Tag: Mike Holmes Construction LLC

Because it is a brother in law deal Day 7: Quality or quantity

I have a quote from a contractor that “never heard back” from MGFB.  The question folks is one of quality or quantity:

The artificial reef community is growing and innovating as the needs for artificial or “Dynamic Reefs” continues to change, and new environments are identified and addressed. Open bids for all Dynamic Reef projects should be encouraged and maintained. Open bids drive innovation and creates a Dynamic Reef suite that also helps the environment. Artificial reefs are more than reef balls, ship drops, and multifaceted shapes for fish propagation. They now include tourism centric design, new ceramic reef modules and a more blended approach to Dynamic Reef design and placement. Put this way, the oceans and ocean environment are constantly changing. Like a master painting you wouldn’t just use one color, the artificial reef bid space needs to be aware of new technologies and paradigms and only open bidding with public input can get us to a more blended and technology savvy Dynamic Reef space for the future.

Here on the coast MGFB’s sites are set a bit lower: Continue reading “Because it is a brother in law deal Day 7: Quality or quantity”

Because it is a brother in law deal. DMR employee lets contracts to his own family

I’ve been chasing this lead for a week but it was the following email that best tells the story:

The sub-grant agreements from DMR to the Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks, Inc., specifically require compliance with the State Personal Board Contracts regulations requiring bidding and comparable pricing – much like the contracts with Elizabeth Rooks-Barber required.

A couple of sub-grantee agreements were posted documents at Sunherald. Page 417 of the 2008 Artificial Reef Project EDRP, Katrina Money of the publically posted documents is the applicable sub-grant agreement with MGFB, Inc. Section 8.27 of that agreement requires compliance with State Personnel Contract Review Board rules.

Mike Irwin Holmes, the owner/operator of Mike Holmes Construction, is Kerwin Cuevas’ brother-in-law (Kerwin’s wife’s brother).

And my new pen pal was kind enough to provide a link establishing the Brother in law relationship.  I invariably do a supplemental Google search of my own on tips and lo and behold Holmes turns up connected to KEBAWK Response Technologies which certainly worked the oil spill. He is listed as a partner to KEBAWK so what we have here is a brother in law deal with a side partnership (once removed).

Worth noting is the MGFB contracts with Mike Holmes Construction LLC since December 2011 are technically a nullity since Mike Holmes Construction LLC was administratively dissolved by the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office back in December, 2011.

Since this is a brother in law deal we gotta drill down a bit on another Special Purpose Entity acting the part of middleman to what appears to be specious activity:

Even more curious is why DMR used MGFB for the reef building work.  DMR has the permits to build the reefs.  The posted records show that all MGFB did was act as a conduit to forward Mike Holmes and Matthews Marine’s invoices to DMR for payment.

Here is one page of many in the Sun Herald document dump that deals with Kerwin Cuevas and Mike Holmes. Click the pic to nab the PDF via the Sun Herald: Continue reading “Because it is a brother in law deal. DMR employee lets contracts to his own family”