The proposed lease of the school district's A-Building by the county — a matter that first surfaced in early November when Clerk of Court Kirk Reams proposed it to the County Commission and the School Board, and that appeared to go dormant, if not dead, in the immediate wake — resurfaced explosively at the County Commission meeting on Thursday evening, Dec. 17.

Although off the radar publicly, it appears that things were happening behind the scenes, to the disgruntlement of at least one School Board member. What happened, specifically, is that Commissioner Hines Boyd took the ball and ran with it, approaching School Superintendent Bill Brumfield and two School Board members in an attempt to move the issue forward. Boyd's moves didn't please School Board Vice Chairwoman Shirley Washington, who interpreted the maneuver as intended to exclude her and the School Board chairwoman from the game plan.

Adding insult to injury, if unintentionally, Washington stood at the podium for several minutes on Thursday night without being recognized by the County Commission chairman, during which time commissioners engaged in lively discussion of what should be done with the historic building. The dynamics made for an explosive concoction.

It all started with Reams mentioning that further talks had taken place on the A-Building and suggesting that the commission appoint a committee to meet with a School Board appointed committee so the two groups could work up a proposal that the two boards could consider.

Commissioner Felix "Skeet" Joyner, who initially opposed the idea of the county leasing the A-Building, or at least expressed strong reservations about the deal being negotiated by only a few individuals on each board, now came out in strong support of the idea. He proposed that the County Commission and the School Board hold a joint workshop to explore the issue.

"I think everybody needs to be involved," Joyner said. "We have the resources to renovate the building. It's an ideal project for both boards to work on."

He added that the A-Build-ing was precisely the kind of project that the fiscally constrained money was intended to address. The fiscally constrained money amounts to more than $700,000 that the county receives annually from the state for capital improvement projects. Ordained by the Legislature for a 10-year period, the money is supposed to run out in another four years. Joyner has emerged as a strong protector of the fiscally constrained money and an advocate of its conservative use for only capital improvement projects.

Following on Joyner's comments, Boyd expressed the need to act on the matter quickly. He pointed out that the A-Building, which has already undergone more than a million dollars in renovations, continued to remain vacant and was beginning to deteriorate and experience vandalism. He said an architect had estimated that the cost to complete the renovation would be between $2 and $2 ½ million.

"We need to put the building back to public use quickly," Boyd said.

He cited several factors that he said underscored the need to act urgently. One of these factors was the identification of the available funding from the traffic citation surcharge, which monies could be bonded to finance the project, he said. Another was that it was an optimum time to take advantage of the money market, given the low interest rates. What's more, contractors were hungry and willing to bid on such projects at lower than usual prices because of the recession, which assured for lower renovation costs. And the federal stimulus grant money was now available for such projects.

"I think the time has never been better for such a project," Boyd said.

Added Joyner: "We probably have enough money in the fiscally constrained money to move this forward. I suggest we meet with the School Board before our next night meeting so that we can act on this at our next night meeting in January."

Washington, who had stood unrecognized at the podium all this while, now began audibly expressing astonishment and disbelief at the galloping pace of the discussion, absent any School Board input.

"I'm in amazement to hear the County Commission making decisions for the School Board," Washington said, when she was finally recognized.

A former English schoolteacher, Washington used essay writing as the metaphor to communicate her point. When Reams had made his initial presentation to the School Board, his topic sentence had been that the two boards should work harmoniously to bring the project to fruition, she said. But the details that followed were not supporting the topic sentence, as they should in a good essay, she said.

Here the commission was talking of appointing a committee to meet with a School Board appointed committee when School Board Chairwoman Sandra Saunders had distinctly indicated that she wanted the two boards to meet together, she said. Not only that, but Boyd was attempting to have a School Board committee that excluded herself and Saunders, she said.

