Though The Nature Of The Contract With Williamson Inc Is Irregular, Since Both Parties Were Operating Under What They Have Expressed Was An Effective Agreement, Williamson Inc Will Be Paid The Final Payment Of $100,000 For Economic Development For Services Rendered To The County.
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –
As previously reported by The Tennessee Conservative, Williamson County Mayor, Rogers Anderson, has been paying Williamson Inc., a Chamber of Commerce affiliated organization on a $400,000 contract that had apparently lapsed, without anyone noticing. The contract was renewed in May of 2022, and expired on June 30th, 2023.
The contract, which was initiated by Mayor Anderson’s office, was initiated for the purposes of economic development services in Williamson County.
The Economic development department was removed about 12 years ago from under the umbrella of Williamson County government, and handed over to Williamson Inc, which is a conglomeration of several municipalities within Williamson County.
When asked at that meeting by D4 County Commissioner Gregg Lawrence why the decision was made to remove economic development and separate it from the rest of the county was because as Mayor Anderson stated, “The ECD and the Chamber… they had separate things but they all rolled up underneath the county’s oversight…frankly, the model that we’ve got would allow activities and economic development, and chamber to further their causes without the interference of oversight by the government.”
Beyond working from an expired contract and disseminating funds to Williamson Inc for services rendered, it has been confirmed through document request from members of the county commission, that the terms of the agreement have been breached by Williamson Inc, regarding transparency of where the funds are being spent.
It seems that though the nature of the contract with Williamson Inc is irregular, since both parties were operating under what both have expressed was to their knowledge an effective contract, Williamson Inc will be paid the final payment of $100,000 for economic development for services rendered to the county.
This does not however address the breaches of the contract which have been found to be numerous.
The language in the contract with Williamson Inc, obligates the organization to not only be compliant with the terms of the agreement, but also allows the County to have the ability to terminate the agreement should those terms be found to have been breached.
The language of the contract indicates that Williamson Inc is obligated to:
• Provide an annual report to the Williamson County Board of Commissioners on or before February of each year, including data that evaluates whether the Chamber has met its benchmark goals and the effectiveness of the Chamber’s economic development services in the County, as well as any other data requested by the County.
• Ensure the Economic Development Board executive committee and the full Board meets a minimum of four times annually with the executive committee meeting at least once each calendar quarter;
• Ensure minutes of all Economic Development Board and executive committee meetings are kept.
• The Chamber shall use the funds only for those actual costs related to the operation of the Office of Economic Development and the provision of economic development services defined herein. The Chamber shall not use any of the budgeted funds for Chamber-related expenses including, but not limited to, Chamber employee salaries and Chamber operating costs, which are not relative to economic development functions. C. As a condition of funding prior to July 1 of each year, the Chamber shall provide a detailed accounting of the expended funds for the prior fiscal year, including supporting documentation. Should the annual report show that the Chamber expended funds in contradiction to this Agreement then the Chamber shall reimburse the County those funds upon receipt of written notice.
• Should the County determine, through audit or monitoring expenditures, that the Chamber expended funds for any unallowable purpose, the County may reduce any future appropriations due to the Chamber in the amount of the unallowable expenditures or demand the amount of the unallowable expenditures be refunded to the County.
Based on the language of the contract there is a provision that states: “The Chamber Shall use the funds only for those actual costs related to the operation of the Office of Economic Development and the provision of economic services defined herein”.
Except, the contract doesn’t define “economic services” with any specificity. Without “economic services” being specifically defined, holding Williamson Inc. accountable becomes problematic.
What Williamson Inc has provided is a set of documents that show expenditures for salaries and benefits for several of their employees, a brief explanation of what those employees do, and whether the work the employees engage in can be defined as “economic development” activities.
This is where Tennessee law comes in with “The False Claims Act.”
Any person who commits any of the following acts shall be liable to the state or to the political subdivision for three (3) times the number of damages that the state or the political subdivision sustains because of the act of that person. A person who commits any of the following acts shall also be liable to the state or to the political subdivision for the costs of a civil action brought to recover any of those penalties or damages and shall be liable to the state or political subdivision for a civil penalty of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) and not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each false claim.
What follows in Tennessee law is a list of acts that violate the law.
The plainest violation states: “Knowingly presents or causes to be presented to an officer or employee of the state or of any political subdivision thereof, a false claim for payment or approval; or, knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used a false record or statement to get a false claim paid or approved by the state or by any political subdivision.
For the purposes of the law, a “political subdivision” any city, town, municipality, county, including any county having a metropolitan form of government, or other legally authorized local governmental entity with jurisdictional boundaries.
In plain language, because Williamson Inc has seemingly failed to keep a thorough record of exactly what those employees do that are being paid with public money, they also cannot prove that they are adhering to the language of the contract and could potentially be using taxpayer dollars to cover their own expenditures.
If this is the case, then any documents presented that are used as proof of expenditure to receive reimbursement would be considered fraudulent.
The Tennessee Conservative reached out to D7 County Commissioner Chris Richards who stated, “So what Williamson Inc. is asking the Commission to do right now is to pay their employees without knowing who they are or if they are working on economic development. There is zero accountability as to what they are working and how their time is split working on Chamber business vs. economic development.”
As of this month, despite the lax record keeping, Williamson County Commission voted 18-3 to renew the contract with Williamson Inc without making any substantive changes.
Critics of the renewal have indicated that in doing so, the vast majority of the Williamson County Commission, which includes several lawyers by trade, have possibly breached their fiduciary duty to their constituents.
The new contract with Williamson Inc will go into effect on July 1st.
County Commissioner Richards also indicated that while the matter has been somewhat settled regarding the contract renewal, his efforts toward a more accountable and transparent process for how taxpayer dollars are spent will continue.
About the Author: Kelly Jackson is an escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers, she has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member. An outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty, Kelly also has a YouTube channel @Tennessee_Truth_Teller and is planning on expanding out to other channels soon. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
3 Responses
Thank you Kelly.
I want to know how I can get a contract with Williamson County for my business and then ignore the terms of the contract yet still get paid?
Great question!
I think the answer is to be a buddy of the Mayor – he runs the show and most of the Commissioners do whatever he says.