GRAND
JURY REPORT ON THE
EMERGENCY
SERVICES AGENCY
October
2, 2003
This
report was prepared by:
Lloyd
E. Eckberg, Chairman Grand Jury Committee on Thomas County Emergency Services
Agency (ESA)
and
members of the committee: James Cantrell, Charles Carter, Marvin Golden, Darby
Hall, Dan Stewart
Ex-Officio
- Ken Beverly - Foreman
The
Emergency Services Agency
No other governmental venture in
the recent history of
began in 1998 and shut down operationally in 2003.
The fathers of a combined agency
named ESA had in mind to give Thomas Countians a modern day system of
delivering emergency services to the entire population of this area, which in
itself was a unique experiment in
The concept of a one-stop delivery system of all emergency service efforts of local governmental agencies is an efficient and economic way of serving people regardless of their location or status in the community.
It is the wave of the future if small and mid-size communities are going to keep taxes reasonably in check. Politics and economics will eventually dictate that all local governments find a way to consolidate services for maximum taxpayers' efficiency and survival.
We believe this report will begin
to answer what we feel is a call by the citizens across
Overview
The primary mission of the Grand Jury Task Force to look into the workings of the Thomas County Emergency Services Board was to present to the taxpayers of this county some idea as to what went wrong in the agency and why it happened.
People want and deserve to know the facts and the facts have not been revealed or communicated to the public in any timely and satisfactory manner during the entire life of the Emergency Services Board.
Confusion, suspicion, bickering, mistrust, doubt and the withholding of information have all contributed to a very unstable atmosphere between the city and county, a situation which does not bode well for the citizens in general, the business community and the scores of groups in the county who are trying their best to make our community a model for all to see.
The findings, thoughts and recommendations contained in this report will go a long way in letting our citizens know how we arrived where we are today.
Unless city and county leaders begin to cooperate in all they are supposed to do as elected officials, we will never achieve for this community what we all know we are capable of achieving in economic development and human relations as well.
A random survey of scores of citizens shows an overwhelming agreement on three of the five questions asked. They are: 1) In your opinion was the ESA a good idea?; 2) As a result of the breakup will taxes rise or fall? and 3) Would you like to see a full disclosure of the ESA operation?
Although the survey was incomplete at the time this report was finalized all three questions have received a resounding YES, without a NO or NO OPINION registered. In question two the yes was for a 'rise' in taxes.
Thomas Countians must decide whether or not they want to move forward with an efficient and harmonious relationship with one another, or whether they wish to remain in lockstep with the past.
Findings
and Observations
1) The concept of placing all emergency services under one roof was a noble experiment and those involved in guiding this effort to fruition were visionaries and understood the future benefits that could and would accrue to taxpayers and citizen users of the services under such an arrangement.
2) A simple explanation for the demise of the ESA was a longtime nemesis of so many new ventures. It was underfunded from the beginning for operational expenses. In fact, ESA was more Nonfunded than Underfunded.
Nobody thought to prepare a business plan with hardnosed expertise as to how to project costs for services that
previously had not existed.
3) Prudent business practice dictates when a business contemplates an expansion, such as a new addition or program, it is unwise to undertake such action until full knowledge is known about the financial demands to be made on that action for a considerable period of time into the future.
Without placing blame on any
individual or entity, and notwithstanding the fact the ESA might or might not
have had a funding problem, the Grand Jury finds it inconceivable that someone
early on did not understand the importance of determining what effect the
addition of 19 new emergency vehicles and several new buildings and additional
personnel would have on the bottom line of
4) Capital expenditures had no direct immediate effect on the financial woes of the ESA as those expenditures were paid for from SPLOST. However, when vehicles were accepted and put into service their maintenance and service to the community began to cause great pressure on the budget. Only two new fire trucks were paid for from non-SPLOST revenue and they were purchased prior to the advent of ESA.
5) Ad Valorem tax increases will be substantial for 2003 and on into the future due to the heavy debt incurred in prior years. Had officials faced reality sooner taxes would have risen moderately in 2000,2001,2002, thus easing the burden for 2003.
6) A strong director of operations probably would have spotted the need to project income and expenses far in advance of ESA's discovery of lack of money.
7) Early on the city manager and
county administrator were actively involved in the monthly ESA Board meetings
but from
8) Borrowing from a large line of bank credit should not have been left up to the sole discretion of the director or any one person for that matter.
9) The policy of electing a new county representative for the ESA board every three months was politically correct but otherwise a bad idea from a continuity standpoint.
10) Month after month, tens of
thousands of dollars were written off the books due to non-collection for
services rendered by
11) When in 2002 it became apparent
that a huge tax increase was inevitable to keep ESA afloat, the County balked
because they were unwilling to assume blame for having to raise taxes. The
County then began to demand a controlling member of the ESA Board be appointed.
The makeup of the board then would have been three to two favoring the County.
The City did not buy this argument and rightfully so. The legislation passed in
1998 by the Georgia General Assembly clearly states the following: “Two members
of the board of directors shall be selected by the Board of Commissioners of
Thomas County from their membership. Two members shall be selected by the City
Council of the City of
12) Following the results contained in Item 11 above, constant bickering and inflated EGO'S on the part of all official players in the city, county and ESA bodies contributed heavily to the inevitable breakup of ESA which has caused irreparable harm to the community in any effort to restart ESA up in the immediate future.
