PORT ANGELES — The state Auditor’s Office is investigating a compliant filed against the city of Port Angeles.
The anonymous complaint asserts potential conflicts of interests and issues regarding contracts and travel expenses, according to an e-mail to the city from Kim Hurley, manager of special investigations for the Auditor’s Office.
Hurley, in the November e-mail, requested documents regarding a slew of topics, including some recent major construction projects.
They are:
• Contracts with Exeltech Consulting Inc.
• Contracts for construction of the Eighth Street bridges and Dry Creek bridge.
• Acquisition of property for The Gateway transit center.
• Travel expenses for former Mayor Karen Rogers and former City Manager Mark Madsen.
• Payments to Fred Hill Materials, The Remediators Inc., Capacity Provisioning Inc., Clallam Business Incubator and Advanced Composite Technologies Inc.
City Manager Kent Myers said two Auditor’s Office employees retrieved documents from City Hall on Dec. 13 in response to the complaint.
Hurley’s e-mail didn’t say specifically what the complaint alleges.
Mindy Chambers, Auditor’s Office spokeswoman, said she could not comment until the investigation is completed.
Myers said he has no “idea what the basis of it is.”
“I think that our records are in order,” he added.
Rogers, who sat on the City Council from 2002 to 2010 and was mayor in 2006 and 2007, referred to the complaint in a written statement as being based on “unfounded allegations.”
“The state auditor spends hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money on these anonymous allegations,” she wrote.
“This latest anonymous allegation is another of these types of unfounded allegations.”
Rogers also wrote that she would be “more than happy” to meet with the person who filed the complaint to discuss his or her concerns.
Exeltech, one of the companies named in the complaint, announced in April that it had hired Rogers to oversee its regional business-development efforts.
The former mayor also has been a consultant for Fred Hill Materials and served on Clallam Business Incubator’s board. It’s unknown if her ties with the two companies or the Clallam Business Incubator were mentioned in the complaint.
Exeltech has been awarded about $5.8 million in contracts from the city over approximately eight years.
The Lacey-based company managed the construction of the Eighth Street bridges and The Gateway transit center and, most recently, designed the pedestrian bridge being built over Dry Creek.
In February, that design contract came under fire from some City Council members who felt $164,800, about 25 percent of the project’s $673,100 total budget, was too high.
Glenn Cutler, the city’s public works and utilities director, admitted then that the design portion contract was a bit higher than usual but said that Exeltech was the most qualified of the three companies interviewed for the job.
Madsen resigned in 2008 after more than three years as city manager.
CPI is a Port Angeles company that built and operates a fiber optic network in the city.
The Port Angeles City Council approved a seven-year use agreement with CPI on April 6. It cut the city’s monthly bill from $5,679 to $5,045 before tax.
Clallam Business Incubator is a private nonprofit organization that assists entrepreneurs. The city has helped fund the organization, which is floundering. City Manager Kent Myers serves on the board.
The Remediators is a Port Angeles company that uses fungi to clean contaminated property. It was an incubator project.
ACTI is an aerospace company in Port Angeles.
Mayor Dan Di Guilio said he was told about a month ago that a complaint was filed.
He said he knew it involved contracts for The Gateway and construction of the Eighth Street bridges but didn’t have any more information.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
