VMS Wants Out of Oklahoma Road Maintenance Deal

The company in charge of keeping Tulsa's highways safe wants out of it's contract with the state. <br><br>Virginia Maintenance Services, or VMS says it wants out of the five year, multi-million

Monday, March 18th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The company in charge of keeping Tulsa's highways safe wants out of it's contract with the state.

Virginia Maintenance Services, or VMS says it wants out of the five year, multi-million dollar agreement it made last fall with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

The company was recently criticized for failing to meet an 18-hour snow removal deadline earlier this month. So the state fined VMS $2500 dollars.

Julie Rautio, VMS, Inc: "We feel the department has failed to abide by the contract essentially and has withheld nearly a million dollars worth of payment to our company and having exhausted mediation opportunities, we felt we needed to take this next step."

State officials say they were caught off gaurd by the announcement. They say they're just trying to ensure the safety of the traveling public. Both sides have 45 days to come up with a resolution.