Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By JAN TUCKER
Ontonagon — The Ontonagon Fire Department volunteers will now be treated as village employees under action taken by the Ontonagon Village Council Monday. The method by which firemen were paid has been an issue for several months and was highlighted in a television interview of Sue Lockhart.
Lockhart told the council Monday that her interview was “not against the fire department,” but was intended to call attention to the village which she said was “not complying with federal and state laws.”
“You spend a lot of money to hire an auditor who tells you to change the way firemen are paid,” Lockhart said, adding the village has not followed the rule prohibiting them from being paid in cash.
“Volunteers still need W2 forms.”
She said the recommendations by the auditor was made in the 2014 audit and even before that, but no changes were made.
In the 2015 audit, the auditor said the fire department requests payment from the village for fire and maintenance fees and the village writes a check made out to the department for reimbursement of the fees. “It appeared the checks made out to the OVFD were cashed at the bank and volunteers were given cash payment for their services,” according to the audit report.
The audit report said “during the year the bank stopped the practice of giving cash for the checks made out to the department. It appears the new practice is for the Ontonagon Fire Department to write out a check to an individual, who then cashes the check and distributes cash to the volunteers.”
The audit said the majority of checks written by the OCFD appear to be allowable expenses but were never presented to the village and not approved by the council.
The auditor recommended the village “review internal control policies and procedures and make necessary changes to ensure compliance with IRS regulations.” The findings reported firemen’s wages be reported in W-2’s as required by the IRS.
Village Manager Joe Erickson said he had been working with the firemen even before the television story to find a solution to the problem, but he did not want to “push these guys to quit the hard way and leave the village without a department.” He admitted that the process has been slower than it should have been, “but there are a lot of people involved.” He said the village did not give cash to the firefighters.
Tom Hamilton said the village manager owes “these guys” pointing to Lockhart, an apology. He said the blame was put on Lockhart who just tried to get “the true facts out.”
Jim Miles, who has been member of the fire department for over 39 years and is its assistant chief, thanked the village manager and the council for fixing the compensation issue and noted that the discussions were underway before the television story. He added the department has received great support from the community “at warp speed” since the story came out.
The new contract, approved by the council Monday and previously by the firemen, clarifies the compensation to the firemen. They will receive $12 an hour for emergency calls, required training and OVFD business meetings. The contract also states the men and women will received $6 per month for the last call bonus, $50 a year clothing reimbursement, personal vehicle mileage for emergency calls will be reimbursed at the IRS approved rate, for a maximum of $100 a year and OVFD members shall be provided with $5,000 life insurance coverage.
