Former fire official charged with theft

A former chairman of the board of trustees for the Hungry Horse Volunteer Fire Department has been arrested and charged with felony theft amid news that the taxing district faces a $70,000 deficit.

Ross Barker, 57, was arrested Wednesday and  later released from the county jail as prosecutors in the Flathead County Attorney’s Office allege he bilked the district of nearly $3,000 from 2007 to 2010.

According to court documents, Barker gave fire district funds to his wife and used taxpayer money to purchase automobile parts and other items.

His arrest comes as county officials grapple with the dissolution of the district’s board, which left the rural fire department in astronomical debt, according to county officials.

County Finance Director Sandra Carlson said Thursday that the district — which has an annual budget of about $44,000 — has a negative cash balance of $82,656 in its general fund. When combined with a separate account’s positive balance of $11,731, the district is out $70,925, she said.

“I really don’t know what they were doing,” Carlson said.

County Treasurer Adele Krantz said the county’s taxing districts operate autonomously and are in control of their own finances, although revenue and expenditures are funneled through the Treasurer’s Office.

Krantz said the Treasurer’s Office, Finance Department and the state Department of Revenue each have a role in monitoring the districts, but stressed that it’s the role of each district’s board of trustees to monitor its own finances.

According to County Commissioner Joe Brenneman, it appears no one was monitoring the district as its expenditures began to greatly outstrip its revenue.

“How on earth the Hungry Horse Fire Department was allowed to spend money it didn’t have, I don’t know,” Brenneman said.

The fire district’s board, which is appointed by the commissioners, hasn’t convened in at least a year, Brenneman said. Furthermore, efforts to create a new board by requesting new appointees have resulted in no one applying, he said.

“And unfortunately, the taxpayers of Hungry Horse have an obligation to pay back a fair amount of money,” he said.

County officials are discussing a solution that would culminate with the elimination of the Hungry Horse Fire Department as it currently exists.

Brenneman said the county might combine the district with the Martin City Volunteer Fire Department, though that idea is still in its infancy. He said commissioners have been consulting attorneys to determine whether or not state law would allow the county to take such a step.

Meanwhile, Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina said she could not comment on whether or not additional charges related to the district’s financial crisis would be filed in District Court.

“It’s an open criminal investigation,” she said.

According to court documents, Barker’s alleged financial malfeasance occurred between July 1, 2007, and Feb. 1, 2010.

He allegedly wrote two checks using the department’s checking account to his wife, Jeanette, for $1,052 in May 2009.

A month later, he allegedly purchased lattice from a construction supply business for $45.88. The material was later seen at Barker’s home by an investigating Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to court documents.

In the three-year span identified by prosecutors, he also allegedly purchased $1,537 worth of parts for his personal vehicles at a business in Columbia Falls.

If convicted, Barker could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $50,000 for the felony theft charge. A separate misdemeanor charge of official misconduct carries a potential penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Both Krantz and Carlson said the county is discussing tighter controls for its various taxing districts.

“We’re doing more monitoring,” Carlson said. “Right now they have their own check stocks. We’ve tossed around the idea of whether or not we have the ability to ask them to run them through our office. ... We haven’t made a decision.”

It’s not the first time a Flathead County fire official has been charged with stealing funds.

Robert Kienas, former chief of the Somers Volunteer Fire Department, was charged with embezzling more than $13,000 from the department in October 2009.