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Fire board brings in help

As part of their efforts to deal with pressure from the county, the Spring Hill fire commissioners hire a consultant to delve deeper into an audit criticizing procedures.

By ANDREW J. SKERRITT
Published July 20, 2005

SPRING HILL - The Spring Hill Fire Rescue District has called up reinforcements in its ongoing dispute with Hernando County over a recent critical audit.

Consultant Walter Dry, whom fire commissioners hired last week, is scheduled to meet with Clerk of Circuit Court Karen Nicolai Thursday morning to discuss lingering concerns raised in the KPMG audit of the district's affairs.

Auditors criticized Spring Hill fire's segregation of employees' duties, how it keeps track of money, human resources management and purchasing procedures and recommended they be turned over to the county.

Dry, of Spring Hill, has been retained by the commission over the years to handle training and other issues, said Fire Chief J.J. Morrison. He is paid about $50 an hour, Morrison said.

"He is supposed to get to the bottom of the audit and find out what it takes to make this place better," Morrison said.

In a letter to Nicolai announcing Dry's role, fire commission attorney Andrew Salzman said all the issues in the audit will be corrected, if they have not been corrected already. He also said county commissioners appeared to be discussing concerns from past fire commission boards and not the current administration.

"We would hope that the Spring Hill Fire Board of Commissioners is not being punished for acts of prior commissioners," Salzman wrote.

But Nicolai said by focusing primarily on the audit, the fire commission is missing the point.

"They are trying to clean up the audit thinking that will take care of the problems. There is no accountability," Nicolai said. "We have to clean up the accountability first. We have to take care of that. This is not directed at this Spring Hill board or the previous board. It's an issue that has been out of there for a long time."

Thursday's meeting comes as county commissioners prepare next Tuesday to pass an ordinance that would give county officials greater oversight of the fire district's finances. Dry said the issue of the ordinance is not on the agenda.

Passage of the ordinance had been delayed to give fire commissioners a chance to discuss how the ordinance would affect their department, especially in terms of budget, personnel and standard operating procedures. The delay also allowed fire commissioners a chance to talk to county officials about the district's problems.

The ordinance, which would change Spring Hill's purchasing, budget and human resources policies, was drafted in the wake of the KPMG audit and concerns raised by Nicolai.

"They are a dependent district and need to be under the accountability of the Board of County Commissioners," Nicolai said.

Thursday's meeting also comes about a month after Nicolai and County Administrator Gary Adams met with fire officials to discuss concerns raised in the KPMG audit. Fire commissioners had promised to return with language that might be included in the new ordinance, but Nicolai says she hasn't received anything from the fire commissioners yet. Morrison said the fire board's attorney is working on some proposed changes.

"We had made progress," he said. "Now the board is putting a professional on it to look into the whole situation."

[Last modified July 20, 2005, 00:57:15]