ROGERS -- About 200 historic bricks stacked on pallets behind the Rogers Street Department signify the nearing end to a months-long dispute between city officials and former City Attorney Ben Lipscomb.
Lipscomb's return of the 1920s bricks late last week was one condition of a January settlement of a federal court lawsuit Lipscomb filed against the City Council and Mayor Greg Hines. Lipscomb previously said he used the bricks to make a flower bed at his home in 2011.
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Text messages and letter pertaining to the historic bricks can be viewed at nwadg.com/documents.
The bricks once paved Rogers downtown streets, city officials have said. The city keeps the bricks to repair downtown streets still made of bricks when those become damaged.
There "weren't any problems," when the bricks were returned, said Justin Eichmann, an attorney hired by the city.
Lipscomb, the elected city attorney for about 25 years, declined to comment Monday. He had said previously an official with the Street Department told him the bricks were going to be thrown away before he took them in 2011.
Hines said he learned about the bricks late last year. He first asked for the bricks back from Lipscomb in a text message in November. After Lipscomb missed a deadline to return the bricks Dec. 30, the city asked for their return to become a condition of the federal lawsuit settlement.
Lipscomb and city officials signed settlement papers Jan. 29. The settlement ended a complaint Lipscomb filed that said his rights were violated when the City Council transferred most of his duties to a staff attorney who answers to the mayor. The city agreed to settle the suit for $390,000, and Lipscomb resigned when he signed the settlement.
Eichmann said officials knew it would take several weeks for the bricks to be returned. He said they also understood it could take longer after wintry weather hit in recent weeks.
The city plans to return office furniture belonging to Lipscomb in the coming days, weather permitted, Eichmann said. All the conditions of the settlement will be met once the furniture is returned, Eichmann said.
Hines said he was "glad" to hear about the return of the bricks.
"Given the historic relevance to the city, it was important to make sure that they were returned," Hines said. "Now that they are, we can put to rest any concerns people had."
The two pallets of bricks rested near about 200 other pallets of bricks at the Street Department on Monday. Frankie Guyll, Street Department manager, said the city is storing about 20,000 to 30,000 bricks.
The bricks were removed from downtown intersections in 2009, Guyll said. Brick-shaped concrete was used to fill in the intersections, where tire traffic wears down the bricks.
The bricks were first used to pave Rogers streets in 1924, said Terrilyn Windling, Rogers Historical Museum assistant director, during a previous interview.
Windling said the brick-lined streets help the city maintain a historic district designation from the National Registry of National Places. The city first received the designation in 1988.
NW News on 03/03/2015