13) Just prior to the release of this Grand Jury report the 2002 audit of the ESA was made available to the committee and the financial condition of the ESA as of December 31, 2002 is as follows:
Money owed to:
Bank of
Commercial Bank - $ 15,814; - (This was paid off in 2003);
Commercial Bank $579,781 - (This was for a ladder truck and was paid off with SPLOST funds in 2003);
Information Leasing Company of
Information Leasing Company of
Bank One - $66,467 for two
ambulances which will be paid for by SPLOST money on
On
14) During the investigation of the ESA the committee found that on the one hand, there is confusion in the public domain as to the role SPLOST may have had , if any, in the breakup of ESA. On the other hand, there may also be confusion about the sales tax referendum causing a problem as well.
It must be said loud and clear that the tax referendum had nothing to do with the debt which has been accumulated during the past three years. Underfunding and management oversight are the reasons for the debt.
At this point, it is well to bring out that prior to the SPLOST referendum, which was voted in by the taxpayers, the public was assured by city, county and chamber of commerce officials in a public meeting with media present, that a total accounting of all revenues and expenses would be reported to the public on a timely basis, most likely on a quarterly basis.
This was a promise that was never fulfilled. The public never received timely financial data concerning the ESA. This fact alone may be a major cause of a tardy acknowledgement of the financial chaos within the ESA.
The committee believes this to be a serious breach of confidence on the part of local governmental leaders.
15) The system of a divided emergency response function now separately operated by the City of Thomasville and Thomas County will cost more than a combined agency and the overall service to all citizens will be reduced. This committee has heard many “He said, she said” statements and has dismissed most but as this report was being finalized a disturbing report was circulating that County First Responders were not allowed to call on the City of Thomasville's First Responders as a first response situation in an emergency. If this practice should be allowed to continue, both the city and county could face a serious liability issue. If two systems are going to continue to operate, the public should demand that both systems work in harmony with one another at all times.
16) No Oversight Committee was ever appointed to oversee ESA operations.
17) The ESA remains in operation and legally will be an entity with ongoing expenses until 2010.
18) The committee believes that the perception of a conflict of interest runs high in the minds of voters. Therefore it might be a better practice, in the interest of internal control, to hire an independent auditor and not allow the agency to borrow money from any bank or lending institution who has an officer represented on the board.
19) The massive write-off of
Recommendations
ONE: The Grand Jury Committee on ESA wants FULL DISCLOSURE of all income and expenses of the ESA divulged and printed in the Times-Enterprise Newspaper in ad form in order that all citizens better understand where their money came from and how it was spent. A print size of 14 points should be used by the printer.
It is the unanimous opinion of the Grand Jury Committee that every capital expenditure charged to SPLOST be identified and singly itemized along with its cost. Example: Buildings, fire trucks, ambulances and other major items must be individually listed. Office furniture, medical equipment such as defibrillators can be listed as 7 Desks - $1,400; 12 Defibrillators - $3,000; Office supplies can be lumped together as can postage. Gifts must be individually listed.
This information should be compiled from existing records by Simmons and Simmons CPA firm and presented in such form that every citizen that can read is able to understand regardless of their educational attainment.
In addition, all revenue received from SPLOST and other sources should be itemized to reflect a true picture of revenue. These amounts of revenue should be itemized by year to cover the entire time of ESA's existence between 1998 and 2003.
Anything short of full disclosure will not satisfy the citizenry, nor this Grand Jury. Failure to do this will jeopardize future local option sales tax referendums and continue to cast suspicion and contempt for local elected officials in all sectors of governmental leadership.
TWO: It is evident that operating
separate agencies will not be cost effective to the taxpayers and taxes will
rise at a sharper rate as a result and emergency services to citizens will be
compromised from time to time. THEREFORE, we strongly recommend that every
effort be exercised to resurrect the ESA into a fully functioning body, with
the aid of an Arbiter, to include all emergency services in the county using
the lessons of the past as a springboard for a new start to serve the needs of
all of the citizens of
THREE: We recommend a public dialogue to bring the animosity, pride and ego of all governmental leaders under control. An attitude that whatever happens, or about to happen in the future, should prevail in the hallowed halls of our governments with the best interests of our citizens in mind. Thomas Countians deserve no less.
FOUR: The establishment of an Authority with taxing powers should be considered for a future ESA.
FIVE: We believe there are unresolved issues surrounding the operation of the ESA which were not fully addressed by this task force during this term of the court. We strongly urge and recommend that the next Grand Jury continue the work of this court and reappoint a continuing task force on the ESA.
Thoughts
to ponder
When governmental leaders became aware of how serious a financial burden ESA was saddled with, they acted with dispatch to cover the debt by agreeing to set aside $350,000 a year for 10 years, an amount which will be paid from the Landfill Account.
Had the Landfill Account not been available ad valorum taxes would have risen dramatically and fees from other services would also have been increased.
If proper budgeting and planning had been exercised from the beginning there would have been a lesser amount of money needed to cover costs of the operation.
Needless to say some of the money necessary for operations may not have had to be spent due to the possible postponement of projects and services which may not have been funded in the first place.
There seemed to be a rush to judgment in getting every new truck or building on line as quickly as humanly possible so as not to be criticized for taking more time than necessary to have a fully equipped and staffed ESA agency.
The management of the ESA did a Herculean job of meeting deadlines for acquiring equipment and building buildings. Would two, three or four more years in accomplishing these projects have damaged the integrity of the overall program? The Grand Jury thinks not.
The annual $350,000 payment for debt reduction could have been used in many ways to enhance other community endeavors or even provided some tax relief.