"Commissioner Hines Boyd is ready to meet with people he wants to meet with to get things going his way," Washington said. "But don't rush me. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Let the School Board do its work. We haven't done any analysis or study. You come to us in full force. It's our building. Don't push. I'm not the type of person you can demand something from. It needs to be done in the right order and this is not the right order. If we don't follow the right procedures and protocol, we're going to have a problem. Let's do it right. Respect the whole board. You've got two School Board members and you're trying to get a third to swing the vote."

Boyd's response didn't calm the waters.

"I think it's important we don't confuse the process with the product," Boyd said. "It's time to do something and the School Board hasn't done anything. The building doesn't belong to the School Board. It belongs to the people of Jefferson County...It's a travesty to have the building unfinished after spending $1.5 million on it. The quicker we move on it, the better."

Washington picked up on Boyd's point that the A-Building was not the property of the School Board.

"It's not the School Board's property?" Washington asked incredulously.

In fact, it wasn't, Boyd asserted. The School Board was merely the appointed steward of the building, which properly belonged to the people, he said.

Washington said she would make it a point to inform the School Board at its next meeting that it did not own the A-Building but was merely its steward. At the same time, she planned to introduce a motion to appoint a special committee to undertake a study and assessment of all school district properties, she said.

Joyner, in an attempt to mollify Washington, suggested the two boards should meet jointly "when the School Board thinks it's right to meet so we can hash out the problem and move forward."

Commissioner Gene Hall also came out in support of a joint approach to a resolution of the issue, as well as supporting Washington's proposed to undertake a study of school district properties.

Boyd saw the discussion taking an undesired direction.

"I'm concerned that this is a recipe for foot dragging and that we'll never get anywhere," he said.

No, Washington retorted, what was likely to doom the project, if anything doomed it, was Boyd's rush.

Two citizens — Chuck Sarkisian and C.P. Miller — spoke on the issue, with each expressing a different point of view.

Sarkisian came out in opposition to the School Board, which he said was not living up to its stewardship responsibilities by letting the building "go downhill". He charged that the School Board should install locks and provide 24-hour security at the building to ensure it wasn't further vandalized.

"That's what stewardship is all about," Sarkisian said.

Miller, who later admitted being "hot under the collar" when he first approached the podium, went after the County Commission. He said the commission was treating the School Board as if it were an inferior body. As a taxpayer, he appreciated that the School Board was taking its responsibility seriously and considering its options before jumping into a decision, he said. He thought the County Commission needed to "settle down" and tone down the rhetoric. What if the School Board tried to force the County Commission to do something with one of its buildings? Would the commission appreciate such a tactic?

"I think if you slow it down, you'll be more productive," Miller said.

The matter didn't end there, however.

Miller returned to the podium near the conclusion of the three-hour meeting to revisit the issue. He apologized for "being hot under the collar and not being himself earlier." Miller described himself as an ambassadorial type who would take up for either board, if he thought the particular board was being unfairly attacked. His point was that the School Board had made leaps and bounds in improving the educational situation in Jefferson County and the County Commission needed to recognize these accomplishments, he said. At the least, the commission needed to be "humble".

"At the end of the day, you need three votes," Miller said. "You need to do it in a more humble way. Just tone it down."

Boyd had the last word on the issue Thursday evening.

"I feel it's important we keep in mind that the product is more important than the process," Boyd said. "Nothing happens unless three members of the board agree that it happens. But also, nothing happens unless someone goes out there and shakes the tree. It's appropriate for any member of this board to talk to any other elected official. If anyone's sensitivity got offended, I apologize. But I don't apologize for the process because I feel that's what needs to be done."

Boyd added a postscript to his comments via email on Friday morning.

"The A-Building is one of our community's greatest historical and architectural gems," Boyd emailed the News. "Its restoration to public use it too important to succumb to paralysis by analysis or to be kicked around like a political football."

