Friday, January 25, 2013
Village of Naplate wants to control firefighter funds
01/24/2013, 10:27 pm
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Steve Stout, steves@mywebtimes.com, 815-431-4082
In an attempt to control the purse strings of the Naplate Fire Department, the village board has filed a civil lawsuit against the volunteer unit and two of its officers to take away its funds.
Individually named in the suit, which seeks to freeze and ultimately transfer all fire department accounts to the village board, were Fire Chief David Parrott and the department treasurer, Chris Backos.
Parrott told The Times Thursday the Naplate fire organization historically has "always controlled" all finances within the department, including payment responsibilities for fuel, maintenance, training and the majority of equipment purchases.
"We have worked and raised all of these funds (which total about $121,000) ourselves, and we volunteers — who are paid nothing for our services to protect our neighbors — feel our money should simply remain under our control like it always has been," Parrott said.
Assistant Chief Mike Whitney agreed.
"We have taken not a dime of taxpayers' money to run this department in our nearly 65 years of existence," he said. "In all of that time, we support ourselves through donations from a grateful public or government grants. This money is the department's and does not belong to the village (or its general fund)."
The suit acknowledges beginning last year, "certain disputes have arisen between the (about 25) volunteer firemen, including the chief and treasurer, and the duly elected village council of the Village of Naplate. These have included, but not limited to, the management and handling of funds designated for fire department purposes."
Last September, every Naplate Fire Department member tendered resignations because of an undisclosed conflict with the village board and Mayor Jim Rick. Naplate officials did not accept the resignations, and the firefighters have continued, since that time, to answer every emergency call.
The suit claims, because of the ongoing animosity between the volunteers and the board, "the village is in actual fear that there will be large amounts spent without village approval in the immediate future, and the only safeguard for public fund(s) being spent for public purposes is a temporary restraining order and injunction."
Whitney said the immediate expenditure question was answered recently by Circuit Judge Eugene Daugherity, who ruled the Naplate village clerk as well as fire department officers must all sign for checks to pay regular monthly bills during the duration of the court case.
Contacted for further explanation on the suit, Naplate Village Attorney Paul Martin, of Ottawa, had no comment.
Martin, in the complaint he filed on behalf of the village on Dec. 12, said "the village and its officials must have control of those accounts, which are municipal funds, to include them in the village audit, and, for all lawful purposes as would be necessary for the expenditures of village funds, but the Plaintiff (the village) currently has no recourse other than this litigation."
Rick, who was a Naplate volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years and was the chief during half of his tenure, did not return phone calls about the litigation.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, in Ottawa's downtown courthouse.
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51 comments:
WOW! It reads as if Naplate fireman truly Volunteer their time going to calls UNLIKE PERU FIREMAN who get paid $32-35(?) dollars per call. Even if the call is 15 minutes, paid more if fire call is an extended amount of time. Fireman are a necessity and appreciated. Peru, take note.the city should be responsible for all record keeping of all departments.
Does the police dept have a separate organization for fundraising like the fire dept does?
Yes, DRUGS. Remember the airport!
Ready or not Liberty you're next!!Not sure it's right that Peru should be allowing tax payers to donate thousands of dollars to an organization like that without tax payers knowing where its going.
I think the Police formed cops4cancer, which is a registered charitable organization. It helps them keep all the funds separate for their concert and fundraiser.
I always thought it should be copsagainstcancer, but no one asked me and it gets the job done.
1:59 it all depends. The city cannot control what non profit organizations anyone donates too. Now if the city is donating taxpayer money to Liberty in an unusual manner to funnel funds or benefits to city employees (ie firemen), that gets one whole helluva lot more interesting.
Where do we send donation money for Mr.
Harts campaign fund? Thank You
3:07 PM
I have sent an email out requesting that information and will post when I find out.
Naplate should have been disbanded years ago.
Why would the city allow Liberty company to raise funds in the city's name? I would think the city has to approve any money the company spends. How can we get these questions answered?
3:07 PM
Donations may be sent to 1528 12th st.
Peru and made out to hartformayor.
8:25 PM
Since Liberty is a 501 c(3), the answers should be online but need to find out what IL dept, needs to be searched.
Neither parot, Whitney, or backos live in naplate.
So when I send my donation with it made out to Peru Fire for the Liberty fundraiser mailer last year that went into the cities account right ?
False , it was deposited into Liberty's account.
