plant.

"When we went down and looked at the tank, the cuts were made very carefully, so they could be repaired," Hyatt said Monday afternoon.

"The investigation showed Clark did as he was told. Tracy told him how to make the cuts and empty the tank. Ms. Still stood there and watched while he did the work."

Pate's report says there was contaminated water in the tank that spilled onto the ground when the wall was opened. Water in the media also got onto the ground.

"Bruce Kirkpatrick of Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) was here June 4 and inspected everything," Forrest said last week.

"The plant passed his inspection with no violations. ADEQ has been aware of this situation from the beginning."

Pate's report says Forrest brought Clark into his office May 28 and discussed his "paranoid behavior."

Pate's report quotes Forrest as saying Clark "apparently went back to the plant May 28 at 12:08 p.m. and typed out a letter of resignation on the office computer and left it up on the monitor screen."

In an interview in another local newspaper's June 10 edition, Clark denies writing a letter of resignation.

Forrest fired Clark on June 1.

Hyatt said other aspects of the situation are still being examined, but charges will not be filed against Clark for damaging the trickling filter.

No charges filed for filter damage at treatment plant

No charges will be filed against former Eureka Springs Public Works employee Rick Clark for allegedly destroying the trickling filter at the city's wastewater treatment plant on Highway 23 North in mid-May.

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