Shortly after USD 259 (the Wichita school district) passed a bond issue in 2000, a contract was formed between the district and its favorite architectural firm, Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture. The contract, portions of which you can read here, pays this firm one percent of the bond amount for “Project Management Services.” Plus expenses, I should add.
In addition, Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture earned huge fees for being the architect on many school buildings. Their contract with USD 259 for their role as the architect of Earhart school gives their fee as about $420,000. The construction cost of this school was given as $8.3 million, so that’s five percent to the architect.
In addition, this firm undoubtedly earned its one percent fee for project management services on this school, that fee earned by managing themselves.
So it’s little wonder that Joe Johnson and Kenton Cox of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture are at the forefront of the effort to pass this bond issue. It means a great deal of money for their firm if the proposed bond issue passes this year.
But wait, you may be saying. Won’t this project management contract be put out to competitive bid?
Won’t the contracts for architectural services for each school project be competitively bid?
I don’t know the answer to these questions. Something tells me, however, that Joe Johnson already knows.
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