Alfalfa, Ore. – State and county officials have confirmed that boundary-change filings submitted by Alfalfa Fire District Chief Chad LaVallee last year improperly classified Juniper Acres properties as annexed into the district, a sequence of events that resulted in property owners being taxed despite the annexation process never being completed lawfully.
The annexation effort began in 2024, when petition signatures were collected and submitted through Deschutes County — where the district’s administrative office is located — and later verified by Crook County. However, the process required several additional legal steps that were never completed, most notably the placement of the annexation measure before voters.
Concerns about the annexation process first emerged in late 2024, when sources approached the Prineville Review, raising questions about the role of Chief LaVallee in advancing the effort. Those concerns include questions of the Chief’s reported use of both district resources and his official office to support the petition, rather than maintaining a neutral position as is often required for non-elected public officials under Oregon’s prohibited.
According to those multiple sources, both within the existing district and in Juniper Acres, there were allegations that Chief LaVallee actively promoted the annexation while using district resources in support of that effort. Those concerns have raised questions regarding compliance with Oregon ethics laws related to misuse of office and conflicts of interest, as well as restrictions on political advocacy by public officials.
Several sources spoke with the Prineville Review on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation by district officials and the fire chief. This reporter has also experienced similar conduct, including aggressive contact following a February 2026 Alfalfa Fire District Board meeting and statements from LaVallee following a January meeting that were intimidating in nature and made in connection with demands to cease investigative reporting, further supporting the decision to grant anonymity to certain sources throughout this process.
The annexation issue later escalated in 2025, when Juniper Acres property owners began receiving tax assessments from Crook County indicating they had been included within the Alfalfa Fire District — despite the annexation never being brought before voters. Those tax assessments triggered a new wave of concerns and scrutiny over how the filings had been handled.
The issue also emerged amid broader scrutiny of the Alfalfa Fire District’s operations. Separate reporting by media partners at KTVZ News previously raised concerns about the district’s management practices, including allegations of nepotism involving Chief LaVallee’s reported hiring of his wife, who became the fire district’s only full-time paid employee.
An expansion of the nepotism claims was later revealed through an investigation by the Prineville Review late last year, after allegations again resurfaced that LaVallee had quietly continued to employ his wife despite reporting by KTVZ News exposing allegations from former district officials and volunteers who were critical of the district’s management under LaVallee.
LaVallee repeatedly claimed during numerous public meetings following that report that he was the district’s only paid employee, including in response to early questions in late 2024 and early 2025 when the Prineville Review began looking into the district’s management issues after receiving tips regarding the district’s financial woes.
Earlier this year, the Prineville Review obtained records from the Oregon State Fire Marshal, including records tied to a 3-year grant to cover a full-time EMT and firefighter for the district. Records showing payments through the summer of 2025 confirmed that his wife, Leslie LaVallee, was the sole employee beneficiary of those grant funds. It was then learned that LaVallee’s wife had resigned amid the disclosure of the records by the OSFM, confirming that her employment under her husband went even beyond last summer and into the start of this year, covering just over 2 and a half years of the 3-year grant.
The issues with the hiring of LaVallee’s wife were two-fold: both in the hiring process, which never provided any public hiring effort, and the ongoing employment where LaVallee was his wife’s superior. [Editor’s Note: We will bring you a full story reviewing the records and other findings tied to the nepotism issues in a future report.]
That investigation also came amid reporting on findings that the district was facing serious compliance issues with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Audit Division for its ongoing failures to timely file its annual financial audit reports, a failure that prompted state officials to send notice to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners, which required them to begin dissolution proceedings required by Oregon law.
In response to questions from the Prineville Review related to the annexation process, Robin Maxey, Public Information Officer for the Oregon Department of Revenue (DOR), outlined both the governing rules and the district’s filing history.
“All boundary changes, including annexations, must be filed in their approved format with the department by March 31 prior to the tax year they are effective,” Maxey said.
According to Maxey, the Alfalfa Fire District submitted both a preliminary review and a final annexation of Juniper Acres territory in June and July of 2024. The district later submitted a revised final annexation in March 2025. Most recently, the district transmitted a boundary change request intended to withdraw the territory after determining the annexation had been made in error. That withdrawal request has not yet been processed by the department.
Maxey emphasized that the Department of Revenue’s review does not validate whether a district properly followed annexation law.
“We have no oversight of the procedures used by a district to annex property,” Maxey explained. “Our review is limited to ensuring that the legal description and map match.”
Without voter approval, the annexation could not legally take effect.
The process also appeared to skip steps that required review by the Crook County Board of Commissioners. Under ORS 198.850, the petition to annex the Juniper Acres area was required to be filed with the county board after it was endorsed by the Alfalfa Fire District board, a step that did not happen, according to Crook County officials.
Both Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison and Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely confirmed in interviews with the Prineville Review that the signatures previously gathered are well beyond outdated under Oregon ballot timelines, meaning any future annexation effort would need to restart the petition process.
Given statutory deadlines, both Dennison and Seely had indicated it would be unlikely for a renewed annexation proposal to appear on the May primary ballot, despite earlier public statements suggesting that timeline.
The issue became a point of public controversy during a November 2025 Alfalfa Fire District meeting, where Chief LaVallee primarily attributed the problem to Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely. LaVallee has repeatedly suggested that county-level actions contributed to the situation.
However, in a later-deleted social media post, LaVallee acknowledged mistakes in his handling of the filings. The district subsequently initiated corrective measures intended to restore its official boundary map to its prior status earlier this year.
In February, LaVallee also made contradicting claims when questioned by citizens about the annexation process, stating the board decided to hold off on the annexation due to staffing constraints.
“The board decided to hold off on that annexation for now, given the constraints of the current staffing,” LaVallee said.
Seely also said the annexation process for special districts is highly technical and typically requires direct involvement from legal counsel to ensure compliance with Oregon law.
“It’s a complicated process, and really, really, you should have legal advice or an attorney helping you through that,” Seely said. “ORS Chapter 198 on annexation or formation of special districts is a complicated enough chapter, but then you have to get into the chapter that they form under… so it really is an attorney that can really help you through the process.”
Seely warned that failing to follow those steps — particularly without legal guidance — can derail the process entirely.
“There are a lot of timelines, a lot of hearing processes, a lot of steps, and they have to go in the right order,” Seely said. “You want to seek legal counsel… so you make sure that you do everything correctly so a step doesn’t get missed or… done incorrectly out of order, and then the whole thing falls apart on you.”
During a February 11th public meeting of the AFD Board, LaVallee stated that the district would continue providing fire protection services to Juniper Acres residents regardless of their formal inclusion within district boundaries.
LaVallee recently made contradictory statements in response to public questions, at times deflecting from the procedural deficiencies that halted the annexation. In public remarks in response to questions from concerned citizens, he has suggested the district’s board simply chose not to move forward with the annexation, despite the underlying legal issues preventing the process from advancing.
More recently, during an April 8th meeting of the Alfalfa Fire District Board, officials stated that affected Juniper Acres property owners are expected to begin receiving refunds for the illegally accessed taxes starting in May. According to district officials, the refund process could take several weeks to complete once it begins.
Neither the Alfalfa Fire District Board nor the original annexation petitioners have publicly detailed any renewed annexation strategy. Any such effort would require restarting the process and complying with Oregon’s boundary change and election requirements.
While Chief LaVallee had previously stated that the tax monies collected were being placed in an interest-bearing account, it was not clear whether the interest earned was being provided to the property owners or whether the district intended to keep those funds.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
