BRIGHTON, Colo. -- The director of the Adams County Public Works Department is on administrative leave after a CALL7 Investigation uncovered millions of dollars in no-bid contracts he approved to a Henderson road construction and paving company.

Records and interviews show that director Lee Asay is friends with Jerry Rhea, president of Quality Paving and Quality Resurfacing companies. Quality and a company owned by Rhea's business partner also did work on Asay's home, records show.

After county Administrator Jim Robinson reviewed the documents CALL7 Investigators asked for, he placed Asay on administrative leave and turned the investigation over to the Adams County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's Office.

"Until we asked questions, you weren't aware that you'd given $12 million in sole source contracts to Quality Paving?" CALL7 Investigator John Ferrugia asked Robinson.

"That's correct," he answered.

The department, which Asay has headed for more than a decade, has recommended more than $12 million in sole source contracts to Quality Paving since 1998, records show. He or his staff provided various justifications, including that the work had to be done quickly or Quality should do it because they do a good job.

Asay’s department also awarded Quality Paving about $4 million when they were not the lowest bidder, according to a CALL7 analysis of county records.

In one of those contracts, the lowest bidder complained to the county that his firm was not chosen but the contract remained with Quality. And the contract was renewed -- without bid -- for five years, records show.

"As we have looked back at the awards under the 2003 Paving Program, we cannot figure out how ASCI (Asphalt Specialties Co.) was not awarded the balance of the project," ASCI president Daniel Hunt wrote to county officials. "(W)e are not sure how a decision was reached to award the asphalt paving and concrete replacement contracts to Quality Paving."

Public Works officials justified the contract award to Quality, saying Quality's bid was only about $35,000 more and praised their workmanship.

There are also millions of dollars in contract renewals and change orders that were also not bid. Quality has received more than $54 million from the county, Robinson said.

The county administrator and county commissioners approved Asay’s recommendations and have never audited the roads program.

"So why did it take me and my team to come and tell you you got $12 million in sole-source contracts that you weren't aware of?" Ferrugia asked.

"Well, because I believe our public works department has the best way of getting the value for the county," said Robinson, who was hired as county administrator less than two years ago.

"But you never checked? Until we ...," Ferrugia continued.

"No, I relied upon the professional staff of public works to make sure we were getting the best value for the dollar," he said, adding that Adams County roads are in great shape.

Robinson also said he and the county commissioners did not know about Asay's close relationship with Rhea until CALL7 investigators probed it.

Asay attended the wedding of Rhea’s son in September in Las Vegas and the room was comped, according to a source familiar with the investigation. It is unclear who paid for the room.

Thorngren Building Co., which is housed on land owned by a partnership of Rhea and David Thorngren, did $35,000 of work on Asay’s home in unincorporated Adams County and Quality did extensive landscaping work on the home, records and interviews show.

"(T)here was work done by Quality on landscaping, yes," Robinson said.

Asay provide some documents Friday to county officials about the work on his home, but it is unclear what those records show.

Asay, Rhea and Thorngren did not respond to requests for comment.

There is no indication that companies who completed work at Asay's home did anything wrong.

Asay, who makes $121,356 annually, signed off or was notified about the sole-source deals and contracts that were not given to the lowest bidder. An e-mail obtained by 7NEWS also shows that he was intimately involved in at least two no-bid deals.

An employee "indicated to me (too) that Lee was going to send us sole-source justifications for both projects recommending Quality Paving," a purchasing official wrote.

Asay "was driving these toward Quality Paving?" Ferrugia asked Robinson.

"That's pretty obvious from the e-mails and the contracts," Robinson responded.

Sole-source contracts are ones where the county picks a vendor without competitive bid. Not only did county officials not know about the extent of the no-bid work Quality received, they also did not know about a state statute requiring bidding of highway work that cost more than $5,000.

"So you didn't really know about this law?" Ferrugia asked.

"That's correct," Robinson admitted. "That was not anything that was contained within our purchasing policies or was really part of our thinking."

County officials said some of the contracts did not have to be bid because they were extension of bid contracts without a change in the cost of work.

But after reviewing the contracts, Robinson said he was changing county policies and reviewing ways the county can be more accountable with taxpayer dollars.

"In the future we're going to revise our regulations so that we're not doing that, that's correct," he said.

The internal employment probe and a law enforcement investigation should be completed in several weeks, he added, although it is not clear whether laws or county rules were broken.

This is the second Adams County department head to face scrutiny in less than four months. CALL7 investigator John Ferrugia reported in February that the head of Adams County Parks Department, Crystal Gray, was shopping and running personal errands on city time. She retired after she was confronted with the video of her not working during work hours.

Robinson said he will work hard to clean up the county.

"Well, I can tell you as a county administrator I would take sole responsibility for anything that's going on that isn't appropriate," Robinson conceded. "It's my job to know. I'm the one that needs to get it corrected. I'm sure if I can't get it corrected the county commissioners will find someone who can."