Alfalfa, Ore. – The Alfalfa Fire District has now filed its long-overdue 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) with the Oregon Secretary of State, just days after reporting by the Prineville Review and our partners at KTVZ News 21 brought renewed attention to years of missing financial filings that had placed the district at risk of dissolution.
State records show the audit was approved by LaVallee on Nov. 18th, 2025, slightly more than a week after the Review first reported that the district had failed to submit required financial reports for multiple fiscal years — a failure that state officials warned could trigger dissolution proceedings under Oregon law.
Subsequent meeting minutes for a Dec. 10th public board meeting also failed to reflect any discussion or approval about the audit report, according to its own records.
However, the late filing has raised new questions about internal governance and oversight. Records reviewed by the Prineville Review do not show that the Alfalfa Fire District Board of Directors formally reviewed or approved the 2022 ACFR in a public meeting before it was submitted. Instead, the audit appears to have been approved and signed solely by Fire Chief Chad LaVallee. Board approval of annual audit reports is standard practice for Oregon local governments and typically occurs through a public vote.
As previously reported, the Oregon Secretary of State’s Audits Division notified the district in a June 9th, 2025 letter that it had failed to file annual financial reports for fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024. The letter warned that if the reports were not submitted by June 30th, the state would request that the Deschutes County Commission initiate dissolution proceedings under ORS 198.335 to 198.365.
That warning followed nearly identical notices sent in 2024 and 2022, covering earlier missing reports dating back to 2019, marking a recurring compliance issue requiring repeated intervention by state and county officials. After the district failed to meet the June deadline, the Audits Division formally referred the matter to Deschutes County commissioners in August.
Despite claims by district leadership that the audit issues were isolated or overstated, state records show a clear and repeated pattern. In recent years, the Alfalfa Fire District has been flagged by state officials at least three separate times for failing to submit required audit reports on time. While the district has ultimately filed reports just in time to avoid formal dissolution proceedings, it has never fully caught up. Records indicate the district has consistently failed to submit its annual financial reports within six months of the close of each fiscal year, resulting in rolling noncompliance rather than a one-time lapse.
County legal counsel David Doyle subsequently warned Chief LaVallee that continued noncompliance could compel the county to dissolve the district, writing, “This is a serious matter and requires your immediate attention.”
In response, LaVallee and Board Chair Nate Starr attributed the delays to Accuity CPAs, the district’s contracted auditor, and said they were working to catch up on back filings. Prior to publication of the Prineville Review’s original story, LaVallee also downplayed the risk of dissolution, stating that such action was uncommon if a district was “actively working” toward compliance.
Shortly before the audit was filed, the district held a contentious Nov. 12th public meeting, during which LaVallee and Starr sharply criticized the Prineville Review and KTVZ for their coverage of the audit issues. During the meeting, some of the district’s leadership alleged that the reporting was inaccurate but did not specify what information was incorrect. Instead, their criticism focused largely on what they described as the media’s failure to report positive developments about the district.
LaVallee and others objected to the characterization that LaVallee had “downplayed” the severity of the audit issue, despite earlier statements and correspondence showing that state officials had informed Deschutes County that dissolution would need to proceed absent compliance.
At the same meeting, LaVallee stated he would not provide certain public records when we asked, specifically, email communications between the Alfalfa Fire District and Accuity CPAs related to the audit delays. LaVallee showed part of a single email exchanged with Accuity in response to questioning regarding the audit failures.
The Prineville Review submitted a formal public records request shortly after the Nov. 12th meeting seeking those communications. Our request was submitted last month. Shortly after receiving the request, LaVallee responded that processing would be delayed due to a sudden “vacation” lasting approximately three weeks and issued a fee estimate approaching $1,200, primarily for email correspondence with Accuity and routine bank account statements.
Several other items requested, including the district’s public records policy, involved single, de minimis documents. Some of those materials were later provided, but the bulk of the request remains pending.
The audit filing comes as proponents continue pushing to expand the Alfalfa Fire District’s boundaries farther east into Crook County to include the rural Juniper Acres area, a move critics argue should not proceed while longstanding financial compliance and governance questions remain unresolved.
Despite repeated lapses, state officials have consistently emphasized that their primary goal is compliance rather than dissolution. “My primary interest is in helping the district comply so it can focus on the critical services provided to its residents,” Municipal Audit Manager Amy John wrote in both 2024 and 2025 correspondence.
It is not yet clear when the AFD will be submitting its already-late 2023 and 2024 reports. Its 2025 report was due by the end of last year. The lack of filing means the AFD is still subject to enforcement by state officials, and it would again have three late reports, making it subject to dissolution proceedings by the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners.
It was also discovered during the Nov. 13th meeting that residents in Juniper Acres were improperly taxed as if they had been annexed, an issue which reportedly was caused by filings submitted by the AFD and LaVallee to the Department of Revenue, but which it blamed on others, namely the Crook County Clerk. The AFD has had to retain legal counsel to handle the issue and work to return the improperly collected tax funds.
The AFD Board also voted to move and allocate thousands of dollars days later during a special Nov. 18th meeting to cover “legal expenses”. The Prineville Review is digging deeper into the taxing issues and will have a more in-depth report next month.
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.
 with the Oregon Secretary of State, just days after reporting by the Prineville Review and our partners at KTVZ News 21 brought renewed attention to years of missing financial filings that had placed the district at risk of dissolution.){kind=link}