A contractor who provided house elevation services in a FEMA agreement with Mathews County has been fined by Virginia’s Board for Contractors because of his work on a home belonging to Wade and Susan Brooks of Garden Creek Woodworks on Garden Creek Road, Mathews.

The Brookses have also filed a lawsuit against the contractor and county in the matter, seeking damages from the county of at least $2.3 million.

The house was one of four in Mathews County that had sustained flood damage and were determined to be eligible for grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Brookses’ house was flooded in 2003 during Hurricane Isabel and again in 2006 during Tropical Storm Ernesto.

In a court order dated April 3, Kenneth Hinkle of Tomahawk, Ky., was ordered to pay fines totaling $3,500 for various infractions of state regulations.

The report of findings on the case showed that, while Hinkle had a Virginia Class B contractor license in his own name as a sole proprietor, he didn’t have a license to operate in Virginia under the name of the limited liability corporation he used to obtain the contract, HHM LLC, for which his wife was listed as the responsible party.

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