Alfalfa, Ore. — Alfalfa Fire District officials acknowledged Wednesday night they still do not have access to critical banking records needed to determine what happened to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal grant funding, while new questions emerged over former Fire Chief Chad LaVallee’s continuing role with the district more than two months after his resignation.
District legal counsel Jered Reid spent much of the opening portion of the packed meeting outlining financial problems he said he only recently began looking into.
Among them was an approximately $165,000 bill for self-contained breathing apparatus equipment supplied by MES/SeaWestern — equipment the district previously said was purchased after receiving a federal FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant intended to fund the purchase.
“The actual amount that is owed to this particular company is $165,000,” Reid told the board.
Of that amount, $119,765 is now due, with another roughly $45,000 remaining.
But Reid said the expenditure was never properly incorporated into the district’s current budget.
“I was under the impression that the [$120,000] would be paid during the fiscal year,” Reid said, explaining why the current budget assumed only about $50,000 in cash on hand despite the district actually having closer to $170,000 at the time.
Reid said he also didn’t know another approximately $45,000 would remain owed after the initial payment — an additional obligation the Prineville Review uncovered and reported earlier this month after digging into the questionable invoice and speaking with MES / SeaWestern.
“So that’s where we’re at with that particular invoice,” Reid said.
The district will now need to conduct a supplemental budget process and public hearing before making the expenditure.
Reid also confirmed he has now been in contact with MES / SeaWestern.
Where is the original $165,000 provided by FEMA?
The more significant issue quickly became not simply how the district would pay the bill — but what happened to the federal grant money that was supposed to pay for it in the first place.
Board member Robert Kathman — a past board member who was recently appointed to fill one of two vacancies following recent resignations — repeatedly pressed that question.
“If that 165 [thousand] was available, why do we have to wait until this year’s budget cycle tax income to pay the balance?” Kathman asked.
“The question still remains for me: Where is the original 165 [thousand], and why wasn’t it used to pay the bill?”
Reid acknowledged he could not answer.
“That’s a good question,” Reid responded. “Again, I haven’t had an opportunity to review any bank records.”
Reid said the lack of records was one reason an internal investigation may now be warranted.
“That’s also why earlier I stated that, you know, an internal investigation is probably important or advisable,” Reid said.
Kathman returned to the issue moments later.
“But still, the bottom line is, you know, we were given — supposedly given — 165 [thousand], and we need to know where that 165 [thousand] is, right?” Kathman said. “Because it should have paid for these without question.”
The other newly appointed board member, Melody Holiday, echoed the concern.
“Where our monies have gone is basically what we need to know,” Holiday said. “We don’t have that 165 [thousand] sitting in our bank account, so we need to know where it went.”
The revelation that Reid had not been able to obtain or review any bank records was additionally striking, considering that directors Laucks, Chase, and Piggott all received copies of monthly bank statements through the year, including at meetings Reid even attended in early June.
Reid had reported the district had approximately $157,546 in its primary account as of Aug. 31st.
If the district paid the $119,765 SeaWestern invoice and other bills, he estimated the district would be left with roughly $32,588.
“That gives a summary of where you’re at financially,” Reid said.
Then Prineville Review and our media partners at KTVZ News also reported last week on the investigation into LaVallee’s claims of having 16 years in the fire service and 9 years as a fire chief, which were disputed by statements from another agency and DPSST records. You can read that full report here or at KTVZ.com
Alfalfa’s attorney and board still trying to gain access to bank records
Reid repeatedly stressed that he has not yet been able to conduct the kind of financial review now being demanded by residents.
“A lot of things that we’re talking about today, a lot of things that happened on September 2nd that I’ve sort of researched, is above the purview of what I was originally retained to help with this district,” Reid said.
He noted that he was originally retained to address litigation, public meetings issues and public records matters.
“I never was, you know, authorized to do any sort of financial auditing or review or anything of that nature,” Reid said. “So I’ve never done that.”