The two-story A-Building dates from 1852 and enjoys the distinction of being Florida's first brick schoolhouse and the only one still standing. Two wings were added to the original building and columns were erected at the north and south entrances in 1915. The building was vacated in 1992 and has since undergone major repairs and renovation to restore and preserve it, but it still needs much work.

Two local entities approached the Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Monday, Dec. 7, requesting a combined $5,000 in advertising money to promote their respective enterprises.

The two were the Capitol City Travel Center, Inc., in Lloyd; and the nonprofit Foundation for the Preservation of Historical American Music in Monticello. A third request, from the Monticello Opera House (OH), was dropped at the last moment. Even so, OH representative Lisa Reasoner reported on the use of the TDC funding that went to promote the successful Fiddler on the Roof production.

Arun Kundra, owner and operator of the Capitol City Travel Center, asked for $2,500, which money he said would be added to his $12,000 annual advertising budget to publicize his I-10 lodging facility in three coupon books that are widely distributed along major roads in the southeast. Kundra calculated he lost between $50,000 and $60,000 during the current year by not advertising in the coupon books.

He explained that coupon bearers who arrive at his facility at the last minute receive discounts on their lodging rates, provided rooms are available; the coupons cannot be used with reservations. He said his business receives about 200 coupon bearers monthly on average.

"It's a measurable response," Kundra said of the coupons, meaning that the coupon's advertising value could be calculated based on the number returned.

He added that if his business lost $70,000, the TDC lost two percent, or $1,400. That's because the TDC's funding comes from a two-cents bed tax imposed on tourists who stay overnight in the county's public lodging facilities, with the motels along the interstate generating about 90 percent of these funds.

The TDC postponed a decision on Kundra's a requests, pending TDC Coordinator Nancy Wideman approaching the other two I-10 motel owners to see if they want to participate in the program. Some of the committee members argued that it wasn't fair to give Kundra money and not the two other motel owners, as it would give the former an unfair advantage over his competitors. But others argued that Kundra was the only one of the three motel ownerto regularly attend the TDC meetings or pursue the funding and his initiative should be rewarded.

Barry Kelly is chief executive officer of the nonprofit Foundation for the Preservation of Historical American Music, which is sponsoring the third annual Southern Music Rising Festival in April. Kelly asked the TDC for $2,500 to be used for television promotions of the event. His organization would spend another $2,500 on radio and print publicity, he said.

Kelly said the festival was expected to draw some 5,000 visitors, 100 of whom were expected to be overnighters. The festival was putting Monticello on the map as a place to hear quality music, he said. He understood that the TDC's mission was to put heads in beds, he said. But face it, the town didn't have that many lodging facilities; the festival was drawing its fair share of overnights; and more importantly, it was bringing visitors into the community. Absent draws such as the festival and other such events that brought visitors into town and exposed the community's charms to outsiders, tourism would never become a viable industry, he said.

As it was, the festival's budget was about $30,000, of which his groups was requesting only $2,500, and the enterprise was completely undertaken by volunteers, he said.

Again, the TDC postponed a decision, desiring more time to consider the application.

In her report to the TDC, Reasoner called the local production of Fiddler on the Roof "a huge success". She said the musical drew 1,800 people during its run, the highest ever audience for an Opera House production, making $9,500 after the expenses were deducted.

"It was definitely a moneymaker," Reasoner said.

Rescuers remove Margaret Simpson from her 2002 Ford pickup truck and ready her for transport for serious injuries.

FHP reported that Wednesday Dec. 9, Kimyrian L. Kirksey, 18, of Jefferson County, was driving a 1997 Honda traveling north on Old Lloyd Road at Booth Lane, six miles west of Monticello, at 8 1:15 a.m.

Margaret S. Simpson, 65, of Jefferson County, was driving a 2002 Ford pickup truck traveling south on Old Lloyd Road.

Kirksey's vehicle veered over into the southbound lane and the left front of his vehicle collided with the left front of Simpson's vehicle.

