Chiefs group covers late bill

Web posted August 8, 2000

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By Sylvia Cooper
Staff Writer

The Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs has stepped in to pay an overdue hotel bill to avoid more publicity about debts left from the association's spring conference in Augusta.

Association officials paid a $3,000 balance on a Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta bill Friday, said association President Alberto C. ``Butch'' Zaragoza Jr., chief of Vestavia Hills Alabama Fire Department.

``We pay our bills,'' Chief Zaragoza said Monday. ``We've just been trying to work with Augusta-Richmond in trying to get the final version of where we stood financially. They wouldn't give us any information, and then all of a sudden it comes out in the paper.''

The association, a professional organization of fire chiefs with members from 10 Southeastern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, held its annual conference May 30-June 4 at the Augusta hotel.

OTHER STORIES: • Fire chief nears OK for Washington job • Chief answers questions • Capital supports fire chief • Few addresses allegations • Augustans back Few in capital • Agents confiscate fire records • Fire official resigns from department • Few pays $642 bill for calls • Officials' phone bills top $1,000 • Mayor is unsettled by debts • Chiefs group covers late bill • Chiefs' bill goes unpaid • Ex-fire chief bids farewell to Augusta • Group hits media for Few squabble • Fire chief reports to grand jury • Few faces final vote by D.C. council • Few accepts D.C. job

Radisson General Manager Darryl Leech wrote Augusta Mayor Bob Young last week asking him to help the hotel collect $8,294.63 of a $25,294.63 bill for the conference.

Augusta Fire Department Public Information Officer Katrice Bryant said the bills had not been paid because some of the vendors had not paid the association. The hotel was paid $5,000 the next day, reducing the debt to $3,000.

Meanwhile, association officials have tried to get financial information about the conference, Chief Zaragoza said.

The Augusta Chronicle also has tried to get an accounting of conference finances. Some records were made available but were incomplete and without context.

Deputy Chief Carl Scott was to have presented Augusta commissioners with a complete financial report Monday, but the plans were changed. Deputy Chief Scott said he did not want to report on something he knew very little about. He said Ms. Bryant and firefighter Octavius Davis were the two people who could answer questions about the finances. Mr. Davis is on military leave and will not return until Friday. Ms. Bryant is expected back today.

One question concerns a check transferring $4,000 from a Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs account to the Augusta-Richmond County Fire Department media account. Mr. Davis' signature is on that check.

The media account was used for former Chief Ronnie Few's annual media awards event. Chief Few now heads the fire department in the District of Columbia. He did not return phone calls seeking comment about the unpaid bills.

Chief Zaragoza said association officials have been trying to get information from Augusta fire officials for a year.

``We asked for meetings, and they said there was no need in meeting, that they had everything handled,'' he said. ``And then we had a rude awakening, that the hotel bill hadn't been paid and there was a $23,000 charge for T-shirts that nobody seemed to know about.''

He said Ms. Bryant wouldn't return any of their phone calls.

``We've been leery from the day `go' because we never have faced a situation where a host city or a host state organization has just really left the Southeastern board of directors completely out of the loop, and that's what they did,'' Chief Zaragoza said.

He said he wrote Ms. Bryant a letter in April because the conference was nearing, and association officials wanted to see how many vendors there were and how many people had registered.

``Well, I got a 27-page response from her in essence telling me to kiss off, that they had put on conferences left and right, and they didn't need our assistance, that they knew what they were doing. So, to say the least, I was highly perturbed by the letter.''

Ms. Bryant said in a telephone interview Monday that Chief Zaragoza's statements are ``completely, totally untrue.''

``For one, I didn't keep the numbers for the conference,'' she said. ``That was not my responsibility.''

Requests were channeled through the proper person and information was made available to the association as soon as possible, she said.

Ms. Bryant said another person in the fire administration office kept up with such information.

``We had a committee of 27 people, so everybody had their specific tasks, and that just wasn't one of my responsibilities. All I can do is forward it on. I'm not in a position of authority to make anyone do anything at that moment. And we explained that to them, and so did Chief Few.''

And the letter she sent Chief Zaragoza was really only three pages, in which it was explained ``step by step what was going on with the conference .ƒ.ƒ. ,'' she said.

Ms. Bryant said she would be able to answer some questions concerning conference finances, but only those that concerned the committees she chaired.

Meanwhile, Chief Zaragoza said, the association will pay half of any bills after it receives an accounting from Augusta.

Augusta officials have 90 days after the conference closes to give the association a financial report, he said.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.