July
1, 2014
The
Sacramento Bee
By
Will Wright
A new Sacramento County Grand
Jury report calls for an audit of the Herald Fire Protection District, saying
fire officials used an unauthorized bank account to conduct business and the
fire chief is not managing district personnel in accordance with state law.
The report also found that Fire
Chief Chris McGranahan has at times viewed photos of “nude and scantily-clad
women on his work computer” that were then emailed to another employee.
The grand jury report cited
numerous irregularities regarding the financial affairs and management of the
fire district, which serves a rural community of about 1,200 people in
southeast Sacramento County and is governed by a board of five elected
officials.
“It was very unfortunate in
that the actual firefighters … we found were doing an amazingly good job,”
grand jury foreman Michael Arkelian said Monday. “It was the administrative
stuff and the problems with the board … that kept undermining all the good work
that all the actual firefighters were doing.”
McGranahan was out of the
office Monday and did not respond to phone calls and emails from The Bee for
comment. Calls also were not returned asking for comment from district board
members.
The grand jury found the
district for many years had a shared bank account with the Herald Volunteer
Firefighter’s Association at the Farmers and Merchants Bank that it did not
disclose to auditors of the Sacramento County Finance Department.
An investigation sparked by
complaints from residents and civic organizations revealed the existence of the
unauthorized bank account, which the fire district used for business
transactions related to the rental of two district-owned buildings.
“This practice shielded the
existence of these funds and transactions from public knowledge, review and
accountability,” according to the grand jury report issued last week.
In July 2012, the volunteer
firefighters association withdrew its funds and opened a separate account at
another bank. The fire district board voted in 2013 to close its account and
deposit the funds with the Sacramento County treasurer.
The review of the district’s
finances unveiled other misdeeds, according to the grand jury report, including
an instance in which the district paid a salaried employee cash for
non-firefighter services and intentionally excluded those payments from the
employee’s earnings to understate the income reported on his W-2 tax form.
Jackie Barton, president of the
Herald Area Civic Association, said the district’s mismanagement has been going
on for years and that people in the community find it hard to change.
“No one can audit what they
turn over because it’s so elusive and hidden and illegal,” Barton said. “The
money has been so comingled and been used with … no documentation. The
mismanagement is tremendous.”
In addition to financial
violations, the grand jury found the district violated the Firefighters
Procedural Bill of Rights Act. The district and the fire chief have failed to
adopt policies that the law requires to provide firefighters protections in
disciplinary proceedings, according to the report.
Current policies do not provide
full-time firefighters the opportunity to appeal a punitive action, as required
by the the act. “The fire chief and his administrative staff have repeatedly
demonstrated their lack of knowledge of the act’s requirements,” the report
said.
The report also cited the chief
for possibly violating district policy when he viewed the racy photos of women
on his computer and raised the possibility that he may be unwilling to
discipline himself and others.
“Over several months, in at
least three instances, the fire chief viewed photos of nude and scantily-clad
women on his work computer, which were then emailed from his district email
account to another firefighter employee, who claimed to be offended,” according
to the report. “(The fire chief) has interpreted the district disciplinary
policy that he is obliged to enforce in a manner that insulates his own conduct
and protects him from punitive action.”
The reported recommended that
the district take certain actions to correct its deficiencies in financial and
personnel management, including:
• Establishing adequate
internal accounting controls.
• Adopting policies
compliant with the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act and ensuring that
firefighters are aware of the act’s requirements.
• Considering consolidation
of its fire and emergency services with a nearby fire district.
The fire district board made
headlines a year ago when it voted to oust one of its members, a move that
community residents and county Supervisor Don Nottoli said was illegal in the
absence of a recall election or a grand jury finding of misconduct. Board
member Lance Newhall was reinstated on a subsequent vote.
Call The Bee’s Will Wright,
(916) 321-1212.
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