140,000 REASONS FOR CONCERN
Pa. Auditor General calls on D.A. to probe fire company expenses
COLWYN » Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is asking Delaware County District Attorney Kat Copeland to investigate $137,070 in allegedly undocumented expenses at the Colwyn Borough Fire Company Relief Association.
“Golf courses. Cable bills. Department stores. Disc jockeys. People withdrawing money without explanation,” DePasquale stated in a release Tuesday. “I have serious concerns about how tax dollars were spent here.”
County spokeswoman Emily Harris confirmed Tuesday that Copeland had received a referral from DePasquale’s office and there is an ongoing investigation.
“Immediately upon learning about the recent audit, we contacted the Auditor General’s office and requested a copy of their report,” said Copeland. “An investigation has been commenced.”
This is the second Colwyn relief association to come under DePasquale’s gaze. He previously identified nearly $90,000 in unexplained expenses at the former Relief Association of Colwyn Borough Fire Co. No. 1 in 2015 that led to the arrest of three former Colwyn Fire Co. officials.
Former Colwyn Borough Volunteer Fire Co. President Elizabeth “Betty” Cellini; her daughter, Lauren Cellini, who acted as the company’s treasurer; and Betty Cellini’s boyfriend, Gary Brice, the former fire chief, each entered pleas to theft by unlawful taking and criminal conspiracy in February 2017. They were ordered to repay $35,000 in missing funds.
DePasquale also froze state funding to Colwyn Borough Fire Co. after audits revealed the original $88,610 in undocumented or unauthorized expenses. That figure was later whittled down to the $35,000 that the three former officials were ordered to repay.
A July 2014 decree from the Delaware County Common Pleas Court also ordered the former association to liquidate its funds and send all proceeds to the Colwyn Borough Fire Company Relief Association.
The audit says the transfer did not take place, however, and the funds were instead placed in a general fund account belonging to the borough. As of Aug. 29, 2017, the account holding the prior association’s funds had a balance of $11, according to the audit report.
The new undocumented expenses were identified in a report examining relief association operations between Jan. 1, 2015 and Aug. 29, 2017, according to the release, although the audit itself only identifies expenditures between Jan. 19, 2015, and April 11, 2016.
These include more than $17,243 in over-the-counter cash withdrawals, $6,914 in checks and $112,913 in 87 transaction payments to vendors, according to the audit.
“We did not have enough documentation to determine if any of these expenses were legal,” DePasquale said. “Clearly, some of these expenses are not allowed. I do not know how golf and country club vendors advance the cause of volunteer firefighting services.”
DePasquale said in the release that his investigators could not find any association officers to review the latest audit and he was “troubled” that the relief association did not take action to correct seven findings identified in 2015.
He indicated he would ask Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to legally dissolve the association, and oversee the transfer of fire equipment and taxpayer assets to another association.
“There is a black cloud hovering over the Colwyn Borough Fire Co. Relief Association,” DePasquale said. “We need to clear the air in the interests of taxpayers and quality emergency services.”
The Colwyn Borough Fire Co. Relief Association has not supported an affiliated fire company since 2016, according to the release. Colwyn has been covered in firefighting operations by neighboring Darby Borough under an agreement between the two boroughs.
Colwyn Mayor Maurice J. Clark Sr., said Tuesday that the borough is working to restart the fire company under former Philadelphia Fire Commissioner William Harris.
“The only thing that’s stopping us from running is borough council insuring the trucks,” said Clark. “We have the men, we have the equipment, we just don’t have the insurance yet. We hope to have that very soon.”