SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — When the January floods displaced hundreds of households, San Diego County didn't turn to local nonprofits to help with emergency housing.
Instead, the county paid at least $3.7 million to Equus, an out-of-state company that was paid hundreds of dollars an hour and widely criticized by those receiving hotel and food assistance.
The Kentucky company hired to run the county's emergency temporary lodging program sent one flood victim to a hotel that had been shut down, while others said Equus repeatedly lost their information and put their hotel stays in jeopardy.
Team 10 now has uncovered the millions of dollars paid to Equus, which included substantial payouts to a few employees.
For example, records show Equus billed the county more than $70,000 for two project directors in February. That's about $35,000 each for one month of work at an hourly rate of almost $257.
Other new records obtained by Team 10 show the county's department of emergency services every month raised questions as to whether the company properly submitted bills to be paid.
County officials have repeatedly asked Equus for additional supporting documents regarding payments for its employees, records show.
The county is reviewing about $11 million worth of bills — most of that from May and June — from Equus.
Equus declined repeated interview requests for comment.
Nora Vargas, chairwoman of the San Diego County Supervisors, declined to be interviewed. And county officials declined to allow anyone from the emergency services department to be interviewed.
County officials only would respond to email questions.
Chuck Westerheide Jr., a county spokesman, said in an email the county is reviewing the company's time sheets and hotel folios to make sure they matched the invoices submitted by Equus.
"The county and Equus are working to resolve an issue regarding hourly rates billed for certain classifications in which the total cost of the services appears to differ from the contract hourly rate," the spokesman said. "In-depth contract review is a standard element of county contract administration. It is not necessarily triggered by wrongdoing on the part of any contractor. We are confident that we’ll reach a mutually beneficial agreement."
Equus on average had 35 full-time workers per week over a four month period, according to the county. The county noted their pay included fringe benefits and travel.
From February to June, the county spent more than $15 million for emergency housing for at least 2,143 individuals and 750 households, according to county records.
As Team 10 followed through, we introduced you earlier this year to the Sheffield family.
They were flooded out of their Spring Valley home along with their sons and their girlfriends.
Lisa is an obstetric nurse. John is an amputee veteran.
They have been married 28 years.
They recently visited with Team 10 in their renovated home after spending a long time at The Ramada by Wyndham in National City while their Spring Valley house got fixed.
“Twenty weeks and three days…half a pregnancy," Lisa Sheffield said with a laugh. "I’m an OB nurse and everything is in weeks.”
The Sheffields were among the first families at The Ramada.
However, they said they were kicked out of their rooms shortly after Equus took over in February from a local nonprofit organization that had initially managed the emergency services housing program.
Lisa Sheffield said it was frustrating dealing with Equus.
"We were out in the parking lot for three hours because the paperwork didn’t come in," she said. "Equus didn’t coordinate. Whatever was going on. It was just a hot, a hot mess.”
Lisa Sheffield said when the Jackie Robinson YMCA and the Harvey Family Foundation ran the emergency program it was better organized.
They said they felt the compassion from local people serving their community.
“Someone came in and saw one-on-one, I was having a bad time and just sat there with me and talked me through it and gave me her number and became my point of contact," she said. "Even though it was chaotic. It was more organized and more personable.”
One of the public faces of the floods was Armon Harvey.
His organization took the lead to house and feed flood victims.
But, being a good Samaritan may have hospitalized Harvey, president and founder of the Harvey Family Foundation.
"I had a hip injury that went septic. Went into my blood stream and got an infection into my blood, went into my lungs and collapsed my lungs." Harvey said in a recent interview. "So, it’s a process, learning how to walk again with my left leg.”
Harvey suspects the illness may have come from the floods.
“The fact I was in a lot of the houses and a lot of the water and things like that could determine that my immune system was already in the works of battling a lot of the bacteria that I came into contact with," he said. "So, it could have been a contributing factor.”
Shortly after the floods hit, the Harvey Family Foundation was canvassing neighborhoods to get information about victims. It also helped coordinate meals.
But, the San Diego County Supervisors didn't want to hire the Harvey Family Foundation.
Instead, the county already had a contract in place with Equus to provide emergency housing services, and the company was paid millions of dollars.
Harvey was stunned at Team 10's findings.
"Obviously, county officials were taking pictures and shaking hands with us and telling us how much of a good job we were doing," Harvey said. "But not once were we approached, saying hey, ‘we have money. How can we move this along.”
Harvey added he couldn't believe Equus employees were making $106 to $256 an hour.
"This is crazy. While we are all out here doing it for free, not complaining and getting the job actually done. These people are making a minimum of $106 an hour and still didn’t solve the problem," Harvey said. "It was a lot of wasted money.”
WATCH: Harvey and his foundation set up shop in Lincoln High School to provide temporary housing for families in the immediate aftermath of the floods. He put out a call to action for more volunteers.
Harvey said county leaders have let the community down.
“How is our community supposed to put trust in our county?" He said. "How are our organizations, our nonprofit organizations who want to really help our community able to trust the county if they are willing to make decisions like this? This is outrageous.”
Harvey also said local nonprofits like his could have done far more with less than what was paid to Equus.
“With the amount of money that you gave them, not only would we have had temporary housing for them, but we would have gotten them back into their own homes," he said.
