Fire chief reprimanded by Wausau Council

November 13, 2008 - 9:34 PM

JAY FELSBERG - Managing Editor

WAUSAU – Wausau Town Council reprimanded Fire Chief Sam Rudd Thursday night. Rudd was reprimanded for issuing two checks without Council’s approval.

The reprimand approved by Council was signed by Mayor Roger Dale Hagan, and noted that Rudd failed to notify the Town about two outstanding checks for $638.53 and 908.49 respectively. The checks were issued after Rudd’s appointment as fire chief Nov. 8, 2007.

“Your failure to notify the Town of Wausau of these outstanding checks was unacceptable conduct on your part, and you are hereby reprimanded for failure to timely report expended monies to the Town of Wausau. This reprimand will become a part of your personnel file,” the letter read.

Lynn Gothard has been questioning Council for about a year over use of money given to the fire department from fund-raising activities, including money used to purchase cell phones and fuel. Gothard praised Council for reprimanding Rudd, but said any unaccounted for money needs to be returned, Rudd needs to apologize to the town and he needs to be fired as chief.

Gothard also said the issue needs to be resolved before it before it becomes a criminal matter. The case is in then hands of the state attorney’s office, and Gothard said she is prepared to go higher in the justice system to see the matter resolved.

“I intend to see the case taken as high as I need to to see the money returned,” she said. Gothard also said the governor’s office has told her it would handle the case if necessary.

Gothard also said she was not responsible for any blogs on the subject and she signs her name to anything she writes.

Hagan said that since the case is in the state attorney’s hands he or any other Town employee could not comment on the case, but that he wants the case resolved as well. “If there are criminal charges then we want to know as bad as you do,” he told Gothard.

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Reader's comments

I don't believe he is paid but if he is considered an employee shouldn't the same rules apply
wausau resident - Nov 21, 2008 05:42:58 PM	Remove Comment


Why is the chief still employed as a volunteer when he is under criminal investigation by the State Office See minutes of the last Town Council meeting when the Mayor said that he could not comment because the Chief was under criminal investigatin. How can we pay someone when we can not talk to them because of a criminal investigation
wausaufamily - Nov 21, 2008 04:37:22 PM	Remove Comment


As the Mayor of a small town in NW Florida I know firsthand the struggles of small towns and departments. The City Council should have full discretion over the moneitary aspect of the department. The bylaws of the department should reflect department, as well as, city policies. Most councils have a member appointed to be over the fire dept. just like you have members over streets and parks and recreation. All the blame can not go to the chief, as I see it, it was the towns fault for not following up in a timely manner, also. If you can not trust the man in charge, get rid of him. If he is doing a good job and only had one slip up then let it go. Either way I think the bylaws need revising or just a rereading and the council needs to have a fail safe in place. i e board member over all spending and department members. Thank you for reading and have a good day.
mayor - Nov 21, 2008 01:55:24 PM	Remove Comment


impressed, Dont you think the chief should step up and take the 160 hr course required to be a volunteer, well he hasnt, and runs off all his good trained volunteers and only wants followers so they will do what he wants them to do, not what is right, If him and his followers would leave there are several highly trained firefighters ready and waiting to take their place, I heard that Sam had said if someone else would take the Chiefs position he would step down, well I am telling you there are several that will take it that are certified.
notimpressed - Nov 21, 2008 09:24:49 AM	Remove Comment


cough cough, I hope your not a firefighter if you are you need to quit, we dont pick and chose who we help, we help all in need no matter if we like them or not, If you have that attitude you need to hit the road. Also the town of Wausau pays for all the fuel and owns the trucks and the station, Sam just runs the volunteers and gives them the type of attitude that you have, Great leader? HUH.
anotherVFF - Nov 21, 2008 09:05:20 AM	Remove Comment