I purposely did that to see if it would go to the city but was deposited in liberty account. I'm pretty sure that is illegal.
Let's just wait and see how this turn out in the near future.
It is quite funny how Treasurer Hylla talked about checks and balances, or the lack there-of with fundraising for non-profits. Enter Liberty Fire Co. who deliberately misleads the people of Peru by representing themselves as a city entity while being accountable to nobody. This is an absolutely blatant lack of oversight and leadership by Peru elected officials.
If the city of Peru has to buy firetrucks and vehicles, why isn't the fire department ALL City of Peru? I think CAN the whole bunch and start over!!!
Does anyone reading this blog and is part of a municipal fire department know of another city department beside Peru that has a fund raising organization that is not actually a part of the municipal fire department?
An organization where not all the firemen are automatically included but one that picks and chooses who they want in it.
I recall reading in the paper a few years ago about Dimmick Fire District purchasing/contributing a truck to Peru. Will someonone elaborate or explain how or if Dimmick Fire District affects Peru?
Thank you.
Liberty discriminates more than any other business or organization in the entire crooked state of Illinois! You really need to be someone special to join their organization . And it was never like that in the past . I've lived in peru for 74 years and remember when those guys were honest and were actually interested in helping the community. Now all the members are someone's relative or close buddy. The reason that was told to the council on why they gave up the right to vote in their own chief was because everyone voted the most popular guy and not the most qualified. Now liberty hires the city fireman and make them members of liberty. So now you have everyone's brother, son, other towns fire chief kids, city police officer , and neighbor on the department.
Why doesn't the city hire its employees? Don't we have a personnel depart or an HR person? Why does it seem our town can't do anything the honest way? Why should a non for profit boys club hire city employees? Does the CSO hire the public works guys?
Liberty walks around with its hands out and sends mailers to us citizens on city letterhead asking for donations , and for what? If the money we send isn't for the city then why do they raise money illegally under the city fire department name for their parties ? Nobody in the city thinks this is wrong? Who do we elect , morons? Have some kind of morals and a backbone.
My entire point is this crap needs to stop. Separate liberty from Peru Fire!!
Make liberty move their crap out of the city owned building and go on their own. Make the city hire and discipline its employees ( because liberty decides who gets hired and fired) , tell liberty to stay out of operation promise. If they want to donate or volunteer that's great. But the funds raised are to be managed by the city. The city officials need to worry about the fire department and liberty needs to worry about itself. In the past 5 years liberty has caused such a black eye for this city it just needs to go its separate way.
And I did research foreign fire insurance fund and this city is stupid for giving that check to liberty. That check by law goes to the fire department not an outside organization to manage. If some members aren't on liberty but are on the fire department they have no say on how that money is used.
Why doesn't the city attorney know any of this stuff or open his mouth to move this town on the straight and narrow. Peru needs to mend some fences with its citizens from the past 4 years of lies and misleading fundraising. If its questionable to the majority of us, don't do it. Our council needs to work together as a while and stop working together against one or two members. Everyones ego and self serving manners are running our town into an unfriendly place noone wants to move their family or business to.
Who is the role model or who should be the role model for our younger generation of firefighters???????? Speaking of boozing my nephew bartender years ago and he was saying that when a new person became a fireman that same night after the fire meeting the new member had to buy alcohol for the entire night for all fireman who went to the bar. WOW! Wonder if this code of ethics (lol) still stands?
Yep, thats how it was when I was on peru Fire. Except I didn't make the cut and was voted off by liberty members. Never talked to the city or the HR girl . The members of liberty had the final say if I was a city firefighter or not. And you never get a choice whether or not you want to be a member of liberty or not or just wanted to work for the city. Its a group of guys that decide whether or not you have a job. They have no experience in hiring and firing and should have no say on who works for the city. Never saw or spoke to anyone in city hall or human resources ever. Liberty interviewed me and hired me. I thought that was very wrong . I was never disciplined or had any idea I would be voted off . This is discrimination at the worst level. You are forced to join an organization if you want the job and they can fire you if they don't like you.
12:04 Surely our mayor and council would not allow such a thing to go on under their watch - would they? After all they attack one of their own surely they would keep an eye on a department of government that is under their direct charged. Where does the chief stand in all this?
Where can I send donations to Don Baker's campaign fund?
4:43 PM
I don't know, but you could call him. Do you think he needs donations?
