SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2018 | 9A
SIUSLAW VALLEY from page 1A
might want to slow down on send-
ing our people to training acade-
mies,” he said.
A conflag, or conflagration, is an
extensive fire that destroys a great
deal of land or property, and often
requires a fire district to call for
outside help. Departments who re-
spond to these fires get paid, but the
money tends to take time to actually
enter the accounts.
McClure explained that the short-
fall faced by SVFR has come about
due to a combination of overdue
reimbursements from supporting
California fire suppression efforts,
later than expected arrival of tax
allocations from Lane County and
accounting errors made by McClure
and her predecessor.
McClure has asked for and re-
ceived supplemental bookkeeping
support and additional training
from Kathy Taylor, a retired CPA,
to assist her as she learns the proper
procedures that should be used in
the future by SVFR and WLAD.
According to McClure, Tay-
lor needed to extend her contract,
which would require the board to
authorize $9,000 in additional fund-
ing.
The SVFR board voted to ap-
prove this.
In a letter to the board, Taylor
explained the errors that she has
uncovered while working to bring
McClure up to speed. She expressed
surprise that the special audit work
done at the end of last year returned
a clean audit report, as she had
found additional and ongoing er-
rors in accounting.
“You may recall I mentioned in
one budget meeting that I was sur-
prised you had received a ‘clean’
unqualified audit opinion last year,”
Taylor wrote. “That is accoun-
tant-speak for ‘the books are not
auditable.’ Your auditor did not ar-
range to perform a site visit before
year end, which they had typically
done in the past. I suspect the au-
ditor may have been considering
their ability to perform your audit
this year if the situation had not
improved. Auditors are required to
maintain independence. Last year
must have been problematic for
your auditors based on my find-
ings.”
Taylor went on to say that the
original contract that she entered
into with SVFR and WLAD had
assumed that the two organizations
had integrated their accounting
procedures prior to her work. This
belief was the basis for her initial
bid of $15,000. After seeing the state
of the district’s books and working
with McClure, Taylor requested the
additional $9,000 to complete her
work.
“I assumed that meant one gen-
eral ledger was in place with a
subsidiary company. That was my
misunderstanding,” she said in her
letter. “There are actually two com-
pletely separate sets of books, with
two completely separate charts of
account. This in itself is not a seri-
ous increase in effort. I believe we
could easily be done with ONE en-
tity for under the original budget of
$15,000. … At this point, however,
I predict the total will be closer to
$24,000 for both.
“The scope hasn’t changed as
much as the depth of the extraor-
dinarily inaccurate accounting for
both entities which had been that
way for at least two years.”
The reaction to McClure’s report
and the attached letter from Tay-
lor seemed to stun the directors, as
reports from McClure over the last
few months had given no indica-
tion that SVFR was facing a revenue
shortfall of this size.
During the meeting, McClure
did mention that there is a strong
possibility that the shortfall should
be reduced by $200,000 to $300,000
when outstanding reimbursements
and delayed tax revenue have been
received.
This observation did little to calm
the audience or the board.
Langborg provided a response to
the concerns in a later discussion
with the Siuslaw News.
“The information presented in
Mrs. Taylor’s letter is the result of
the work we hired her to do in the
spring of this year. This work in-
cluded reviewing and reorganizing
our financial records while creating
new processes to ensure accurate
accounting in the future. District
staff and the board of directors were
aware that we had bookkeeping er-
rors prior to this report, which is
why we hired her,” Langborg said. “I
asked Mrs. Taylor to write this letter
to provide an accurate picture of the
challenges we are facing so that our
board would understand why we
are asking for additional funding to
continue her work. In other words,
the work that needs to be done to
correct these problems is well under
way. Before you can fix a problem,
you need to know what to fix.”
In regard to the newly projected
shortfall faced by SVFR, Langborg
believes the solution would be sim-
ple if it is still needed later in the
year.
“The shortfall in the amount of
money available to be used at the
beginning of the new fiscal year was
the result of a miscalculation made
during the budgeting process, in-
creased waiting times for grant and
wildfire response reimbursements
and the increased cost of providing
service,” he stated. “We currently
have and will continue to have mon-
ey to deliver service. If needed, the
district can utilize a line of credit
provided by a local bank to provide
funding until tax revenue begins
coming in November.”
Director John Carnahan, himself
a longtime supporter and former
employee of the district, expressed
disbelief over the whole situation.
“For over 60 years, this depart-
ment has never borrowed money,”
he said. “It makes me absolutely
sick that we are in this position, and
the things that led up to it. I think
we need to take some action and I
would like to discuss this in execu-
tive session.”
The board then adjourned into
executive session to discuss the is-
sues.
While still in the public comment
section of the meeting, Marvin Ti-
pler, a retired operations chief with
SVFR, said, “I spent 35 years as a
volunteer and paid person here. It
is absolutely appalling to me to see
this department being destroyed the
way it is being destroyed. You guys
hired one person to manage this de-
partment. To need to borrow half a
million dollars to keep the depart-
ment running for the rest of the year
is just appalling to me.”
