Tensions ignite at McCormick Fire meeting

The fire truck that usually sits in the first bay at the McCormick Rural Fire Department was parked outside on the night of March 25 in order to make room for about 15 community members attending a monthly board meeting, which is more than usual. They sat on plain wooden benches and folding chairs to discuss how the department is being operated.

Attendees brought some of their concerns and board member Kathy Humburg laid out a slew of issues she’s been trying to get resolved for several months.

“I have a track record of six months at board meetings asking for spending records, which we’ve been denied access to,” Humburg said. “In some of the records we were able to view, we discovered an excess of $1,000 of the fundraiser donations are missing. I am bound by law to report this to the authorities, up to and including state agencies, and I have,” she said.

Humburg also said equipment, including chainsaws and a generator, is missing. “When I requested an inventory, both times they were denied by the board. I initiated an internal investigation and identified violations which include, OSHA, Montana Law and human rights laws,” she said.

Her probe led to questions about the training of some fire department members, equipment taken out for personal usage, machinery and equipment not call-out ready and personal records not secured. Humburg said, “I was also personally the target of intimidation and insubordination from the chief, Mike Harris, which I reported to the board on several occasions.”

After laying out her laundry list of complaints, Humburg made a motion for Harris’ resignation from the position of fire chief, which was seconded by her husband, fellow board member Larry Humburg.

“I was asked not to resign and I’m not going to,” Harris said. After Harris declined, Humburg made a motion to remove him from his position, which was once again seconded by her husband, but rejected by board members Linda Lundin, John Driebusch and chairman Trevor Pelling.

Michael Humburg, son of Larry and Kathy Humburg, is the assistant fire chief at McCormick, but has been training with the Bull Lake department because of a long-running conflict with Harris.

Michael Humburg singled out Harris for responsibility of the missing money from a September department fundraiser. “I donated about sixty bucks, I put it right in the tube on the bar at the fundraiser. Where’s the money Mike?” Michael Humburg asked Harris.

Harris said he doesn’t know where the missing funds are. “There are four people who put an entire fundraiser on together, OK. I deposited the money from the first one we ever did, since then I haven’t deposited from this,” Harris said. “Generally it takes about a week to collect everybody’s money from the silent auctions and after that somebody puts it in; one of the people that actually helped.”

Although none of the board members could verify where the money currently is, Dreibusch said the person who wrote the check that may account for the missing money said it has not been processed.

Michael Humburg also questioned the wording used on flyers for the firefighter’s fundraiser. “The flyer said all proceeds go to the McCormick fire district. So all of the people who donated did so with the understanding that the fire district was getting the funds,” Michael Humburg said. “When I put my sixty dollars in there I knew it was going to the fire fighter’s fund.”

The firefighter’s fund and the district fund are separate, with the firefighter’s fund described as providing firefighters with easier access to money for necessary purchases. “The fireman’s fund means we don’t spend money out of it unless we all agree,” Harris said.

Assistant chair member John Driebusch said before Larry and Kathy Humburg joined the board it was made up of members who were both board members and fire fighters. “Because of the difficulty of money to supply the department with what it needed, or what they thought it needed, they developed what they called a fireman’s fund. The fire department only had so much money anyway and they could only spend it in such a way, so how they worked that is they sold fireworks and did raffles,” Driebusch said.

“Thinking this was a legal way to collect money, spend it how they wanted to, from funds separate from the McCormick Fire Department institution,” he said. “It had been done like that for many years, and it continued to be done like that after we took over.”

In 2007, the Legislature amended MCA 7-33-2105 to include a subsection that reads, “All money received by the trustees must be deposited in the county treasurer’s office and credited to the fire district.” That appears to include interest income, contributions and donations, loans and intergovernmental revenues.

Lincoln County Treasurer Nancy Higgins said the McCormick Fire Department’s account with the county in February had a balance of $158.11, which a warrant was later written for in that amount, essentially withdrawing the funds. “My way of thinking is they take that money from their county account and put it into an outside account,” said Higgins. The same trend occurred in a few other months she reviewed.

Currently the balance for the department’s fireman’s fund is just over $5,500.  

Kathy Humburg made a motion for a full audit of the fire department. The board didn’t make a formal vote on the proposal, but Pelling said Kathy Humburg would get her audit.

The fact that Harris is also the sole signer for the fireman’s account elicited questions from community members about a possible conflict of interest. Harris said he would prefer to not be the sole signer for the account.

Another point of disagreement between Kathy Humburg and Mike Harris was the readiness of the fire department’s fire engines. Harris said level 3 emergency vehicle technician Sean Garner recently visited the station to test the vehicles. “He was here less than two months ago and he went through and did complete inspection on everything and replaced a couple parts. At this point and time he seems to be thinking we’re just fine,” Harris said.

When reached for comment, Garner said he did work to repair an air-brake valve when he was at the McCormick Fire Department a couple months ago, but had not performed the full test all emergency vehicles must undergo annually.

At several points during the evening, the meeting devolved into bickering and accusations. The meeting wasn’t even 10 minutes old before Joe Kanvanaugh angrily stormed out of the meeting after confronting Harris for not performing a safety inspection on his home that he had been requesting for six months. “My family stayed up night, in shifts, to keep an eye on our fireplace. And you just blew me off,” Kavanaugh said to Harris.

Harris said he wasn’t certified to carry out the inspection and felt it was a liability for him to do so. Michael Humburg, who is firefighter 1 certified, later completed the safety inspection for Kavanaugh.

A vote of no confidence letter regarding Harris’ position as fire chief was given to the board by Brian Jones with the signatures of five other firefighters on it, said Jones.

Most of the concerns brought to the attention of the board were listened to, but not directly responded to by its members during the meeting. “There’s a lot of friction going on,” Pelling said after the meeting. “I think that people come in and change things possibly too fast. We’re not reluctant, we know we have to change and move forward, but perhaps at a different pace than what they’re used to,” he said.

At the end of the night, a proposal to change the fire department’s by-laws included two changes for prospective board members, which Michael Humburg feels are directed at his family. The first rule states board members must be landowners with their name on the deed to the land. The second rule states there can only be one board member per household, but Dreibusch said Larry and Kathy Humburg would be grand-mothered in for that particular rule addition.

With a board election coming up in April, Michael Humburg plans on running for one of the two seats opening up.

Last week, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting the missing funds from the McCormick Fire Department. “We’re not opening any kind of investigation. We looked into it, but right now it sounds like an internal issue,” Sheriff Roby Bowe said.

Kathy Humburg said the goings on at the department is a convoluted situation. “Results are what I’m looking for. I stand for the public, not the board. I’m going to continue until we get results,” she said.