Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
CBS Denver
South Adco Fire billed taxpayers thousands for spouses, travel expenses
By Brian Maass,
2024-05-16
South Adco Fire billed taxpayers thousands for spouses, travel expenses 04:34
Top fire chiefs and administrators with the South Adams County Fire Department, along with some of their board members, have regularly taken their spouses along to winter conferences in Florida and fall conferences in Colorado's high country, billing taxpayers for their spouses' meals and other expenses, and extending their stays before and after conferences.
One Colorado ethics expert characterized this as "sounding more like a vacation than a business trip" and suggested, "they've been misusing funds."
The questionable expenditures emerged from a CBS News Colorado investigation of the fire department's conference expenses over the last three years, prompting the department to announce updates to its travel and conference policies.
The South Adams County Fire Department, serving Commerce City and parts of unincorporated Adams County, primarily relies on property taxes for funding.
CBS
Jane Feldman, former head of Colorado's Independent Ethics Commission and now with Denver's Board of Ethics, criticized the Fire Department's practice of spending taxpayer dollars on spouses, calling it "a violation of the public trust."
She argued, "bringing your spouse to a conference sounds like a personal trip rather than a business trip, and therefore those expenses related to spouses should be paid by the public official."
Spending records reveal that taxpayers have regularly covered the expenses for the spouses of fire department officials and board members.
In February of this year, Fire Chief Ken Koger, Deputy Operations Chief Bobby Noel, Deputy Chief Randall Weigum, accreditation specialist Amanda Foote, and Craig Machuga, chairman of the district board overseeing the department, all attended an annual conference in Orlando, Florida, accompanied by their spouses.
They flew from Denver to Orlando two nights before the conference began, renting large SUVs for transportation, incurring nearly $2,000 in costs. They stayed at the Caribe Royale hotel, where rooms during the conference cost over $300 per night.
Taxpayers footed the bill for expensive meals for the spouses before, during, and after the conference, including a dinner at an Orlando steakhouse costing $822.48 for department employees, board members, and spouses.
CBS
Another dinner, celebrating department accreditation, cost $1,825.41. Meals during the conference, including spouses, totaled $3,936.16.
While some attendees flew home after the conference ended, Koger, Noel, Weigum, Machuga, and Foote stayed an extra night, with taxpayers covering the expenses.
Maria Carabajal, a department spokesperson, claimed they stayed an extra night due to flight schedules, despite evidence showing available flights to Denver that Friday afternoon.
For a three-night conference, the South Adams County Fire personnel spent six nights in Orlando, incurring thousands of dollars in additional expenses.
Similar practices were observed at conferences in Colorado. For conferences in Keystone in 2022 and 2023, department personnel brought spouses and extended their stays, incurring additional costs for lodging and meals.
Expenses for dinners and additional nights amounted to significant taxpayer spending.
Feldman reiterated that taxpayer money should only be used for government business, stating, "if you're bringing your spouse, that sounds like a personal trip rather than a business trip, and therefore those expenses related to spouses should be paid by the public official."
Is there no end to the entitlement of public servants when they have an ability to spend public funds ??? These people act as if there were a coronation for them. Pay for your own travel like the rest of us. The boldness of this is off the charts !
Plumb Joy
05-17
Yep, they did and they're not ashamed one iota, nor are they apologizing or offering to pay taxpayers back. The gall, the stones, the disdain government workers have for you taxpayers, speaking down to you, speaking I'll of you behind your back. This is who you want to support, really?
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.