UPDATE: Former fire chief will not face charges for use of department credit card

The 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office says it found no wrongdoing on the part of former Black Forest Chief Bob Harvey after looking into four credit card charges that were called into question.

The charges were made using the Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District credit card.

The first charge of $450.00 was for a psychiatrist. The charge was made as part of a worker’s compensation claim. The DA’s office says it was common practice at the time for the fire and rescue district to pay for doctor visits related to worker’s compensation claims.

The second charge of $226.00 was made to replace eyeglasses that were lost at work. The DA’s office says it determined that it was normal practice for the fire and rescue district to replace employee’s personal belongings that were damaged or lost at work.

The third charge of approximately $100.00 was made to replace firefighting manuals that Harvey had loaned to the fire district and had been lost.

The fourth charge that was called into question was in the amount of $26.00 and was made to purchase stamps to send thank you notes to people who donated to a charitable project to provide fire shelters to other fire departments. The DA’s office says a board member was aware of the project and would have approved the use of the credit card for this purpose.

The Black Forest Fire Board issued the following statement on March 6, 2015:

In late 2014, the Board of Directors of the Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District (District) became aware of charges that had been placed by a former employee on a District-issued credit card. These charges were not consistent with the policies of the District. Our policies clearly state that the District is not responsible for personal property belonging to our members that may become lost or damaged. Our policies also clearly state that medical bills pertaining to on-the-job injuries are to be paid for through our Workers’ Compensation Insurance company, and not from taxpayers’ funds.

Due to the fact that these unauthorized charges may have also constituted a criminal violation, the Board was obligated to refer the matter to the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for review. The DA’s Office has completed that review and has briefed the Board on their findings. While the District has clear policies prohibiting the use of taxpayer money for personal losses, it was found that on multiple occasions over a number of years, past employees had, in fact, expended taxpayer money to compensate for the personal losses of our members. This Board was unaware that this had occurred. As there had been a pattern established, albeit in violation of the policies of the District, this created a situation wherein the filing of criminal charges on these most recent expenditures would have been inappropriate.

Moving forward, the Board and our new Chief will be working together to ensure that this practice does not occur again. The Board has a duty to ensure the proper use of taxpayer money and it was because of this obligation that the Board has been applying close