Freeland residents are raising alarm over thousands of dollars in bills for expensive dinners, hotel rooms and other expenses that were racked up by officials involved in Freeland’s $40 million sewer expansion project.

Critics of the sewer project say taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bills for $200-a-night hotel rooms, lobster dinners and drinks that include Johnnie Walker whiskey, margaritas and beer.

Chelle Brunke, a Freeland resident who has spent hours poring over expense forms submitted by officials with the Freeland Water & Sewer District and its consultants, has asked the Washington State Auditor’s Office to investigate.

Residents have been most concerned about a lobbying trip that officials made to Washington, D.C. in March that they say cost taxpayers roughly $5,000.

Though it’s understandable that public officials will have some expenses that need to be reimbursed, the recent bills were excessive, Brunke said.

“Everybody works, everybody travels and you have to keep your expenses reasonable.

“We can’t afford to be sending people all over the continent eating lobster dinners,” she said.

Sewer District Commissioner Rocky Knickerbocker, Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, and Chet Ross, the president of the Freeland chamber and a consultant to the sewer district on the expansion project, traveled to Washington, D.C. in March to meet with lawmakers from Washington and federal officials about funding for the sewer project.

Officials said the trip had a worthy goal, and said they mistakenly submitted invoices that included items that should not have been reimbursed with taxpayer dollars, such as the $52 trip for three to the Newseum, or the cost of alcoholic beverages that were included on meal receipts.

Knickerbocker and Price Johnson noted that taxpayer money was not used to pay for those items. The expenses that were covered were paid out of a $2.5 million grant from Island County that was meant to pay for the construction of the sewer project.

The project was put on hold earlier this year after district officials discovered that the sewer system was too expensive to be covered by special assessments to property owners and the grant and loan funding that was already in hand.

Knickerbocker said officials should have been more careful when they asked to be reimbursed for the trip.

“As I got receipts I threw them in an envelope,” he said, adding that county officials noticed the charges for things such as the museum trip and alcohol and would not pay those bills.

“They caught it. The system worked well,” he said.

“Did we make a mistake? Yes,” Knickerbocker said. “I should have gone through what I was asking for in my reimbursements.”

He said Ross probably made the same mistake.

Some residents said the trip was a questionable use of money, however, and officials should have known they would not be able to squeeze more money for the sewer project out of Washington, D.C.

“It didn’t put in a single inch of sewer pipe,” said Richard Delmonte, a Freeland resident who has been worried that sky-high assessments on property owners to pay for the sewer expansion will force some residents off their land.

“How many agencies are giving out money for sewers in the middle of a recession? No one is,” he said.

“I do a lot of traveling,” Delmonte said. “A $95 dinner is ridiculous. You can go to the best restaurant in Seattle and get the best dinner on the menu and not hit $95. What are they doing? This is taxpayer money.”

Delmonte also pointed to Knickerbocker’s hotel bill at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, which might be understandable if the trip had produced results.

“His hotel bill for two nights was $750. And Chet is no different,” Delmonte said.

“Let’s say these three people returned from Washington, D.C. with a $15 million grant. Let them stay a night or two at the Hyatt and look the other way if they buy wine at dinner. That’s OK. They pulled off a miracle. Let them live it up for a night or two.”

There was no miracle, Delmonte said, and it was no surprise.

“But you know what? They came back empty-handed, and I think they knew that they would before this trip was made,” he said. “It doesn’t take many phone calls to find out that grant money has dried up.”

Price Johnson readily acknowledged the trip was made at a time when Washington’s purse strings were in a knot. The group arrived during the week when the nation’s capital was consumed with talk about a government shutdown.

“We went back to educate our elected officials and the USDA about the Freeland project knowing that it was a challenging time. The Congress had narrowly missed a complete shutdown that week and there continues to be uncertainty about the budget adoption and the curtailment of earmarks,” Price Johnson said.

Even so, the commissioner said the trip was educational, with locals stressing the need for a government role in financing costly infrastructure projects in rural areas during meetings with staff from the offices of Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray. The trio also met with Congressman Rick Larsen and Congressman Norm Dicks, as well as USDA officials.

“It was an investment in the future of Freeland that I think will pay off down the  road,” Price Johnson said.

“We were very well-received. I think we’re well-positioned once funds become available,” she added.

Knickerbocker said the hotel and meal costs were high because of the location, but the group needed to be in the capital to schedule a high number of meetings during their short stay.

“My understanding was that it was important to be close by everything. And with that location, we were able to walk to a lot of the offices,” Knickerbocker said.

He agreed that the meal costs were high.

“I’ve been to a lot of places. I was in India, and it cost 30 rupees or $2 for the same meal. And there it was $90.”

“There weren’t a lot of choices,” he said. “We were in downtown D.C. Could we have taken a taxi to a Taco Bell? Maybe; I don’t know if there are any.”

“I’ve never paid that much for a hotel room,” Knickerbocker added, and noted that they flew out late to keep the costs down, and Price Johnson stayed only one night to save money.

Some residents have also been highly critical of the claims for reimbursement that Ross has submitted, which include meals for government officials and others, including a pizza party for consultants working on the sewer project.

Ross could not be reached for comment, but Knickerbocker again stressed that unauthorized expenses were caught before anyone was reimbursed for the charges. He said he didn’t expect state auditors to find anything amiss.

“The system worked,” he said. “I don’t think they are going to find anything different, and they are more than welcome to look.”