The Devil (and the Dough) Is in the Details

For construction of the Williamson County Juvenile Justice Center and the East Williamson County Special Events Center, county officials negotiated contracts that provide Georgetown-based FT Woods Construction Services Inc. with hefty pieces of public pie. Here's a thumbnail breakdown of the Juvenile Justice Center contract -- which managed to grow even fatter after the original was voided by auditors in 2000.

The revised contract greatly increases FT Woods' total compensation and at the same time gives the firm "sole discretion" over personnel costs and reimbursable expenses that in the original contract were subject to county approval.

Also, while the original contract made FT Woods financially responsible for cost overruns at the JJC -- as a "construction manager-at risk" contract is supposed to do -- the current contract absolves the firm of that responsibility and indeed pays FT Woods for the project being delayed.