But those financial questions have increasingly fallen to Alfalfa’s attorney as the district attempts to determine its actual financial condition.
Reid said he is now attempting to obtain access to the district’s bank accounts.
“I haven’t really had an opportunity to review any sort of bank accounts to be able to do any sort of auditing or reporting in regards to whatever findings I may have,” Reid said.
“I am working to get access to those bank accounts.”
Reid said a banking resolution approved in early August was provided to the bank in an effort to update online access.
“I’m hoping to get [that] done soon, so that I would have the ability to get accessible PDFs,” Reid said.
The unanswered questions are not limited to the district’s primary operating account.
While discussing the nearly $295,000 Oregon State Fire Marshal capacity grant, Reid pointed to August 2023 meeting minutes reporting a separate “grant account” that at the time contained $196,404.88.
But Reid said he has not yet been able to review the underlying banking records himself. Those records, he said, would also allow the district to fulfill pending public records requests and potentially publish financial statements online.
The Prineville Review and KTVZ News are among those still waiting. The publication previously sought the district’s 2026 bank records, which Reid had initially said would be provided by Sept. 8th before later advising that deadline could not be met.
The Prineville Review currently has a pending lawsuit with the district over its efforts through an earlier records request to obtain bank statements from years prior to 2026.
State Fire Marshal grant raises second major question
The FEMA grant is not the only substantial amount of government money the district is now trying to account for. Reid also addressed a separate three-year Oregon State Fire Marshal capacity grant that originally totaled $294,594.
That grant funded the employment of LaVallee’s wife, Leslie LaVallee.
Reid said minutes from August 2023 showed a grant account balance at the time of $196,404.88. But again, he said he cannot presently determine how much money remains.
“I’m uncertain on how much money, if any, is left within the grant,” Reid said.
A first-year report submitted to the Oregon State Fire Marshal showed $102,650 had been expended, according to Reid. Reports for years two and three have not yet been filed.
“There are payroll records that will need to be verified against the grant and reported to the Oregon State Fire Marshal prior to December 31st, 2026,” Reid said.
Reid said he wants those reports presented publicly to the board before being submitted to the state.
“Those reports are public records, so there’s no reason to not have them presented,” he said.
The grant originally expired May 31st, 2026, but an amendment extended it through Dec. 31st. Any unused funds would need to be returned by Jan. 31st, 2027, Reid later clarified.
A Prineville Review review of district meeting minutes found no apparent subsequent financial reports from then-Chief Chad LaVallee identifying the balance of that separate capacity grant bank account or regularly reporting to the board how much remained in it.
That leaves current officials attempting to reconstruct nearly three years later what happened to money that district records show was being maintained separately from its general operating funds.
Budget Committee member calls for forensic audit
The financial revelations immediately drew concern from members of the public, as countless attendees took turns addressing the board.
Sarah Linden, a member of the Alfalfa Fire District Budget Committee, pointed to both the current budget and unresolved FEMA grant questions before calling for an independent forensic financial audit.
“I think the larger question is where did this money go?” Linden said.
“I think we’ve reached the point where I believe we need an independent forensic financial audit necessary for the department.”
Linden said the review should be conducted by someone with no previous involvement in the district’s finances.
“I’m not accusing anyone of wrongdoing, but I am asking all of you as members of the board for where the money went,” Linden said.
“This is a substantial amount of public funds that has been entrusted to the board, and I think that it’s our obligation to the community to figure out where it went.”
Linden specifically asked the board to consider “a forensic financial audit for the district.”
“Independently,” she emphasized.
‘This is not a small deal’
John Brooks, a former district board member who said he has been reviewing a wave of public records from other state agencies that offer insight into the district’s finances, followed Linden with his own concerns.
Brooks said he had reviewed what records he could obtain from the Oregon State Fire Marshal involving the capacity grant. He estimated from those records that another approximately $165,000 could remain to be accounted for which would ultimately be required to be returned to the state.
