Company stiffed $165K for equipment ordered by former Alfalfa Fire Chief Chad LaVallee, despite receiving a FEMA grant to pay for it

Editor's Note: The Prineville Review is a content partner with KTVZ News through the Oregon Journalism Project

By: Justin Alderman

Alfalfa, Ore. (Prineville Review) — A company that supplied the Alfalfa Fire District with approximately $165,000 in new breathing equipment to protect firefighters says it has not been paid anything for the purchase more than half a year after the district publicly celebrated receiving the equipment that its former chief Chad LaVallee claimed was paid for through a federal FEMA grant.

The Prineville Review also learned Thursday that a $119,765 invoice Board Member Mark Laucks pushed to have urgently paid during the district’s Sept. 2nd meeting is actually part of the much older approximately $165,000 purchase order placed by LaVallee last year.

The vendor, MES/SeaWestern, confirmed the purchase order from LaVallee was from Dec. 8th, 2025.

The $119,765 invoice itself was only created around Aug. 25th after LaVallee recently asked the company to split the older, approximately $165,000 balance into two invoices, according to a company official.

LaVallee reportedly told the company in recent weeks the approximately $120,000 portion would be paid “immediately,” while the remaining portion would be paid around October of this year.

“They haven’t made any payments on this grant order,” the company official told the Prineville Review.

The exact amount of the second split invoice is not presently known, although MES/SeaWestern confirmed the total order remains approximately $165,000.

The $119,765 amount was also not revealed by Laucks when he pushed the board to take action Sept. 2nd. Instead, Laucks spoke generally about the need to pay the invoice and pressed the board to approve it before its next meeting, but the board declined after its attorney questioned the process.

It was not until Thursday, after the district released the agenda packet for its upcoming Sept. 9th meeting, that it was discovered the invoice was for $119,765.

The Sept. 9th agenda now lists “Approval of invoice from SeaWestern for SCBA packs” under old business.

LaVallee was also recently revealed by Laucks during the district’s August board meeting to be serving as the district’s head “Training Director” despite resigning as the paid fire chief effective June 30th. The Prineville Review questioned board members Wednesday about LaVallee’s apparent appointment to that role by Laucks, including the fact that the appointment does not appear to have been made by the board itself.

LaVallee’s continued involvement with the district also comes as the former chief remains under significant outside scrutiny. He is the subject of an ongoing Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation involving allegations surrounding his hiring and supervision of his wife and related district payments. He and other district officials are still under an active Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division investigation into potential election-law violations.

The district itself has faced years of delinquent financial audits and other questions surrounding its governance and handling of public funds, while separate state grant funding has also come under scrutiny.

The OGEC rejected opening a formal investigation into a separate complaint following a preliminary review last month, a complaint filed by this reporter.

It was not part of OGEC’s separate ethics investigation into nepotism and misuse of office. That investigation is set to conclude and be brought before the OGEC’s commissioners later this year and was opened in May following the preliminary review phase.

It stemmed from a complaint filed by an Alfalfa resident earlier this year.

Invoices stem from a December 2025 purchase order

While the invoice in the upcoming board packet carries an August date, MES/SeaWestern confirmed the underlying purchase and original invoicing is much older. Company records show LaVallee placed the order on Dec. 8th, 2025.

“We’ve definitely been trying to invoice it for some time,” the company official said.

The official said some initial invoicing was delayed as SeaWestern underwent a corporate acquisition, while equipment and services associated with the order were being delivered.

But the approximately $165,000 balance was not divided until around Aug. 25th.

The official specifically confirmed that the invoice date was only due to the recent split of the invoice at the request of Chad LaVallee, although he is no longer the district’s fire chief and reportedly holds no authority over the district’s accounts and purchasing.

“The date on that $120,000 is the date we split it because Chad LaVallee had asked us to split it.”

The official confirmed the split occurred then, about a week ago, as their efforts to collect payment increased.

LaVallee had already resigned as fire chief effective June 30th.

According to MES/SeaWestern, however, collection communications continued through LaVallee, including through his district email account and by phone.

The company official said it had struggled to get responses elsewhere at the district.

“We’ve been trying to reach out and trying to reach out,” he said.

The official described LaVallee as essentially acting as a “middleman” between the company and the district’s board of directors.

At least one recent response from LaVallee resulted directly in the company splitting the invoice.

“We did get a response, which is why we split the invoice in the first place,” the official said.

