Concluding the July City Council meeting, Mayor Karl Nail announced that Tommy Clay had resigned from his position as a city council member. The board will now be tasked with appointing someone by majority vote to fill Clay’s seat in Ward 1.
Clay had just begun a new four-year term in April 2023 after being elected without drawing an opponent.
According to the City, “Clay is the president and owner of Ardor LLC in Newcastle, which has multiple subsidiaries, including Ardor Solutions OK, Ardor Solutions SE, and Ardor Consulting. These companies provide different facets of the Industrial Flooring spectrum on a nationwide scale. Clay has been a leader in the polished concrete and industrial flooring industry for over 15 years. A certified Master Craftsman and certified Teacher/Instructor, his focus has been on educating the industry and training a workforce that can help lift the industry through professionalism and craftsmanship.”
The City’s website states, “Clay’s experience lies heavily in the management and training of others. In this role, he leverages experience from his time in the Marine Corps to take a look at this and decide whether or not if they feel like this application meets the ordinance’s intent.”
Mayor Karl Nail said, “We developed what we thought were reasonable setbacks that would allow companies to go in and get their oil and gas. We’ve done everything we can to make it less intrusive to our neighbors.”
Nail said the intent was to protect the structures and other protected uses, but if the ordinance was read the way Hahn believes it is intended, there would be no way for an oil and gas company to place a well in the city limits.
“If the argument was to prevail on setback requirements (as Hahn believes), there would be no location in the City where a well could locate,” Nail said.
He later added that if the ordinance was read that way, the oil and gas companies would not be able to drill anywhere in the city on an 80-acre tract.
Council members Nail, Gene Reid and Mike Fullerton voted to approve the UPOR, while Marci White voted against its approval, and council member Tommy Clay was absent from the meeting.
Both council member Gene Reid and Nail said they believe the ordinance wasn’t as clear as maybe it should be, but their intent was still there.
White said, “In my opinion we need to look at that (the ordinance language) and see if we need to reword it.”
She told the Newcastle Pacer, “I can only go with what the law says, and my personal thinking is the intent needs to be put into words. No one purposefully left this out, it’s very difficult to write these ordinances. I don’t want our citizens to think we base our actions out of fear from a lawsuit. I make decisions based on what I believe the law says.”
