Audit: Officials Knew But Kept Secret Wayne County Jail Project Was $41 Million Over Budget
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - An audit of the disastrous Wayne County Jail project says many elected officials were kept in the dark about millions in cost overruns and no one from the county was supervising contractors.
The audit was released Friday in response to a lawsuit by the Detroit Free Press. It was kept under wraps by prosecutor Kym Worthy during a criminal investigation.
Click here to see the 178 page document (.pdf format)
The report says county officials knew the project was at least $41 million over budget when county commissioners were asked to approve a smaller budget.
"We believe responsible officials had a fiduciary responsibility to notify the approving body that the construction cost estimates for the jail project would exceed the budget amount by $41 million," then-auditor general Willie Mayo wrote in the August 2013 report. "We believe the failure to notify ... was poor judgment and derelict."
The new jail was abandoned during construction in 2013 and remains an eyesore on the edge of downtown Detroit, near sports stadiums. County Executive Warren Evans, who had no role in the earlier problems, now is trying to determine if the jail can be completed.
Evans' office said Thursday that a deal brokered with AECOM Services and Ghafari Associates, parties to the original lawsuit, was approved by county commissioners. It paves the way for the engineering and design contractors to develop two plans and cost estimates for finishing the unfinished jail.
The contractors will pay for plans, inspections and evaluations of the existing structure and estimates if the county decides to proceed with a redesigned jail. Plans and estimates are due by Feb. 29, and project costs are capped at $175 million.
The county says it can pursue or reject either plan, and refile the lawsuit if costs exceed the maximum.
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