To Anonymous,
Your right Parrott (correct spelling)Backos & Whitney don't live in Naplate nor do 22 of the 25 members so without these VOLUNTEERS there is no F.D. they do it because they want to help the community. About the issues that are going on it sounds like securing the funds within the F.D. so they stay with the F.D. for the betterment of the F.D. as they have for 60+ yrs not with the Village general fund that have other bills that they could potentially pay with F.D. funds, Sewer bills to Ottawa, not saying they would but it is one way to get out of debt.
Liberty members tell the chief who to keep and not to keep. If a new firefighter is approved by Liberty members and that FF doesn't jump into the click? Then after the one year probation the Liberty members will tell the chief to release that FF. that FF will not hear nor see the city HR person. HR for the Fire Dpt. is Liberty. If the public would like to see Liberty Fire Co. Scramble? Send a female into apply. Liberty Fire Co. Has never hired a female ever, since the early 1900s never has there been a female. I've seen them apply, and I've seen Liberty plot to keep females out.
Not a proud honor to wear, preventing females into the department. I see that there were 5 female graduates from the fire fighters class held in Utica and some day there will be a female applicant here in Peru. I hope the PFD can get their act together with regard to Liberty so the community can in turn give them the respect a fire department deserves.
What happened with OP shows we are not there yet and it will take some open minded men to make it happen in the department and in the government.
Lois: I think the city needs to get their act together and prevent this kind of control and behavior from continuing. Someone has to step up to the plate and take charge. Peru is falling to the wayside and becoming the laughing stock of the Illinois Valley. We still have that better than everyone else attitude and it's disgusting.
When I was on liberty about 10 years ago there was a female that applied and the members that interviewed her were told that in no means were they to recommend her to a job. The interview committee were grasping at straws to find the smallest thing wrong with her to have a good reason to not hire her. I think the final decision not to hire her came from a typo on her application that made it void. And obviously they voted not to hire her. The crusade was led by the "fly by nite" pilot firefighter who hosted the garage overthrow party of GE.
11:15. Wasn't that in 2004?2003? It's good that Perus Police Department doesn't handle applicants in the same manner as Perus Fire Department. This is just another issue that is finally coming to light. Again, 11:15 states that he was on the fire department. How and why are these issues being ignored by the city?
It would be interesting to know how many applicants were denied after their applications were looked at and how many were interviewed. How many were female? male? How many females were on department as probationary members(fireman/woman)? How many males? How many didn't get voted on department after their one year probationary period? This information should easily accessible by Liberty Fire Company or Peru Fire
department. If info isn't accessible to give to us taxpayers due to whatever reasons are given. Then, ANOTHER REASON FOR THE CITY TOKEEP OP's books!
Has there ever been any females on Perus fire
Department as probationary members? And did not get voted on as members after one year? If not, why not? Since female/females have applied. This opened up a can on worms possibly.
Mr fly by nite wasn't even on the fire dept 10 years ago so how could he be the president of liberty at that time? Just like most of the comments on here the lack of solid proof is evident. Most of what you at seeing is based off oh the good old " he said she said " method of research.
Liberty also does not get the city's foreign fire insurance money. There is a seperate board of city employees that handles those funds with no say from the members of liberty. People please do some real homework before you drag the people you may depend on through the mud.
If this kind of activity has been going on for some time how come no one has investigated it. Shouldn't someone in charge of our government and our money verify whether this is truth or fiction? I don't understand why someone doesn't tell us the whole truth and nothing but and correct this situation if it indeed exists.
11:17 AM
I don't know who Mr Fly By Night is and I don't want to know, although there might be a clue in the name. Thanks for your information on the Foreign Fire Ins., that is the kind of information that people are seeking and do not know a source for. Just as we have people in positions comment with the truth, it would be nice if a PFD individual actually commented with a name and the truth. It would eliminate all the extra unneeded stuff circulating about.
11:17. Could you get the information in reference to female applications for the fire department? Your blog insinuated you may have access to information. Also, who was on interviewing committee for that female applicant? Might be interesting to compare that committee to who is in charge now. Please find facts, since you seem to know.
@11:17 ... I said E.H. ( fly by nite) was on about 10 years ago, and I never said he was president at that time . Maybe everyone or at least someone should start going to the foreign fire meeting at the station and find out how our money is spent. Or foia the meeting minutes. But then again the meeting schedule isn't posted legally as per the open meetings act states. And yes these meetings are open to the public not like liberty meetings. You would probably be amazed on how they spend this money.
