VFDs want to prove accountability
Volunteer Fire
Hopkins County volunteer fire chiefs discussed ways to be more financially transparent in the wake of arrests at the top levels of the Como volunteer fire department, among other topics at a Monday, Sept. 9 meeting.
Hopkins County Fire Chief Andy Endsley informed all county fire chiefs of the progression of Como’s fire service.
The Como VFD Station has been temporarily taken out of service until further notice, pending investigation. As of Aug. 23, the Como Volunteer Fire Department is now part of the City of Como, not Hopkins County. City code enforcement officer Andy Lowen will take over as public safety director and act as fire chief on an interim basis.
Fire operations will be run out of a to-be-constructed Como Community Center. Matt Green has been named assistant fire chief. All former Como VFD members, if they wish to rejoin, must submit to a background check as well as to a drug test, Endsley said.
At this time, all calls for service are continuing to be answered by the Hopkins County Fire Department and neighboring volunteer fire departments.
“It’s put us all in a bind with Como down,” Pickton- Pine Forest Chief Trey Thompson said. “It’s a problem in the whole county.”
“There’s going to be more accountability there,” Endsley said. “Just like Tira has with the city, just like Cumby has.”
Endsley estimated it would be approximately two to three weeks before fire service resumed.
“It won’t crank back up until the judge [County Judge Robert Newsom] and the mayor [Como Mayor Darla Henry] gives the green light, but they [Como fire service] haven’t gotten any money and the fire station is locked,” Endsley said.
According to Endsley, the investigation, led by the Texas Rangers with local Hopkins County Fire Marshal Josh McCord acting as a liaison and extension agent, had been ongoing for the past six months.
“Como [the city] is prepared to spend money as far as buying hoses, the truck, getting the engine fully checked out and ready to go. They’re going to do it right,” Endsley said. “They’ll do a good job, …but still, we’ll need to help them. They’re going through a rough spot, and we’ve done a good job so far helping them.”
This comes on the heels of arrests of two of the former Como VFDs top officers. Como Fire Chief Darren Harris and former Como Chief Roy Darby were arrested on Aug. 17 on charges of theft of property. Harris, 53, was charged with theft of property between $2,500 and $30,000. Darby, 78, was charged with theft between $1,500 and $20,000, according to Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office records. Both men were booked into jail and released the same day, according to records.
In 2019, all county VFDs that receive county funding are required to submit a budget to the commissioner’s court.
“In lieu [sic] of recent activities with investigations and arrests and things, we all agree to try to come up with the best way possible for a third party look at our books,” Thompson said. “We feel like the trust has been broken, and we want to do our part to show that the rest of us, or the ones that weren’t involved, are doing justice and honesty in our departments.”
“We’re tired of the black eye,” Miller Grove VFD Chief Ray Sparks stated.
“We’re tired of being blamed for one to two individuals that got greedy fingers and sticky hands,” Thompson said.
“All of us in this room deal with the public’s money,” Hopkins County Commissioner Mickey Barker stated. “It affects their lives.”
Barker posed the hypothetical question, “Why should I give them the money if they’re not going to control it?”
Endsley told assembled chiefs that although they may have had questions during the course of the Como investigation, he wasn’t able to answer at that time due to the nature of the case being ongoing.
VFD chiefs discussed hiring an outside auditor, bookkeeper or certified public accountant to provide a complete overview of their finances.
“What we do at the Sheriff’s Office is have it so whoever writes the check can’t cash the check,” HCSO Chief Investigator Tanner Crump told the chiefs.
Sparks instructed members about the proper way to fill out bank deposit slips if depositing cash, as is often the case for VFDs that hold fundraisers where cash transactions are common. It’s important that cash deposits are specifically marked as cash, Sparks said.
Crump told members never to write checks to themselves and to never write checks to cash. Endsley instructed members not to work on their own vehicles and not to pay any members of VFD crews to work on vehicles.
“You cannot pay an hourly wage on that,” Endsley said. “Not out of your volunteer fire department budget.”
Crump also encouraged VFDs to highly publicize their fundraisers.
“Say you’ve got a member going around saying he’s collecting money, and he’s putting that money in his pocket. You’ll never know about it,” Crump said. “Make sure your community knows when you’re doing a fundraiser, and that no one will solicit them when you’re not doing a fundraiser.”
The most important part?
“We want to prove ourselves,” Brinker VFD Captain Wade McDaniel said.