Audit sought of program at depot

INQUIRY TO SEE HOW MADISON IS SPENDING FEDERAL MONEY

By Peter Mathews
CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

RICHMOND - The state Division of Emergency Management has asked for a federal investigation into how Madison County is operating a program that protects the community from chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot.

Malcolm Franklin, director of the state's Division of Emergency Management, asked for the audit yesterday, two weeks after a former finance officer in the county's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) sued her ex-supervisor and the county fiscal court.

Tamatha Everard alleged she was fired after she told the state that Madison was misappropriating CSEPP funds. Everard said she discovered in the fall that the county bought a computer networking system with CSEPP money despite being told not to by the state.

Based on her conversations with former CSEPP employees and others, Everard said of the audit: "I think it's a seriously long time overdue."

Steve Popyach, who fired Everard, left CSEPP in December to head Madison County's Emergency Management Agency. He resigned last week, citing health reasons. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Madison Judge-Executive Kent Clark said he welcomed the investigation.

"We'll support whatever the state wants to do," he said. "If it means prosecutions, then that's what we'll do."

CSEPP, with a budget of about $1.5 million, is one of myriad agencies involved in protecting the community from chemical weapons at the depot. It uses federal funds administered through the state to enhance emergency preparedness.

In addition to investigating Everard's allegations, Franklin asked for an investigation into possible mismanagement of funds in the county's Shelter-in-Place program, and accounting reviews of two other public-safety programs.

"If there's a problem in the accounting system, we want to know," Franklin said.

Shelter-in-Place kits are cardboard boxes that contain plastic sheeting, duct tape, scissors and an instructional video. If chemical agent were to leak at the depot, residents would be told whether to evacuate or use the kits to create an airtight room.

The Richmond Register reported Sunday that officials cannot account for more than $15,000 paid to local vendors to distribute the kits.

Carlis Richards, who replaced Popyach at CSEPP, acknowledged yesterday that the accounting procedures in place when the kits were delivered, beginning about eight years ago, were inadequate.

For example, Richards said, vendors were paid $3 to deliver the kits and the same amount to recanvass a home to make sure a kit was in place. Some vendors kept inadequate records, so it appears that more kits have been delivered than the county ordered.

Richards said he has tightened procedures at the agency. Vendors now must differentiate between deliveries and recanvasses, and residents are now required to sign for kits, he said. He plans to interview both people who deliver kits and those who have received them.

Two other CSEPP programs will be audited:

n The distribution of emergency tone-alert radios to households. Residents near the depot are issued the radios, which cost several hundred dollars each, to warn them of emergencies at the depot.

n The collective protection/school bus project. Under the collective protection program, a ventilation and filtering system has been installed in some county buildings near the depot. It would be used to remove chemical agent after a leak. Some schools also have fleets of buses, separate from the district's regular buses, to be used solely for evacuations.

Richards and other Madison officials said they knew of no complaints involving these two programs. Franklin agreed and said they were included because both are major programs that, to his knowledge, have never been audited.

The audit would be performed by the inspector general's office at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.