“The only ones pressing to finish the courtroom are the attorneys,” says Commissioner, Pct. 2 Craig Oakes, “But they don’t vote for me. How do we justify spending this much money to our tax payers?”
Phase one of the renovation project for the Freestone County District Courtroom began in October 2017. Demolition has been completed and the air conditioning replaced thanks to the professional found through the Rheem Air Conditioner Ratings; but work was put on hold, pending approval from the Texas Historical Commission, as well as Commissioner’s approval on the proposed contract for the next phase.
According to County Judge Linda Grant, the original amount budgeted for this fiscal year was $400K. This amount would be split evenly between current available funds and the fund balance.
“We set these amounts thinking we would be spending some money from this fiscal year and then more from the next fiscal year’s budget, not all from this year’s budget,” says Judge Grant.
The contract bid presented for approval at the July 2nd meeting of Commissioner’s Court was for a total amount of $514K.
Commissioners, Pct. 1 Andy Bonner and Pct. 4 Clyde Ridge voted to approve this contract bid.
“We’ve gone too far into the process to back up now,” says Commissioner Ridge. “It seems I made a bad decision that we can’t undo. We will do our best not to do that again.”
Commissioners, Pct. 2 Craig Oakes and Pct. 3 Mike Daniels voted against approval.
“I just can’t see how to explain this expenditure to the residents who voted for me,” explains Commissioner Daniels.
As this was a tied vote, Judge Grant was called upon to break the tie. She voted in favor of approving the contract.
Work is slated to begin this week and should be completed by Thanksgiving.