Brooks then turned to the FEMA grant.
“The FEMA grant was $165,000, and we received that money in December,” Brooks said. “Why it didn’t go to pay for the SCBA equipment is a huge problem.”
He said the combined questions involving both grants warranted far more scrutiny than ordinary annual financial reporting.
“If there’s $165,000 we can’t account for from the state grant, and if there’s $165,000 we can’t account for from the federal grant, we’re talking federal money, so this is not a small deal,” Brooks said.
“I am exactly with Sarah [Linden]. Something is wrong with the accounts, and they need to be — we need to have a real audit from a real auditor.”
Brooks also distinguished the financial work already being completed for the district from what residents were asking the board to undertake.
“Your Acuity account, if you read their contract, they’re not doing an audit,” Brooks said. “They’re doing a report to the state.”
“We need a real audit, real account,” Brooks continued. “We need to figure out where that money went.”
He also questioned whether the district should even continue discussing hiring a new fire chief until its financial position is understood.
“If we don’t, there’s no reason to be talking about hiring a chief or doing anything else,” Brooks said. “We just don’t have the money to pay for a chief.”
Reid then clarified the exact state grant amount and deadlines for Brooks and the public.
“It was $294,594,” Reid said.
The grant originally expired May 31st before being extended through Dec. 31st, Reid said, with unused money required to be returned by Jan. 31st.
That extension was due to a grant contract amendment that LaVallee was found to have executed with the OSFM without board approval, and the previous board appears to have never spoken about the extension.
‘Who’s going to file that report with FEMA?’
The conversation became even more serious as attendees discussed what might happen if the grant money ultimately cannot be accounted for.
Gary Hughes, another past board member, described tracing several years of transactions as potentially becoming “a real game of cat and mouse to try to find out where that money went in small amounts.”
Hughes also explained that even if any SCBA equipment could be returned, it would only shift the liability for the district from the private company that provided the equipment back to FEMA, which provided the funds only to purchase the equipment.
Linden then raised the prospect of reporting under what is commonly known as federal fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) involving federal money.
“There’s something called waste and abuse with federal money,” Linden said. “Who’s going to file that report from the board with FEMA?”
Kathman urged caution.
“We got to be able to prove it, or we got to look into it, find it first,” he responded.
“Right. Well, the money’s not there,” Linden said.
“Well, we don’t know at this point,” Kathman replied.
Kathman noted that two current directors are new to the board and that others who might have additional information were not present.
“I’m not going to cast aspersions,” Kathman said. “There could be an answer out there, but we aren’t aware of it at this setting, and that’s what we need to find out.”
He even questioned whether another account containing some of the money could exist.
“Is there a separate account out there that we don’t know about?” Kathman asked. “I don’t know.”
No evidence was presented Wednesday establishing that grant money was stolen, embezzled or otherwise criminally misused.
Instead, Reid and current directors repeatedly acknowledged that they presently lack the records necessary to determine exactly what happened and that starting an internal investigation was advised.
It was not immediately clear what cooperation, if any, was being provided by LaVallee.
Financial questions could delay hiring new chief
The uncertainty is already affecting other district business.
Kathman has repeatedly questioned whether the district should move ahead with hiring another chief until directors know what money is actually available.
“I’d feel more comfortable knowing where the money is before we start hiring people,” Kathman said later in the meeting.
“I also don’t want to pay for a chief that I can’t pay for.”
The board ultimately delayed moving forward with the process for at least another month.
LaVallee’s suspended email raises new questions about his status
The confusion over district finances comes alongside continuing uncertainty about LaVallee’s status with the district.
Before Wednesday’s meeting began, Reid revealed while attempting to resolve problems with the district’s Zoom access that LaVallee’s district Google Workspace email account had been suspended.
The problem was more than cosmetic.
The district’s Zoom account had been tied to LaVallee’s email address, leaving officials unable to access the normal login necessary to provide remote access to Wednesday’s meeting. Officials attempted to establish another Zoom connection, but it had no way to publish it.
