Fire department funds are public money
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Editor,
In a recent guest opinion in local newspapers, Rural Fire District trustee Jack Clapp attempted to rectify large amounts of what he called misinformation. In doing so, he created his own misinformation.
In item No. 3, he stated the rescue vehicle was paid for by the firefighters.
Really? I ask Mr. Clapp to check the records. It is very clear in the fire district minutes and well-known among the firefighters that the rescue vehicle was purchased by bequeathed funds and public donations. According to the fire district minutes of October 2004, the Polson Fire Department had $90,000 in bequest funds for the purchase of a new van. In August 2005, it records that the fire department purchased a used 2000 rescue truck from Texas for $85,000.
I was a fireman for almost five years and could never understand why many in the Polson Fire Department considered the public donations, tax dollars, bequest funds, boot drives, etc., as firefighters' money, as Mr. Clapp does in his opinion piece.
Just last year, in May 2010, the fire district minutes confirm this attitude when Trustee Stanley, a 20-year veteran of the Polson Fire Department, told the firefighters when discussing the tax revenues, "Actually it is your money; (the board) manages it; we work with you to spend it."
Really? No; the tax revenues are still public money entrusted to the fire district trustees, who are elected to represent the citizens. The public donations and bequests that are entrusted to the firefighters are still public money and should be accounted for.
Jeff Meslin
Big Arm
