Second debris removal lawsuit against Boulder County dismissed

A district court judge has dismissed the second lawsuit filed against Boulder County in relation to the Marshall fire debris cleanup.

On Friday, Boulder District Court Judge Kenneth Plotz dismissed the suit by Ceres Environmental Services against the county and county commissioners. The lawsuit claimed the county improperly awarded the $60 million contract to clean up the debris caused by the Dec. 30 fire.

The court cited a lack of standing and failure to state a claim as reasons to dismiss.

Ceres was one of the bidders for the contract to clean up Marshall fire-related debris from private properties participating in the county’s coordinated debris removal program. Ceres was not selected as a finalist, and the county awarded the bid to DRC Emergency Services, the lowest bidder.

“Naturally we are pleased by this ruling,” Public Works Director Jeff Maxwell said in a release. “We hope the court’s decision brings an end to the misguided efforts to stop the progress of the private property debris removal program, allowing our staff to remain squarely focused on accomplishing the challenging and important work of Marshall Fire clean-up.”

In its lawsuit, Ceres claimed that the county’s bid process was flawed and argued that the county should stop the cleanup and rebid the contract.  

County officials previously described this suit as similar to the one filed in February by Demanding Integrity in Public Spending that claimed that the county violated open meetings law in deciding to award the cleanup contract. That lawsuit was similarly dismissed on standing grounds.

The county said in the release that the Private Property Debris Removal program work has been underway since mid-April, continuing while the lawsuit proceeded. DRC is currently working on more than 300 properties in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County, the county said, with more than 65 approaching completion. Another 119 are in final inspection.

According to the county’s Marshall fire recovery dashboard, more than 45,000 tons of ash, debris and incidental soil have already been removed and more than 30,000 tons of concrete and brick recycled.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reimbursing 90% of eligible costs for the debris cleanup with the state and local jurisdictions cost-share being 5% each.