Last Updated: 5:35 p.m.
The former Sears building on Palm Coast Parkway that Flagler County government just reluctantly agreed to buy for $1.1 million, though it didn’t need it, and last week opted to use as stop-gap space for the sheriff for two years, is now Mold Ops II: it is plagued by water intrusion and “substantial mold,” county officials discovered this morning, just like the sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell, which the sheriff had to evacuate last June after dozens of employees became sick.
The county closed on the building purchase in March. Litigation is likely.
“Give me a break. I’m still mad about that. I tried like hell to get it stopped,” County Commissioner Dave Sullivan said this afternoon. “I don’t know what to say other than it’s embarrassing.” He was upset and did not hide it. “It’s infuriating to me that this has happened,” he said. Last March he’d attempted to stop the purchase of the building when it became clear that the tax collector did not want it, though the county administration had ostensibly acquired it for her initially.
Today Sullivan blamed Universal Engineering, the firm that inspected the building, and Margaret Sheehan-Jones, the real estate broker who handled the sale, for not detecting or disclosing the building’s issues. But Sullivan and other commissioners in March heard the county staff tell them the time to back out had passed. “One way or another it’s going to cost the taxpayers more money that we shouldn’t be spending.”
Just last week the county commission directed County Administrator Jerry Cameron to spend about $40,000 to get the 8,000-square-foot Sears building ready for the sheriff’s occupancy, to relieve what Sheriff Rick Staly has described as an “untenable” fracture of his operation and the overcrowding of his staff in shared spaces at the county courthouse. The sheriff himself had never asked for the building. But now, with the Sears building in the same rather sinking boat as the old operations center, it is again unclear when and how the law enforcement agency will catch a break, short of the planned construction of a $12 to $15 million sheriff’s district office near the library in Palm Coast. That building is not scheduled to be ready for at least two years.
Cameron informed commissioners and the sheriff of the Sears problem in a memo and phone calls today.
“We both agreed in the conversation there’s no way sheriff’s employees are going to go in there, we’re not going to leave one mold infested building for another one,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, referring to his conversation with Cameron. “It’s not an option as far as I’m concerned. My employees are never going to accept a repaired moldy building.” The sheriff stopped at the Sears building today to see for himself, and saw what he described as damage from “years of water leaks” and a “major structural issue.”
Cameron’s memo today summed up the situation this way: “As of today, our General Services staff discovered significant water intrusion in the walls of the Sears Building resulting in the rusting out of the bottom plate of the metal stud wall as well as substantial mold growth,” Cameron wrote. “This property was inspected prior to purchase by Universal Engineering and these deficiencies were not noted. Staff has concluded that this has been a long term problem which would have resulted in water running out onto the showroom floor during rain storm events. There was no disclosure to the County with regards to this problem by the owners or the selling agent.” (See the inspection report here.)
“He is notifying everybody that was involved in the transaction there is a high likelihood of litigation here,” Cameron said in an interview in early afternoon. “The engineering firm gave that building a clean bill of health. The owner–this has been going on for some time–probably should have know that was there, that was not disclosed.” The building was owned by the Darnell Group, whose president, Andrea McIntyre, signed the warranty deed on March 29.
Hadeed said certified letters are being sent to the seller, the engineering firm and Sheehan-Jones asserting certain claims, depending on the recipient. “We claim that they negligently breached their duty to us as our independent consultant,” Hadeed said of the inspector, while Sheehan-Jones “breached her duty as a broker to disclose to us facts about the building that would have affected our views about the property transaction.” He said there’s no evidence that the broker concealed information. “With respect to the broker, I don’t know. She knew, or she should have known, and thereby had a duty to disclose to us, since we were so dependent on her. She was the one who brought the property to our attention, we did not call her.”
But there “definitely was concealment” on the sellers’ part. “You have the pictures, which should speak for themselves,” Hadeed said. (See the pictures below.) “Universal, if they had given us a proper report it would have given us a totally different perspective on how or whether we could do the transaction.”
The county will seek various remedies, including getting the $1.1 million back.
