State liquor board cancels security contract with HWA

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

The Washington State Liquor Control Board canceled a $409,000 contract with a Seattle private security firm last week, leaving 25 state-run liquor stores without armed guards until a substitute company can be hired.

HWA was five months into the one-year contract when control board officials decided the company was too fragile financially to guarantee it could complete the contract.

The decision came after two other state agencies told control board officials HWA was a concern to them too, said Brian Smith, spokesman for the liquor control board.

"We heard from the state Department of Employment Security and the state Department of Labor and Industries," Smith said.

Employment security had placed a lien on HWA and Labor and Industry said it plans to do the same, Smith said.

"It calls into question the ability of HWA to meet terms of the contract," Smith said.

HWA's owners, J. Thomas Wood and Barbara Wood, could not be reached for comment and did not return phone messages Wednesday.

This is the latest in a string of problems for HWA, which has been struggling as a business since late summer.

HWA lost security contracts with federal agencies in September, and some of its approximately 200 employees with those federal contracts subsequently complained to the U.S. Department of Labor about not being paid for more than six weeks. Federal authorities began making good on the back pay to those employees two weeks ago.

Smith said the contract HWA had with the liquor control board was nontransferable.

But when HWA fell into financial trouble on its federal contracts in early September, its owners created a new company called TRO and tried to convert the liquor control board contract to the new business.

Smith said the liquor control board was willing to work with the owners in transferring the contract to TRO, but the new company couldn't satisfy demands of state officials.

"They needed to satisfy us that they had the financial ability to sustain the terms of the contract," Smith said.

Gerry Adams, an HWA employee in Seattle who had a liquor control board store assignment, told the Herald his last day on the job was Friday and that state officials said they were trying to get another private company to take over the security assignment on an emergency basis and keep HWA's former employees on the job.

Smith said the liquor control board will begin seeking bids in January for a long-term security contract on the 25 state-run liquor stores.

-- John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com

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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

State liquor board cancels security contract with HWA

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer