Getting My Goat

I love a good gamble as much as the next person. In fact, some in my family might say that I love gambling more than the next person, unless that person is Kenny Rogers holding four of a kind. But, there is a difference in rolling the dice and ROLLING THE DICE and there is also a difference in playing the odds and in making odd decisions. Unfortunately, I fear that we have forgotten the difference, if we ever knew it, in Jefferson County.

Many will remember the TV game show Let’s Make a Deal, where seemingly normal people would dress up like idiots in the hopes of being chosen to gamble winnings on the big prize. In a round about way that is what we have been doing in Jefferson County. And it has never been more glaring than it is in this weeks’ newest revelation. It appears that we, Jefferson County, have no options for recouping our loss if the “milestone deadline” for completion of the repair part of Building 8 ( July 6, 2015) is not met. At risk is around $250,000 in insurance money that has been retained by the insurance company pending completion of the repairs(excluding the renovation) of Building 8. Why are we on the hook with no recourse? Because a penalty clause for late completion was not included in the original contract or change order with the Construction Manager and they( the Construction Manager) will not accept any penalty clause as an amendment. Actually, you can’t really blame them. I mean why would they? It would not serve to benefit them in any way and could be costly if the projected time line is not met.

I think that the real issues here are- Knowing that there is a hard deadline of July 6, 2015, why did we not originally insist that a penalty clause be a part of the change order on the front end? After all,we had a little more than a quarter of a million reasons to want some reassurance that the work would be done on time. And, the Construction Manager could have passed on that stipulation in the bid package. Of Course, our not requesting a penalty clause from the Construction Manager makes about as much sense as the Construction Manager not automatically including the stipulation in the bid package. They are hired to oversee the project and protect our interest with the sub contractors and it is certainly in our best interest to finish the repair portion of the Building 8 project by July 6, 2015 to insure that we collect the remaining $250,000 plus in insurance money.

So, here we stand-dressed up like a fool-holding a quarter of a million dollars in one hand. And what do we do? We choose curtain number three. Why? Well, we already know that curtain number one holds a wheel tax increase and curtain number two is a fist full of dimes on the property tax. Perhaps behind curtain number three is a pot of leprechaun’s gold. Nope. No gold but we now own a very expensive goat. If we are lucky maybe he won’t consume everything in his path. Surely, someone will know how to surplus a goat. Because surplus appears to be one thing that we are excellent at in Jefferson County.