ashe

Welch no doubt has a sweet deal. But someone, board of directors most probably, approved this thinly veiled graft. I would like to see a copy of their charter, minutes of board meetings and by-laws. This whole thing is outrageous. And, again, I doubt this is confined to just Todd.

If it is OK for the VFD's to have paid staff, should the County consider employing these paid staff so that their training and qualifications may be established and standardized, a benefit package established and reporting responsibilities clearly outlined. These folks would be paid from the already established fire district taxes so the taxpayer impact would be neutral. I doubt there is anyone on the County staff currently qualified to supervise these folks.

As we continue down the road of committing funds to build and maintain a VFD clubhouse, some formal oversight and control may be appropriate.

I personally don't have an issue with firemen being paid, IF they do things the right way. Obviously some of the things Todd has done are questionable or the citizens and Watauga wouldn't have been calling for an investigation.

Welch is a thief and convinced the board to give him a cushy paid position while he fiddled and watched everything go to h***.

Citizens (tax payers) have been complaining for years to death ears. A fire chief of a city department doesn't even make what Welch is being paid.

That is ridiculous, What possible justification do they have for that?

I will give you the last three years.
Welch 2013--58,400 2013--51,155 2015 68,503
part time firemen 2013--63,177 2014--86,177 2015--50,876

How much are these guys salaries?

The bank could not get the Todd fire club to come and talk to them about the delinquent loan. Instead they thumbed their noses at the bank and said they wont dare foreclose on a fire house. Well they did and thats what it took to get them to the table and discuss their options. The people living in this fire district are going to have to pay for all the fees associated with the foreclosure filing by the bank. It wasn't free for the bank to pay an attorney to do the work. Thats the incompetent part the hose jockeys pulled with tax money.

I am certain that only two employees would exempt TVFD from the OSH record keeping requirements, but my guess is that the other requirements would still apply.

That's a very good question. Being that there are only two paid firemen and the rest are volunteers, they may still not fall under those requirements. But more likely, TVFD has inadvertently put themselves in a strange gray area and no one has caught it yet. Either way, the paid chief is still the root to all problems. And still no one can explain why he is negotiating with the bank.

Welch states in the interview below that any overages would come out of his pay. TVFD just don't get it. Welch shouldn't be paid in the first place.

But herein lies still another fly in the ointment.....If Welch is a paid fireman, then wouldn't the NCDOL consider the TVFD to be responsible to abide by the published fire brigade standard? The published standard is VERY hard to meet. Volunteers don't come under the umbrella of NCDOL/OSH, but maybe the fact that Welch is employed as a fireman, the table would turn.

Hmmmmmm. Maybe a call to NCDOL is in order for clarification.

Sorry Shucks, I should have been more clear. Didn't mean to imply it was a legal requirement. What I was thinking is they knew if the information got out in some other way besides the VFD disclosing it, it wouldn't go well. And they knew it would get out any way, because hose jockeys like to gossip.

Its funny that he blames a $9000 decrease in funds. Really...what an idiot. You can see right through his BS. I don't think they took Yadkin Valley serious. It should not take being publicized to get you move.

http://jeffersonpost.com/ne...oreclosure

This has to be the biggest load of BS I have ever read coming from Welch. This is only a temporary fix. Funny how the Ashe manager suddenly is taking an interest when in the past he has ignored it. This is why these fire clubs need to have a line item budget and must spend in the budget and any left over funds are returned to the county instead of handing them hundreds of thousands of dollars for them to spend as they please.

I noticed that Welch weaseled his way out of his "Unintentional Human Error" yesterday.

Firedog is correct. Once the tax dollars have been allocated to an outside nonprofit agency then they become the property of that agency and are subject to how that agency chooses to utilize them. They are under no obligation to account for the spending nor to turn someone in who is taking money from the corporation. Now that being said, the commissioners need to as you've stated, require submission of audits from all non-profits (not just fire departments) to ensure that the tax dollars are being used wisely and not being wasted.

Actually, they did have to tell. That's tax payers money they are screwing with. And really, it shouldn't be their decision on whether to prosecute.

It was at the request of the department. They didn't have to tell a soul what happened - they could have quietly let him leave the department and not pressed charges but they wanted to do the right thing which was to hold him accountable for his actions and be aboveboard with the community.

One of my points is that they SHOULD be auditing and holding officers and board members criminally responsible for these thefts of taxpayer money.