Future of volunteer fire department in Craig Beach remains uncertain

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CRAIG BEACH — The future of the Craig Beach Volunteer Fire Department is uncertain now that the village council has severed ties with it.

As of January, the village will no longer have a contract with the CBVFD, a private entity, said fiscal officer Lori Becker.

Council voted Dec. 10 to instead contract with Milton Township for fire protection, she said.

The primary reason, she said, was a lack of accountability on the part of the CBVFD. “We couldn’t get records from them.”

Now, the volunteer fire department is hoping that Milton Township will agree to enter into a joint fire district with it, said Richard Fruit, a CBVFD trustee. A fire district becomes its own entity.

Fire Chief Kevin Felger presented documents on forming a fire district to the township trustees last week, Fruit said.

If that doesn’t happen, however, the department might run out of options, said Chip Comstock, a lawyer who specializes in legal issues concerning fire departments.

It could continue to exist as an association, though not a service organization, said Comstock, who prepared the documents that Felger presented to Milton Township.

The department would quickly run out of money without a service contract, however, he pointed out, adding that he doesn’t see much incentive for Milton or Jackson townships to use the CBVFD.

The department would need money at least for insurance and maintenance on equipment and its station, he said.

And what about its assets, which include the station on Grandview Road and three firetrucks?

They belong to the department, he said, even though they were bought with Craig Beach taxpayers’ money and government grants.

If the department dissolved, money from the sale of assets would have to be used for charitable purposes since the department is nonprofit, Comstock added.

But, he said, the department shouldn’t be hasty.

“I think it’s premature for the fire department to do anything with respect to any assets until all parties have the opportunity to review the possibility of a joint fire district,” said Comstock, who is chief of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District in Poland, which serves the village of Poland and Poland Township. He also has counseled other communities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties in the formation of districts.

Milton Township has agreed to provide fire service to Craig Beach, though the contract isn’t final yet. But as for a fire district, no talks are planned, said Trustee Sue Lemmon.

Becker detailed some of the village’s frustration over records that led to the loss of the CBVFD’s contract.

She said the department did not file the proper tax forms.

“They are a nonprofit organization, so they have to file 990s,” she said. “And you have to make them available for public inspection.”

She said the department should have provided the village copies of their forms within two days of being asked for them Nov. 13. But the village still didn’t have them by Dec. 6. The village sent certified letters, and the forms were turned in Dec. 10, the same day the council voted to sever ties with the department, she said. They were the 990s for 2006, she said, and were not signed.

She said that none of the figures in the forms matched what the village had paid the department in levy money for fire service.

Becker said the village is turning the discrepancy in the forms over to the state attorney general’s office.

The village paid $19,000 a year to the department for operations. Money from another levy that also generates $19,000 was supposed to, by law, be used only for equipment and apparatus, Becker said. The second levy was passed in 2005.

Becker said she had been sending money directly to companies as of this year to pay bills to make sure the funds from the second levy were properly spent. She said the village had no proof that the department was doing so.

She said the department never filed its 990 forms in 2005.

Fruit admitted the department didn’t file its forms, but said that was because of a misunderstanding.

“There’s some argument over whether it’s necessary to even do that,” he said. He said that one accountant indicated that in an average of the last three years, the department wouldn’t have made enough money to qualify for having to file the forms.

Becker disputed that, however, saying the department would have had enough money in 2005, when the second levy was still being paid directly to it and when the department sold two pieces of property, to qualify to fill out the forms.

Fruit said there is nothing Milton Township Fire Department has that Craig Beach VFD doesn’t.

The department has 20-plus volunteers, he said.

“We have a brand new firetruck,” he said, and three volunteers who are completing Emergency Medical Services training. “We have a nice station.”

He said a fire district would be the best option for the village and township.

“They’re doing it in Poland and Hubbard and Canfield.”

Comstock also said a fire district would result in better response times for Craig Beach and lower insurance for its residents. Once the Craig Beach station is no longer in service, he said, insurance will go up.

“I suggested to the Craig Beach fire chief and the Milton Township fire chief that this is a good idea,” he said. “You have to think about what’s best for residents.”

Becker said Craig Beach, like Milton Township, has doubts about whether the fire district proposal is a good arrangement.

She said it appears from the proposed contract that the fire district would have to lease the CBVFD’s station from the department.

She said that down the road, a fire district is a possibility, as soon as Craig Beach has something to bring to the table.

XC ONTRIBUTOR: Vindicator correspondent Sean Barron.