West Mayfield VFRA found non-compliant in four areas during state audit
WEST MAYFIELD ― After an audit of several local volunteer fire stations, the Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office is reporting that one of Beaver County's departments is non-compliant with state laws.
In the findings published by Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, the West Mayfield Volunteer Firemen's Relief Association of West Mayfield was reportedly not following four state laws related to the use of distributed state aid. Officials say that the violations, many of which were related to the management of the funds and equipment, may affect future state aid awarded to the organization.
“Relief associations provide vital support to Pennsylvania’s dedicated first responders,” DeFoor said. “Our audits make sure state aid is used to equip and protect volunteer firefighters and the communities they serve.”
Volunteer firefighters' relief associations (VFRAs) are separate legal entities from the fire departments that they support. In the state report, officials said West Mayfield's support organization is led by President Wendy Harker, who also served as the assistant chief for the West Mayfield Volunteer Fire Department.
According to the audit, prior investigations had revealed that there was inappropriate ownership of a rescue vehicle that the organization was instructed to amend in three prior audits. The vehicle in question was a 1989 Ford Rescue vehicle purchased in 2012, which the state said was inappropriately issued to the fire company rather than the relief association.
The report indicates that no reason was given by the relief association as to why these errors were not fixed for the most recent audit. For this repeated offense, the audit suggested relief may be withheld until the recommendation is complied with by the West Mayfield VFRA.
In addition to repeated issues with the rescue vehicle, three separate issues were found in the most recent audit. According to investigators, two non-compliant checks were drawn from the relief association's checking account between 2020 and 2022. These checks contained only one signature, the signature of the association treasurer, when two are required to maintain control of the disbursement process.
The West Mayfield VFRA also is accused of failing to keep adequate meeting minutes for its organization, with the documents lacking details on financial-related transactions that had occurred during the audit period. The minutes also lacked the quorum requirements for meetings and were not signed and dated by the reporting officer.
When asked about these minutes by auditors, members of the association said that they were unaware they were required to keep detailed meeting minutes. Officials did not provide a reason as to why the financial transactions and secretary signatures were missing or why bylaws had not been updated.
Several updates to financial business requirements established by the VRFA Act in 2010 (Act 118) and 2020 (Act 91) are also lacking from the organization's bylaws, instead relying on the requirements detailed in Act 84 of 1968. The auditors recommended amending the bylaws to meet compliance with state guidelines.
The final issue mentioned in the audit was that the West Mayfield VFRA did not maintain a complete and accurate roster of the equipment owned by their association. Investigators say that there is no evidence that an annual inventory was taken or if the existing inventory accounted for all of the equipment owned by the organization.
The West Mayfield VFRA management has agreed with the findings and indicated they would be taking steps to comply. Auditors will reevaluate these existing issues during the next audit process.
West Mayfield was not specifically targeted or singled out through this audit, as all VFRAs must undergo audits if they receive state aid through the department. Volunteer fire departments in Monaca and South Beaver Township were also audited during this period but were found to be compliant with state laws.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: West Mayfield VFRA found non-compliant in four areas during state audit
