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Jan. 13, 2014

The Journal Record

journalrecord.com

NORDAM: The aerospace company plans to consolidate its Kansas operation into its Tulsa HQ
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Oklahoma is exciting news for the region and the vibrant aerospace sector, said Mike Neal, Tulsa Regional Chamber president and CEO. The fact that leading companies such as Nordam are expanding their operations in Tulsa is a testament to the regions strong commitment to helping businesses thrive and achieve their potential, Neal said in a statement. However, Nordam was not able to sustain enough business to justify a stand-alone plant in Wichita, Siegfried said. The entire market has been in decline, she said. It was not just one thing, but a steady decline of the market segment, that prompted Nordam officials to re-evaluate the Kansas plant. The 120,000square-foot leased building in Wichita housed Nordams cabinetry operation. Nordam opened it in 2007. It is a leased facility and we will be working with the lessor on the transition, Siegfried said. The decision was difficult, as it will affect 75 employees, Siegfried said. We have a responsibility to them to be as respectful and sensitive as we can in order to minimize the impact, Siegfried said in a statement.

The Nordam facility in downtown Tulsa.

PHOTO BY RIP STELL

Nordam plans to offer positions in Tulsa to Wichita employees. Nordam, a privately operated company, declined to disclose severance packages for any Wichita employees who decide not relocate to Tulsa. The Tulsa-based aerospace company employs 2,500 people in nine plants on three continents. The consolidation will be absorbed in part by an expansion underway in

Tulsa. The 50,000-square-foot addition is on the west end of Nordams Interiors & Structures plant at Cherokee Industrial Park between 66th Street North and 76th Street North, west of Owasso. The addition, expected to be completed by the end of the year, will house an automated chemical process line specifically for Nordam to support the companys new and legacy busi-

nesses, the company said in a statement. The expansion will allow for state-of-the-art capability to support several aerospace applications. Nordam made the expansion announcement in October. We want to do everything that we can for our stakeholders, said Phil Marshall, vice president and general manager of the Nordam Interiors & Structures Division, in a statement.

LINK: The connection was delayed because inspections of the bridge were not complete
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The bridge has since been inspected and approved by the railroad. The two entities are now working on the rightof-entry agreement. Oklahoma City Public Works Department Director Eric Wenger said the city and the railroad have been reviewing agreements since that time and are close to signing on the dotted line. He said the debacle with the open-

ing was due to the retirement of Union Pacific employees who were working on the project, as the city had ongoing communications with the company. We were negotiating the agreement (before the scheduled opening), he said. We lost some of the knowledge of the project when the new staff was assigned. Union Pacific Railroad spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said the last

agreement sent to the city from Union Pacific was on Dec. 12. We are negotiating the final terms, Wenger said. Since this is intended to be a long-standing agreement, there are still a couple of things to work out. The railroad has ownership of the bridge and wants to make sure the city will take proper care of the area around it, as well as allow Union Pacific to do any work necessary.

Wenger said that according to the agreement, the city will take care of any graffiti in the area, as well as general maintenance. The city will also notify the railroad of any work that needs to be done to the bridge. He said a formal agreement is expected to be approved by the reopening of the canal in March, and there are no events scheduled that will require a special use permit.

SYSTEM: The new OBA president vows to educate Oklahomans about judiciary
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Commission and change the way judges and justices are selected. During her first speech as OBA president, DeMoss said the organization must focus efforts on educating the public about the importance of preserving the judicial branch. We all know that our democratic system of government is unique with its three branches, she said. And the rule of law requires that every resident in our state must be governed by the same laws, which must be applied fairly, consistently and equally to all people. Judges must never favor one side over the other when applying the law, she said. Our public today does not invest much time in thinking about democracy that underlies how we lawyers make a living, DeMoss said. This lack of knowledge, coupled with the periodic unhappiness that some people have with the court system, can be a danger to our system of justice. In November, the chamber circulated a memo to members of its legislative committee that listed about a dozen

proposals to fundamentally change Oklahomas tort and judicial systems. That memo listed suggestions such as term limits for members of the state judiciary, a requirement that justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the appellate courts be elected instead of appointed, and a plan to increase the required percentage of yes votes in judicial retention elections to 60 percent. The chambers memo and its list of proposed policy initiatives underscored earlier statements by House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, a harsh critic of the appellate judiciary. Both the chamber and Shannon have complained that decisions by the Oklahoma Supreme Court have hampered the states business climate. Oklahomas Supreme Court and appellate judges have routinely made attempts to derail monumental reforms and legislation, such as tort reform efforts, which are not only constitutional, but are essential to the future opportunity and prosperity of the people of our great state, Shannon wrote in a newspaper column. Who benefits from

keeping things the way they were? Its not the people and businesses of Oklahoma. Its the trial attorneys. On Friday, DeMoss told the standing-room-only crowd at the Oklahoma Supreme Court that her mission as OBA president would be to muster the necessary resources to educate Oklahomans about how the judicial system worked. She said that effort would also focus on building understanding about the states Judicial Nominating Commission. The bar association in 1967 adopted in principles of the JNC we have now, she said, and we need to get out and help Oklahomans understand how that works and how it keeps politics out of our process as much as possible. Its a good system. It works and there is no reason to change it. DeMoss said the current system of selecting members of the judiciary did not have a negative effect on the states business climate. I think we can see the business aspect of the JNC does not have a detrimental effect on getting business to Oklahoma, she said. Businesses need

steady rule-of-law decisions that they can follow that they know what the law is and they will get a fair shake when they are in court. Thats what the JNC does. DeMoss pointed to the recent announcement by Macys that it would locate a distribution center in Tulsa as proof that businesses werent avoiding the state because of its judiciary. The JNC does not prohibit companies from coming into Oklahoma to do business, she said. Look at Macys. They are bringing a lot of jobs to Tulsa. They would not have come to Tulsa or Oklahoma if they thought the judicial system didnt work. The fact is there is nothing wrong with our system and there is no reason to tinker with it. Created by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the 17,500-member OBA is headquartered in Oklahoma City. The association is charged with advancing the administration of justice and to foster and maintain learning, integrity, competence, public service and high standards of conduct among Oklahomas legal community.