Meanwhile, the county and the sheriff are thankful the issues were revealed now rather than after employees had moved into the building, which would have led to further issues and possibly more workers’ compensation claims.
“Quite frankly it’s because we were putting the sheriff in it that we were taking extraordinary precautions,” Cameron said. “Our guys walked into the building and said there’s a problem. I ordered the sheet rock to be taken off. I didn’t want to go through this thing of should we drill a hole or not drill a hole.” Cameron personally inspected the building as well. What he saw was alarming.
“It’s a situation I would never have put the sheriff into without him agreeing to some remediation, and quite frankly he is justifiably concerned because of what he’s been through,” Cameron said. “He doesn’t want to risk putting his employees in there so we’re probably left with a building that’s going to be vacant until the legal issues are resolved. It could be a while.”
For the county, that makes two buildings in that situation, assuming it can resolve issues at the old Wachovia Bank building it acquired last year, and that was supposed to be ready in January for occupancy by the sheriff’s Palm Coast district office. That building too has generated its own list of problems, and won’t be ready for occupancy until around September, if then.
“This should have come out in the inspection, so they’re responsible, the Universal inspection company,” County Commissioner Joe Mullins, who himself buys and sells real estate, said. “Where did that inspection go and did we not do due diligence? This is a part of buying buildings, you’re going to have things like this, but we seem to be doing it over and over.” Mullins said discoveries of the kind are “deal-breakers,” allowing a buyer to walk away from a building. But for Flagler, that’s too late. “I knew something was going on with it and I did not want to buy it. I knew some of the other guys were hesitant with it,” Mullins said. One commissioner, Dave Sullivan, had sought to stop the purchase earlier this week but was told it was too late to do so, even though the transaction had not yet closed at the time. When the commission cast the final vote on the building in late March, it was 4-1 to buy the building, with Mullins the only dissenter.
Sheehan-Jones, who’d handled a majority of real estate transactions for the county in recent years, approached then-Administrator Craig Coffey last August with a query about buying the building. Coffey hurriedly told Sheehan-Jones that it would be a go, and he set in motion the process that led to the contract and a Nov. 19 vote by the County Commission exercising the option to buy. No commissioner objected. The aim at the time was vague even then: the building was intended for use by the tax collector, even though the tax collector had not expressed a dire need for it and later was content ceding the space to the sheriff. (Sheehan-Jones could not be reached this afternoon.)
Sullivan recalled his experience with his own real estate license a few years ago. “If you’re aware of any problem on a piece of property you’re selling, you have to tell the buyer about it, the seller, you’re kind of obliged the same way,” he said. As much as the commission tried to ask the right questions and make the right moves, he said, it still couldn’t get out of a deal it did not want. “No matter how you cut this, I think the commissioners look like idiots.”
The problems with the Sears building means there’s renewed pressure on county commissioners to decide how to resolve the sheriff’s space crunch at the county courthouse, where dozens of sheriff’s employees, including two dozen detectives, have been using space on three floors. The arrangement has created tensions with the clerk of court, who is saying that he cannot provide further space. Commissioners, including Sullivan, have previously said that since they’re responsible for ensuring that constitutional officers have the space they need to do their work, they may force the issue and require Clerk of Court Tom Bexley to give ground. the alternative is to lease space elsewhere at significant cost, with money commissioners say is not available.
Staly is staying out of that fray. “That’s a question for the county administrator and the county commission, because it’s their responsibility to provide adequate space for the sheriff, just as it is for the other constitutional officers.”
Cameron isn’t committing to a recommendation on that score, saying he’ll seek the commission’s direction at a commission meeting Monday.
“Forensic photographs were taken Wednesday morning showing black mold on removed sheetrock, wet insulation, rusted out bottom plates of multiple wall sections, failed gutter repairs on the roof, and the ground level of an exterior area of the building that is higher than the finished floor – leaving the interior wall wet,” a county news release stated today. Here are the photographs, shot and provided by the county’s Julie Murphy:
Ben Hogarth says
Is it possible to rehire a county administrator just so you can fire them properly the second time around?
Everyone involved in the sale and purchase of this property needs to be included in a FDLE investigation into corruption and quid pro quo benefits – including the last administrator.
