It’s time to dissolve the Northeast Fire District
R.J. Matson/Post-Dispatch
So now comes Missouri Auditor Susan Montee to say the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District is the worst-run agency her office ever has encountered, a “poster child” for bad government, a place where none of the books are balanced, the Sunshine Law routinely is ignored, contracts are awarded without bids, nepotism and conflicts of interest reign. The list goes on for 61 pages.
All this since April 2007, when attorney and former state legislator Elbert Walton Jr. engineered a takeover of the three-member board of directors, had himself named the board’s attorney, changed its name from the Normandy Fire Protection District and began acting like king.
It’s been good to be king, but federal and state authorities have been poking around the district for months. As district resident Tim Britt said at the meeting Tuesday night when the audit was released, “How can we continue to let these guys steal week after week?”
We know all of this thanks to the diligence of Post-Dispatch reporter Elizabethe Holland, who since late 2007 has disclosed nearly everything Ms. Montee discovered. Ms. Holland’s reporting led then-Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt to ask the auditor to get involved.
The gangrene has been festering for more than two years. Mr. Walton and his cronies have operated brazenly, running up huge legal fees for Mr. Walton and his partner; using district funds to campaign four times in 12 months (fortunately, each time unsuccessfully) for a $10.3 million bond issue they could play with; finagling pensions; having district residents arrested, even buying an asbestos-laden building in Beverly Hills, where the cops were more compliant.
The end may be near. The district now has only two directors, and they don’t see eye-to-eye. The district’s funds have been frozen. Fire Chief and Walton crony-in-chief Joseph L. Washington has been indicted for violating the Clean Air Act in connection with asbestos mitigation.
But the looting continues. On Sunday, Ms. Holland reported that the district is paying Mr. Washington’s legal bills, not only for the EPA charges, but on two counts of fraud in a personal bankruptcy case.
Forty-seven thousand people live in the Northeast fire district, most of them in small suburbs surrounding the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. They pay about $2.6 million a year in taxes to support the district. We say “about” because Ms. Montee’s office said the books are such a mess, it’s hard to figure what went where for what.
These taxpayers are being hosed, and they have been for the last 30 months. State law makes it ridiculously easy for special interests, particularly the firefighters union, to control fire districts; the Legislature should fix that and move toward consolidating fire services.
In the meantime, Section 391.320 of Missouri law allows voters to petition the circuit court to dissolve a fire district if “further operation of the district is inimicable to the best interests of the inhabitants of the district.” Ms. Montee’s audit closes any debate on “inimicable.”
The court can then call an election; if two thirds of the voters approve, the district is dissolved. District residents could contract with a neighboring district for service. It it were us, we’d try to cut a deal with the St. Louis Fire Department. Cheaper, better, no Elbert Walton. What’s not to like?
Time to get ALL the “Special” interests OUT of the Fire Business! Fire District Boards need to be expanded to 8, they are now 3, and the terms of Directors need to be shortened to two years from SIX.
> State law makes it ridiculously easy for special interests, particularly
> the firefighters union, to control fire districts
State law makes it easy for special interests to control most elections. MNEA routinely supports their candidates for school boards. School districts and municipalities shamelessly campaign for bond and tax increases, claiming that their illegal advocacy is neutral “voter information.” With rare exception, Civic Progress bluebloods are able to shove tax increases down the throats of voters with lopsided campaigns. And in the recent “public safety” sales tax referendum, a major provider of equipment that the tax will be purchasing gave a huge contribution to the campaign for the tax. How about some constructive ideas about how to solve the larger problem?
Not a single dime was reported to be missing in the audit. Not a single allegation was made in the audit that any money was stolen. Yet Elizabeth Holland in praising herself in the editorial that she wrote quote’s an allegation about stealing. That is white journalism at its best. Furthermore, do you really think that the a board that had been in office for only 2 years is responsible for an accounting system that was in place when they first took over for over 50 years? They hired a CPA to let them know what the problems were. They received a report about the problems in December, 2008, which came after the period in which the current audit took place. They then hired a CPA in January, 2009 to address the problems. That is all that can be expected of them. To identify the problems and then address them.
–I wondered how long it would take for the first shrouded or overt claims of racism would start, for pointing out the insanity.
Elbert Walton is a case study of a professional con-artist.
I have a home in Pasadena Hills I’m most proud of, in a charming and integrated neighborhood. I was well-offended when certain of the St. Louis Fire Department began claiming the cause of criticism was racism.
If you know Pasadena Hills, you would immediately realize what a bogus lie this is—after all, WHY would those of a ‘white citizen’s council’ mentality choose to live in an integrated neighborhood?. The amount of
race-baiting done regarding discussion of problems in the district turned my stomach: a pox on Mr. Walton, and may his self-serving corruption
be removed from my community.