County: Feeding Laramie Valley inaccurately reported ARPA expenditures
Commissioners warn a civil suit could follow if the nonprofit fails to provide missing receipts and fix its reported totals. Separately, the commission accepted $181K for the sheriff's office.
The Albany County Commissioners continue to manage the federal money made available to local communities through the American Rescue Plan Act.
On Tuesday, the commissioners accepted a $181,000 award for the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and reprimanded the nonprofit Feeding Laramie Valley for inaccurate financial reporting.
The commissioners had awarded Feeding Laramie Valley more than $100,000 one year ago. But, according to an audit conducted by the county, the nonprofit has reported inaccurate totals, failed to provide receipts for almost $44,000 worth of expenditures and spent money outside of the grant’s allowable time frame.
Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Curran told the commissioners if this issue is not sorted out soon, it could have countywide ramifications.
“Their failure to provide the reporting we need affects our ability to report on the money we gave them — which is (from) a federal grant and potentially affects our federal grant status for the county as a whole,” she said.
Inaccurate totals, missing receipts at Feeding Laramie Valley
Feeding Laramie Valley is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on food security and food justice. It is perhaps best known for two programs with wide impacts across the community:
The SHARES Program, which provides some 500 people annually with free, locally-sourced produce and recipes — including 85 families who have that food delivered to their home.
The Kids Out ot Lunch Program, which provides free lunch and activities for children throughout the summer.
Last year, the organization requested $102,000 from the county’s pool of ARPA funding. In one meeting, the commissioners awarded $440,000 to government agencies and nonprofits like Feeding Laramie Valley to weather various hardships brought on by the pandemic. The Laramie Soup Kitchen, for example, received almost $70,000 to cover the increased need it saw during a time of skyrocketing inflation.
Curran said every other organization except Feeding Laramie Valley has filed the mandatory grant reporting in a proper manner.
“(But) what we’ve received from them is problematic,” Curran said. “For Feeding Laramie Valley, there are numerous deficiencies in the information that was received and in the reporting.”
The county initiated an audit when Feeding Laramie Valley missed a reporting deadline in January. Those reports came in two weeks after the deadline and one week after a reminder from the county — but the audit found numerous problems.
According to the audit, expenditure totals don’t match the receipts provided, the year-to-date totals are inaccurate, more than $44,000 in expenditures are wholly unaccounted for by the receipts, and some of the expenditures covered by ARPA funds were actually expenditures predating March 3, 2021 — which would violate the grant’s terms.
On this last point, there was some forewarning that Feeding Laramie Valley might be confused about the grant’s timeline. In the original grant proposal — prepared by Feeding Laramie Valley and approved by the Albany County Commissioners in February 2022 — the nonprofit details how it was hoping to use the requested $102,000.
Among those details were several expenditures explicitly dating back as far as April 2020. And despite the request describing funds outside of the grant’s allowable time frame, the commissioners awarded the full $102,000 requested.
But according to the county, this does not excuse the nonprofit.
“While FLV’s Letter of Intent Project Proposal did include references to dates prior to the defined expenditure start date of March 3, 2021, FLV’s inaccurate reading of both the Funding Agreement and Final Rule do not absolve it of its obligation to comply with both,” states the county’s letter to Feeding Laramie Valley.
Commissioner Terri Jones said this failure on the part of the nonprofit is not an isolated incident.
“I think this is establishing a pattern and I think we need to look long and hard at it,” she said.
The county’s letter outlines what the nonprofit needs to do to come into compliance. Those steps include:
Submitting a revised letter of intent and revised project budget
Submitting corrected, accurate reports, and
Submitting receipts “equivalent to claimed expenditures.”
Deputy Attorney Curran and County Grants Manager Bailey Quick told the commissioners that if these steps were not completed by the end of April, it could have disastrous consequences for the county — including its ability to receive and distribute any federal grants.
“We need to get this done or we’ll have to move to the next step, which is taking our money back,” Commission Chair Pete Gosar said.
If the remedial steps are not completed — and if the nonprofit fails to return the grant money — the county could bring a civil suit against Feeding Laramie Valley to get that money back.
Gosar said the whole affair was “disappointing.” The grants manager agreed.
“It’s frustrating because this is an organization that, to my knowledge, does receive federal funds on their own,” Quick said. “And we have organizations that we’ve funded through the ARPA that don’t receive any federal funds, but they still follow the rules.”
Mental health services for sheriff’s deputies, employees
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office will receive more than $181,000 to provide mental health services for its employees. The funding was made available through the Wyoming Legislature’s 2022 ARPA spending bill, which set aside $5 million for mental health efforts like this across the state.
That 2022 bill also set aside significant funds for municipality infrastructure and workforce training. These and other ARPA funds have supported numerous projects across the community.
The county sheriff’s newly awarded $181,000 will cover individual counseling and “incident debrief sessions” for first responders and law enforcement officers, according to commission documents.
There’s been a lot of talk about the intersection of mental health and police work. To be clear, this funding provides services for employees of the sheriff’s office. It does not touch broader issues of mental health care in jails or mental health calls for service.
“Sheriff, I appreciate your foresightedness and willingness to go after this grant,” Gosar said. “It’s really important.”