By TONY VINDELL
Special to the NEWS
A contract the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District (SBCISD) had with an Edinburg-based company has been terminated.
The district’s board of trustees voted in favor of ending the agreement with The Brighton Group, following a one-and-a-half-hour long executive session held during Thursday’s Feb. 23 special board meeting.
The company was hired during the previous administration to work on three projects under a $1.25 million contract.
Voters approved a $40 million bond program in 2018 to fund the construction of an indoor multipurpose facility and aquatic and performing arts centers.
However, according to a forensic report issued last year, no outside consultant was used for a cost/estimate analysis of the projects.
The audit report was prepared by Weaver & Tidwell and presented to the board on Sept. 20, 2022, detailing the multi-month-long investigation.
Among its findings, the report stated no outside consultant was used for a cost/estimate analysis of the projects. Because of that, the projects will cost the district several millions over what was initially budgeted. Since then, The Brighton Group had been under the radar of the current board.
During a previous meeting in 2022, board president Ramiro Moreno said The Brighton Group received payments over a period of two years for work it did not complete.
“This is unheard of,” he said at the time. “I just want the public to know this.”
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