Thursday, August 7, 2014

Update on the Lake to Nowhere

It should be Lake out in the middle of nowhere but it doesn't roll of the tongue as easily.  The Madison County Journal reported Madison County ran into a little problem with the Sulpher Springs lake project.  While they were spending all kinds of money on engineers and other fees, it seems the site has a sandy bottom:


Out of options on what to do with 400,000 cubic yards of bad dirt from a lake dig near Camden, Madison County supervisors on Monday decided to get rid of the sand the old-fashioned way, by declaring it surplus and spreading it out among adjacent landowners - but only if the landowners accept a fee.

What began as a $1.5 million lake project has quickly become a $2.2 million lake project and rising.

Trucking the sand doesn't seem to be an option, supervisors said. The cost of moving only 76,000 cubic yards of dirt to a county site near Madison is estimated to cost $343,000.

So willing landowners with property adjacent to the Sulphur Springs Park project may soon be paid a fee to permanently house the sand.

The excess sand was dug out to create an 18-acre lake that will still have to have clay brought in to seal the bottom.

Supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday to approve Board Attorney Mike Espy's suggestion to compensate willing landowners for taking the sand - in sand.

District 3 Supervisor Gerald Steen voted against the measure, saying he thought the sand had value to it. He wanted to explore other options before essentially giving it away.

"I'm not sure the dirt is not usable," he said. Rest of article

The PRVWSD decided to accept the sand for use in building up several "beaches" on the reservoir and Pearl River.

Just curious, did our esteemed county engineer do a proper soil analysis and notify the county before it began work on the project? Just curious. 

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely someone did soil borings before building a lake, right? Many years ago I remember the county would come out for free and hand bore a pond site. I'm sure the lake is designed for deeper depths so it would probably take a drill to take borings.

Anonymous said...

WTF? I've seen several private lakes built and that is one of the first questions ask. Will dirt -soil support a lake. They will probably have problems with the lake leaking in the future. Another public $ rabbit hole....

Anonymous said...

The Madison County Board of Supervisors can't decide where to piss off the most money, either on the "Lake to Nowhere" or the "Secret Airport" they are trying to build using the taxpayers' money without the taxpayers' knowledge! They'd better get all they can before the next election because they will probably not be in office after that time!

Anonymous said...

The lake project is small potatoes compared to the airport study. Someone needs to be put in jail.

And yes Soil borings should've been standard procedure in a project of this type. But that would have disqualified this site and no one would have gotten a kickback on the property sale.

Anonymous said...

The taxpayers can describe the lake project's unknown soil conditions,which is a waste of our money in one word, "Pourus".

Anonymous said...

Good point @11:20

Anonymous said...

11:23 - It's got to be a specific type of sand, can't be any old sand. Assume engineers know what kind of sand they're dealing with.

Anonymous said...

Every time I see the show "American Greed" when I'm flipping through the channels, I wonder how long it will be before I see one based on the Madison Co. Supervisors and RUDY!

Anonymous said...

Im curious at peoples problem with Rudy. Its not like he has a gun to the BOS head to pay him. They could pay someone else. The BOS could pay him less. Either way its the BOS who pays.

Anonymous said...

It would seem that there is absolutely nothing suitable about this site as a lake. Nothing. I can't find glean any detail that suggests it is even moderately suitable. So why is still a topic of conversation?

Anonymous said...

The lake is a great idea. It's just a few miles from Leake County, where I live. Of course,I don't have to pay for it. I recently built a two acre lake and I certainly did soil borings before bring in the heavy equipment. Geez! That is basic to build a lake big or small.

Anonymous said...

11:20, the voters of MC do not care. Karl, Paul and JB will all be reelected as well as their new appointee to the BOS to replace Lott. Lott's recent election to CC proves my point about the MC voters.

Anonymous said...

"So why is still a topic of conversation?"

Because we're still pissed off about being forced to pay for it, which is continuing.

The FBI needs to weed out the BOS again.

Anonymous said...

11:20 is right. They don't care. As long as everything is bricked up or stuccoed up, they just don't care.
Of course, there is the inherent danger of caring when dealing with the good ole boys.

Retaliation for not 'minding your own business' isn't very fun. Don't ask too many questions and you'll be 'A OK'!

Anonymous said...

Don't these people play Minecraft? Useful things can be made from sand.

Anonymous said...

Build the airport there instead of the lake.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they could make it a lake for seaplanes, then they could have a lake and an airport!

Anonymous said...

Stunts like this hurt everyone. It is pathetic that it is allowed to continue.

Anonymous said...

So this "lake" (provided it can be made to hold water) is costing Madison County $122,000.00 per acre and the engineering fee is 25%. Sounds more than adequate for compensation. Did the engineer neglect to have soils testing? SOP. Does he carry E&O? Is the BOS insane?

Anonymous said...

If Rudy was the engineer over this project, he usually only carries T&A.

Anonymous said...

Lovelace has to involved in this somewhere, this is tailor made for him.

Anonymous said...

9:48 T&A is over in the Johnny Football thread today.

John Bell's Jailer said...

@4:00. You're wrong. The voters in Madison County are not the ones concerned about 'brick and stucco'. That's the Mayor of Madison who is constantly at odds with this bunch of yahoos.

