Guilford County hired Samet Corp. in 2022 for a project that entailed tearing down the old Guilford County jail in Greensboro, constructing a new Sheriff’s Department headquarters on the site and a new parking lot on the same block.
That was a three-phase project estimated to come in at $23.9 million.
Last month, after Phase 1 was substantially complete, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to terminate the contract with Samet without providing any details as to why the board made that decision.
There was speculation that Samet, which had been hired as the Construction Manager At Risk for the major project, might sue – and maybe Samet will.
However, as of Tuesday, March 14, the high-profile construction company isn’t saying anything.
Suzanne Turner, the vice president, of marketing and client services, when asked about Samet’s plans, said simply, “I don’t have any new updates to provide at the moment.”
Greensboro Attorney Justin Outling, who’s representing Samet and who came to two Guilford County Board of Commissioners meetings at which the commissioners considered the matter in closed session, said very little as well.
“I have nothing to share at this time,” Outling said.
When the Greensboro News & Record asked Turner immediately after the commissioners voted where the company stood on legal action against the county, Turner reportedly said, “We are exploring our options, but everything is on the table.”
From the county’s side of the matter, on Tuesday March 14, Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch said he’d heard absolutely zero about the dispute since the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to terminate the contract with Samet last month.
“I haven’t heard a single thing since the vote,” Upchurch said. “I’m not worried about them suing us because we would probably win.”
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston points out that the county’s unanimous vote to end the contract is strong evidence that Guilford County was in the right because, Alston said, if the county wasn’t on solid ground, there would have been some dissent on the board.
Another high-ranking Guilford County official concurred, telling the Rhino Times that there are things Samet doesn’t want to come out that would become public in a lawsuit.
Guess we shall see. I have little faith in Guilford County and the clowns running the zoo.
A news article to tell us Yost hasn’t learned anything new about a juicy news story. LOL
Sure they did not enough black owned companies listed for Danny and Skips diversity plan. Quik get rich!!!
And this is “transparency”?
Why tear down the building? We DO NOT need another parking lot. Is this just make work for the City?
Make me King of Guilford County. I’d either re-purpose the building, or sell it as is. A giant money pit.
Samet should sue the county ….great company…..great reputation for doing quality work on time and on budget.
It was unanimous because everyone knows how Skip operates. He holds other jobs over the other commissioners. I won’t vote for yours if you don’t vote for my. absolute clown.
A security fence has now been erected around the building. That suggests that the commissioners anticipate this building will be standing there for an indeterminate time before any further action is taken. How long? Will it be several weeks, several months or even years before another company is hired to finish this project? This is a sad situation and will be a costly one.
Changing contractor will just cause the project costs to increase and project to be delayed. The county is not operating with the taxpayers in mind. The request to add more MWBE when targets were already met reeks of corruption by the county.
Get a taxpayer group to negotiate a resolution with the Council and Samet. May need a court injunction to halt the Council from proceeding irresponsibly and costing the taxpayers even more money.
The Sheriff’s office needs these projects to continue without delay.
Perhaps I’m naive but I don’t understand why this obviously modern building has to be torn down.
My high school was founded in 1552, and we got most of our learning in “The New Building” which was finished in 1858 (Leeds Grammar School).
The County could of turned this into a place for the homeless people (oops Un-housed people to be politically correct – sorry Dems), instead they put them in those 8 x 8 boxes on the ball field and now kicked them out as the temperatures have fallen to 28-30 degrees. Who is running this County? Who makes these decisions? With all the Social Services, housing groups.. ie Salvation Army etc.. Mental Health providers, Skips homeless (Un-housed) Task Force they could feed, house, treat and prepare these folks for jobs, permanent housing and fix the problems. How much would that cost, less than the 24 million taxpayer dollars to tear it down.
Skippy neglects to say that it took him 2 two hour meetings behind closed doors to convince his spineless co-workers to agree to cancel the contract with Samet. Samet has been honest and forthright about what happened and Skippy is just trying to make it sound like they are hiding something when he is the one that is hiding his corrupt practices. This is going to take forever and cost the county a fortune.
Oh, but the government doesn’t want the homeless to be that close to their own offices downtown. They want it to be someone else’s problem. There needs to be a sensibility, fiscal responsibility department that oversees our idiot lawmakers and tax spenders. How about, If council and commissioners had an oath to be fiscal responsible and break it, they would be removed from office. What a great tool for citizens since we don’t have one currently.