How is this not something worthy of investigation and prosecution? It’s intangible to think taxpayers just let this go. With that said, the current administrator and Commissioners are doing the right thing with seeking remedies in the form of a legal redress.
Born and Raised Here says
I beleive it’s time for Palm Coast to form it’s own police force, and not deal with the county’s situations.
JF says
Just another kick in the citizens of Flagler County. What a crock of S$it!
really says
REALLY LMAO
Kathy says
My, my…with all that the Sheriff & Joe have been through you would think that the current BOCC would have poked some holes to be sure their purchase of a used building would be shining like new before they signed at the closing table as they did….maybe a couple of them (the alarmists of the group) should be investigated. ;-)
I know if a non-condemned building down the road nicely situated in the county seat that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already examined and made relatively simple re-occupancy recommendations that costs nowhere near $12M to $15M.
I hope between the current BOCC & County Administrator they can show us that they know what it means to be stewards of our tax dollars and that the west side of our county are able to get the fire station that was planned & money accounted for without an additional tax to them….I’m going to need to double check that…how much more in taxes will they need to pay if they want fire safety closer should the the Librarian-Sheriff-Taj-Mahal actually happen.
beachcomberT says
Whoever hired the inspection firm will have to explain why the county was satisfied with just a cursory, walk-through report. The inspection report has all sorts of disclaimers, so the inspector should be able to fend off a county lawsuit rather easily. The inspection was conducted last October. The report wasn’t written until December. It is now May and the problem is just being discovered ? Most Floridians know that any building left vacant and un-airconditioned for months or years is at risk for mold. Who will be the scapegoat for this failure?
Robin says
What I want to know is who is the owner of this building? Is this another example of the ‘good old boys’ network or a quid pro quo for campaign support. The whole situation reeks!
PTC Trader says
You wouldn’t buy a home without an home inspection. What kind of “professional government official” would approve a transaction like this without some due diligence?
The original woody says
All involved should be fired. Was Margret Sheehan involved in the old hospital building purchase?There should have the D.A. involved.
Percy's mother says
Margaret-Sheehan Jones, the real estate broker, at work again. I think she should be held criminally liable for her work in this county. She’s benefitted greatly financially from real estate “deals” which have affected taxpayers in the negative (and that includes her husband, who apparently funnelled real estate “deals” quietly into Coffey’s ear).
I do believe UNIVERSAL ENGINEERING is an “inspection” (real estate construction) company run by Mike Navarra in Volusia County. WHO CHOSE THIS GUY TO DO THE INSPECTION? Did anyone think to check his credentials?
Is Mike Navarra of Universal Engineering any relation to the other well-known Navarra in Volusia County who runs a big real estate company?
Is Universal Engineering ASHI certified? No? Then why chose UNIVERSAL ENGINEERING AND WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT DECISION?
What a total ship of fools. Please let me come on board and let me make some decisions. I’ll tell you one thing, this idiocy would be over and done with within a short time. You can’t make this stuff up. I’m probably better educated than the total lot of these decision-makers with a helluva lot of better critical thinking skills.
Just have to say it... says
Who’s related to the Real Estate Agent? The Building Inspector? The County Official signing off?
These situations have gone well beyond being ridiculous!
Thomas says
The irony of all this is when the BOCC was considering the resignation of the former county manager the first person to speak on behalf of Coffey was Larry Jones, who had so many great things to say about hm. Rumor has it that Larry and Craig were good fishing buddies. Who does Larry happen to be married to? The real estate agent who brokered all of these bad deals going back to the original hospital purchase. Time to start connecting the dots.
atilla says
I don’t suppose these IDIOTS had it inspected before pissing away over a million dollars of our money. Is there any way Palm Coast can leave Flagler County and go it alone? Some one has to request an investigation by the state. There is too much of this corruption going on.