He said he believed the mon-
ey had been mismanaged and that
“there should be over $1 million in
the bank.”
“If the money had been saved, like
it was supposed to be saved, like the
budget said it would be saved — but
there were a million excuses,” Tipler
said. “… You guys hired one person
and charged him with running the
district. I think it is very well prov-
en how this district has been run for
the past few years. And it’s up to you
guys to do something about it.”
The comments by Tipler were fol-
lowed by those from former WLAD
board member Ann Stonelake.
“I sat on this board for 20-some-
thing years and, if I’d seen all the
mess that’s in this letter, I would
have asked for an independent au-
ditor to come in an and audit the
books for one, two or three years in
a row,” Stonelake said. “This is in-
excusable, and I am appalled at the
mess we are in.”
Separate from McClure’s report,
Langborg announced his resigna-
tion during his Chief Director Re-
port. He informed the board that
he has accepted a position with an-
other fire district, though he did not
release the city’s name.
Board President Ron Green ac-
cepted Langborg’s resignation and
mentioned the chief had informed
him prior to the meeting of his deci-
sion to accept the other job.
Green then thanked Langborg for
his efforts over the past few years
and wished him well.
At the conclusion of the meeting,
Green summarized the next steps
that will be taken by the SVFR and
WLAD boards to not only begin the
search to replace Langborg, but to
clarify the future relationship be-
tween the two districts.
Green reminded the room that
the two boards have each designat-
ed two sitting members to form a
committee that will work together
to determine an acceptable course
forward for the IGA.
“The committee will create
guidelines for measuring the IGA’s
effectiveness,” Green said. “That in-
cludes financial effectiveness and,
most importantly, operational effec-
tiveness. It will review performance
and create guidelines to insure the
IGA is operating effectively. They
will also develop a job description
for a chief director.”
According to Green, the next
board meeting for SVFR and
WLAD will be a joint meeting, to
be held at SVFR Main Station, 2625
Highway 101, on Wednesday, Sept.
19, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be
open to the public.
This story was approved by the
Siuslaw News editorial board.
African art quilts coming to Yachats Aug. 25
This show will be on display in the Yach-
ats Commons, 441 N. Highway 101, Satur-
day, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 26, from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is a suggested $7 donation.
Chatelain employs a dynamic and char-
acteristic style, marked by dreamlike im-
agery, elaborate use of color and intricate
thread detail. She creates unique composi-
tions that address challenging social, envi-
ronmental and political themes.
Her work is found in public and private
collections around the world and can be
viewed at hollisart.com.
For more information, visit www.polly-
plumb.org.
The “Stories of West Africa Art
Quilt Show” is coming to Yach-
ats this month, a collection of art
quilts created by internationally
renowned award-winning artist
Hollis Chatelain.
n NOW!
o
g
in
o
g
n
egistratio
R
e
u
g
a
e
L
g
Bowlin
Fall/ Winter
nds
frie
some new league!
h
it
w
p
u
g
Team
in a bowlin
jo
u
o
y
n
e
h
w
We also have
open bowling,
fun for the
whole family!
Monday Night - Scratch League
Tuesday Night - Open League
Wednesday Aft ernoon - Seniors
Wednesday Night - Mixed Social
Th ursday Night - Men’s League
Friday Aft ernoon - Seniors
Saturday Aft ernoon - Junior League
Sunday Night - Mixed Social
Holiday Bowl
Everyone
is
Welcome
at
Holiday
Bowl
27th and Highway 101. Florence
541-997-3332
Hillside
FREE ADMISSION
A NATURAL FIT
August 18 & 19, 2018
Florence Events Center
FOR YOUR RETIREMENT
715 Quince Street, Florence, OR
Saturday, 10-5 • Sunday 10-3:30
Set on 57 acres in the heart of Oregon wine country, you’ll
find Hillside. With luxury accommodations, a full calendar of
activities and beautiful surroundings complete with walking
trails, gardens and wildlife, our senior living community is
designed for your needs and your zest for life.
Florence
Coin Show
Call 1-844-388-5640 today to attend our Gift of
Life Care workshop at 11 a.m. Friday, September 21.
COINS, STAMPS AND
CURRENCY
Free Appraisals
For more information contact:
A Life Care* Community
300 NW Hillside Park Way | McMinnville, Oregon 97128
brookdalelifecare.com
DENNIS HANKINS
541-401-0949
OR
TERRY WOODWARD
541-997-2682
BUY - SELL
TRADE
*Life Care plan/guarantee is subject to the terms of the Residency Contract.
165640-1 SR
©2018 Brookdale Senior Living Inc. All rights reserved.
BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING and BRINGING NEW LIFE TO SENIOR LIVING are the registered trademarks of Brookdale Senior Living Inc.
Bringing New Life to Senior Living®