Ten months after the state auditor found that board members of the Fall River Line Pier, Inc., paid $187,921 to companies in which they or their relatives had a financial interest, the agency is refusing to answer questions about its conflict-of-interest policies and why it continues operating without a state contract.

A 2008 amendment to the Fall River Line Pier’s bylaws says that it was “formed for the purpose of leasing a pier from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts” and operating it. Yet the last 50-year state lease expired in 2014, according to the audit. As of the post-audit review completed late last November, no new agreement was in place. That review states that “the absence of a lease is intrinsically in contradiction with this language from its bylaws.”

The April audit found that the corporation issued payments to five companies with financial ties to board members. In two cases, a relative owned the company; in two others, the board member owned it. In the fifth, the board member also served on the company’s board. That company received most of the funds, $174,269 across 22 transactions. The audit did not name the companies or the board members.

NewBostonPost made multiple attempts to obtain a comment from representatives of the Fall River Line Pier but received no response.

The audit found no evidence that the Fall River Line Pier discussed potential conflicts of interest or voted to approve the transactions.

The audit also found that the agency failed to keep meeting minutes for all meetings and did “not accurately record check numbers for 33 transactions.” It did not specify whether those were among the transactions that went to companies connected to board members. (There were 30 such transactions, according to the audit.)

This marks the second time the state auditor has found that the Fall River Line Pier paid companies in which board members had a financial interest. A June 11, 2020, audit identified $121,874 in such payments involving three board members.

To reach board members, NewBostonPost called the pier’s public safety officer, Kenneth Fiola, Jr. — the only individual listed on its contact page. He said he did not know anyone on or affiliated with the board to whom he could refer the reporter and suggested the reporter obtain that information another way.

In the post-audit review, which NewBostonPost obtained more than a month after that call, Fiola is listed as one of two management consultants who prepared the agency’s responses. Those responses list Michael Lund as board president.

The other management consultant was Lynn Oliveira, a staff attorney for the Bristol County Economic Development Corporation.

In the post-audit review, Fiola and Oliveira said the agency had fully implemented the auditor’s recommendations to “establish and implement policies and procedures related to its financial activities, including conflicts of interest, travel, donations, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.” The review lists Feb. 26, 2025, as the implementation date — nearly two months before the audit found such policies did not exist.

The April 2025 audit notes that after the 2020 audit, the state auditor recommended adopting a conflict-of-interest policy. The board drafted one in 2021 but “never officially adopted” it, according to the audit.

NewBostonPost asked the auditor’s office whether it had received evidence supporting the agency’s claim that it implemented the recommendations.

The auditor’s general counsel, Michael Leung-Tat, said the reviews seek updates from audited agencies to plan the next audit, “which may include a review of the steps they reported taking.”

“Our office does not have any enforcement authority with regard to our findings or recommendations,” Leung-Tat added. “We include the auditee’s oversight agency in this correspondence so it can provide the needed oversight between our audits.”

NewBostonPost also emailed Michael Lund, president of the Fall River Line Pier board, seeking comment. He did not respond. Fiola and Oliveira were copied on the message. Fiola did not reply, and the email address listed for Oliveira in the post-audit review appeared invalid.

In its response to the April 2025 audit, the Fall River Line Pier said a new board of trustees was formed in October 2021. Before that, prior members had resigned or their terms had expired, the agency said.

Earlier that year, the pier manager resigned. As an “emergency action,” the Fall River Line Pier president and the Fall River mayor hired the company the audit identified as receiving most of the conflict-related payments (“Company A”), according to the agency’s response.

“At this time, there was no conflict of interest or appearance of a conflict of interest since the FRLP Board was essentially defunct,” the agency wrote.

The agency added that the board did not vote on the action and that neither Lund nor the mayor served on the company’s board.

In response, the audit stated that “a conflict of interest can exist, regardless of the status of the FRLP board. The involvement of the FRLP president and/or the mayor does not extinguish conflict-of-interest concerns regarding the company and its board member serving a dual role as board member of both Company A and FRLP, especially when these two organizations conduct business with each other.”

The agency also said Company A managed the pier for a lower fee than the prior manager, “so there was no unjust enrichment.” According to Lund, the company increased net profits from $60,366.50 in 2021 to $224,888.89 in 2024.

Regarding the state contract, the agency told auditors it has had “ongoing conversations and meetings with state representatives to formalize the relationship between the entities; however, an agreement has not yet been finalized.”

Spokesmen for MassDevelopment, the state agency overseeing the contract, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NewBostonPost.