Fire District 12 facing accountability audit

Matt Baide | Nov 25, 20210

Mason County Fire District 12 addressed public concerns that the district has violated state law that turned heated during public comment before the state Auditor’s office spoke to the fire district commissioners Nov. 18 at the fire station in Matlock.

The meeting was held as people are growing frustrated with the department’s lack of communication and transparency with the public, according to several people at the meeting.

Members of the state Auditor’s office were in attendance and spoke to the commissioners about the accountability audit that will be conducted.

Assistant Director of Local Audits Tina Watkins and Assistant Audit Manager Megan McFarlane talked to the commissioners about the audit at the meeting. According to Watkins, the last audit for Mason County Fire District 12 was Dec. 31, 2016, and Watkins said in general, all local governments are required to be audited every three years.

Every year, the state requires an annual report to be filed by government bodies within 120 days after the end of the year. According to Watkins, Mason County Fire District 12 filed its annual report on time in 2017, but the annual report was filed 99 days late for 2018 and 496 days late for 2019. The 2020 annual report is not yet complete.

“We have been reaching out to the district regularly since early 2020. ... We’re trying to help you as a district file your annual report,” Watkins said at the meeting. “We do try to be helpful. We understand that your work at the district isn’t all about the financial numbers and the reports.”

Watkins said the office has found communication with the district “challenging” and “inconsistent” in response to inquiries.

“We are now officially outside of the statutory requirements for our audits. As I mentioned, we’re just past the three-year mark. … So for us, it’s really imperative that we work with you to get this audit completed,” Watkins said. “Plus the communication challenges that we’ve had, and we have seen some just red flags and we haven’t been able to get what we’ve asked for, we have now moved your audit from what was termed an assessment audit, which is smaller and easier, to what we call an accountability audit.”

Watkins said the accountability audit is more robust and she was at the meeting to establish clear communication to the board and inform them about any questions they may have and establish a timeline for completion.

McFarlane is the auditor in charge and spoke to the commissioners about what the audit will be looking at, which specifically includes accounts payable, payroll testing, compliance with employee contract terms, annual report filing, open public meetings, cash receipting and financial condition.

The cost to the district for the audit is about $11,000.

“Even though we’re doing an accountability audit this year, our hope is that at the end, when we’re all back on track that we can go back to the normal assessment process, which would be much less expensive for the district,” Watkins said.

The meeting started out with public comment, with Matlock resident and general manager of Mason County PUD 1 Kristin Masteller asking several questions to the commissioners, including where the districts open public meetings notice is published, does the district have a notice for its budget hearing and adoption process and who is the districts public records officer.

“I just wanted to ensure before we leave today that there’s some sort of assurance that you guys, as a commission, intend to comply with the state Auditor’s office,” Masteller said.

Mary M Knight school board member Amanda Gonzalez spoke to the commissioners during public comment and asked what the policy is for the district representing themselves on the web. She recently applied for homeowners’ insurance and said there is no information online about the fire district that the insurance agent could find. She said there is a phone number online that is not the correct phone number anymore and that is the phone number listed online.

“We just don’t have a presence for this community for fire so my insurance agent was like, can’t find you so I gave them this number but apparently, they’re probably not going to get anywhere,” Gonzalez said.

Mary M Knight School Board member Cynthia Breymyer spoke to the commission and asked for information about incoming and outgoing money.

“This is stuff that should be out there somewhere,” Breymyer said. “…We want to know what’s going on. This is our money going to your department and since it comes from the county … Wouldn’t you want to know what’s going on, where the money is going to and where all the money comes from? I know you got some COVID money, don’t know where that went, we have no idea.”

Fire District resident Myrn Stewart spoke to the commissioners and said she had four public records requests and calls that were not responded to by the district.

The meeting got heated with shouting and a woman jumped in to defend the district, saying they’ve called 911 more than anyone, saying every time they’ve called, they’re always there, courteous and extremely professional.

“I’m really offended by you guys flipping out about when the meeting is,” the woman said. “Who cares? … COVID has changed all kinds of stuff, give them a break, they’re volunteers for God’s sake. You guys are nuts.”

“Welcome to Matlock,” said a gentleman from the crowd of people at the fire station in response to the woman.

Another woman spoke up in defense of the district, saying the first thing we should do is thank the fire district before some people in the crowd started a round of applause.

“They have come to my house three times, once because my son set a fire underneath my house and the fireman took him home and took care of it until I could get home,” the woman said. “Twice, my husband has had a heart attack. John Pais was the very first one on site and he took him very well until everybody could get there.”

A man said they’re not talking about the good job they do, to which the woman responded, “Why don’t you say it then?”

A shouting match ensued before commissioner Albert Wilder stopped the meeting to end public comment for a 15-meeting break for everyone to cool off.

At the end of the meeting, commissioner Wilder thanked the public for attending the meeting.

“I think the audit is a good thing,” Wilder said. “Is there stuff that needs fixed, like Amanda said, maybe website, phone number, that stuff updated? Of course. It’s not perfect, we’ll try and get there. Hopefully, we can communicate better with the public, get you your answers you’re looking for. There’s a lot of volunteers, appreciate your service. … There’s areas that can be fixed and we know that.”

Wilder said the funding that the district has now is greater than three years ago.

“It’s not like this department is going broke, we’re actually saving a lot of money,” Wilder said. “We’ve upgraded a lot of stuff and still been able to save, which is good.”

Wilder said the districts ending cash balance now is $346,000 and he said in April 2018, they were at $189,000.

When asked why there’s an uproar from the public, commissioner Wilder said he didn’t know the reason for it.

“I honestly believe the more community members that come in, the more they hear it, the more that you know, the better it is for everybody,” Wilder said. “We’re not trying to hide something from anybody. I have no reason to. … To be perfectly honest with you, Kevin, I don’t know what the uproar is.”

Wilder said the auditor’s office hasn’t communicated with the current commissioners but one time. He also said the community used to all help pitch in and help solve people’s problems, but today, social media doesn’t let that happen.

“One person says something and then somebody else says something and pretty quick, the original person’s intent wasn’t for it to be this massive, big explosion, it was maybe more of an informational thing but by the time it gets to the bottom, it’s just this crazy, you’re going why,” Wilder said. “Hopefully, things will be more open, help people, communicate more to the public. Everybody out in this community knows how to get a hold of a commissioner or somebody. If you don’t like me, so be it, you can call Brain (Jutson), you can get a hold of John (Pais).”

Wilder said the district had a credit card audit in April 2018 and everything was good.