If you take a look at recent school and other county building construction in Cleveland County, several things remain the same. Significant and unexplained cost over-runs. The same Architect gets the business over and over again despite poor workmanship and the significant cost over-runs. And a significant lack of oversight by CCS, CCC and the Cleveland County Commissioners. We are especially talking about the LeGrand Center-$7 million cost over-run, The new Health Department-an estimated $8 million cost over-run, Shelby Middle School-another estimated $8 million cost over-run and the New North Shelby School Project-an estimated $6.5 million cost over-run when construction is complete and the secret cost accounting swaps (costs necessary to build the North Shelby School Project charged to James Love) are factored in. (CCS you haven’t fooled us on that.) Former CCS Board Chairman Phillip “Bully” Glover even gave out a costs estimate for new auditoriums at Burns and Crest High Schools at $42 million during his re-election campaign when the final construction costs for similar construction (and first class facilities-not the cheap stuff we always end up with) at another location outside Cleveland County was around $8 million each-a $26 million cost over-run for Burns and Crest combined. Totaling $55.5 Million in recent cost over-runs if you are counting. And, not a peep about this in the Shelby Star.
Folks, are you getting the message? There are lots of suspicious planning, budgetary and accounting problems associated with CCS, CCC and County Agency building construction. So much so that a good portion is questionable and is likely to border on the illegal. And what have we done? Well, 52,000 registered voters stayed home on the School Board Election Day in 2017. And nobody has complained except me, Stan Anthony, Danny Blanton and CCS Board candidates Robert Queen, Rodney Fitch and Kevin Whisnant who were defeated while the voters that did vote voted a sexual predator onto the CCS Board. And Re-elected Bully Glover. Folks, that’s what happens when you stay home on Election Day.So, Williams, who brought in the FBI in to Cleveland County to investigate school cost over-runs?Nobody! yet. The title of this article says FBI to Investigate School Board… Not the Cleveland County School Board. It’s the Beaufort County School Board they are investigating. And the local newspapers and media in Beaufort County covered the problems in great detail. The following attachments show a very intensive investigative report in 2008 and an announcement this week that the FBI has subpoenaed the Beaufort County School District in an investigation of the cost over-runs. These reports are uncanny as they are almost exactly what has gone on in Cleveland County. Just change the school names, commissioner names, School Superintendent names and the stories are almost identical.We will watch closely what happens down in Beaufort County and perhaps we can get the FBI to pay Cleveland County a visit. The sooner the better as filing for the Three County Commissioners offices up for election this year starts this coming Monday at Noon. Stay tuned for more on that.Attach 2018 Article HERE.
