Feb. 22, 2023 The Copenhagen Vol. Fire Dept. is not allowed to use the fire trucks or other equipment.
By Julie Abbass Source Watertown Daily Times, N.Y. (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Feb. 17—LOWVILLE — Two of the six bank accounts still held by Copenhagen Fire Department Inc., the nonprofit corporate structure formed in 1951 from the now-abolished village fire department, are frozen until the next Lewis County Supreme Court proceeding.
Candace L. Randall, attorney for the village, and Albany-based Terence S. Hannigan, lawyer for the fire corporation and former village fire chief Terence M. “T.J.” Williams Jr., worked out an agreement off the record in what Judge Charles C. Merrell referred to as “an extensive conference” in his chambers on Thursday morning before he asked Mr. Hannigan to read the agreed-upon provisions into the record.
The two bank accounts the fire corporation is still allowed to use are a Community Bank checking account and the “2% account” — a separate account for the 2% tax on fire insurance premiums with insurance companies outside of the state earmarked for fire departments or companies to use as they see fit through the state Foreign Fire Tax program.
The corporation can petition the court to use one of the frozen checking accounts if additional funds are needed before the hearing to decide final asset ownership.
Judge Merrell stipulated, however, that “the court will expect full accounting of any funds taken out of either of those accounts.”
In addition to firefighting gear and equipment like hoses, radios and pagers, among others, seven vehicles, including a fire truck, water pumper trucks, a flatbed truck and a personnel transportation van were listed in the items the village believes it owns.
The attorneys agreed that the corporation is not allowed to use the trucks or fire equipment in its possession until further notice, but they do not have to give any of the items to the village as requested in the village’s complaint filed Feb. 6.
The corporation is required to maintain the equipment to keep it in good working order.
Only the pickup truck with a plow can still be used, although the corporation can petition the court for use of the van if needed.
“Notice will be given to the attorney of the plaintiff ( Mrs. Randall)” if the van is to be used as well as if any maintenance activities are being done on any of the fire apparatus, the judge added.
Sworn statements filed with the court on behalf of Mr. Williams and James C. Henry, president of the fire corporation, state they believe none of the assets or money in the corporation’s control belong to the village.
“As the chief of the department, it was my responsibility to make purchases of necessary equipment and apparatus. All such purchases made by me and to my knowledge and understanding, the chiefs who preceded me in office, were made by the corporation,” Mr. Williams’s affidavit reads. The statements by the fire officials did not address what funds were used for those purchases.
Mr. Williams is individually named in the complaint because, as chief of the village’s fire department, it was his legal responsibility to return “all the money and property of such department … within ten days.” He was sent notice of this requirement on Nov. 2 after the fire department’s dissolution was complete.
Mrs. Randall included copies of the titles and/or registrations provided to her by the fire corporation for seven of the vehicles in the information she submitted to the court that all list ” Copenhagen VFD” — Voluntary Fire Department — as the owner, excepting one registration that contradicts the corresponding title, listing ” Copenhagen Fire Department Inc.” as the owner.
“I think that the court made a fair decision that both sides agreed to and we’ll move forward with the hearing,” Mrs. Randall said after the proceeding was adjourned.
“I think they wanted everything on a TRO (temporary restraining order). We didn’t want anything on a TRO,” Mr. Hannigan said.
They met in the middle.
“It’s probably what should happen more often in litigation,” he added.
Village Mayor Mark A. Souva and Deputy Mayor Kimberly R. Vogt sat with Mrs. Randall, while Mr. Williams sat with Mr. Hannigan, and Mr. Henry sat behind the counsel table.