After the collision, Kirskey's vehicle came to a rest on the east shoulder of the road and Simpson's vehicle came to a rest on the west shoulder.

Both lanes of the roadway were blocked with multiple rescue and law enforcement vehicles and debris covered the roadway. Assisting FHP on the scene were Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies, Jefferson Fire Rescue, FWC, Lloyd Fire Rescue volunteers and the Jefferson County Road Department.

Rescuers had to use as pry bar to extract Simpson and she was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.

Rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to extract Kirksey. He was transported to Tallahassee memorial Hospital with critical injuries.

FHP did not deem that the crash was alcohol-related. Simpson was wearing a seatbelt; Kirksey was not wearing a seatbelt.

Each vehicle sustained $4,500 damage and charges are pending in the crash.

Clerk of Court Kirk Reams' decision to hire an Information Technology (IT) person for his office stirred no little debate at the County Commission meeting on Tuesday morning, Dec. 1.

In the end, it turned out that the commission really had no say in the matter, which prompted one official to ask why the board had even taken up the matter in the first place. But that revelation came only after much discussion and after six citizens had registered their concerns about the proposed action.

IT, as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), involves the "study, design, development, implementation, and support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."

Reams, in both his press release and statements to the commission, emphasized that one of his chief goals since coming to office has been to save taxpayers' dollars by streamlining processes and making systems more efficient and cost effective.

"The Florida Constitution states that 'a public office is a public trust' and I take serving as the taxpayers' watchdog very seriously," Reams stated in his press release.

In his comments to the commission, Reams noted a "glaring need" for the county to have its own IT department.

"Most of the criticism we get is that our webpage is not updated and that we don't have a countrywide email system," Reams said.

His office currently was paying $12,000 annually for IT services and other operations were paying other amounts, he said. In other counties, in-house IT services were part of the regular mix, he said. Having an IT person in-house would allow for a centralized and coordinated system that could serve the other constitutional offices and county departments, he said. Moreover, it could all be done without expending taxpayers' money, he said.

Reams said he had identified several revenues streams coming through his office that stemmed from recording and other user fees, which monies could be used to pay the IT technician's $36,000 annual salary.

"By using the recording fees that are available to run this department, county taxpayers' dollars will no longer be used to fund these functions, freeing up these funds for the departments to use in other areas or in leaner times," Reams said.

"Basically, we're behind the times in this regard," he added, noting that other clerks of court had IT personnel on their staffs.

Reams identified his choice for the position as well-qualified IT person currently working in Suwannee County and who desires to return to this area.

Registering opposition to the decision were Ashley and Richard Hotz, owners of Country Mile Computers, a local company that has been servicing the computer needs of the area and county offices since 1997. Also expressing concern were several supporters of the company, as well as being general proponents of economic development and the shop-at-home principle.

In her presentation to the commission, Ashley Hotz noted that in the last five years, the county had paid an average of $5,846.25 annually to Country Mile Computers for labor.

"Our accounting program shows that all invoices submitted to the county for computers, printers, switches, networking equipment, accessories and software over a five years and 11 months period averaged only $9,524.25 annually for (about seven) county departments," she said. "If you add annual labor costs to annual equipment and software charges, the total average annual cost to the county is $15,370.50 for everything — for both equipment and labor."

She made the point that the new technician's $36,000 salary would be more than six times the labor fees that her company charged all county offices for a year.

She questioned where the money would come from to pay for the technician's salary, as the research that she had done indicated that state statute prevented the funding that Reams had identified from being used for salaries.

Richard Hotz in his presentation noted his 35+ years of experience in the field of computers, including 12 years as a field engineer for a large corporation. Throughout their company's 13 years of service to the county it had been their abiding aim to keep costs down, and as a consequence, they had saved the county tens of thousands of dollars over the 13 years, he said.

