No word on when EPA review of use of grant funds will end

An Environmental Protection Agency review into the disbursement of grant funds the Lincoln County Commission requested in May 2016 continues, with no word on when it might end.

“Unfortunately, we’re still unable to comment,” Kentia Elbaum, a spokesperson with the EPA’s Office of Inspector General, said via email.

The evaluation began after the agency received a letter dated May 18, 2016 and signed by the Lincoln County Commission, comprised then of Mike Cole, Greg Larson and Mark Peck. The commissioners asked the agency for guidance after learning that R. Allen Payne and his legal firm, Doney Crowley Bloomquist Payne UDA, had received payments from the cooperative agreement between the agency and the City-County Board of Health.

Those disbursements, county officials had discovered, were against federal grant funding regulations.

Payments to the county through the agreement, which supports the administrative and educational activities of the Libby Asbestos Resource Program, were put on hold in September 2016 as a result of the review.

The renewal of the agreement, in place since April 2012, was also delayed for months in 2017. When a new agreement was finally reached in the fall, it was made between the EPA and Lincoln County.

“The EPA was more comfortable having that cooperative agreement directly with Lincoln County as they are the entity that’s financially responsible,” Nick Raines, the program manager at the time, said in October. The roughly $914,000 grant will fund the program until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, the City-County Board of Health has been contending with the ongoing review of the previous agreement. For the last three times the board has met — in October, November and January — the board has closed the meeting to the public at the end to discuss what meeting agendas refer to as an “Update on EPA’s Request for Additional Information.”

That part of the meeting has been closed due to attorney-client privilege, explained Jinnifer Mariman, the board’s legal advisor, who has said she is unable to comment on the discussions.

“Unfortunately, we do not have a timeframe from the EPA as to the timing of any final determination they will make on this matter,” Mariman said via email. “In the interim, we continue to promptly cooperate with their requests for information. Once we are able to share more information, we will let you know.”