The State Auditor ought to stay off Gallo and quit messing with prosecuting girls who collect water-bill money and concentrate on matters like Rudy and the triumvirate stealing Madison County blind. But, this would get in the way of Pickering's quest for a bigger job.

Anonymous said...

Rudy was audited not long ago. They found he UNDERBILLED.

It is clear yall are jealous of Rudy...cause he has been under the microscope and found to be wrong...in that he did not charge enough money.

Please move along....to more deserving topics.

Anonymous said...

"Records show more than $1 million of the original $1.5 million bond has already been spent, including a $540,000 payment to [County Engineer Rudy] Warnock."

Warnock estimated the cost of moving the sand a MCEDA-owned site on Parkway East at $343,000.

$343,000 is less than $540,000.

Problem solved.

Engineer Jeff

Anonymous said...

engineering contracts are the biggest crock of shit I have ever seen. Rudy Warnock and his firm should be investigated along with the Madison board of sups. All engineering contracts should be publicly bid and won, not awarded to buddies.

Anonymous said...

Use it to build a beach at lost rabbit and charge $5 per car to access it...give Rudy for Roads a $1 million contract for beach chair/umbrella service. Hire Tim Johnson as lifeguard for $100K per year. Everybody happy.

Anonymous said...

There is generally a thin line between actually stealing money (doing something illegal) and simply screwing the taxpayers. Some are better at navigating that line than others.

Anonymous said...

@8:06
If you really believe he is underbilling, you must be on his payroll or on drugs. 1.2 million is 10 TIMES MORE that the study that was done 10 years ago. Also, the previous study did have schematic layouts of sites and showed the detail this one is supposed to have that MCEDA says is driving the cost up. The problem is there is no where to 'land' a new airport due to terrain, existing development and mostly politics. Hope you can take him some cigarettes to keep Bubba and Tyrone away when he goes to jail

Anonymous said...

Did the investigation find that Rudy was underbilling, or that he was currently underbilled? It's confusing, but they're two different things.

Underbilling in the accounting sense means that the work has been done, but not yet billed. It's a reconciliation of cash flow, which is typically in contractor accounting. It's classified as an asset on the balance sheet, because it's like an account that they need to collect from.

Anonymous said...

As long as Banks and Griffin are on the board, Warnock will county engineer. Banks and Griffin are going no where anytime soon because they redrew Banks and Griffins district line to assure they stay on the board. Banks district had lightened up to the point he stood a serious chance of not getting re-elected.

Crosby wont be back. Mother Mary will see to that. I'll be suprised if he does.

Lotts bumbling is over on the board. Hopefully an independant will come out aghainst him for Chancery Clerk.

Steen is odd man out and on his own. Who knows, he may go back in unless DI trys again.

It will be interesting to watch.

Jail All Their Asses said...

Quoting 8:06: "Rudy was audited not long ago. They found he UNDERBILLED."

My concern is not so much Warnock's actual billing, as it is the fact that this bunch punts so many useless and imaginary and unneeded projects his way, without benefit of bid. They shovel work to him as if he's everybody's brother in law. And he gladly accepts it. Half of his work is probably made up crap not even requiring a drive by.

Then Warnock turns around and supports three of them for re-election and they get the grandest of Christmas presents and campaign contributions. That's what ought to be criminal, and likely IS.

Did we talk about Rudy's Club Level seats at MSU yet?

And I suspect before it's over, John Bell is going to make David Richardson look like St. Peter.

Anonymous said...

Professional Engineers, Attornies, and Doctors do not "Bid" for work. I don't believe Dentist or Vets do either. But there is a Code of Ethics that demands considering the Public Welfare first and foremost. The Boards that keep awarding these lucrative contracts are at fault as well as the professionals that screw the taxpayers. The voters of Madison County need to wake up and elect new blood. They need to demand accountability. Dishonest people always find ways to run around the law; doesn't mean all who are in the same profession are dishonest.

Anonymous said...

Rudy must be doing something right. He is a hard working family man. I will pray for all of you that slander a good man. Is he the only engineer that charges for his services? What about Neel-Schaffer? Waggoner? Baker? Ect? I guess they all give away their services.

Anonymous said...

warnock gave steen $10,000 for his campaign and steen was the third vote to be rehired. funny how it didn't show up on campaign reports.

Anonymous said...

eric hammer gave steen $5000 cash. steen used that money to pay heath hall in cash. none of this reported. its all coming out next year for steen to wallow in. signed statements and all. can't wait.

Fifty Yard Line Seats said...

3:21 sez: "Professional Engineers, Attornies (sic), and Doctors do not "Bid" for work."

Where'd you get that notion? 'Customers' shop for service providers every day. Boards that use taxpayer money owe it to us to advertise for bids.

Doctors 'bid' when they decide whether or not to join an insurance company's preferred provider group. If they don't 'bid' into that group, they suffer the potential loss of patients whose insurance companies control their selections.

A soul source provider of services arrangement by such yahoos as supervisor boards screws the taxpayers, rewards one favored firm and smells of graft and theft. It's absolutely no different from what goes on with Graham and Stokes.

The only difference is the county name printed on the rocker panel.

We've Been Had said...

Ain't no tellin' how much 'Rudy Money' has passed through the hands of the people's man we love to refer to as 'clean-up aisle 3'.

He's 'cleaning up' alrighty.


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