West Virginia Deputy Auditor Lisa Thornburg says she has set “a drop dead deadline” of September 30 as the date for her report on a $3.6 million sewer project in Huntington.

“I know it’s late, but I have sent a letter to the Huntington city attorney saying that the report will be delivered by September 30. That’s on a Sunday, so the report will be available to the city some time that weekend.

Thornburg said that her other duties as a deputy auditor has prevented her from finishing the report which she initially promised would be ready in July.

The investigation began more than a year ago and is the second for the Inwood-Shockey-Miller Road project that was completed in 1998 under the administration of former Mayor Jean Dean and serves 176 customers. The state Public Service Commission reviewed the project and dismissed allegations of wrongdoing in 1999.

The current investigation by the auditor’s office centers on whether Huntington City Council passed an ordinance authorizing the sale of the bonds to finance the project. In a letter sent to council at the beginning of the investigation, Thornburg said that if Council did not approve the ordinance, the bonds would be “unauthorized and illegal.”

Thornburg said at the outset that the investigation would also examine tap fees charged to the residents.

“There are several issues that we have examined,” Thornburg said Monday. “The report will list the issues and concerns and we’ll comment on whether the concerns are valid, invalid or beyond our ability to comment on. The valid concerns will be referred to the county prosecutor,” she said.

The deputy auditor said that certain aspects of the bond sale have been referred to the Securities Division of the auditor’s office. The results of their investigation may not be ready by September 30, she said. “Their investigation goes way beyond questions that I can answer,” she said.

“I was supposed to meet with the auditor (Glen B. Gainer III) last week,’ Thornburg said, but the auditor and four of his staff members were at a conference in San Francisco when air travel was halted due to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

“He rented a car Friday and started driving back to West Virginia. He’ll be back in his office sometime this week and I intend to consult with him about the draft report I have nearly finished. Then I have some other people I need to consult with and then it will be ready,” Thornburg said.

As for rumors that the Auditor’s Office is hedging on the promise to finish the report, Thornburg said, “Auditor Gainer is the straightest shooter in Charleston. The report will be finished and released.”