A former IRS investigator will look into allegations that Fargo Public Works Director Al Weigel violated the city's purchasing policy in doing business with a Fargo company that rents space from him.
On Tuesday, the city hired Thomas O'Halloran of West Fargo-based Forensic Solutions LLC to conduct the independent review, City Attorney Erik Johnson said.
He said O'Halloran will immediately begin looking into transactions involving Epic Solutions, which Weigel hired to develop monitoring equipment and software for snowplows and other city trucks.
Weigel has been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 24, when allegations were made verbally to his supervisor, City Administrator Pat Zavoral.
In a tersely worded letter placing Weigel on leave, Zavoral accused him of ignoring city policy by not getting quotes for the monitoring project and instead buying more than $100,000 from Epic Solutions.
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Epic Solutions operates in a building owned by Quad Investments, a three-way partnership between Weigel and two Epic Solutions officials, CEO Jeff Wilkens and Vice President Tim Marthe.
Zavoral said Friday that Weigel never disclosed his ownership in Quad to him.
Weigel denies violating city policy. He told The Forum last week that Epic Solutions was the only company he could find to do the job and that all purchases were for less than $10,000, so quotes weren't necessary.
City policy requires getting at least three quotes for purchases of $10,000 to $25,000, and soliciting bids for those exceeding $25,000.
Zavoral's letter also stated that Weigel "may have a personal financial interest" in Epic Solutions and may have utilized his position and city equipment and resources for the economic gain of the company and himself.
Weigel denied those allegations, as well, telling The Forum he has "absolutely zero interest or ownership" in Epic Solutions.
O'Halloran said his fact-finding work will involve reviewing documents and conducting interviews.
He and Johnson said they expect the review to take a couple of weeks.
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O'Halloran has been in private practice since he retired in 1999 after 20 years with the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division. He has worked on several high-profile cases in Fargo, including a review of whether the city took appropriate action to fix a rut on South University Drive that was blamed in a Dec. 10, 2008, crash that killed an 8-year-old girl.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Mike Nowatzki at (701) 241-5528
