Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Is your Commissioners Court Giving "YOU" your money's worth:

On March 1, 2009 our Company bid the Freestone County Maintenance Building. Our bid was low at $230,000 including payment and performance bond. At the April 6, 2009 commissioners meeting we were called to come and attend after the meeting had started. Commissioner Stanley Gregory questioned how we bid the dirt work for the new building. I told Mr. Gregory the county was to do the dirt work per the bid instructions. All I wanted to do was to have the county follow the standard testing by an outside testing laboratory to make sure the excavation and the select fill were put in place as was called for in the specifications by the structural engineer. "If the soil under a building fails so will the building", at the cost of the county tax payers. Mr. Gregory was offended by my concerns of following standard building standards. He said he did not know anything about our company, which I know is false, because the architect for the project, Sterling Thompson, had discussed this with the commissioners. Mr. Gregory alone announced to go with Lide Construction which was $2800 higher than our bid. I told the commissioners this was not a fair construction practice. It cost us money to bid a job, and this was a legitimate bid that contained a bid bond.

From my experience, Mr. Gregory only looks out for himself and not the citizens of Freestone County. For instance, I asked Mr. Gregory about the plasticity index and the minimum and maximum moisture of the soils he had in place. He did not know what I was talking about. For someone who builds and maintains roads for a living he should know all these terms and construction methods, but he does not, which makes me wonder, does he know anything or is he just another guy who can't get a 'real job' and is going to stay on the rear nipple till it dries up and drains the taxpayers dry.

I am an honest person just trying to make an honest living, but after dealing with "Sir Stanley Gregory Esquire" and his manipulating ways, I am PROUD TO BE WHO I AM!

Check out the Conflict of Interest questionnaire form CIQ Chapter 176 Local Government Code at the courthouse and see if Stanley Gregory might be named on someone's form.

Jerry Libal JKL General Contractors