Brooke Commission to be reimbursed for radios for defunct fire department
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WELLSBURG -- The Brooke County Commission will be reimbursed for radio equipment it provided to the Bethany Pike Volunteer Fire Department, which was decertified last year after its treasurer pleaded guilty to embezzling $150,000 of its funds.
Daniel Keener was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John P. Bailey to three years of supervised probation and ordered to repay at least $1,000 of the stolen funds on a monthly basis until the stolen funds are repaid.
The case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with help from the West Virginia Auditor's Office.
Commission President A.J. Thomas said 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge Michael Olejasz on Friday supported a motion by the county commission for reimbursement of about $2,600 spent by the commission for the radio equipment.
The radios were among many provided in recent years to local volunteer fire departments serving the county.
Thomas said the equipment is no longer in the Bethany Pike department's possession, so the commission will instead receive its cash value of about $2,600.
Thomas said the commission plans to use the money to purchase radios for the Weirton Fire Department.
In addition to serving the Brooke County section of Weirton, the city department has assisted other local departments through mutual aid agreements.
Thomas expressed thanks to Brooke County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Barki III and Assistant Brooke County Prosecutor David F. Cross "for making sure this happened."
Following Keener's arrest, the Bethany Pike department -- which was said to have been understaffed and is different from the nearby Bethany Fire Department -- was decertified by the state Fire Marshal's Office.
After Keener pleaded guilty of the crime in April, the commission withheld funds raised for the department through the county's five-year fire levy and has reallocated them to the county's other 10 departments.
Thomas and the other commissioners said they are taking steps to address other property in the defunct fire department's possession, including its vacant station.
He said the future of the building and other property possessed by the Bethany Pike department is clouded by debt owed by the disbanded entity.
Thomas said the department had purchased a 1998 model pumper truck, later learning the vehicle required repairs it could not afford to make, and it has since been kept in storage at a cost of about $100,000.
County Commissioner Tom Diserio said the court's support of the commission's legal action against the Bethany Pike department sets a legal precedent for other cases involving decertified fire departments.
In other business:
• Thomas said opening of the new judicial center is pending relocation of a gas line and adjustments to fire doors required by the Fire Marshal's Office and the transfer of materials under the supervision of the state Supreme Court, which has set a tentative March 11 moving date.
Funded through the sale of $15 million in bonds, the two-story building beside the present county courthouse will become home to the county's circuit, magistrate and family court facilities; the prosecutor's offices and probation department.
• Wellsburg resident Richard Ferguson suggested more signs are needed to guide travelers through the Brilliant area to the new Ohio River bridge leading to West Virginia Route 2.
Ferguson and others in attendance agreed it can be particularly confusing for drivers approaching from Ohio Route 7's southern exit to Brilliant.
Thomas said the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission could be asked to approach the appropriate state highway officials for more signs.