Plainfield Fire District's Dubious Purchases Will Stop: Fire Chief

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield Fire Protection District Chief Dave Riddle said questionable purchases uncovered by the Edgar County Watchdogs will stop.

The Watchdogs looked at credit card statements between August 2014 and November 2015. In them, it found nearly $12,000 worth of purchases it claimed to have no public purpose.

Some of the purchases were made at T Bird Liquor Store, NHL.com and iTunes, and included items like gift cards and Edible Arrangements.

Other purchases include $1,325 for the Turkey Raffle, $1,300 in Christmas gifts, $1,490 for a retirement party, $724 for Edible Arrangements, $165 in flowers, $714 for the hog roast, $6,000 for food and parties, $67 for corn cob pipes and $75 for a Massage Envy massage.

Riddle told Patch the report brought things to his attention that gave him concern.

“They presented some opportunities to make corrections to the way we do purchasing and things of that nature,” Riddle said.

However, some of the purchases look worse on the surface until you drill down into them, according to Riddle, citing raffles and the pig roast which are sponsored by the fire department.

Purchases that Riddle said the department would be putting a stop to include Edible Arrangements for members who might be in the hospital and flowers for deceased members or immediate family relatives.

“Those are pretty easy to stop in terms of we’re just not gonna do that,” riddle said. “That’s the immediate remedy.”

What the remedy won’t include is any sort of reimbursement.

“I don’t think it’s necessary and I don’t have plans of pursuing that,” Riddle said.

According to Riddle, there are around five people who have access to the credit card on which the questionable purchases were made, but is unaware of any instances where something may have been fraudulently or inappropriately purchased.

Riddle said he doesn’t “have the slightest hint of evidence” of anything criminal occurring.

“If I did, I’d contact the state’s attorney’s office in a heartbeat,” Riddle said. “If someone does have some evidence of that, I’d encourage them to go to the state’s attorney.”

While some of the purchases were made under the watch of former Plainfield Fire Protection District Chief John Eichelberger, Riddle admitted to his own responsibility in the matter.

“This stuff’s on me,” Riddle said.

Riddle said he met Thursday morning with the Foreign Fire Tax Board and an attorney to talk about what will be happening moving forward.

The FFTB also came under fire from the Edgar County Watchdogs for spending more than $12,000 on personalized blankets and pillows.

“I don’t think they’ve done anything so drastically wrong that anyone needs to be disciplined or anything like that,” Riddle said.

This issue will also be addressed at a staff meeting next week.

John Kraft, co-founder of the Edgar County Watchdogs, said he’d like to see some sort of restitution made.

“You’re not gonna get flowers back from somebody that sent it to a funeral. You just shouldn’t be purchasing those,” Kraft said. ”But I think some of the things that could be repaid is whoever bought the massages. You can pay that $75 back.”

Despite that, Kraft is happy that a problem has been recognized and a remedy is in the works.

“That’s all we generally ask for. Stop doing what you’re doing,” he said.