News Journal Spin-Job over Jail Settlement Ignores Important Aspects of the Settlement

A Settlement was reached to ensure timely resolution to the multiple latent defects that have plagued the Escambia County Jail since it's opening two years ago.

The salacious headline in this morning's Pensacola News Journal is misleading at best.  And that is me being polite.

It's actually just another garden-variety hatchet-piece that is designed to discredit the county.  There was a settlement, they know this apparently through a records request they made. 

But how about telling both sides?  To read this tripe is to believe we, the county, are 100% at fault and LOST in court -----which is NOT TRUE.

Here's the truth.

There was legitimate disagreement between the contractor and the county on completion days, project days, and project delays due to the Pandemic and the disrupted supply chain and what monies from these factors were owed the contractor, and this was a part of what was settled, this is true.

But the main reason this settlement was negotiated was to memorialize the BCC's intent to finally get all the multiple latent defects at the jail addressed, once and for all.  We have had a series of problems with the jail ever since we occupied it, and an inspection conducted and documented at the county's behest was reduced to a phone book thick binder of such problems that need to be fixed and the settlement comes with a stipulation and mechanism to do this expeditiously with terms that are not to be disclosed.  The PNJ gives one bullet-point to this critically important FACT out of their entire  "National Enquirer" style headline and gotcha piece.

Par for the course with them--they'll never resist taking a shot at this BCC--whom they hate.

Also, not reported in the piece is that the lion's share of the money that was paid September 8th was money from the construction contract that we were holding all along--money that was always  to be paid to the contractor upon successful completion of the project.  The retainage.  PNJ ought to figure out what that is and what it means.  Instead they mislead the reader with the idea this is all new money, over the top, which it is not.

They also intimate the county is responsible for payment of the prime contractor's subcontracts on the project---which is flat-out untrue.  That responsibility is, was, and always has been the sole responsibility of the prime contractor.  

The balance of the money paid in this deal will come from other non-taxpayer funds, as the county continues to pursue restitution and a jury trial to accomplish this against other parties is scheduled to commence December 4-8 of 2023.  

So the headline and story indicates we LOST a lawsuit and we stiffed local subs----which is all untrue.  

This is and was a mediatied settlement that BCC has worked on crafting for two years between us and our prime contractor and the jail project.  

The objective is and was to get the jail completed and operating functionally.  

And with this agreement we are on the way to doing this.  

Finally.

Tell the WHOLE truth, PNJ.