The Prineville Review provided a courtesy post of the new meeting link, but the new account that was not on a paid plan was limited to the first 40 minutes before it shut down Wednesday night, and many attempting to reportedly attend remotely were not easily able to be informed of the alternative link.
The board facilitated an audio recording, which was promptly provided to the Prineville Review last night. The disclosure that LaVallee’s district email access had been suspended also raised a larger question during the meeting: What exactly is LaVallee’s current status with Alfalfa Fire?
LaVallee resigned as fire chief effective June 30th.
Yet the Prineville Review recently confirmed with MES/SeaWestern that the company’s communications involving the approximately $165,000 SCBA purchase continued through LaVallee as recently as late August. According to the company, it was LaVallee who asked that the approximately $165,000 outstanding balance be split into separate invoices and represented that the $119,765 portion would be paid almost immediately.
Acting board chair Mark Laucks also referred to LaVallee during an August meeting as the district’s “Training Director,” despite no apparent public vote by the board appointing him to that position.
The Prineville Review asked directors Wednesday whether LaVallee currently remains a volunteer, is actually the district’s training director, or otherwise continues to possess authority to communicate or act on behalf of the district.
Kathman acknowledged the board itself is still trying to determine the answer.
“Good question,” Kathman said.
“We’re struggling to find those answers ourselves, especially for the newer members that just joined this board.”
The Prineville Review also asked directors whether they knew LaVallee had signed the amendment extending the OSFM capacity grant earlier this year. Multiple directors indicated they did not.
“That was unknown to me,” Kathman said.
Directors Chase and Holiday also said they were not aware of it.
The Prineville Review also discovered that LaVallee signed both an OSFM wildfire staffing grant and a capacity staffing grant in early and mid-May 2023, respectively. The capacity grant was used to employ his wife in mid-May 2023, but it was not even approved by the board until June of that year.
The wildfire staffing grant was also later used in 2025 to provide overtime compensation to LaVallee’s wife.
OSFM officials pointed to the grant’s contract language, which required LaVallee to obtain the board’s approval before executing the contract. “This Agreement has been authorized by an ordinance, order or resolution of Recipient’s governing body,” the contract stated.
Those questions now overlap directly with the district’s financial problems.
The district now is trying to determine what happened to federal grant money intended to pay approximately $165,000 for equipment that remains unpaid; how much remains from a nearly $295,000 state grant associated with paying LaVallee’s wife; and what authority LaVallee continued to exercise after resigning as chief.
And according to Alfalfa’s own legal counsel Wednesday night, the records needed to answer many of those questions remain beyond his immediate reach.
“Again, I haven’t had an opportunity to review any bank records,” Reid acknowledged when Kathman asked where the federal grant money went.
For now, even the district itself appears to still be trying to determine where the money went — and who remained in control after LaVallee left.
Continued use of district vehicle by LaVallee family draws scrutiny
Residents also pressed the board over a district-owned pickup that has remained at the LaVallee residence since former Chief Chad LaVallee resigned June 30th.
Whitney Griffin said the issue had repeatedly gone unresolved and questioned why the vehicle had not been returned.
“It’s just a repeat question because it’s never been answered. It’s never been fixed or resolved,” Griffin said. “I’m just kind of wondering how come the vehicle hasn’t been returned, especially if Chad is not affiliated with the Alfalfa Fire District.”
Griffin also questioned whether the board had ever voted to authorize the continued use of the vehicle following LaVallee’s resignation.
Kathman said the explanation he had received from acting board chair Mark Laucks was that LaVallee’s wife, Leslie, remained a volunteer and continued responding to medical calls.
“The explanation I got, and I don’t know if this is accurate, Mark said that his wife is still responding to medical calls,” Kathman said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
That explanation did little to settle the issue among those in the room.
Ken Aldrich forcefully called on the board to retrieve the vehicle, at one point telling directors, “So get it back.”
