Prince William County officials are moving to make major changes in managing the county’s fire departments after voting to dissolve the embattled Gainesville volunteer department.
Fire and Rescue Chief Kevin McGee said he has been preparing a “contingency plan” so that the department will “continue to be able to provide service without interruption,” despite the shuttering of Gainesville’s department.
Part of the resolution passed by supervisors Friday directed McGee to “immediately assume all responsibilities for providing services in the affected area.”
The Board of Supervisors dissolved the Gainesville District Volunteer Fire Department after a four-month internal audit revealed a number of deficiencies, and caused McGee to say he has “lost confidence” in the department’s leadership.
County Auditor Robin Howard said Gainesville was uncooperative with the audit process, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the department’s internal control was deemed unsatisfactory.
He said staff will be redirected on an interim basis, and that there is a “90-day plan” to reach out to volunteer members who felt they were wrongly suspended by the department.
McGee said he has been working with Earl Luhn, a long-time volunteer in the Gainesville department, to develop a means by which volunteer operations can be maintained in the county, and that they should “continue to be able to provide service without interruption.”
Officials remained confident that Gainesville will have the infrastructure to properly fight fires.
County Executive Craig Gerhart said he has “absolute confidence in Chief McGee.”
“The financial operation was a mess,” Gerhart continued, adding that there was no realistic way to tell whether there was fraud or malfeasance going on at the Gainesville department.
Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said it was the Board of Supervisors’ “fiduciary responsibility” to exercise oversight over such companies, since fire levy funds are paid through county taxes.
He called for each company to perform a yearly management audit to avoid similar problems in the future.
“They are literally individual companies — corporations, even,” he said. “We need to take a look at the system to exercise better oversight.”
Stewart said the move is “intended to strengthen the fire and rescue service as a whole,” adding that they “don’t have proper precautions in place to make sure the same types of activities” don’t happen elsewhere.
Supervisors directed Gerhart and McGee to review the sections of the county code to look for changes that would help in the county’s management and oversight of the fire and rescue system. The group is to provide monthly updates to the board and a final report by May 1.