Dennis McDonald says
Inspected by Universal Services for the “VERY competent” Flagler Engineer Faith Alkhabit. This is the very SAME combination that gave us the abandoned Sheriff HQ. debacle in 2013. Nothing will change until the “players” are terminated for not protecting the public interest. The Flagler Engineering department has a budget that is excessive and a total waste of Taxpayer $$ all run by an engineer that could not Professional Stamp the newest restrooms we built. If you would like to sample her work go visit the new Matanzas interchange exiting going south off I-95 and check the site line. Just amazing that no one has been hurt, it even got a thumbs down from Paul Renner. Then check the TWO 150 ft long pedestrian “strike zones” on the other side of the road that she created for the students that MUST walk to school at Matanzas. ALL approved by her good buddies @ FDOT.
Flagler Monopoly continues on our dime but at least now we have a new County Manager that was a Police Chief…Go directly to jail, do not pass go !
Heading North says
NOTHING surprises me any longer when the Sheriff, the BOCC, and a realtor are involved.
Can anyone say LAWSUIT???
I’m amazed every day with this circus of fools!!!!
home grown says
here we go again! hahaha! I am absolutely furious that they allowed this to happen AGAIN. Someone is getting rich.
Outside Looking Out says
As I’ve said before, Flagler county is the most corrupt county in the state and probably in the top ten of the entire country. There should be some type of investigation of all these corrupt “good ole boy” politicians both county and city of Palm Coast. I know that won’t happen due to payoffs and the old “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” policy.
There are so many corrupt activities going on, that when one gets heated (Bing’s, building purchases, etc) they just start something else to detract attention of the other things. Unfortunately flaglerlive helps them by starting something and then diverting people’s attention to something else. Carry through with the stories you start, flaglerlive. You just report something and then move on. Perhaps some of that “good ole boy” strategy is being shared by YOU!
How about the crime stories you delve into and then forget. What about the Easter Bunnell shooting – totally forgotten, apparently by you and the sheriff, and that’s just one example.
I moved from this horrendous county and I am so glad. I check in here to see just how much more can happen and how much more can be covered up and try to tell current residents: if you can, get the hell out of Dodge.
Kathy says
“This should have come out in the inspection, so they’re responsible, the Universal inspection company,” County Commissioner Joe Mullins, who himself buys and sells real estate, said. “Where did that inspection go and did we not do due diligence? This is a part of buying buildings, you’re going to have things like this, but we seem to be doing it over and over.” Mullins said discoveries of the kind are “deal-breakers,” allowing a buyer to walk away from a building. But for Flagler, that’s too late. “I knew something was going on with it and I did not want to buy it. I knew some of the other guys were hesitant with it,” Mullins said.
Hey Joe – the due diligence period was on your watch as a County Commissioner! YOU OWN THIS – so, Joe, why didn’t you do your due diligence? How could YOU not stop this purchase? It was too late because of YOU.
Ld says
Sue the inspector and the seller for false representation of the condition of the property!
Dave says
This is Florida. There is mold . Breath in the air outside and you are breathing mold. Is there anyway to just do away with the county sheriff and just get a palm coast police force?
Concerned Citizen says
Everyone involved in this purchase needs to be held responsible this time.
We need to figure out if citizens can sue their BOCC and County administration and make it happen. We also need to sue the realtor that brokered this deal.
While we are at it let’s get the AG and FDLE involved and also ask for a forensic audit. This needs to stop !!
Our County leadership needs to have their spending authorizations frozen. They blow thru our money with no regard to the needs of the county.
To our Flagler County officials,
You owe this county an apology and much more for your continued mishandling of busniess. You are not irreplaceable. Elections will be coming along soon. I will do my very best to make sure none of you get re-elected. There needs to be term limits and there needs to be some sort of over watch. Once you get in and prove you can’t do the job there needs to be a replacement process.
I remember a Commisioner making a comment “we are not idiots” I remember saying the first time you have a lot to prove otherwise. I dislike name calling but the feeling still stands. You have a long way to go before earning MY trust again. And I’m sure others feel the same way.
REMEMBER ALL OF THIS NEXT ELECTION !!
