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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — It sprouted wings and flew away.
That was the conclusion one Wilkes-Barre Township Firefighters’ Relief Association member had when a recent audit report confirmed state aid was being withheld from the fire department for $150,000 in undocumented loans.
Members of the relief association and fire department on Tuesday learned of the missing funds during a meeting attended by officials from the state auditor general’s office, Wilkes-Barre Township Mayor Carl Kuren, First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and other township officials.
In an audit conducted between 2004 and 2006, the relief association was warned as early as 2008 that state aid may be withheld if proper steps were not taken to correct the undocumented loans and erroneous withdrawal of funds found during the audit.
Barry Ciccocioppo, communications director for the auditor general, said a state auditor met with members of the relief association per their request. He informed them of the approximately $150,000.
“To get the state funding flowing again, basically, the auditor explained they need to come into compliance,” Ciccocioppo said. “Part of that is providing documentation to prove how the money was handled.”
Suspicions confirmed
Relief association president Larry Ace said the meeting confirmed the organization’s hunch.
“We had an idea of what was going on but since there was no paper trail or documentation, no nothing… we really couldn’t act on it. Once that audit came though, our suspicions were correct and we could act on it,” he said.
Ace, who took over as president of the four-person board in January, said the relief association was told it needed to repay the missing funds before state aid would resume. At that point, however, the relief association would be retroactively awarded withheld aid from the past five years.
In 2005, Ace said a loan agreement was made between the fire department and the relief association using their ladder truck as collateral. The loan was agreed to be repaid at $5,000 per year with 3 percent interest. Ace said the loan agreement was signed by former chief John P. Yuknavich and other members of the executive board.
Yuknavich in January pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing more than $45,000 from the department. He was sentenced to six months in prison and six months home confinement.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Ace said it would not be possible to return the money and keep the department afloat without the help of Kuren and council members. It was unclear at Tuesday’s meeting whether the township would pay the $150,000 on behalf of the relief association.
However, Kuren said he assured several firefighters in attendance he was on their side.
“This is our fire department,” he said. “We’re not going to let it just go down the tubes because an incident happened.”
Special meeting
Some relief could be on the horizon.
At a special session Monday, council members will vote whether to take over the fire department building’s lease, Ace said. If approved, the township would assume financial responsibility for the building’s mortgage and utilities. Township officials would then provide the fire department a 50 year lease.
Richard Hart, president of the fire department’s executive board, said the lease would be contingent on the organization continuing to operate as a fire department. The arrangement will amount to a landlord/tenant agreement, he said.
Hart said members immediately bought into the idea.
After township officials pitched the idea to the executive board in March, Hart took it back to the department’s members for a vote. Members were overwhelmingly in favor of it, Hart said, with 14 of 16 members voting in favor of the plan.
“Everybody knows they need to have the fire department there. They’ve been working hard with us since December. So far we have no negative things to say. Everything we ask Mayor Kuren or the council, they back us up,” he said.
The four-person executive board runs the daily operations of the firehouse. Hart said it was important for decisions to not be a “one person show.”
“Everybody has a say in what’s going on. If something comes up, we let the body vote on it. We don’t just make a decision on our own,” he said.
Criminal investigation?
Sanguedolce said unless there are future developments, there didn’t appear to be anything to investigate.
“The statute of limitations is long passed for something like that,” Sanguedolce said, noting that the issue in question took place in 2004 and 2005.
His presence at the meeting, he said, was to oversee thefts from volunteer organizations that have been on the rise.
“Volunteer organizations, little leagues, charities… we’ve been seeing too many of them,” he said.
Sanguedolce said he did offer comments on how the relief association can proceed.
“They’re entitled to money and they’re looking into how to get it,” he said.
Looking forward
Ace said members of the fire department have not been discouraged, despite the situation they inherited.
“It’s sad that we were handed this rat’s nest here but we’re doing everything in our power,” Ace said. “We’re working with the township and the township is working with us.”
“And that’s the way it should be,” he added.