By David Goodhue
The Reporter
KEY LARGO, Fla. — Documentation obtained by The Reporter this week seems to contradict statements made by the leadership of the company that provided Key Largo fire services until March.
Chief Sergio Garcia of the Key Largo Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department and Frank Conklin, president of the nonprofit department’s corporation, both said that they didn’t know how letters seeking donations for the department were sent to Key Largo residents last week.
The department lost its contract to provide fire protection services in March. Key Largo is now served by a department formed by the Key Largo Ambulance Corp’s leadership.
Critics of the old department said the solicitation letter misleads people into thinking the Key Largo Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department is still the Key Largo Fire and Emergency Medical Service District’s contracted department.
Garcia and Conklin said last week they did not know how the mailers were sent or who authorized them to be sent. Both said any money donated to their department would be immediately refunded.
But documents released to this newspaper show Garcia’s and Conklin’s signatures on an April 4 client agreement with Omni Computer Services for $11,164 for a fund-drive packet, computer processing and to prepare the letters for mailing. Omni is in Sykesville, Md. A company official declined to comment on the mailings last week.
Garcia’s and Conklin’s signatures were also on a May 8 check request to pay $1,800 in postage to mail “14,280 pieces to be delivered to the Sykesville Post Office.”
The Reporter also has a copy of a $1,800 check written from the Key Largo Volunteer Fire-Rescue Department to Omni Computer Services. The signature on the check was redacted before the copy was sent to The Reporter.
Although the board of the district — the taxing body that oversees the budgets of the fire and ambulance departments — voted 3-2 to cancel the contract on March 25, the contract didn’t officially dissolve until May 27.
Garcia said Thursday that was part of the confusion of how the letters were sent. He said the department was trying to come up with concessions on regaining the contract. The checks and authorizations he said were signed without really reading them or knowing what he was signing.
“There was a stack of check requests with a cover sheet and other stuff attached to it,” Garcia said. “I thought it was an invoice we had to pay — whether it’s a phone bill or something from NAPA Auto Parts. We didn’t realize we were signing something authorizing the letter. I haven’t even read the letter.”
Conklin could not be reached for comment, but in a letter he signed and sent to residents this week, he said “the invoice was paid and that payment triggered the mailing of the fund-raising letter you received. Please understand the mailing of the fund-raising letter was not authorized by the department Board of Directors, and it was not supposed to have occurred; therefore, the Board of Directors has directed that all donations received as a result of the mailing be returned.”
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