Sunday, May 1, 2011

CAA & pitiful weatherization work: How bad is it??

 "Someone left this at the door with a note saying they'll bill the county".

We all knew that sooner or later, Webb county was going to be in the (bad) news again. Sure enough, they made the front page of the Laredo Morning Times today thanks to the CAA, the gift that insists on keeping on giving.

 According to the story by reporter Andrew Kreighbaum, Webb attorney Ana Maria Cavazos is quoted as saying “Little if any of it will be recommended for reimbursement" referring to the over $400,000 that the county reportedly owes five Laredo weatherization contractors: Laredo Accurate Inspections, Zertuche Construction, Marion Services LLC, Border Insulation and AA Builders. Cavazos added "How these homes got weatherized is beyond me".  She also explained 34 of the 80 files reviewed by the state lacked even an application for weatherization assistance.

Another reason that the Texas Department of Housing & Community affairs is expected to recommend against reimbursing the local contractors is because of the poor quality of work they found. Just how bad was it? Well, apparently the homes they inspected displayed such shoddy workmanship that TDHCA just threw their hands up and frankly gave up on the inspections altogether. What else did they expect? I mean, come on this is Webb County CAA we're talking about.

So now the options are: 1) abide by the state's recommendations, not pay the contractors and perhaps get sued for non-payment. Or, 2)Pay for the shoddy work, not get reimbursed by the state for failing to follow TDHCA's recommendation and pay the contractors with taxpayer money which has not even been budgeted.  Given the inferior and deplorable qualitry of work these contractors did, I think the county should do what the state is advising and not pay.  If they sue, how can they win after having done such a laughable job of weatherizing? OK, Danny Valdez and commissioners, let's see if you can step up and do the right thing.

3 comments:

  1. Wager: Free lunch on me..not the county.

    I bet that someone on the county court will say that we must, must mind you, pay these poor contractors. Even though the work is reported as shoddy, we cannot not pay these guys.

    Well, at least the one who is an elected official.

    We must, we must........

    That's my bet....any takers?

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  2. Let's see, the right thing to do is to NOT pay them. Since, it's Webb County we're talking about, then......chances are pretty high that you're right. So no takers here. This is pitiful, not only are they wrong but now they're truly predictable.

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  3. I have made a much better wager here than I did on the Spurs....Laredo politics is so predictable it almost isn't fair.

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