Marshall Fire Victims Raise New Concerns After Lawsuit Delays Cleanup

LOUISVILLE, Colo. (CBS4) - A lawsuit heard on Monday is the latest hurdle for Marshall Fire victims trying to get debris cleaned up so they can start rebuilding. Like others, Louisville has been home for Barba and Rex Hickmann for more than two decades.

"Neither of us have ever been urban folks, but we are trying," Barba laughed.

After losing everything in the Marshall Fire, they now live in a rental in Denver. While they miss the comfort of their old home, they miss the relationships and traditions they built more.

"Rex put up red lights in the tree at Christmas every year, so everyone called him the red tree guy. We love our neighborhood."

The road back, she says, has been filled with roadblocks.

"It's like this giant sign that says 'We don't want you here. We are not going to make it easy. We are going to make it hard,'" she said.

Their first fight was over building codes. Now, it's a lawsuit.

The nonprofit Demanding Integrity in Government Spending is accusing Boulder County of violating open meeting laws when awarding bids to companies for the debris cleanup. In the complaint, Michael Brown, who helped form the nonprofit, a Boulder County resident, and former Director for FEMA, raises concerns about federal reimbursement if strict guidelines are not followed during the process.

The suit alleges Boulder County's failure to follow Colorado law is what is delaying the recover.

Boulder County commissioners released a statement shortly after the lawsuit was filed saying in part:

"The county isn't happy about this delay," said Commissioner Matt Jones. "We did everything properly to comply with the law, and we are confident we'll prevail against this lawsuit. We will be responding as expeditiously as possible with the hope that the courts will resolve the lawsuit quickly. Marshall Fire survivors are waiting for debris removal to happen. Our awarded contractor is ready to go and is lining up subcontractors to perform cleanup work. It's frustrating that anyone would want to delay our community's ability to recover from this devastating wildfire."

For families like the Hickmanns, the delay puts their next steps in question.

"I don't think they understand what the risk is. We have a maximum amount of time to get into our home, there's a lot of the insurance that will not apply if we are not in our home by 2 years," Barba said.

Despite their hope of returning home one day, they're not sure it will make the most sense if they can't rebuild in the allotted time and fear a lengthy court battle will make it nearly impossible to do.

"To throw out that contract and start over is just to invite more heartache for everybody that's involved," Rex said.

The first hearing in the case was held Monday afternoon. A judge set a date for both sides to argue their cases March 18 at 11 a.m.

Brown referred CBS4 to the attorney representing the nonprofit for a comment. We did not receive a response.