County’s Duty to Oversee Grant Funding with Fire Safe Council

In the July 14th, 2021 issue of The Union, County CEO, Alison Lehman defends the relationship with Fire Safe Council. She says, “the county has a duty to oversee the funds contracted with the Fire Safe Council and account for every dollar.”

So why after three years hasn’t there been a legitimate forensic audit by an outside accounting firm of how the grant funds coming into the Office of Emergency Services has been managed? Why has the Grand Jury just focused on Fire Safe?

An Internal Report, but No Audit

In July 2022, County Auditor-Controllers, Marcia Salter and Gina Will signed a contract with CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA) for a report (not an audit). This contract did not go out for bid; the auditors, instead, used CLA, a company the County has had a long relationship with. CLA found no wrongdoing by Fire Safe, but it was not a complete audit. They did, however, make recommendations to Fire Safe for improving their bookkeeping methods.

CEO Lehman’s July 2021 statements in the Union:

“The county is awaiting the results of the current internal audit of the Fire Safe Council before expressing any opinion related to concerns brought to our attention. We have met with the Fire Safe Council chair and executive director. The county has requested documents and financial information in coordination with the county auditor relating to our contracts and the financial reports with the Fire Safe Council. The concerns expressed are under the purview and governance of the Fire Safe Council Board. However, the county has a duty to oversee the funds contracted with the Fire Safe Council and account for every dollar.

“We do not have any concerns about the Fire Safe Council meeting grant deliverables. The county views the Fire Safe Council as a critical and valued partner in preparing our community for wildfire.

“The Fire Safe Council has been very responsive and cooperative to the county’s request for more information related to the concerns brought forward by Ms. McGuire and others. An independent third party will be reviewing each concern in McGuire’s letter and preparing a full report for the Fire Safe Council Board. Fire Safe Council is meeting with the county weekly, or as needed, and will share the annual audits as soon as possible after they are reviewed and approved by the Fire Safe Council Board.”

In an August 31st, 2022 email from Marcia Salter to CliftonLarsonAllen staff working on the “report”, she states, “They do seem to think we are looking at only one contract-the Ponderosa West and stated we had already audited-which we did not-we only did an internal audit of our department’s handling of the contract. I do want to clarify which we are reviewing which are the two past and two current contracts.”

To my knowledge the County has not made available the above-mentioned internal audit of the department’s handling of the contract referenced by Lehman and Salter.

Ongoing Renewals of the FSC Contract Despite Concerns

The Board of Supervisors, at their Oct. 12th 2021 meeting (beginning at the two-hour mark), voted 4-5 (Hardy voted No) to renew the contract with the Fire Safe Council with the caveat that the FSC provide monthly status reports. Resolution SR 21-0744. 

In spite of meetings, internal department audits, and the BOS’ renewal of contracts, almost three years have gone by since 2021. All the while the County has continued to contract with Fire Safe, and despite a June 2022 Grand Jury report indicating there were significant bookkeeping problems with Fire Safe. 

Immediately following the April 8th, 2024 Grand Jury report, ‘Follow the Money: Fire Safe Council’s Accountability: Problems from 2022 Continue… and appear to worsen’, the County, is doing a complete ‘about-face’ and now saying Fire Safe is a high-risk vendor.

So many audits and Grand Jury reports and still no clarity.

Problems were evident with Fire Safe in 2021, however the County continued contracts for three more years. In its Oct. 2021 meeting the BOS was confident in renewing the contract. 

In its recent report, why didn’t the Grand Jury follow the money right back to the Office of OES and the Auditor-Controller’s Office to review their internal audit and contract management? The Grand Jury focus was only on Fire Safe. As Alison Lehman stated, “the county has a duty to oversee the funds contracted with the Fire Safe Council and account for every dollar”.

The Office of Emergency Services and the Auditor-Controller have an ongoing duty to monitor the contracts with Fire Safe to make sure Federal and State grant money is accounted for. The buck has to stop somewhere. It is squarely with the County and OES. 

The Grand Jury must finish the job.