Update To My Earlier Post "... Chuck One Up For Chief Justice John Minton ...". Read More Below.
Read about my earlier post, then read more from Lexington Herald Leader here, or below:
Ky. chief justice calls for audit of courthouse construction program
By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com
Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton Jr. ordered an audit of the state's massive courthouse construction program Thursday, after questions were raised about inadequate insurance of courthouse construction and the abrupt resignation of the courts official overseeing the program.
"The Administrative Office of the Courts will be retaining counsel with expertise in construction law to carry out this intensive review," Minton said in a prepared statement. "This audit will begin immediately and its findings will be made public upon completion."
The AOC's chief architect, Garlan VanHook, resigned this week after questions were raised about a job that his brother received last year at Codell Construction of Winchester, which has built the majority of new courthouses in recent years.
Also, in a letter to the AOC this week, national experts raised questions about VanHook's failure to make sure that courthouse projects are fully insured.
In a recent interview, VanHook defended the practice of allowing general contractors to be bonded for only 5 percent of the value of their work, instead of the 100 percent required by state law.
Kentucky law and the contracts signed by construction managers require 100 percent payment and performance bonds. But Codell and Alliance Construction of Glasgow bond many of the state's new courthouse projects at roughly 5 percent of the projects' costs, which equals their fee.
In some cases, there was no construction-management bond at all when courthouses were begun. The contract for Washington County's $12 million judicial center, which is about to open, was signed on March 13, 2006, but the pay and performance bond was not acquired until Jan. 8, 2009.
In the past decade, Kentucky has allocated $880 million for courthouse construction across the state.
Editor's comment: Wanna read more?
Go here.
Labels: Justice, Keeping them honest, Kentucky politics
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:55 PM
2 Comments:
The question is will the attorney general investigate or will the auditor do a audit? Dont forget we are talking about James codell the all powerful political family with ties to not Beshear but Patton Conway and Luallen.
It does not sound like the Auditor will do an audit. It sounds like an Attorney will be retained to do some review (audit?).
I don't expect the AG to be involved unless a crime has been committed.
I hope the complete review will be INDEPENDENT of politics and every TAINT. That is why I would have preferred that the Chief Justice make the selection of the one to conduct the review.
I TRUST the Chief. I've known him personally for a lot of years and I count him as a friend.
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