Hernando Today
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A long-awaited audit looking into public service employees’ fuel card usage pinpointed three areas where the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department needs improvements: the creation of policies and procedures, the tracking of vehicle usage and a better monitoring of receipts.
The audit by Circuit Court Clerk Don Barbee’s office prompted Hernando Beach Fire Chief David Freda to enact a more stringent policy, that went into effect Oct. 3 but found no evidence of misuse.
Barbee said a lack of documentation at the volunteer department made it difficult to do the audit.
“We were kind of limited as to how far we could go,” he said.
Even so, Barbee said he found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or anything egregiously wrong.
“It flows back to the fact that there were no policies and procedures in place,” he said.
The new policy Freda enacted mimics that of the county fire department but still doesn’t require the level of documentation Barbee would like to see.
“(But) it’s a great step in the right direction as far as we’re concerned,” he said.
Barbee started out to look at the county public safety employees as part of a follow-up of last year’s fleet department audit but included the volunteer agency because of anonymous allegations that Freda abused his gas card by buying and drinking alcohol with firefighters on duty at the station.
Freda denied the allegations.
Freda spent more than twice as much on fuel the last fiscal year than the chief and deputy chief of Hernando County combined, according to the finance manager of Hernando County Public Safety. Freda has said it is not unusual for volunteer fire departments to log more miles than paid departments.
Freda, in his written response to the audit released Thursday, said his department has already initiated a new record keeping system “to improve our weakest areas in the department.”
“Our old system of fueling the vehicles was inefficient as, being a volunteer department, it was unsuitable to give (personal identification numbers) to all the volunteers due to our retention rate,” Freda wrote.
Instead, Freda said he will issue all new cards to the department officers, which will identify the user and provide a more secured system. From now on, the cardholder will enter a vehicle ID number to identify the vehicle being fueled as well as record the mileage.
“We have also added to our policy that the mileage of every vehicle will be recorded in a log at the end of every month,” Freda wrote. “This will allow for tracking of the vehicles usages as well (as) benefit tracing for preventative maintenance.”
And, as of Oct. 3, the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department enacted a new vehicle policy designed to maintain records of usage and maintenance.
From now on:
- All department vehicles are to be driven only by members of the department who have a valid Florida drivers license and who have been cleared to drive under the department’s insurance provider.
- Department vehicles are to be used only for department business and persons who are not members are not permitted to be in the vehicles unless given approval by the chief.
- Gas receipts will be signed, dated and turned into the training officer for recordkeeping. The driver of every vehicle will record all vehicle usage when traveling outside the county — such as for training or conferences — in a composition book.
County Commissioner Dave Russell said the audit identified record keeping problems that, once resolved, will eliminate future problems.
“I’m satisfied with the results of the audit and the recommendations from the clerk,” Russell said. “There doesn’t appear to be any wrongdoing.”
The audit is on the county commission agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting.
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