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TRUMAN-- The Truman City Council on Monday heard from Greg Burkhardt, an auditor with Burkhardt & Burkhardt Ltd who was present to clarify some things regarding donations made to the Truman Fire Relief Association. There have been issues with people making donations via checks written out to the city.
Burkhardt provided the council with some documents from the state auditor website titled statements of position.
"A lot of times what the state will do when a situation comes up that maybe lacks guidance... they'll fill out a statement of position describing the situation to try and lay out the law, if there are any, and the best way to handle a decision," Burkhardt said.
He said the statement of position could help the council walk through the discussion regarding what the state expects and how the council wants to handle the issue.
"As I understand the situation, the fire relief conducts fundraisers throughout the year and with the city council and city staff and the fire relief or fire department, there's a lot of misunderstanding of what those entities are and where the lines are drawn between one entity and another," Burkhardt said.
He said that the fire relief association is a non-profit which is legally separate from the city and has different abilities like the right to hold fundraisers, etc., whereas the city is a government and therefore limited by different statutes.
"The fire department itself is simply a department of the city and cannot maintain its own checking account...," Burkhardt said.
Because of this, he said there's a lot of confusion and acknowledged that a lot of people don't make the distinction between the department and the relief association.
"That's where it gets a little sticky. Your regular citizen will write a check, a donation, to the fire department and there's some confusion about who actually owns those revenues," Burkhardt said.
He said the statements will help the council determine what's required by the state and what some of the issues are.
"... it states from the State Auditor that, as a relief, when you make a solicitation or have a fundraiser, you need to be very explicit in your solicitation so that the contributing public understands that if they do provide any type of resource to that fire relief, it is intended for the fire relief," Burkhardt said.
If a check is written out to the city of Truman, or Truman Fire Department, problems can arise.
Burkhardt also detailed some issues that could arise if donations come to the city that are not solicited. He provided a few examples, including money or assets being left to the city after someone passes away.
Mayor Jake Ebert said that some of what Burkhardt said is different than how the council has handled situations in the past.
"It's unfortunate because it's happened a couple of times already this year that someone has written out a check to the Truman Fire Department... it's probably going to take time for everyone to understand that this is the way it's got to go," Ebert said.
Fire Chief Dave Bentz said that the fire department acknowledges that it needs to be more clear that people should write out checks to the Truman Fire Relief Association, rather than to the Truman Fire Department.
"That's something that we could easily do and are willing to do; the problem is the transition time could take a few years for the public to get used to it," Bentz said.
Burkhardt said that from an audit standpoint, while it's not the cleanest thing, a lot of banks in small towns will cash checks without questions because they have an established relationship.
"The important thing here is, what's the donor's intention? Whether or not the donor says Truman Fire Relief (Association) or Truman Fire Department, if they intend it to go to the fire relief, that's where it belongs," Burkhardt said.
Council Member Patty Truax said she suspects most people are unaware that there's two separate entities.
"If you're not involved with the fire department, you don't even know that that (the relief association) exists," Truax said.
Burkhardt said that the language is important when it comes to what the fire department puts on its advertisements for fundraisers and various events.
Council Member Ron Kelley said that the last check that came in was written in memory of a former firefighter to the Truman Fire Department.
"This is a very difficult question to answer simply because the statutes aren't clear on what to do and you can see these two statements of position... there isn't a really good law to point your finger to," Burkhardt said.
He said in that specific case he would guess the person meant for the check to go to the fire relief association.
Bentz pointed out that the fire relief association has its book audited every year and Burkhardt added that they're currently in the process of doing that audit.
In closing, Burkhardt recommended that the city and the fire department both work on clarifying that checks should be made out to the Truman Fire Relief Association.
Moving to other matters, Nancy Salic of the Truman Days committee gave an update to the council on the annual celebration, which is slated for later this week.
Salic asked that the proper streets that need to be closed have signage on them. She also inquired about whether the bathrooms have been cleaned and if someone is lined up to help with garbage removal. Street Superintendent John Bosshart said the bathrooms have been taken care of and the council said garbage will be taken care of, too.
Jess Urban, another committee member, said there are about 40 vendors between crafts and food trucks. She expressed concern for whether there would be enough power for all of the food trucks and asked the council who she should contact. The council gave her the name of the company that hooked up power to the park.
Salic also shared there are 70 units in the parade but that some businesses or organizations have multiple floats.
"We will probably have, I'm guessing, about 100 units," Salic said.
Salic brought up next year's Truman Days and referred to Bentz, who pointed out that 2024 is the 125th anniversary of the city of Truman. He said an interested group asked if fireworks could be part of the celebration. He said the group is interested in spearheading it.
Bentz said he got in contact with the company that does Fairmont's Fourth of July fireworks display and was told the Fairmont Fire Department spends about $25,000 on fireworks. He said he believes it's something that people in Truman would support.
"If we want to move forward with it, I'd like to know in August if it's something we want to do so we can start fundraising for it," said Bentz.
The council approved a motion to proceed with moving forward with pursuing funding for fireworks for 2024 Truman Days celebration.
"People are getting excited about it and thinking about it and talking about it. It's awesome," Salic said.