NY Village Files Supreme Court Complaint Against VFD Corporation

Feb. 10—COPENHAGEN — The village "can no longer wait" for the nonprofit organization left behind by the dissolution of its fire department in November, Copenhagen Fire Department Inc., to return what the board believes to be taxpayer assets that should be available to the firefighters now providing protection for villagers.

Village attorney Candace L. Randall filed a complaint against the company and the village's former fire chief Terence J. Williams Jr. on Monday with the state Supreme Court, presided over in Lewis County by Judge Charles C. Merrell.

Mr. Williams, who was responsible for ensuring the return of the equipment under his charge, was notified in November after the final board action abolishing the department was complete that he had 10 days to do so.

The company is still being led by the corporate President James C. Henry.

The village maintains that everything purchased to fight fires including the specialized safety clothing — called turnout gear — and various trucks was obtained through taxpayer money and should have been returned.

The original titles for the equipment, copies of which were included in the filing, were all in the name " Copenhagen Volunteer Fire Department." A number of the registrations also included, however, indicate " Copenhagen Fire Department Inc." as the owner — a discrepancy which has been at the core of the ownership dispute.

"The goal of the lawsuit is to recover village owned assets and taxpayer monies — the same as it has always been," Mrs. Randall said of the legal initiative in an email on Friday.

The notice Mrs. Randall hand-delivered to Mr. Williams has yet to receive a response.

"(The Village of Copenhagen) can no longer wait for (the Copenhagen Fire Department Inc.) to follow the law and must now act to freeze all assets until they are properly returned to the village," the affidavit filed by Mrs. Randall stated.

On Tuesday, Judge Merrill issued orders that the company, Mr. Williams and Mr. Henry be served with the village's complaint and required to appear in his court to "show cause" and convince him why an order "restraining all assets, apparatus and all funds in any bank account" should not be issued. He did not grant the village's request to freeze those assets while the case is being settled.

The judge ordered that a copy of his order to show cause be served without any backup documents to Community Bank — which holds at least five of the former department's accounts — and Watertown Savings Bank — with at least one.

Mr. Henry has long claimed that all of the funds still in the accounts belong to the non-profit company because they were obtained through fundraisers and not from taxpayer money. He has acknowledged that no separate account for fundraising proceeds existed until last year, so taxpayer and fundraising revenue were mixed.

In her affidavit, Mrs. Randall acknowledged that the fire company believes that all of the former department's assets belong to the non-profit and therefore should not be returned.

The village-owned fire department was in existence since the late 1800s. Like a number of volunteer fire departments in the area, it formed a non-profit corporation in the early 1950s to be able to have fundraising activities which the village, and therefore its department, are not legally allowed to do.

Most fire departments in the area attached to a municipality understand the corporate side of their organization to be the fundraising arm while the firefighting end of the service is answerable either to a municipality or fire commissioners.

The documents filed on the village's behalf call out the company for continuing "to act as a functioning fire department despite being abolished, by approaching town supervisors asking for an opportunity to engage in fire protection contracts with the towns," verifiable through town meeting minutes which have recorded Mr. Henry's pitches to form a direct contract with the towns.

Because the company has continued to fundraise and advertise for new members on social media and on the lighted sign in front of the fire department building in the village center even though, the legal filing alleges, it "no longer has a purpose to continue existing under the laws of the State of New York." The village claims the company has been "perpetrating fraud on individuals who attend fundraisers and donate money" since the department ceased to exist in November.

The village also filed a "notice of pendency" on about six land parcels "owned" by the fire department to which the corporation also lays claim. The notice will ensure that anyone that attempts to buy one of the parcels will be notified that it is under dispute.

The court-ordered notices were served to Mr. Henry, Mr. Williams and the department's post office box on Thursday morning.

Attorney for the fire corporation and Mr. Williams, Terence S. Hannigan of Albany, said on Friday afternoon that he could not comment on the case in part because of the pending litigation, but also because he had received the documents only two hours before and had not yet had time to process all of the information.

Mr. Henry, who was not named individually in the complaint, did not return a request for comment.

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