Departmental structure
The Woodstock Fire District collects property taxes that fund the operations of the local fire department. At the conclusion of an October 16 public hearing on the district’s proposed budget for 2013, the district’s five-member Board of Fire Commissioners unanimously adopted the $1.25 million budget, of which $1.22 million will be raised through taxes.
(The state comptroller’s recent audit of the Fire District yielded two principal findings, neither of which is considered serious in the context of such reviews: first, the district lacked formal procedures for obtaining and documenting quotes for goods and services that did not require competitive bids; and second, the district did not use competitive procedures, such as RFPs (requests for proposals) when obtaining professional services.)
With the exception of Company No. 1, whose firehouse in Bearsville is publicly owned, each of the firehouses in Woodstock’s fire department is owned by its members. Each company functions as a private corporation, electing its own officials and governing its own finances.
The district pays each company approximately $9,500 annually to house and maintain fire engines and other equipment in the firehouse bays. The district also disburses to each company, on a per-member basis, funds that the state collects through a tax on homeowner’s insurance policies, according to Judy Peters, who is the district’s secretary and treasurer. Other sources of company revenue include donations and the proceeds of fundraising events.Details of investigation
Five examiners from the comptroller’s office and two officials from the district attorney’s office participated in the investigation, which entailed interviews with Company No. 3 officials and a review of the company’s bank statements and financial records and reports that were available for the period January 1, 2006, through February 29, 2012.
“During the audit and investigation, DiNapoli’s staff found (that) Hughes routinely failed to provide monthly written reports of disbursements to the fire company’s executive committee and that company expenses were approved for payment by the committee without reviewing available invoices,” the comptroller reported.
The report continued: “When documents were requested by DiNapoli’s staff, Hughes altered bank and vendor records in an effort to conceal his theft. Hughes cashed $12,975 worth of checks in 2006; $61,565 in 2007; $32,130 in 2008; $66,500 in 2009; $16,565 in 2010; and $10,650 in 2011, according to the audit.” When asked at the news conference whether he considered the altered records convincing forgeries, a comptroller’s aide replied, “I’ve seen better.”
After fire company officials questioned Hughes about the May 2011 bounced check and then contacted the comptroller’s office, said the report, Hughes attempted to conceal the embezzlement through undocumented deposits into the company’s account. According to the comptroller, the deposits included a May 24, 2011, wire transfer of $50,000 from an account maintained by Hughes’s sister; deposits from Hughes’s personal checking account of $68,500 on June 3, 2011; of $5,000 on June 20, 2011; and of $3,600 on August 31, 2011. In addition, a check for $51,159, dated August 1, 2011, from Hughes’s checking account was allegedly used to open a certificate of deposit in the fire company’s name.
Lawyer, councilman, executive
State law requires that all attorneys admitted to practice in New York register every two years with the New York Bar Association (NYBA). The registration fee of $375 is waived for attorneys who certify that they are retired. The NYBA’s website classifies Hughes’s registration status as “delinquent” and cites May 2014 as the next date for his registration. The website lists Columbia as Hughes’s law school, 1977 as the year of his admission to the bar, and the following as his areas of practice: “real estate, wills and estates, elder law, land conservation, NYC Watershed matters, planning/zoning, general corporate.” Records list Arkville and Lake Hill addresses for Hughes’s law practice.
Hughes joined the Woodstock Town Board in November 1992, as an appointee to fill out the unexpired term of Don Gregorius, who assumed a seat in the county legislature. In 1991, Hughes had run unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for town supervisor, losing the election to John Mower, a Republican. Hughes remained a member of the Town Board through 1997. In 2003 he was the chairman of the town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee.
Hughes served as executive director of the Woodstock Land Conservancy (WLC) from 1992, four years after the nonprofit organization’s founding, to 2005. In a November 2005 news release, the WLC reported that Hughes had announced he would step down from his position at the end of the year in order to pursue other opportunities. Michael DeWan, the president of the organization’s board of directors at the time, praised Hughes effusively in the news release. “Dale’s long tenure has been a great gift of service to the Conservancy, to the Town of Woodstock, and to all those who enjoy the fruits of his labor,” said DeWan, adding, “We salute him and are tremendously grateful for his many contributions.”
In an October 16 interview John Winter, the current executive director of the WLC and Hughes’s successor, declined to answer questions about his predecessor, other than noting that Hughes worked as a part-time consultant in the latter stages of his tenure as executive director. Winter referred a reporter to the following statement by the WLC: “We’re shocked and saddened that this happened to an organization [Fire Company No. 3] that is so critically important to our community. After consulting with our attorney, we have been advised to make no comment on this investigation at this time.”
Meanwhile, in a gesture of resiliency, Company No. 3 announced that it will host a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sunday, October 21, at the firehouse in Lake Hill. The admission charge is $6 for adults and $4 for children aged 3 to 7.