Dp says
Well I was holding my breath, cause This now makes 3 buildings the county that owns. All of them have some issue’s that nobody in their right mindset would want to buy, unless your the BOCC. As a citizen and tax payer I demand accountability, and the parties involved dealt with appropriately. Even if it means termination . I feel sorry for the current county administrator who inherited this crap, he’s probably rethinking what the hell he’s got himself into. BOCC fix this issue now, or your butts one by one will be voted out. Tear down the new/old sheriff’s operations center and rebuild there. Finish the bank building and move the district office there as planned before. STOP WASTING tax payers money, and and kissing a** of the sheriff.
Robjr says
I read this article a couple of times. And have a basic question.
Did any of these brain trusts from the county get off of their backsides and perform a walk through of the building, just a casual inspection? I am sure there are plenty six figure people who could have found the time.
mark101 says
This only proves the that our county is borderline stupid. Universal Engineering and Margaret Sheehan-Jones,should be sued for negligence. I say get out of the deal. After all the realtor did not disclose the problems, and the inspection company failed their task. If these two do this to the county, just think what they do to citizens. .
Mr. Reese says
Where to start? The first six words of the headline says it all ! Are you kidding me!!! We are on
a cruise piloted by a bunch of fools. How do you, as a County Commission, purchase this building
without the proper inspections, particularly following the Sheriffs building fiasco in Bunnell? Did it
not occur to anyone to have at least 3 inspections, from 3 separate companies, prior to inking the
deal. You can file suit against all the firms involved here, but as a County Commission you have
failed the people of this County yet again.Perhaps you all need to take a hard look at yourselves
in the mirror and realize you are all in WAY over your head.Time for changes in staff and new
Commission members as well. It is pathetic to read about this when it was , what should have been
a relatively simple deal to begin with. Big question is what made you all think the building was needed
for public purposes to begin with. Ready.Fire. Aim! Is not the type of leadership we need.
tulip says
One would think that at least some of the county commissioners would have accompanied the inspector and had a list of things they wanted checked out thoroughly and would’ve wanted to actually look at what was being inspected. I guess they are incapable of learning a darn thing from past mistakes.
Minnie says
Every here of a building inspection BEFORE purchase? What a joke
home grown says
I’m sure the broker & all the people who finagled this deal are laughing their butts off at the comments. Do you think they care? NOOOOO Nothing will happen, nothing will change they’ll keep on doing what they do. There’s so much corruption here they should have their own reality TV show!
David S. says
Fire them all. The hell with Flagler County we all need to move away from this *hit hole…..
PC taxpayer says
Why can’t they get this right??? How many buildings will they buy with MOLD before they learn their lesson. Wasting tax money, over and over. Don’t count on our votes next time.
Jay says
HaHa Stupid
For Dave says
@ Dave. I have seen your posts for the last year or so. With your condescending tone towards the sheriff’s office and particularly the sick employees. I would get mad when I would see your posts, but usually reconsider posting anything in response because it is the internet and it usually pointless.
But I’m over it.
Dave, I don’t think you have a clue. I don’t think you understand the feeling as a loved one gets so miserably sick because of their workplace. You probably don’t understand all the different medications that have to be tried in an attempt to get better. How insurance doesn’t pay for any of the medication and you are out of pocket for thousands. Maybe you do understand what it’s like to see a loved one absolutely struggle as their body is overcome with an unknown illness. Or being told by a county manager that the county clinic is available-despite no training in mold or sick building issues. For your loved one to be disregarded by their employer despite their loyalty to them. For them to be slandered and berated by politicians that are afraid of the consequences of their actions. To get sick just because they came to work and then be abandoned until legal action has to be taken. For other employees to be to scared to speak of because the perceived consequences. This is what moldy Flagler County is…
All of this while still trying to do their jobs for the community, live their own personal lives, and attempt to get healthier . These employees have lifelong illnesses due to the old Ops Center. This isn’t a little sniffle in the nose and now everyone is better because they closed the building. They still struggle.
But Dave, you have your opinion. You are fully entitled to it also, because of our great country. But I just don’t think you have any idea about what is going on with these employees. And this new purchase is just another example of how carefree officials can be when spending other people’s money and can cause yet another situation that could endanger mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, etc. It’s not right and needs to be stopped.
