Comptroller's review faults North Amityville Fire Company for hotel room, alcohol purchases

The North Amityville Fire Company, in the wake of a scathing 2023 audit that found more than a half-million dollars in improper spending, has been cited for spending thousands of dollars on local hotel rooms and hundreds on alcohol in the state comptroller's latest review of the company's operations.

The review, which was released earlier this summer, was done in June 2024 and covered the period of May 1, 2023, to May 3, 2024. It found $492 was spent on alcohol. The review notes that while that's a “vast reduction” compared with the $7,239 in alcohol purchases uncovered in the 2023 audit, “alcohol does not further Company purposes.”

Company executive assistant Paula Adams told auditors the alcohol was “purchased from the wrong account, and they had intended to purchase it from funds raised through fund drives.”

The state comptroller’s office also uncovered $6,725 paid for 12 rooms at a Woodbury hotel for the company’s annual installation dinner. The charges include two-night stays for three board members, three chiefs, two captains and the executive assistant.

The report notes “these charges were not necessary because the hotel is 11 miles from the Company fire house.”

According to the review, former chairperson Rashada Delaney told the comptroller’s office two-night stays were needed because they “set up for the dinner."

The report stated “setting up a venue for a dinner does not require an overnight stay. Therefore, that was a waste of Company funds.”

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said he was “annoyed and offended” when he saw the state comptroller’s review.

“Just the fact that we’re talking about money that shouldn’t have been spent or was misused, that’s a problem to me,” he said. “Anytime you violate the public trust, it hurts everybody."

Company's past problems

Problems with the fire company erupted in 2022 amid internal allegations of fiscal mismanagement, violence, bullying, retaliation and sexual harassment. The town canceled its contract with the company for two months at the beginning of that year, diverting emergency calls to other fire agencies due to response times that reached more than an hour.

Then a 2023 state comptroller audit, which examined spending from 2017 to 2018, found nearly $586,000 in “inappropriate” and “unsupported” spending of Babylon Town tax dollars. This included nearly $5,000 for a Caribbean trip at a clothing-optional resort for a chief and his wife, who was the board’s secretary, and more than $5,100 for gold and diamond rings for the couple. All of the officials named in the audit are no longer with the company, Schaffer said.

For the latest state review, auditors examined 36 payments made to officials, members and employees, 39 of 900 payments to vendors, and all credit card payments.

The review found the company had implemented four of the 2023 audit’s recommendations, including ensuring that only company members travel to training events and conferences. However, six other recommendations were not followed, the report stated, including ensuring all payments are for “company business activities” only.

The review concluded “Company officials have made significant progress in ensuring cash disbursements are supported and for Company business activities.” However, the review notes company officials “can take further actions to strengthen the controls over the Company’s disbursement processes.”

Company district manager John Heidrich emailed a statement to Newsday saying the company has since adopted all of the recommendations made by the state comptroller’s office.

“The corrective action process took some time to review, plan and implement,” the statement said, adding a new board has updated and corrected all policies and practices and hired Heidrich in April to provide oversight.

The statement went on to note the company has updated its equipment, changed response procedures and has 16 new recruits in the pipeline.

'High hopes' looking ahead

Schaffer said a recent meeting with fire officials has left him with “high hopes” for the company.

He said he met with what he described as “pretty much a brand-new board” of the company several weeks ago as well as Heidrich, whom Schaffer described as “awesome.”

Still, he said, the town is keeping a close eye on the company. He said the town is requiring the company to respond to each of the recommendations made in the state audit by the end of the month. 

“That’s got to be done before we start considering their budget for next year,” he said, adding that this is the company’s “last strike” to show improvement.

The town this year is contracted with the company for more than $3.6 million.

Heidrich, a retired NYPD detective and former chief of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, told Newsday in an interview the company is working to include protections for the town in its contract, including that he will provide quarterly updates.

“There were a lot of things to clean up but there’s integrity on the board,” he said. “They’re on a mission to make sure that we’re exactly where we should be.”

In 2023, Schaffer told Newsday the town was considering suing former fire officials to recoup wasted taxpayer money, but the town never took any steps. After the most recent state comptroller report, he told Newsday litigation is “still an option on the table.”

“We have an obligation to use every process that could get back any money that should not have been taken,” he said.

Heidrich told Newsday the company is in the process of trying to recoup inappropriate payments  from former company members. “We talked about criminal charges, but the DA didn’t seem to be interested in it, but civilly . . we are in the process of getting ready to serve them," he said.

Schaffer told Newsday in 2023 that Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney had launched a probe into the fire company. Tierney spokeswoman Tania Lopez declined to comment then and again earlier this month when asked about an investigation.