Tons of rubble from the Marshall fire sat under a new round of snow Monday as county officials and lawyers traded blame for the fact that debris from the Dec. 30 wildfire may not be hauled away until at least mid-March and maybe even as far out as April. A hearing to decide whether a lawsuit filed by a watchdog group will move forward has been set for 11 a.m. March 18.

The organization Demanding Integrity in Government Spending, which was founded in January by former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, has accused Boulder County Commissioners and a Public Works Committee of violating open meetings laws when it selected a contractor to haul off tons of debris from the state’s most destructive wildfire.

“The delay thus far is directly attributable to the county,” said DIGS attorney Chad Williams, of the Denver law firm Davis Graham and Stubbs. “It highlights the need for public involvement in this process. It shouldn’t have taken this long.”  

Meanwhile, a county attorney revealed Monday that the $52 million contract awarded to DRC Emergency Services last month has not yet been finalized.

“The county is in negotiations with the winning bidder. That is the current status,” David Hughes, Boulder’s deputy county attorney, said during a 35-minute virtual hearing in Boulder County Court.

In a statement, Boulder County said part of the holdup is that the contract with DRC is complex and in order to begin, an intergovernmental agreement between Louisville and Superior must be in place, adding, “We remain hopeful the project will be completed roughly in the timeframe originally anticipated.”

DRC President John Sullivan, who is keeping tabs on the high-stakes drama from a company office in Galveston, Texas, told The Denver Gazette: “We are ready to start now.”

DRC has already completed its first phase of the project, clearing rights of way of charred cars, furniture and concrete. It has been the on-call debris cleanup company for Boulder County since 2017.

Last month, Boulder County announced that the Debris Removal Program would commence hauling stuff away on March 1, promising the job would be complete by July 1 to open the way for homeowners to rebuild. If delays continue to pile up, rebuilding may not begin until August, which is of concern to homeowners who want to start construction on their new homes before the chilly winter months hit.

As of Friday, 3,222 private and commercial properties have applied to FEMA for disaster assistance, FEMA spokesman Anthony Mayne said. Out of impatience to rebuild, some of those residents may decide to start hauling off their charred belongings on their own. If they do, FEMA’s Public Assistance Program will not reimburse them.

“This is due to the legal responsibility, cost reasonableness, and procurement requirements,” Mayne told The Denver Gazette in an email.

Legal disputes over the disaster cleanup contract include the DIGS lawsuit and two protests to the award by companies that were not chosen for the job. Eleven disaster relief companies competed for the job with just two, DRC and ECC, advancing to the final round of consideration. Brown believes that once the work is complete, the contract could be worth upward of $100 million.

Judge Stephen Howard is aware of the stakes involved, noting that he didn’t want for the case to be politicized. As he set the next court hearing, he said he wanted to “get this thing resolved as quickly as we can.”