Susquach says
Another Coffey debacle. It’s no wonder that he had in his resignation that the county continue to provide liability coverage to Coffey for his actions as administrator. Another political screwing by the Commissioners.
Doug says
Tell me it’s not so corruption in Flagler County? It’s quite obvious, there’s no accountability in Flagler County government. I’ll provide the space for the FBI to set up shop to investigate the corruption and wasteful spending within this county. Our elected officials are complete morons.
ConstantlyAmazed says
‘Meanwhile, the county and the sheriff are thankful the issues were revealed now rather than after employees had moved into the building, which would have led to further issues and possibly more workers’ compensation claims.”
So once again the county has in its possession another million dollar plus building that will not be used. No matter how much cleaning is done, how much remodeling occurs the first person who sneezes in there will claim “SICK BUILDING” and the controversy like we experienced with the Sheriffs Ops Center will begin resulting in another Flagler County monument to INCOMPETENCE, GREED & CORRUPTION.
John R Brady says
Hey I got a great bridge for sale and I have a fortune from a Nigerian Prince that I only need to send 5 G to claim. Please BOCC buy my bridge so I can send money to the Prince
You are right, you can’t make it up. Maybe time to give us thrifty Dems a chance. These business minded R’s are a joke. They can’t make a good decision. They may not be a danger to themselves but they are a danger to the taxpayers
NO MORE PURCHASES OF BUILDINGS. Especially from Ms Jones.
Stephen P Barnier says
as a Certified Contractor, Licensed Home Inspector and Licensed Insurance Adjuster
Based on the photos seen in the article I would make the following recommendations:
1. Fire the entire staff who was involved in this transaction
2. Go after the engineering firm (and I use this term lightly) They have E&O Insurance
3. Hire a PROFESSIONAL inspector as any professional would not miss these items
4. Litigate the Real estate Professionals
This should Never have happened and the tax payers of Flagler county should not bear the burden of the reckless actions of this commision
PC WORKER says
Really how stupid are you people in the county, Time to fire all involved with the purchase of this building.
Wow says
Guess I know which realtor I’ll never use.
Bunnell boy says
Ain’t gonna be a single building with mold in it in flagler county, the county buying them all!
Jane Gentile-Youd says
This e-mail from Hadeed’s ‘assistant’ says it all – I called our county attorney Al Hadeed for copy of the entire Sears contract, inspections, etc. His office didn’t have anything – they asked the writer of the contract non attorney Tim Telfer to ‘dig up’ to send me because ” Al Hadeed had nothing to do with the contract”.. Need any more be said – see below
From: Sean S. Moylan
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 2:23 PM
To: Tim Telfer
Cc: Julie Murphy
Subject: Public Records Request
Tim,
Ms. Youd called to ask that we email her the below items regarding the purchase of the Sears Bldg.
1. Title Commitment
2. Beneficial Interest Affidavit
3. Anything showing agreed extension of the closing.
Can you dig these up so we can provide them to her. Thanks.
Sean S. Moylan
Assistant County Attorney
palmcoaster2 says
Like I keep saying all these years since Palm Coast incorporated in 1999, we pay double the county what we pay the city in our ad valorem house taxes every year so they can benefit their good old boy net lawyers, bankers, engineers, realtors and political allies. I knew the Sears building is contaminated specially being closed for over a year and no A/C we just need to get our money back from these purchases and any funds wasted in repairs from the owners, realtor Shehan Jones, Universal Engineering and any other inspection company involved in the other two contaminated deals and also fire the county legal team bad advise approving these fraudulent deals, the county engineer and whoever in the BOCC that voted to waste our hard earned taxes in this garbage.
Our ever rising taxes are wasted other than providing the services we pay for. We are hit from county and city all the time by totally special interest driven officials whether elected or by their chosen administrators and if all these privately profiteering would be done away by electing honest people to office that will totally monitor their crooked city and county staff over use of high paid graft giving consultants and benefiting buddies and instead provide us the services we pay, then taxes will be much lower. They do not hear our pleas at BOCC or City council meetings is like we vote them to office and still need to attend every meeting babysitting to beg for them to do what “they failed promised while campaigning” and if we oppose these millions frivolous spending they ignore our pleas. They put all the time the “special interest cart” before the horse quietly behind the scenes and as soon as uncovered then our own county and city lawyers turn against us by scaring all about “the liability of potential litigation” if the obvious fraudulent deal not honored!!
