Construction firm used licenses of school district employee to do penny tax work
When Richland County Council members awarded three companies — known as the Program Development Team — a lucrative contract to oversee a $1 billion transportation program in 2014, they assumed those parties met the necessary qualifications.
That may not have been the case.
One of the companies, Brownstone Construction Group, a Columbia-based construction management and engineering firm, may not have been properly licensed to bid on or to oversee the county work, according to documents reviewed by The State Media Co. during a three-month investigation. The situation is raising questions whether the county’s $31-million contract with the PDT is valid and exactly who oversaw Brownstone’s county work.
The man listed as Brownstone’s construction manager and the holder of its general contractor’s license for the past five years is Raymond Perkins Jr., who is required to work full-time for Brownstone, overseeing its projects on a daily basis, according to state law. As a member of the PDT, Brownstone oversaw procurement, construction, design and inspections of various road projects, according to county documents.
But Perkins already works full-time as Richland 1’s facility services director, earning about $105,000 annually to oversee the school district’s construction and renovation projects. He’s worked for the district for the past 20 years.
While state law requires Perkins to be a part owner in Brownstone because he supervises two companies, he has consistently said his role at Brownstone is minimal.
For example, in a sworn deposition in 2016, nearly two years after Brownstone was awarded the county’s transportation contract, Perkins said he did not know who owned Brownstone, that he was never notified by company leaders that they had made him a 1% owner and that he had never been notified of any board meetings.
He described his work as an independent contractor for the company, signing documents under the assumption that he was helping Brownstone qualify for a license for a single project, not to take ownership or to oversee all of its work. In a signed affidavit submitted to the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in 2014, he also didn’t claim to have partial ownership.
Court records show he was paid between $2,500 and $5,000 monthly by the company.
“I don’t know if (Brownstone) misinterpreted what was (initially agreed to)...” Perkins said Wednesday about the licensing paperwork filed with the state.
Attempts to reach Brownstone CEO Dale Collier on Wednesday were unsuccessful. A company employee who answered the phone said that she didn’t know who Perkins was.
Brownstone is no longer involved with Richland County’s transportation program. In November, county officials cut ties with the PDT, arguing the county could save millions by overseeing the program itself, though some suspect the county is ill-equipped to handle the workload.
County officials have never publicly questioned the PDT’s qualifications, saying all three companies were vetted before being given the $31 million contract by county council.
Council members reached Wednesday said they didn’t know enough about Brownstone’s licenses to offer an opinion.
Meanwhile, Brownstone has continued to bid on projects using Perkins’ licenses, landing contracts that include USC’s new law school and the renovation of Richland County’s municipal center, the Decker Center.
David Beatty, program manager of the PDT and director at HDR/ICA Engineering, said Perkins was not involved with the transportation program.
“I’ve never heard the name,” he said.
Perkin’s name is not included anywhere in the PDT’s application either.
Brownstone and LLR
In order for Brownstone to qualify to bid on contracts, it needed a person with a general contractor’s license. Under state law, companies can’t bid, pull permits or do any contracting work above $5,000 without a license.
Beatty said that the consortium only needed to have management licenses to actually perform the work.
“We did not do any general contracting,” he said. “We did design, but no construction.”
In 2014, Tammy Templeton, a founding member of the company, was in the process of leaving Brownstone. That meant company executives needed to find someone else with the necessary licenses before the bid deadline for the PDT contract.
None of Brownstone’s executive leadership team held a general contractor’s or management license with LLR, according to a records search. Perkins had both.
In March 2014, Brownstone CEO Dale Collier sent a letter to LLR, saying that Perkins had become the new qualifying party for the company. The change was supposed to be temporary until one of its executive team members could receive a contractor’s license, according to the letter.
But nearly five years later, Perkins still holds the license.
Templeton later sued Brownstone and deposed Perkins after learning he was given a 1% ownership in the company without her knowledge.
Ben Bruner, a Columbia lawyer specializing in business and construction law, said companies must provide a principal officer to be responsible for directing and reviewing the company’s work in order to qualify for a contractor’s license.
State law requires that a qualifying party who supervises two entities — like Perkins does — must run both businesses from the same address, must be involved with both entities on a daily basis, derive a livelihood from both and have at least 50% ownership in one and partial ownership in the other.
A reporter for The State visited Brownstone’s office in January and asked for Perkins but was told he wasn’t an employee and that he worked as an independent contractor.
His other company, Perkins Contractors and Engineers, appears to be run out of a home, according to state business filings. Perkins said Wednesday he has a “limited” role with that company, too, and works after school hours.
Bruner questioned whether the license met the legal threshold.
“One could argue based on several statutory provisions that a company which uses a dual qualifier but fails to meet all the statutory requirements does not have a valid license,” he said. “If a contractor does not comply with licensing requirements, the consequences can be harsh. For example, if a payment dispute arises with a project owner, the contractor may be foreclosed from bringing an action to recover payment.”
Brownstone shares a building at 1330 Lady St. in Columbia with a host of other businesses, none of which are Perkins’ other company.
Lesia Kudelka, LLR’s communications director, said in an email that disciplinary actions can be taken against licensees, even after a license is awarded, if information is discovered that would be grounds for denial during the application or renewal process.
She also said actions can be taken if facts are misrepresented by applicants or if they failed to notify the department of changes in information required during the original or renewal application.
State law also requires principals to submit proof to the licensing board, showing one’s full-time employment with the entity. Qualifiers also can’t be employed elsewhere if that job conflicts or diminishes their ability to supervise work by the licensee.
The school district said no contracts have been awarded to the three companies that make up the PDT.
Perkins said he had an agreement with other PDT companies to ensure they wouldn’t attempt to get contracts from Richland 1.
“We’ve never had any participation with that occurring,” he said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 9:49 PM.