North Courtland AL Volunteer Fire Department Without Chief Finances Funding

Aug. 02 -- NORTH COURTLAND, AL -- Facing questions about a long history of financial discrepancies, the North Courtland Volunteer Fire Department is in limbo and now without a fire chief.

Lee Hitt resigned from his short tenure as chief during a community meeting Monday night at Town Hall.

The meeting, called to help recruit and inform prospective volunteer firefighters, failed to attract anyone from the community.

Hitt, who accepted the chief’s position July 10, submitted his resignation to the Town Council, citing family obligations for his departure.

About three months ago, the Lawrence County Fire Fighters Association froze funding to the North Courtland fire department after discrepancies continued to appear in the department’s bookkeeping.

Steve Coan, an officer with the association, told council members the association has concerns about the continued lack of documentation, receipts and proper records by the department. He said some of the problems go back about 20 years.

“This problem just didn’t pop up in this administration,” Coan said. “Past administrations did not do what was asked of them. We don’t know where the money went. In some cases, there is no documentation.”

He said North Courtland's fire department has received about $350,000 the past 20 years from the association with “very little to show for it.”

“In 22 years, there has always been problems here,” he said.

Jonas Hobbs, president of the association, said North Courtland receives an average of $16,500 annually in fire fee funds from the association.

He said the fire fee funds come from county property taxes. He said each property owner pays $25 to the fire fund. The total of about $200,000 annually is divided among the 11 volunteer fire departments in the county, Hobbs said.

“Half of the money is split equally among the 11 departments,” he said. “The other half is based on the communities’ population.”

He said that money is to be used for fire department expenses such as equipment, training, capital improvement, gas, professional services and fire house utilities. He said the money cannot be spent on salaries or other non-related department expenses.

“If the money was used for other reasons, the department is required to return the money to the account,” Hobbs said. “In North Courtland’s case, many times that did not happen.”

Hobbs said the association set up a custodial account about three months ago to handle North Courtland’s fire department expenses.

Hobbs would not project when or if the department could be back in good standing with the association. Presently, there are no volunteer firefighters in the town, town officials said.

“We hope they don’t go away,” Hobbs said. “But I can’t predict the future. We will do what we can to help them, but they have to help themselves first. That’s the consensus of the board.”

Second-year Mayor Riely Evans Sr. asked Coan at Monday night’s meeting why the financial misreporting has been allowed over the past two decades.

“Why did the association allow this to happen?” Evans asked. “We’re being punished for something that happened 10, 15 years ago.”

Ronald Jones, the previous mayor, said he had several meetings with the association about improper financial reporting during his three terms and understood the department was in good standing when he left office Nov. 7, 2016.

“I have nothing to hide,” Jones said Monday night. The town’s first mayor, Fred James, is deceased.

Council members Lee Langham and Shirley Mayes asked the association to guide them and help keep the department from being decertified.

Greg Wood, volunteer fire assistance coordinator with the Alabama Forestry Commission, said Tuesday afternoon that “decertification is a last resort.”

“To get the department back up and running is our first desire,” he said. “We will work with them where we can.”

He said his office received a letter from the association asking the commission to look into the certification of North Courtland’s fire department.

“We were working on this with Lee Hitt, but now that he’s gone, we’re back to square one,” Wood said.

Despite having a 2-year-old new fire hall and a $212,000 fire truck, the department has no volunteers and is unable to respond to calls.

“Courtland will respond to North Courtland’s calls,” Hobbs said. “The fire chiefs of Red Bank, Hillsboro and Town Creek all have discussed responding to North Courtland, too.”

Hobbs said he could not speak for the insurance companies when asked about the possibility of increased fire rates for homeowners in North Courtland.

“Some companies don’t recognize ISO ratings,” he said. “It depends on the individual companies.”