Some members of the Madison County Commission are beginning to play hardball with the city of Huntsville over the money pit masquerading as a half built jail.  Commissioners Bob Harrison and Faye Dyer are suggesting the city may have breached their agreement.  Commission chairman Mike Gillespie, who called the numerous problems with the project “hiccups,” said there are “legitimate concerns.”  Dyer has even stated that it may be best to tear down what is there and start over.  She may be right, but I don’t foresee the city council following through and taking even more heat.

Commissioner Mo Brooks put the scale of the $40 million cost overrun into perspective:

“People don’t realize what $40 million will buy you,” said Commissioner Brooks. “It’s a new high school. It’s a half dozen overpasses on the Parkway with matching federal money.”

The project creates an interesting backdrop for the race for Dyer’s seat on the commission.  Her biggest competitor is Glenn Watson, who is currently president of the Huntsville City Council.  Dyer can effectively use this boondoggle against Watson since his position on the city council has given him some degree of oversight.  Since the jail will not be completed ever before the election, Dyer can periodically lob verbal bombs toward Huntsville until votes are cast - with each one implicating Watson to some extent.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Government Waste, Madison County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.