I had lunch downtown with Elmer, Herb and Clyde today. The conversation was very lively and interesting!
Elmer started off by asking "Say boys, did ya hear what happened up at the county commission meeting this mornin'?"
Herb: "Why no, Elmer! What happened?"
Elmer: "Well, it seems that Commissioner Penning asked for go-ahead approval from those other two commissioner fellars to do some renovation work in the second floor courtroom. Seems that ol' Matt is tryin' to respond to some much needed work that the judges have been requesting for awhile now."
Clyde: "Is that so, Elmer? Go ahead. Please do continue."
Elmer: "Well, ol' Matt, God bless his soul, he had taken on the project of meetin' with some very qualified contractors here in the county to plan out the work and get their expert advice. Many of the contractors and suppliers ol' Matt has talked to even offered to throw in their labor free and some of the needed materials to get the job done at a very, very low cost to the county. Seems the judges have some extra money left over in a law library fund or some such thing like that which they are willing to use to pay for the work."
Herb: "Hey, now we're talkin', Elmer! It's good to see someone finally takin' the bull by the horns to get somethin' done on our county courthouse! Commissioners Jost and Lairmore have always been sayin' that we don't have a plan, and we don't have any money for courthouse renovation. Now, it looks like ol' Matt has come up with both a plan and some money ...... at least for one courtroom."
Clark (me): "Yeh, that does sound good, Elmer! And so how was ol' Matt's proposal received by Commissioners Jost and Lairmore?"
Elmer: "Not so good, Clark! Not so good!"
Clark (me): "Really! So what problems did they see with ol' Matt's proposed plan?"
Elmer: "Well, I hear they had a real doozy of an intellectual exchange! Seems those other two commissioner boys don't like the idea of usin' volunteer labor nor do they apparently like the idea of acceptin' donated building materials. On top of all that, they have also raised questions about liability insurance and questions about ol' Matt's ability to manage the project usin' those volunteers."
Clyde: "Oh yeah, Elmer, I believe I read somethin' about this on that other news blog. What do they call it? Hermann somethin' or other?"
Elmer: "So the upshod of all this is that the courtroom renovation which ol' Matt was ready to get started on has now been put on indefinite hold. Yep, ol' Jost and Lairmore have more questions and concerns than Carter has little liver pills! And I understand that there is a growin' number of people in the county who are gettin' plenty pissed with their continuing foot draggin' and outright obstruction of courthouse renovation work!"
Herb: "So Elmer, what does the GCCS have to say about this? Have President Jon Held and Treasurer Glenn Warnebold weighed in on this? Do they even know about this yet?
Elmer: "I don't think they know about this yet ....... but they soon will!"
Clark (me): "Boys, this reminds me of something my old high school Latin teacher used to say ..... Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!"
Elmer: "Yep, it sure does look like Commissioners Jost and Lairmore are looking a gift horse in the mouth. Ol' Matt made 'em a great offer, made possible through the generosity of some very skilled craftsmen and established contractors in our local area. But Commissioners Jost and Lairmore evidently want to look into the mouth of that horse which has been gifted to them, I guess to see if the horse has any bad teeth or no teeth at all. Not smart, Clark! Not very smart at all!"
Herb: "Guess we just need to sit back and see what happens next!"