The Prineville Review has yet to obtain a copy of the earlier combined invoice, or the approximately $45,000 purported invoice after the split into two. We also have not obtained a copy of LaVallee’s purchase order sent to MES/SeaWestern.

We submitted our latest Oregon public records request to the district seeking these documents and email communications between AFD and MES/SeaWestern.

LaVallee said the $119,765 would be paid by the board immediately

MES/SeaWestern says LaVallee did more than simply respond to collection inquiries.

The official said LaVallee represented that the district could not afford to pay the full approximately $165,000 at once because of its budget. Instead, he asked that the balance be split.

When the split invoices were issued, LaVallee reportedly said the larger of the two would be paid immediately.

“No, when we sent that to him, he had told us that he would have that paid immediately,” the official said.

The remaining portion was reportedly expected to be paid around October.

As of Thursday, MES/SeaWestern says it has still received nothing.

Laucks pushed payment days later

Only days after the invoice was split at LaVallee’s request, Laucks sought to have the board approve payment during its Sept. 2nd meeting.

The matter was not listed on the agenda for board action, and Laucks did not disclose during the meeting that the invoice was for $119,765.

He also did not explain that it was part of a purchase dating back to December 2025, or that MES/SeaWestern had already been trying to collect on the obligation.

Instead, Laucks pushed for the payment to be handled before the district’s next regular meeting. The district’s legal counsel, Jered Reid, advised against taking action and said that the district should address it at the next properly noticed meeting. The issue is now scheduled for the Sept. 9th meeting.

The last-minute, unnoticed approach by Laucks was an oddly similar style to past practices by LaVallee himself in bringing unnoticed resolutions before the board for approval, a practice that continued even despite the district’s increasing controversy this last year, although other former insiders say the practice had become less common.

The timing also comes after Laucks directly denied to the Prineville Review following the Sept. 2nd meeting that he had not communicated with LaVallee about any official Alfalfa Fire District business for more than two months.

But MES/SeaWestern’s account leaves questions over how LaVallee knew what the district could supposedly pay and why he told the company $119,765 would be paid immediately, only for Laucks to press the board days later to approve payment of that same invoice.

District touted $165,000 FEMA-funded equipment in January

The district publicly celebrated receiving the SCBA equipment months ago. LaVallee himself has repeatedly referenced the grant earlier this year and his efforts to obtain it amid the growing controversy surrounding his past management of the district and multiple state investigations into alleged nepotism, misuse of office, and election law violations.

On Jan. 27th, AFD announced that it had received “$165,000 worth of new SCBA for our department” after being awarded funding through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program (AFG).

“For reference, our annual budget for the whole department is $185,000,” the district wrote, saying the grant saved taxpayers a substantial replacement cost.

The announcement came after the board amended its budget in December in connection with the AFG grant and new SCBA equipment.

Yet MES/SeaWestern says the approximately $165,000 order remains completely unpaid.

That is also why LaVallee’s explanation to the company about the district’s “budget” leaves a larger question unanswered.

Even if the district could not currently pay the entire balance from its general budget, it does not explain why no payments were made earlier if approximately $165,000 in FEMA grant funds had been received for the equipment.

The MES/SeaWestern official said the company does not independently know when FEMA released the grant funds to AFD.

“From our perspective, we were thinking that maybe FEMA hadn’t issued it to them yet because we have no knowledge when FEMA issues the funds,” the official said.

The Prineville Review has sought records through a formal FOIA request and comment from FEMA regarding the grant, including when funding was made available or disbursed to the district.

FEMA officials had not responded by press time.

The Prineville Review reached out earlier today to members of the Alfalfa Fire District’s elected board, including Laucks, seeking comment on the newly discovered information from MES/SeaWestern and asking what board members knew about the unpaid approximately $165,000 obligation.

Board members were also asked whether they had concerns that LaVallee continued communicating with the vendor after leaving as fire chief, including reportedly arranging the recent split of the outstanding balance and representing that the $119,765 invoice would be paid immediately. We also sought answers about what board members knew concerning the FEMA grant funds and why the vendor had apparently gone unpaid for months. No responses had been received by press time.

The district has also been asked to explain how much federal funding it received, when it received or drew down the money, where those funds are presently accounted for, and why MES/SeaWestern has received no payment.

We will update this story with any responses we receive from the district or its elected officials.

For now, what is known is much simpler.

MES/SeaWestern says the underlying order dates to December 2025.

And as of Thursday, the company says it has been paid nothing.