The Blade
TOLEDO, Ohio — The Toledo fire chief and at least one other high-ranking fire official used money earmarked to buy Toledoans smoke detectors to instead pay for hotel rooms, conference costs, and dinners, according to documents obtained today by The Blade.
Toledo City Council today quietly reviewed legislation to change how the city’s “smoke detector trust fund” money can be spent after some members learned that the fund was used to pay for things other than smoke detectors before that was permissible.
That fund was created in 2002 with private donations and a fire department program fee. Use of the fund was limited to paying for smoke detectors, other alarm systems, residential sprinklers, and public education material. On Aug. 12, 2014, council altered the fund rules, allowing the fire department to use that money for “accreditation expenditures” and “officer and professional management education.”
But receipts and city expense forms obtained by The Blade show that the fund was being used for dinners and travel before council approved that change in August, 2014.
Councilman Mike Craig Tuesday submitted legislation to roll the smoke detector trust fund regulations back to the previous parameters, even though he said they were not even being followed.
“If you want to use that money, don’t hide it in a trust fund like that,” Mr. Craig said. “That money should come out of the general budget of the fire department. The things coming out of that fund should not have been paid for with that money.”
A city “travel expense estimate and authorization” form for Chief Luis Santiago indicates the fund was used to reimburse him for the cost of an accreditation conference in Henderson, Nev. for three days in March, 2014. The form lists $499 as the total advanced.
Another travel expense for Toledo Battalion Chief John Kaminski for the same conference showed $1,316 for lodging; $395 for travel; $1,316 for a cash advance, and $745 registration fees.
The form lists “total advances” as $2,456.39 for Chief Kaminski’s five-day trip to Nevada.
A Dec. 15, 2013 restaurant receipt from the Final Cut at Hollywood Casino Toledo showed a $760.77 charged by the chief, plus a $170 tip, for a $930.77 total. Records do not indicate who had the dinner or details of the event.
Chief Santiago was reached by The Blade today but said he could not answer questions because he had undergone surgery earlier in the day.
Jeff Romstadt, president of Toledo Firefighters Local 92, questioned the expenses and the use of the smoke detector trust fund in a Nov. 6 letter to Deputy Chief Brian Byrd – also obtained by The Blade.
“Local 92 has learned of potentially impermissible use of city funds by Chief Luis Santiago,” Mr. Romstadt wrote. “Enabling legislation establishing the smoke detector trust fund placed limitations on how and for what purposes funds could be used.... Local 92 members have previously been charged and disciplined for engaging in far less unlawful conduct.”
The union president told The Blade that the fund “looks like a slush fund.”
“I would say it’s probably inappropriately spending,“ he said.
When reached today, Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson initially said there was no wrong-doing.
She said one expense questioned by the union president – a $306 bill for items like renting a soft serve ice cream machine, ice cream, sprinkles, and a popcorn machine – were for an event that promoted the use of smoke detectors.
Mayor Hicks-Hudson later said today that she would have the city law department review the expenditures.
“Based on what I have gotten so far, I am asking the law department to do further investigation on this,” she said. “I do take this seriously and we are going to look at this in further depth.”
Chief of Staff Bob Reinbolt said the late Mayor D. Michael Collins asked council to make the change to the legislation in August, 2014 because expenses had been charged for accreditation purposes - like hotel rooms and food - with the smoke detector trust fund.
Copyright 2015 The Blade
All Rights Reserved