I'm reading and noticed 11:17 blog. 11:17: 8:52 did not say fly by night was president of Liberty Fire Company 10 years ago! How long 11:17 have you been a Peru Fireman? I also don't recall anyone stating fly by night was on committee for the interviewing process for possible firefighters. I'm sure a retired fireman or a fireman who no longer is on department will inform us.
11:17 you don't make sense. 8:52 was mentioning one situation in regards to female application( which happened approx 10 years ago) and another situation about a garage party that took place in 08/09 (select persons invited), to oust a person who was great at his position.
The person who you say was so great at his position was no saint in that role but that is ALL that will be said about that out of respect for him. That is most likely why you will not get any response from any member of liberty of the PDF. I am not a member or related to one so please don't ask me for any other info as I cannot and will not say something that can't be proven as 100% truth. I think this would be a better place if we all took that approach.
11:17 What is the name of the separate committee that handles the foreign fire insurance money? And how much money are we talking about? Why is it called foreign fire insurance?
I researched it and found some cities that were named around us within a 60 mile radius receive up to $50,000 . Peru wasn't mentioned in the report I saw. But it is supposed to be public knowledge and falls under open meetings act so anyone can attend . I'm not a member but this was brought up about a year ago on a blog topic and was a popular post. Also very informative post. Someone needs to foia the minutes and see how much we're talking about. I don't know how to foia.
What is the Foreign Fire Insurance money? Alderman Ferrari should know. What a simple question, rest assure Alderman Ferrari won't blog the answer, but rest assure Alderman Perez probably will. Possibly Mayor Harl and
Fire Chief King should know answer also. Maybe these questions should be on the 3x5 index cards for public comment at council meeting.
The fact that there has never been a woman firefighter in Peru is shameful. Shame on the Peru fire department. Unbelievable in today's world that there could be such blatant discrimination. Shameful!!
@11:17. Anything more that you would like to add? Noticed you don't have a rebuttal? Research all you want,, persons in a click are going to back up the
Other person in that same click. Witnessing. and knowing the truth is another. I do believe the blogger states that he was on department.
TODAYS NT PAPER PG. A4. "Tonica Volunteer Fire Department remained a non-taxing fire and ambulance protection area supported by donations, the report concluded. Taxpayers taxed for fire protection in Peru on property tax bills, which is absolutely understandable. However, Liberty Fire Company; donation organization. Is this taking advantage of taxpayers and double dipping so to speak? Does anybody know what Tonica volunteer fireman make per fire call they go on? Curious.
When a fireman retires from department is there a retiring party? Who pays the bill? Or is it a dutch( pay for your own)? How about a city worker who retires, party? Who pays? Police officer retires? Party? who pays? Wondering if taxpayers pay for these parties. I know many people who have retired and their employer didn't pick up the tab.
1:49 If you are referring to Chief Eccles I was a FF that served under his leadership. So I can state facts. Yes Gary was a saint, and great leader when it comes to leading the department. He ran a tight ship but sure respect him for that. He would never tolerate the BS that happens down there now. If Gary was chief when FF were beating on each other down there in the kitchen Gary would've reprimanded them.
Peru should have a full time department anyway and take it to a professional level...unlike now nfpa guidelines are 1 full time firefighter per 1000 residents and we have one. Once we take this seriously the next chief will remove liberty from the station. They have a yearly party for retires from liberty now from their fundraising operation.
When a fireman retires liberty pays for the retirement party. They have gone to Waterstreet Pub, and Right Spice. Same as their Christmas party. Or they have it catered to them at the station with prime rib. All this is paid for out of donations raised from the fundraising letter that you receive in the fall. Open bar and all the extras are included also. You only have to be on for 6 years and you can retire. Plus your donations pay for spouses and dates to attend. Then there's the annual family picnics at local parks for retired, current and liberty families. Steak and shrimp on the grill with all the trimmins. Plus alcohol. All again paid for with donated money.
@6:01
So you are saying we need 10 guys on a shift instead of the one? That's ridiculous!! That means the city of Peru would need to hire 36 full time fireman to add to payroll . That's 2.5 million dollars of additional payroll a year. Not including pension, overtime, and benefits. And for what, to sit there and eat and watch TV all day? They do just fine with area towns helping each other out for the handful of actual fires we have . This comment must've been made by Marryin' Scott wanting to add more union jobs to the city.
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