"Since we've been in business we've seen four other computer companies start and fail here," Richard Hotz said. "We have not made a fortune, but have earned an honest living. But in this economy, like so many other businesses, our revenues are down dramatically — 29.63 percent to be exact. My wife and I are 95 percent certain that we will have to close up shop if we lose the county's business. We've checked and double checked our figures but the numbers still come up the same."

Others to speak on the issue and on behalf of the Hotzs included David Frisby, former Monticello police chief; Larry Halsey, former Extension Office director; Bobbie Golden, owner of Golden Acres Ranch; and Jan Rickey, director of the Opera House.

They all, to one degree or another, questioned the decision to hire an in-house IT technician, when the services could be outsourced to Country Mile Computers at a seemingly lower cost and especially in light of the probable consequence to the company if it lost the county's business. Also expressed was concern that the position had barely been advertised, if advertised at all?

"I think that advertising and looking for a candidate in the local pool is better than going outside," said Halsey, conceding all the while the need for commonality and uniformity in the system.

He also agreed, having maintained the county's system for a number of years on a voluntary basis, that the job couldn't be done adequately or effectively, as a sideline.

"On that part I agree," Halsey said. "It's the who, not the what, I disagree on."

Golden acknowledged that advertising a position could create headaches, as Reams had offered earlier as his reason for not advertising the position. But dealing with such headaches was part of the job, she said. She said she continued to have a problem with the lack of local advertisement and the failure to give the Hotzs an opportunity to bid for the job.

Reams defended his decision on a number of levels. He noted that creation of the IT technician position would in no way preclude County Mile Computers from building or servicing the county's computers.

"This is only for someone to coordinate our efforts, update our webpage and coordinate the purchase of equipment," he said.

As for advertising the position, it was his prerogative as a constitutional officer to set policy for his office and state law did not require the advertising of a position, notwithstanding the County Commission's practice of doing so.

He said the creation of the position would consolidate the costs of other operations for the outsourcing of the function and would save taxpayers' money.

"This is not an attempt to put anybody out of business," Reams said. "There is no evil intention on my part. It's for the benefit of the county. That's my job to figure out ways to work more efficiently. I know I'm been branded a devil right now but that is not my intention."

As for the funding source that couldn't be used for salaries, there were several other user fees revenue streams that could be used for salaries, he said. But the bottom line, after all was said and done, was that the decision was solely his to make, he said.

As Commission Chairman Danny Monroe succinctly put it, "It's the clerk's decision. Who he hires has nothing to do with us. It's not up to us to decide."

Which pronouncement, coming after the lengthy discussions that had preceded it, caused Commissioner Gene Hall to throw his hands up in exasperation.

"Why then were we even discussing this?" he asked.

Quipped Commissioner Hines Boyd: "We don't a vote on this, we just have a forum."

The Hotzs appear not ready to concede the point, however. On Monday, Dec. 7, the two informed the News that new research they had done since the commission meeting clearly indicated that monies raised under the Records Modernization Act could not be used for other than court-related operations, such as the clerk of court, the courts, the public defender or the public prosecutor. Meaning that the IT technician could not assist with the work of other constitutional offices or county departments, they said. The Hotzs indicated they planned to raise this issue before the commission at the Thursday, Dec. 17, evening meeting.

Normally, had the number of respondents been greater, the process would have called for the proposals to be referred to a committee for a review and ranking of the applicants. Or given a less urgently needed project, the county might have put out a new request in the hope of getting additional respondents.

Under the circumstances, however, commissioners decided on Thursday, Dec. 1, to proceed straight to the interviewing of the two responding contractors, both of whom have been scheduled for interviews on Thursday evening, Dec. 17.

"We need to get moving on this project," Clerk of Court Kirk Reams told commissioners, adding that the roof continues leaking and causing deterioration to the building.

The county began soliciting bids for a construction manager to oversee the project shortly after commissioners approved the measure on Oct. 1.

