Well, finally blog time again. My last blog was in January, and after
posting it and considering the various options I had to blog about I decided to
wait until after the election. Some of
the facts that I will share could have been taken as political rhetoric against
Steve.
Now that the election is over there are a lot of facts that
are finally coming to light that were known back in January. Had Steve been truly transparent, as he
touted in his campaign ads, he would have shared the facts during the campaign.
One of the issues I mentioned in my January blog was a
formal complaint filed against Judge Young with the Milam County District
Attorney’s Office. To cut straight to
the point it deals with Steve deciding to give away furniture and fixtures in
the hospital building being renovated for the new county annex. It was done in violation of the Local
Government Code Chapter 263.
Specifically, Chapters 152, 153 and 155.
The complaint was filed in July, 2021.
Basically, the law says the county has to notice and take
bids on any county property it wants to get rid of. The law states the “Commissioners Court
shall” not may or can, but shall follow certain procedures to dispose of county
property.
The DA’s office has made all kinds of excuses for Judge
Young. Citing the property was private
property even though common real estate law says anything left behind becomes
property of the buyer. Further Texas
Property Code Sec. 72.104, says personal property found on county property
becomes property of the county after 120 days.
The DA’s office has protected Steve time and again with excuses for why the law did not have to be followed when giving away the hospital fixtures and furniture. They have termed it junk, of no value, private property and other excuses. I wonder if the fact that Torrey was a BIG supporter of Steve had anything to do with the cover-up.
It is very strange that during the Commissioners Court meeting on March 14, Assistant DA Kyle Nuttall informed the commissioners that before giving away soil from ditch cleaning, they must take bids on it. This is soil that has bottles, cans grass and other foreign matter that makes it pretty much worthless must be stockpiled, and bid notice given in the newspapers to allow the public the right to bid on it in accordance with the law. Yet the Judge could give away desks, medical equipment, hospital beds and other items without following the law? Guess Judges are treated differently than Commissioners.
Another interesting fact is that there has been an ongoing investigation into the giving away of some millings from the old hospital parking lot. This material according to several sources has absolutely no value to the county, yet the DA is looking into possible violations of the same law quoted earlier in this blog.
Judge Steve Young and Milam County Transparency at its finest. Stay tuned there is more to come.
