Federal report asks local utility to repay wildfire recovery funds
State officials this week stressed the importance of following guidelines to receive federal disaster recovery money and now a local utility is accused of violating some guidelines.
The Mountain View Electric Association, a utility based in Limon with a branch in Falcon, is accused of not following federal protocols after the Black Forest Fire in 2013, according to a report released last month by the Inspector General’s office.
According to the report, MVEA failed to follow a competitive bidding process for projects, did not document work awarded to contractors and did not consider minority-owned contractors in the bidding process.
The report asked FEMA to take back $2 million allocated to the utility, and to forfeit another $2 million the utility expects to receive from the agency.
Darryl Edwards, an MVEA spokesman, said the utility spent $7.4 million on post-fire projects such as repairing damaged power lines and restoring power to homes.
However, FEMA disagrees with some aspects of the report, and the report itself blamed the state for not properly monitoring MVEA and insuring it met FEMA requirements.
The state countered by saying it doesn’t have enough resources to monitor every funding applicant but provides workshops to help applicants understand federal guidelines.
Edwards said the utility disagrees with some of the report’s findings.
“Like the part about not considering minority contractors,” he said. “What does that really mean? I think when FEMA really looks at what we did, they’ll see we acted properly.”
FEMA, the state and MVEA plan to continue discussing the matter in hopes of resolving it within 90 days.
Edwards said if MVEA has to give up the $4 million, it won’t have an immediate effect on utility rates.
The situation with MVEA is partly why the state, in a briefing Monday in Colorado Springs, stressed to agencies and local leaders the importance of following a competitive bid process, keeping detailed financial records on contracts and spending money properly and efficiently.
“There will be audits,” Marilyn Galley, of the state’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said during the briefing. “Be prepared for them.”
