A donor to the commandante and/ some of the county commissioners must be getting paid.

Fox 26’s Greg Googan reports:

“roughly four weeks after the announced closure of a $17 million field hospital that was never used, Harris County now has plans to potentially open another COVID-19 medical shelter, if the need arises. Commissioners approved up to $1 million in funding May 19th for a supplemental item described as a “non-congregate shelter operation.”

A document sent to the City of Houston and obtained by FOX 26 confirmed the planned shelter’s location at NRG and included a floor plan of the 150-bed facility to house both men and women.”

As KPRC-TV’s Mario Diaz reported last month, the first pop-up hospital touted by the commandante was one huge wasteful endeavor where some people got paid.

From his report:

The facility, with a potential price tag of $60 million, was designed by Garner Environmental Services, a Deer Park company, to help with a surge of coronavirus patients at the Texas Medical Center. But that surge never materialized and the facility sits empty right now.

Construction on the temporary medical shelter began just over two weeks ago and was finished in a matter of days. It features 250 beds and is equipped to handle an influx of COVID-19 patients....

Channel 2 Investigated obtained the full contract between the county and Garner Environmental Services.

Among some of the items in it, we found highly compensated personnel ranging from:

-Various safety officers receiving day rates of $2,875, $2,300 and $2,012

-A finance section chief at $2,875 a day

-Two public information officers at $2012 a day, even though the contract states “contact with the news media, citizens of Harris County or governmental agencies shall be the responsibility of the county.”

...Harris County’s bill could be closer to $17 million and with the federal government pledging to reimburse 75% of the cost, county taxpayers could be on the hook for only $4.25 million.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content

NewsRadio 740 KTRH · Houston's News, Weather & Traffic Station

Listen Now on iHeartRadio