As Riley Palmer, of Riley Palmer Construction Company, explained it to the commission at that time, the construction manager would identify the scope of the needed work, prepare the job specifications, bid out the project, make recommendations to the commission, and generally oversee the work and act as a consultant to the officials.

Palmer further explained that under the construction manager model, the project could be accomplished more expeditiously and commissioners could exert more control and include local preferences or whatever other criteria they might deem appropriate.

Palmer labeled the courthouse roof repair and associated cosmetic improvements a minor project, meaning that it would cost under $1 million.

Reams, meanwhile, reiterated that the money for the repairs would come from the nearly $300,000 that had accumulated in a special account since 2004 as a result of a $15 surcharge that Jefferson County applied to every traffic citation issued here. The Florida Legislature allowed counties to impose the surcharge in the immediate wake of the Article 5 reforms as a way for the latter to raise the necessary funds to maintain and renovate their courthouse facilities. Most recently, the Florida Legislature allowed counties to raise the surcharge to $30 per traffic citation, a step that Jefferson County officials took on Oct. 15.

Palmer first addressed commissioners about the courthouse's roof and other problems in April, after doing a layman's assessments of the structure at Reams' request. Palmer estimated at the time that the repairs would cost between $150,000 and $250,000, emphasizing all the while that he was not a roofing expert.

Overall, Palmer rated the condition of the roof as good, especially where it concerned the bell tower and cupola, which appeared to be the source of much of the leaking problems.

"It's in better condition than I anticipated," Palmer said at the time. "In general, it's in good shape for being 100 years old."

He said the more serious problems appeared to be at the base of the tower, where it tied onto the roof proper.

"Where the shingles stop and the flashing starts is where most of the failure is occurring," Palmer said.

At the time, Palmer recommended that the commission implement a five-year plan to restore the roof, with phases 1 and 2 to take place within the coming two years and phases 3 through 6 no longer than within five years. That, however, was before Reams rediscovered the nearly $300,000 sitting in a heretofore little remembered traffic surcharge account.

A month-and-a-half after the County Commission narrowly voted 3-2 on Oct. 15 to re-advertise the contract for the monitoring of the closed landfill on Tyson Road, county staff had yet to mail out part of the invitations for proposals from qualified contractors as of Tuesday, Dec. 1.

The unexplained delay in the mailing out of the Request for Proposal, or RFP as more commonly called, vexed Commissioner Hines Boyd, who has been pushing for months for a resolution of the matter.

"I was surprised and frustrated to find that the RFP didn't get mailed out and I still don't know why it didn't," Boyd said on Tuesday, evincing obvious frustration. "I'm frustrated we can't seem to get to the point where we can address this."

Meanwhile, the county had paid the current contractor an average of $17,000 monthly for the service during the last 12 months for a total of $213,277, he said, passing out copies of an expenditure ledger from the Solid Waste Trust Fund showing the monthly transactions. He didn't see how anyone could justify such costs at taxpayers' expense if the service could be gotten cheaper, he said.

It has been Boyd's contention ever since he discovered the annual engineering fees during the budget review process in July that the county is paying too much for the landfill monitoring service and that it would do much better if it re-advertised the contract, whichhasn't been bid out or renegotiated in more than 13 years. It has been an uphill battle for Boyd to get the rest of the board to go along with his proposal, however, and he barely managed to get the needed majority vote to re-advertise the contract on Oct. 15.

The way the decision went, the commission agreed to put out an RFP and an RFQ (Request For Qualifications) for the environmental monitoring services and an RFQ only for the engineering services, which RFQs the state requires for professional services and which can then be used as the basis for negotiating the fee schedule.

The idea was that by advertising both RFQs and RFPs, the commission could decide if it wanted to split the work among more than one contractor. That work entails mowing and maintaining the closed landfill, as well as doing water and other environmental testing and monitoring the extent and movement of the contamination on the site.

