Click on image to enlarge.While this document starts out saying "Help Us Help You" I beg to differ. From the looks of the way things are run in the SFD, its more like, Help Us Help Ourselves.
"YOUR DONATIONS ARE USED WISELY AND HELP SAVE LIVES."
"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE YOUR SUPPORT...IT IS VITAL...THANK YOU!"
"AS ALWAYS, "YOUR" ONGOING SUPPORT IS TRULY APPRECIATED THANK YOU!"
The first thing I want to know is, shouldn't this say The Salisbury VOLUNTEER Fire Department? Are they asking for money from citizens above and beyond what they already pay in taxes for the "Salisbury Fire Department"?
After yesterday's massive comments referencing the recently found $5,000.00 luxury Fishing Trip for a select few, are they running this 501 (c) 3 Corporation legally?
Do YOU believe Mayor Ireton should open an immediate investigation on the entire spending habits for ALL of the divisions related to the Salisbury Fire Department?
The way I see it is, if this is one item YOU were not aware of, I would think there are many others along the way as well. The Retirement Party for Chief See is yet another perfect example.
We have already heard from numerous Volunteers being very upset that Deputy Chief Gordy is allegedly forcing the Volunteers to put out thousands of dollars for this Party, yet See couldn't stand Volunteers.
Ultimately, when you receive document like the one above, Citizens are lead to believe their DONATIONS, $100.00, $250.00 or $500.00 would be going towards desperately needed life saving equipment and NOT for a $5,000.00 luxury fishing trip.
I'll close with this. To the few that say you don't have a problem with them using "some" of the funds for things like this, you're absolutely wrong. If they stated they were raising money for the above mentioned interests and then added "some of the money might be used to entertain some of the Firefighters", that's one thing. However, since they did not, IMO, they violated their charter/law.
20 comments:
Its a crime in some form or another. The other Volunteer firemen should file a civil case against them.
I agree. We've sent $ 100 checks for 20 + years, but no more. Sorry, Firefighters, this is unacceptable.
This doesn't have anything to do with their 501 status. They can use the donations any way they see fit, and if it is a violation, that's between them and local government or donors, not the IRS.
That said, many 501's use 'general funds' for all sorts of things that people would be unhappy about - I know one local org uses 'general funds' to buy the alcohol preferences of their donors so it is on hand when they come to events; others throw parties for their benefactors or patrons.
If you don't specify where your donation should go when you donate to a 501, it generally goes into a general fund that can be used to pay the electric bill, throw a party, OR buy equipment.
People should make sure they make their donations properly.
anonymous 9:43, it does say what the donations are for and it has nothing to do with fishing trips.
9:43 How is it that the fishing trips saves lives? If it had said please donate so that our volunteers can waste your money, that would have been the accurate statement. Then again, when does the stupid SFP ever do anything that is not completely over the top and wasteful.
Ireton can investigate all he wants, but when it all boils down these hicks around here are all looking out for each other. Take for instance the theft at the land fill. You can't tel me that Ray Lewis commited these crimes alone. That was all orchestrated from the inside, yet Lewis seems to be the only one "paying the price". Don't get me wrong, what he commited was theft. I'm just saying that there are probably several others that should be locked up and paying restitution for accessory. Hicks looking out for hicks, and it reaches all the way to the top.
This is an outrage. People need to stop complaining here and call or e-mail the mayor and Rick Pollitt. 410-548-3100 Mayor's office; jireton@ci.salisbury.md.us Mayor's e-mail; 410-548-4801 County Executive; rickpollitt@wicomicocounty.org County Exec's e-mail
I wouldn't trust that email address for the mayor. There is no telling who gets his email and deletes what they don't want him to see. Take the safe route and call him or stop him on the street and talk to him one on one.
I wish Davis would chime in.
Don't you worry, Davis has been informed including links to every article referencing this matter. He is on board.
10:54 am I agree with you on this so here is the Mayor's contact information.
jireton1@hotmail.com
It has been tossed out that this so called funding came from the Lacey Fund which is handled by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore located on Belmont Avenue in Salisbury. If this is the case this money was left in a will to the Salisbury Fire Department. I am sure this person that willed this money to the fire department thought the money would be used responsibly and not on landish chartered fishing trips.
