The Local Puppy Trainer had an interesting little piece about a local government contract: County tries to save money in sewage plant demolition

FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa County Water and Sewer Director Jeff Littrell has proposed using in-house crews to demolish the old Garnier’s wastewater treatment plant on Essex Road in Ocean City.

The move could save the county “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Littrell said Tuesday.

The county had budgeted about $1.5 million for the demolition to be completed by a private contractor.

“We think it’ll come in significantly lower than that,” Littrell said.

Littrell goes on to note that there are massive amounts of recyclable metals in the building, including large motors that the county might be able to sell as used. If the motors can’t be sold that way, they still contain huge copper coils. He also mentioned the stainless steel piping and fixtures in the facility that are premium recyclables.

Poor Mr. Littrell just doesn’t get it – not giving out that contract will cost the county commissioners campaign contributions, and I have no doubt that the selected contractor has already sold the recyclables and is just waiting to pick them up to pad their profit [no doubt, charging the county the cost of hauling them off to a construction debris landfill].

Sure the water department can do the job cheaper, but they aren’t as “efficient” as the private sector.

Note the wording of that Republican mantra: “The private sector is more efficient than the government.” They don’t say “cheaper”, they say “more efficient”. I’ve seen a lot of attempts at privatizing government functions over the years, but I have yet to see one that provides the same level of service as the government at a lower cost beyond the second year.

Both Central Florida and the Texas Panhandle are dealing with huge fires caused by low humidity and strong. variable winds.

Florida:

OAK HILL — Central Florida’s first major blaze kicked off the annual fire season this week by scorching more than 16,000 parched acres, destroying three structures and sending one firefighter to the hospital.

The Iron Horse Fire, straddling the Volusia-Brevard county line, has moved swiftly since Monday through rural areas between Oak Hill and Mims. Dry brush and foliage, from hard freezes this winter, provided fuel.

In Volusia County, flames left charred ground and tree trunks burned at least 20 feet upward. Naked palmetto bushes looked like blackened pieces of ginger root twisted on the ground.

Texas:

(CNN) — Texas firefighters were making significant progress Tuesday against wildfires that have consumed at least 78 homes and, at their peak, were burning the length of a football field every minute.

Sustained winds of 40 mph, gusting to 60, combined with 2% relative humidity in some areas to cause the grass fire conflagration Sunday, said Mark Stanford, chief of fire operations for the Texas Forest Service.

On Tuesday, however, firefighters had all 21 remaining fires at least 50 percent contained, Stanford told CNN Radio.

Crews want to have them fully contained by Thursday, he said.

“Friday will be another bad day for us,” Stanford said. “Not as bad as Sunday, but it will be a very high fire danger day across that region. So we want to make sure that we’ve freed up all of our fire resources so that they can respond to new starts we may have.”

The Florida fires are being fueled by the vegetation killed by the hard freezes they had down there. The Panhandle of Texas has been experiencing single digit relative humidity. It is shaping up as a very bad season, and it just started.