Want to see recent city waste?:https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20190509/palm-coast-poised-to-begin-55m-phase-2-of-holland-park-project .a park surrounded by horrible speeding traffic contamination off Florida Park Drive 5,000 cars and trucks daily and blight, full of slumlord rentals hosting drug dealers, drug addicts overdosing and dying and felons: https://flaglerlive.com/136719/robert-brandon/
God Almighty help us because the one’s to represent us don’t!
Michael Cocchiola says
I don’t think we’re talking corruption here in Flagler County. We are talking some stupidity mixed in with incompetence. The “staff” that oversees these procurements needs to be held as accountable as the inspectors and realtors.
John R Brady says
For clarification the Larry Jones mentioned here is not the fine Larry Jones who ran for sheriff.
Trailer Bob says
Think it is time for me to run for commissioner next election. I cannot believe the carelessness and greed I see. I was a politician up north for decades and you guys should not be running for dogcatcher. I mean to not even walk through the building and see what I can see in the pictures here??? I have totally NO faith in our commissioners at this point.
Pitching Wedge says
Really? After the debacle at the Sheriff’s operation center in Bunnell, the county commissioners accepted a building inspection with the following limited scope????
Scope of PCA:
The Property Condition Assessment for the property was performed based on non-intrusive,
non-destructive general observations of the accessible major building systems including
roof, frame, foundation, walls, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems. The scope of work
for the property included only an assessment of the condition of the roof covering and
warranty information. The Property Condition Assessment incorporates information obtained
during a walk-through survey and document reviews. We surveyed readily accessible areas
and information available at the time of our site visit. Therefore, our descriptions,
conclusions and recommendations are based solely on our observations of the various
accessible property components and our experience with similar projects. The Property
Condition Assessment Report is not a safety, regulatory or environmental compliance
inspection. We have prepared a brief written report summarizing our observations of the
major components/systems. No coordination with the local fire department or building
department was performed.
tulip says
If Mullins was negligent in following the inspection and he should know better. He also stated that some others didn’t want to buy it either. There are 5 commissioners—Mullins didn’t want to buy it so how hard is it to find out who else didn’t want it and if there were 3 more that did not want it than how hard would it have been to convince just one more that buying it was a bad idea. Then the vote would’ve been 3 to 2 against the deal.
Don’t tell me that they have to follow the sunshine law and not talk privately amongst themselves about an issue and how to vote. They all have private phones and private conversations like that no matter what they say and break the rule a lot..
Frank says
FPC is full of mold. students are not as important.
Algernon says
Does anyone know the timeline of the events involved in buying the Sears building? The commission changed with the election last November. Mr. Mullins was not in a decision making position before the election but is now, and it’s the other way around for Mr.McLaughlin.
When you gripe or praise events, think of who was involved and when. Just my 2 cents.
capt says
Universal Engineering, the firm that inspected the building, what say ye ?
Dave says
Something really bad is happening in Flagler County. The people in charge are damaging the County and dimishing our funds. I feel an OUTSIDE investigation of the inner workings of the County need to be done ASAP. If this isnt a sabotage then it is individuals using their positions illegally to make profits from taxpayer dollars behind the scenes.
Diane says
Your right …..you can’t make this stuff up! Give Palm Coast a medal for another stupid decision!
Richard says
What a “cluster fuk” of imbeciles we have in this county and local government. They are making Curly, Moe and Larry look like brain surgeons & rocket scientists!
Dave says
When was the last time someone checked the jail in Bunnell to make sure our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers that are locked up are safe?
Randy Jones says
What are the terms of the Agreement between Flagler County et al and Universal Engineering and did they violate those terms? Give us the terms of the Agreement so that we can better decide who did or did not do what they agreed to do. Sans that document blame is irrelevant.
Big red says
Tell me how the powers that be are still employed their last building was in the public spotlight for years because the building was an environmental hazard to its coworkers !