Why were only a select few allowed to attend this fishing trip? If it was a "reward" for such hard work the volunteers do than why was David See on the boat? David See hated the volunteers and dropped the F bomb on them every chance he got.
Now looking at the city charter as prescribed below it appears that the "Fire Chief" is in violation of the city code and this does need to be addressed by the Mayor and City Council.
http://www.ci.salisbury.md.us/Portals/0/CityCodes/MD%20Salisbury%20T02.pdf
Title 2
ADMINISTRATION AND PERSONNEL
2.16 Fire Department
F. Duties and Responsibilities of the Fire Chief. The fire chief shall have general command, control and supervision of all emergency services. Without limiting the scope of the foregoing sentence, the fire chief shall:
5. Ensure that no fire department resources are used for the personal gain of individuals, or public or private corporations or other entities;
No matter what the "funding" source I betting this is a violation of fire department resources. This is definitely a scandal and thank you Mr. Albero for bringing it to the attention of the tax paying citizens.
This is definitely corruption in the fire department and someone needs to be held accountable.
Mayor Ireton I know you read this blog so please do your job.
These guys are led by Gordy. Everyone knows it. He has been running See and Hoppes all along. He has placed his son into a position he doesn't deserve and the rest of us are sick of it. We know he doens't care about the vollies, just the money. It is a click within the vollies who support him, because they get the benefits. Its just like taking trips to Indianapolis. Going to the strip clubs, drinking, and partying. He is a lot of fun if you are part of the click. He volunteers to get stuff for free.
It's a power trip for Gordy. The fire palace was built to feed his ego.
One thing that was omitted in the 3:02 PM post was the fact that the Lacey Fund ran by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore is worth well over a Million Dollars and the 3 volunteer stations divvy up the interest with oversight from the fire chief and the volunteer board. Apparently the board has been dissolved and the oversight is in the hand of the fire chief and/or the volunteer deputy chief which happens to be Hoppes and Gordy.
If the Salisbury Fire Department is worth over a Million Dollars then why are the city and county taxpayers paying for all this new equipment and toys as Bubba puts it?
OUCH! This is going to hurt this years donations. The fire department will go in the hole with this one. They won't even be able to pay the company that sends out these letters for donations. That's right the fire department pays someone to generate these letters and mail them. The only thing the fire department has to do is open the envelopes from the donors and laugh all the way to the bank. They don't even keep a list of who sent what. They don't even send thank you letters.
Joe,
I have a great idea for all of us who have donated to the SFD in the past and do not plan to in the future. I was at the Lower Shore Red Cross for a CPR class. While there our instructor informed us that our local chapter had the highest number of volunteers per region population volume in the whole country! That in it's self amazed me! Then he started talking about the economy and how a large portion of their funding comes from donations and the rest comes from sponsors such as the Untied Way contribute approximately 15% of their budget.
SO, I think we should all donate what we would have given to SFD to the Lower Shore Red Cross Chapter. I bet our "donations will be used wisely and help save lives" will NOT be "underestimated" and will definitely be "truly appreciated" and will not be just a bunch of meaningless quotes.
I would much rather my "neighbor" get a clean dry place to sleep after a home fire or natural disaster than see a bunch of spoiled "boys" get a free fishing trip.
I forgot to add that the volunteers were for Hurricane Katrina Relief....Sorry!
I agree with 10:53 PM that we all should start making our contributions to the Lower Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross. Check out their website http://www.redcrosslowershore.org/
Another thing to consider is why should we donate to the Salisbury Fire Department when they are getting millions upon millions of dollars from the Mayor and City Council. A $10 million dollar palace in a ghetto, 5 new fire trucks, an $800,000 fire boat, a $200,000 Haz Mat truck and trailer. All of these things were not needed and waisted much needed tax dollars. When was the last time Salisbury had a boat fire on the river? When was the last time Salisbury had a Haz Mat incident? You can't tell us can you. Yes many of these things were initiated and done under the previous mayor but Jim Ireton had the perfect opportunity put a stop to the new fire trucks, refurbishing the two new trucks, the fire boat and haz mat truck and trailer. Jim Ireton is quoted as saying he supported the "grant" money for these because we may never get it again. Bad move Mr. Ireton.
Unless the donator specifies in the memo area the donations can be used at the recievers discretion.
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