yes the tanker cost the dept. 7,200 dollars, Sam spent 8,200 dollars on cell phones just last year, how much nicer do you think the tanker could be or how about a back up pumper if the 1 pumper they have would break down,you give Sam to much credit if you think he is doing all this by himself, he is trying very hard now to look good because he is now caught,look back and see what he has done, nothing, others on the dept worked to get the rescue truck and get the ISO rating they have, but Sam has accomplished running them off, dont give Sam all the credit that I know he runs around trying to get. He had some very good qualified, certified firefighters on the dept to help the dept get where it is then Sam will run them off so he can get all the credit. It is finally catching up with him, he cant lie his way out anymore.
volunteer - Nov 21, 2008 08:55:43 AM	Remove Comment


i think if i was on the department and some of these people needed a fire truck, uhm say for a house fire maybe, I would be sick and unable to respond. or you could say sorry we gave the city all the money for fuel and couldn't buy any and all the trucks were out of gas, but on the bright side here is a bucket so put it out yourself.
cough cough - Nov 20, 2008 10:25:34 PM	Remove Comment


I saw the truck that the chief is building today at main street auto in chipley. it looks very good and will be a great asset to the citizens of wausau. anyone who thinks it is a breeze to run a fire dept. and keep qualified volunteers on the department should step up and take the 160 hr course required to be a VOLUNTEER fire fighter and join the department. Then after that is done report to a city council who probably not one of them could tell you what a pike pole is much less a spanner wrench, and then answer their questions about why things were done in the department. MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU CHIEF KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. I live in holmes county where our commissioners think you can run a department on $4,000 dollars a year. HA that will not even buy fuel much less safe equipment or a building to put a truck in.
impressed - Nov 20, 2008 10:17:48 PM	Remove Comment


A thief is a thief, at least that is what I was taught.
Clyde Bumgardner - Nov 19, 2008 08:39:45 PM	Remove Comment


If this could be justified then why hasnt Sam justified it, why would he take a reprimand if he didnt do anything wrong, why would the town give him a reprimand if this could be justified, all these questions have already been answered and it just keeps coming back that Sam has done wrong and does deserve to be charged for wrong doing and repay the money his family dont deserve to get phone service compliments of Wausau Fire Department.
smart resident - Nov 19, 2008 12:19:50 PM	Remove Comment


Jealous of what? A man that is about to be charged with thief. I dont think so, the bad thing here is that all this could have been taken care of before it all got this bad. Mrs Gothard has tried to keep this private and just between Sam and the town council but they all refused so this is what happens when no one else will do anything, Mrs Gothard is not guilty of anything and Sam is.
resident2 - Nov 19, 2008 12:11:01 PM	Remove Comment


resident it is very apparent that you have not read the ethics report. The checks cant be justified actually it was illegal, and also people need to be involved because this was money given to the fire dept. to be used to help the fire dept not to pay for Sams mother, father, mother-in-law, wife, sister-in-law etc, etc. He took the money and now will pay for what he done wrong, and I personally dont thank he is a very good chief, He wont even get certified.
anotherresident - Nov 19, 2008 09:49:40 AM	Remove Comment


Sam Rudd has lost the trust and respect from the citizens of this town and county and I do not believe that a reprimand is near enough. Sam should be removed from his position and be made to pay back every dollar. On top of all that he stood in front of the town council and grinning while the mayor read the reprimand now how serious do you think he took the punishment. If I were mayor he would have already been long gone.
lifelongwausauresident - Nov 18, 2008 09:55:36 AM	Remove Comment


its a sad day when someone you look up to lets you down. I am very disappointed to know that someone I thought was an upstanding person has fallen to greed. Maybe Wasuau should not have Funday next year and let the everyone get over this.
sad - Nov 17, 2008 09:22:03 PM	Remove Comment


So when will the 100 thousand be addressed with the Sunny hills gentleman.
washingtonresident - Nov 16, 2008 06:18:07 PM	Remove Comment


SAM,Sam Sam,why dont you see you are on your way down,you have a chance to keep from getting criminal charges filed I highly suggest you do that and very soon
wausau resident - Nov 15, 2008 03:04:56 PM	Remove Comment

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