“He should not have that truck,” Aldrich said.
Brooks argued that it was the medical equipment carried in the vehicle — not the pickup itself — that was necessary for responding to emergencies and that the equipment could be transported in another vehicle.
Aldrich again demanded the truck be returned to district property.
“The other board members were here when Mark said the reason why Chad has that truck — he’s still a volunteer. That’s what was said in the meeting,” Aldrich said. “So that truck needs to come back here, parked here, not there at their house. … So get the truck back.”
Hughes and several others in the room could also be heard echoing calls for the vehicle to be returned, including Director Chase.
“Whoever’s on call should be driving the truck, and then it comes back here, and it gets transferred to whoever else is on call,” another speaker remarked.
A volunteer firefighter in attendance defended the arrangement, however, pointing out that Leslie LaVallee remained the district’s only firefighter-EMT and saying she had recently been first on scene at a cardiac emergency where her access to the equipment proved critical.
He initially claimed there was no misuse of the vehicle in defending the LaVallees, which several attendees swiftly rebuked by citing photos or their own observations of previous alleged vehicle misuse over the years.
Concerns about possible personal use of the district vehicle were also not new. Griffin initially raised allegations about the vehicle and provided evidence to the board during its May 13th budget meeting, while LaVallee was still serving as chief. Those photos reportedly documented instances of the LaVallees repeatedly using the district’s emergency vehicles to transport their children to and from school in Bend from Alfalfa every day.
Griffin renewed those allegations Wednesday, saying her primary concern remained what she described as evidence of personal use of the district vehicle.
“They’re misusing the vehicle. That’s my number one concern,” Griffin said. “I have evidence.”
Aldrich could then be heard referencing photographs of the vehicle being used to take children to school.
Residents remain hopeful district can recover
Despite the serious concerns raised throughout the meeting, much of the sentiment from the nearly two dozen people in attendance remained notably optimistic about Alfalfa Fire’s future.
Several residents said they believed the district’s problems could still be corrected if the board takes appropriate action, gets its finances and records in order, restores accountability and accepts help from community members willing to provide it.
“I don’t think there are any issues in front of the district right now that cannot be solved,” John Brooks said. “It’s a pretty deep hole, and it’s not going to be very much fun.”
But Brooks said the district still has something important to build from.
“We can fix this, and we can get this thing back,” he said. “At least we’re starting with a fire station, and we’re starting with trucks, and we have the property.”
Kathman himself repeatedly expressed confidence that the district could recover with help from the community.
“I think we’ve got a pretty deep hole to dig out of, but I think it can be done,” Kathman said. “There’s enough people that I see in this room now and earlier that have an interest in helping. It’s a big job, but I think it’s doable. I can’t see giving it up here.”
Several people in the room responded with a “hear, hear,” signaling their agreement with Kathman’s assessment.
Director Carolyn Chase followed by saying the district simply needed more volunteers, including people willing to help with administrative work. That suggestion appeared to find a receptive audience, with several residents throughout the meeting offering their experience and assistance as the district works to get back on stable footing.
Margot Barren, who was involved in the district’s earlier formation, echoed that sentiment, saying the community should learn from what happened rather than dismantle what residents spent years building.
“We ran into some bad moments, but you know, we’re just simple folk,” Barren said. “We just want the best for this community.”
“I want to thank everybody that’s here,” said another resident.
The atmosphere throughout Wednesday’s meeting was also noticeably lighter than several recent Alfalfa Fire meetings, particularly in the interactions between directors and those in attendance. Several residents attributed the difference to Kathman presiding over the meeting and the absence of acting board chair Mark Laucks.
For many in the room Wednesday, the message from the public appeared clear: Alfalfa Fire can still recover, but doing so will require the board to confront the district’s problems, determine what happened, restore public trust and move forward with greater transparency and accountability.
For our full review of reporting on the Alfalfa Fire District as part of our series “UNDER FIRE”, click here.
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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.