The two sets of RFQs apparently went out on schedule. The county, in fact, has received a total of 25 responses on the two measures, according to County Coordinator Roy Schleicher. He told commissioners on Tuesday that six contractors had responded to the RFQs for the landfill monitoring services and 19 had responded to the RFQs for the general engineering services, adding that he was quite impressed with the caliber of the respondents. Schleicher, however, never really addressed why his office had failed to mail out the RFPs.

It was Boyd's point on Tuesday that absent the responses to the RFPs, it was difficult to make a decision on the engineering services.

"This is an important question that we have to answer before we know where we are on the engineer," he said. "I'm going to ask today that we get out the RFPs. I'm asking that we get this out today so we can get it back in the next two weeks."

Schleicher assured him that the RFPs would be mailed out the same day.

Boyd appeared somewhat mollified, but not entirely.

"This needs to come to a halt if we're paying too much," he said emphatically. "If not, I'll be the first to apologize."

Talking to the Journal subsequently, Boyd stopped just short of saying that he suspected something more than mere foot-dragging was at play in the failure of the RFPs to be mailed out. He didn't elaborate, however.

As for the 25 RFQs received, Schleicher said these had been distributed to the two committees that the commission had earlier appointed. He said the six RFQs for the environmental monitoring services had been referred to the landfill review committee for short-listing of the respondents and the 19 RFQs for the engineering services had been referred to the civil engineering committee for the same purpose. He said the two committees were scheduled to meet, review and shortlist their respective RFQs on Thursday, Dec. 3.

Once the committees short-listed the respondents, the commission would interview the three or four top candidates and rank them according to the board's preferences, Schleicher said. Then would begin the real price negotiations. If the first choice failed to satisfy the commission's requirements, the process would then go to the second choice and so on down the line until a selection was made, he said.

Consultant engineer Frank Darabi, of Darabi Associates, Inc., points out undermined pilings underneath the Waukeenah Road Bridge caused by stromwater runoff. The bridge dates from 1956.

And thanks to the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), the county continues getting federal money to repair the damage that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding would not cover.

On Thursday evening, Nov. 19 — a little more than two months after the commission awarded $565,339 in NRCS-funded roadwork projects to two private contractors for eight roads — consultant engineer Frank Darabi returned before the commission to recommend another $579,065 in NRCS funding for five more projects, bringing the total to $1,243,000.

The latter $579,065 — which may be subject to adjustment — is to repair Fay-caused erosion on four roads and a bridge. The four roads are Murmuring Creek, Goldberg, Fulford and Monticello Park; and the bridge in on the Waukeenah Highway over the railroad track, about a mile west of US 19.

The reason for the possible cost adjustment is that Darabi split the five jobs between the two former contractors, based on whose bid was the lowest on a particular project. Not satisfied with the performance of one of the two contractors on the earlier awarded NRCS projects, however, he reserved the right to change the award on two of the items.

Darabi told commissioners that he had spoken to the poor-performing contractor and put the latter on notice that if his work performance didn't noticeably improve within a given timeframe, he would not be awarded the two new jobs. If that should happen and all five projects were awarded to the other contractor, the total cost would go up some, he said. But he assured commissioners that the NRCS was aware of the situation and was willing to give the county the additional funding if the decision was to go with the higher bid on the two projects.

Darabi also reminded commissioners that the county was responsible for 10 percent of the total cost, which amounted to about $120,000 on the $1,243,000.

"These are all erosion problems related to tropical storm Fay," Darabi said. "These are the erosion problems that FEMA would not finance."

He explained that the specified roadwork entailed repairing the storm-caused erosion damage as well as putting in place erosion-control measures to prevent future stormwater damage. As for the 53-year-old Waukeenah Highway Bridge, Darabi called it "a disaster ready to happen."

The bridge wasn't even on the radar for the original repairs, Darabi told the Journal on Tuesday, Nov. 24. But once he had become aware of the problem and seen the extent of the undermined pilings underneath the structure, he had taken it upon himself to convince the NRCS to fund the project, he said.

The bridge, in fact, is being given priority, with its repairs scheduled to begin as soon as the coming week.

Darabi explained that the bridge repairs entail building a sandbag riprap around the erosion-exposed pilings to stabilize the structure's base. He said the repairs also call for constructing concrete flumes on the roadsides to divert stormwater runoff away from pilings at either ends of the bridge. The total cost of this project is $89,250.

And you know how much it's costing Jefferson County for all the work? Darabi asked rhetorically. It was costing the county zero, my friend, he answered his own question. And the reason it was costing the county zero was because the NRCS was paying even for his engineering services, he said.

Darabi is understandably pushing back at recent criticism — from one commissioner at least — that he is charging the county dearly for his engineering services. No one, however, had ever said that his weren't the best quality services, Darabi said. He also wanted it understood that many times he didn't charge the county for his services, getting his fees instead from the state and federal funding that he secured for projects, as in the case with the NRCS-funded roadwork.

And when he did charge the county for his services, he never charged more than 10 percent, although state and federal guidelines allowed for engineering fees as high as 20 percent, he said. Moreover, he couldn't count the times that he performed free services or saved the county money during the last 25 years, he said. He was therefore a little affronted by the notion that he was overcharging the county, he said.

Darabi cited the Waukeenah Bridge repair as another example of the services he provided and continued to provide to Jefferson County. Of course he continued to credit Commissioner Danny Monroe for his role and persistence in helping to get the NRCS funding and to reduce the required local matching contribution from the original 25 percent match to the current 10 percent match, as he always had, Darabi said. But the truth was that he also had played an important part in both these efforts, he said.

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper are scheduled to kick off the 3rd annual Southern Music Rising Festival with a concert in the Opera House on April 16.

Who are Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper?

"Only one of the most talented groups of musicians you will ever get the chance to hear," avows local impresario Jack Carswell, one of several key people behind the annual event. (Barry and Pam Kelly and Katrina Walton are some of the others).

"This is a real coup," Carswell added.

Cleveland, to be more specific, is a seven-time IBMA Fiddler of the Year Award winner who has been called the premier bluegrass fiddler of his generation; and the group Flamekeeper won five IBMA awards this year, including their third consecutive Instrumental Group of the Year Award.

The IBMA, by the way, is the International Bluegrass Music Association, a trade organization formed in 1985 to promote bluegrass music. The IBMA awards are considered the genre's equivalent of the Grammy, with the organization's 2,500 members picking the winners.

According to his brief online biography, Cleveland is an Indiana native who early on gained recognition as a young fiddler player and whose blistering and unconventional fiddle style soon earned him fame and made him one of the hottest bluegrass acts, despite his blindness. He first appeared at Bill Monroe's renowned Bean Blossom Festival in 1990 at age 10 and in 1993 at age 13 he was the guest of fellow fiddler Alison Krauss on the Grand Ole Opry, which successes he followed with an appearance on A Prairie Home Companion and then a live performance before the US Congress.

After graduating from the Kentucky School for the Blind in 1999, Cleveland played with different bluegrass groups; released two independent CDs, among other recordings; won the several IBMA awards; and finally formed his own group. His discography includes Sawing on the C String, Flame Keeper, and Let 'Er Go Boys.

The Foundation for the Preservation of Historic American Music formed a little more than two years ago for the expressed purpose of promoting and preserving traditional American music. Since its formation, the foundation has sponsored two bluegrass festivals, a jazz night and several other concerts at the Opera House.

The Southern Music Rising Festival is the foundation's signature event. Ultimately, the foundation's members envision establishing a permanent building where musical performances can be staged on a regular basis and where memorabilia and other artifacts pertaining to Southern history and American music can be stored and publicly exhibited. It is the group's hope that the festival will one day serve to make Monticello a destination point.