By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
The Racine County Sheriff’s Office is investigating allegations that Tichigan Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Todd Bluhm improperly used fire department funds.
Bluhm has resigned from his position as Fire Chief and is fully cooperating with Racine County’s investigators, Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said Tuesday. Schmaling said his office has an “ongoing and active investigation” into allegations that Bluhm made “personal and questionable purchases with taxpayer dollars.” Purchases by Bluhm “totaling thousands of tax dollars” have come into question during the investigation, and an exact dollar amount will be tallied as soon as next week, Schmaling said.
“At that time, I fully anticipate felony charges will be recommended to the Racine District Attorney’s Office,” Schmaling said.
Waterford Town Chairman Tom Hincz said that last week he attended a meeting with the fire company and the sheriff’s investigator. Because the investigation is not yet complete, “people shouldn’t be drawing any conclusions until we know what’s going on,” Hincz said.
Residents should not be concerned that the level of fire service has been impacted, Hincz added. Assistant Fire Chief Dave Wagner has stepped in, and “we have a lot of volunteers dedicated who do a great job serving this community and nothing’s going to change there,” Hincz said.
An important message is that the town board and the town support the fire department, Hincz added.
“Here you have a bunch of people who spend hours and hours helping the community. All these people volunteer and to just have something like this happen is just a kick in the butt,” he said.
But if the sheriff’s investigation implicates misuse of tax dollars, “then we’ll have to address it and the fire company is going to have to address it,” with absolutely no interruption of service occurring, Hincz said.
Besides having served as Tichigan Fire Chief, Bluhm currently serves on the Washington-Caldwell School District board. His position is up for election in April.
For the full story, see the Dec. 12, 2014 print edition of the Waterford Post.
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There certainly seems to be a lack of leadership and oversight from the Town Board. Obviously a significant amount of taxpayer dollars are funding the fire department and the Town Board has no clue as to how they are spending it??? The fire department needs to be accountable to the Town and its taxpayers. Shame on the Town Board for lack of oversight and a requirement of accountability for the funds it gives the fire department.
This is not the first time Mr Bluhm has disgraced a fire department and stolen from them. Just ask Big Bend.
Looks like the town did not do their due diligence!
Todd Bluhm is very sneaky…and smart…evil genius would be actually the best term to describe the man. I personally feel the town did all they could. I met him years ago and have since heard numerous stories and had some interesting encounters with him as well.
Bluhm saw a weak department in need of leadership and a future. He provided the future by ushering Tichigan into a new era in Fire and most importantly EMS which made the department attract strong individuals and those individuals are exactly why Tichigan will continue to flourish as a department despite what Bluhm has done to them.
If Bluhm is reading any of this I hope he realizes…those people are above you. You May have screwed over the town and the people who counted on you to lead but really what you did and who you are is NOTHING compared to those people and their potential.
Tichigan is in good hands. Please do not view Todd as an accurate representation of that department.
I don’t think the Town did what they could for two reasons. They gave annually upwards or more than $100K and asked for no accounting as to what / how they were spending their (the Town taxpayer’s) money! Secondly, from what others are saying, there seems to be a history with this guy at other fire departments, didn’t someone even make the slightest effort to look into this guys past before making him chief and turning over hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to him over the last several years???!!!
What in the hell would they expect? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say you are watching things when you place someone in such a position of authority who has a criminal history of theft on the job. What in the hell would you think would happen? What’s next, a convicted child molester is placed on the service as an EMT and then everyone is shocked when a sick or injured child is molested? Of course you would not do this or be surprised. yet, for some reason placing this goof in this position bit them in the butt. Yeah, he did a lot to bring Tichigan into a better department but that gain comes at a huge cost now doesn’t it?
A quick Google search brought up this: If I could find it in 10 seconds, how could Tichigan officials not find it in 10 years? Besides this, ever hear of CCAP, Tichigan?
ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) – SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2005 – WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – Four firefighters, including a deputy chief, were charged Friday in the theft of billiard balls, darts and pool cues from a warehouse destroyed by fire in December. Big Bend/Vernon Fire Department Deputy Chief Todd Bluhm, 35, was charged with obstructing an officer, while Lt. Jay Richards, 27, was charged with misdemeanor theft.
There have been a variety of comments here about the Tichigan Fire Dept, the Waterford Town Board and other issues, and about about the chief specifically. I feel I need to clarify a few things.
The men and women of the Tichigan Fire Dept volunteer – their own time, their own vehicles, their own gas, and more. They leave their family at the dinner table to respond to your call, they jump in the middle of the night when your family member is having a medical emergency, and they risk their lives to save you and your family when you loaded your fireplace with too much wood. The dept does this on a little over $150,000 per year, when adding in the EMS revenue that it bills. For the $100,000 you pay in taxes, you get two fully stocked and equipped fire houses with professionally trained volunteers that will respond when you need them. So please, don’t make this about the department.
The Town Board, in your interest, contracts with a volunteer department at a fraction of the cost of a full-time staffed department. For a mere $100,000 in taxes and some equipment fees, the Town covers your needs pretty well. Staffing that department with union town employees would increase the costs more than five-fold, at a minimum.
The truth is, this is about one rogue individual that circumvented standard procedures, no different than what occurs by embezzlers every day in government jobs, non-profit organizations, and private companies.
As far as Mr. Bluhm goes, I have mixed feelings. I have known him for years and know he has always had a personal agenda…perhaps a sense of entitlement or perhaps just greed to keep up with the Jones (or other Tichiganites.) In some ways, I kind of anticipated seeing such news someday. But, I want to add that he is a compansionate and caring person that would probably do anything for anyone. He has volunteered countless hours at the fire department, school, scouts, and other programs. Please don’t take that as any excuse for his behavior or any justification for what he reportedly did. But, merely understand that he has a good side too. In what happened, I am truly sad – for Todd, his family, his friends that trusted him, and the others that relied on him.
Lastly, as I mention to people that always throws mud but never gets dirty…if you don’t like what the dept is doing, join up and volunteer your time. If you have a beef with the town board, there is an election that you can run in. And, if you think for one minute that this issue is because of a bad volunteer fire department, you are surely mistaken.
Everyone knows its a volunteer fire department and no one has bashed it. It is not unreasonable to expect that the fire department account to the town board for the $100,000 it gets every year. For the board to write a check and wipe their hands clean and not give a hoot or require an accounting of the expenditures is ridiculous!
I think you are assuming the Town Board selects the Fire Chief. Tichi Fire is a non-profit company and has a separate board of directors. The membership elects a fire chief from amongst the rank. However, that election typically has only one candidate. Nobody wants to work upwards of 20 hours per week, every week, unpaid. Luckily, they have a good man in Dave Wagner that, I assume, reluctantly stepped in to fill some boots than nobody wants to wear.
The town simply contracts with Tichigan Fire, just as they do with the Town Attorney and the Town Assessor. Stop by and ask them to open up their books too.
Yes, and i’m sure they probably already do. When the assessor bills the Town, I’m sure the “bill” has a detailed description of what services the assessor is billing the town for…so the town knows what it is paying for and can verify the services rendered v. the bill. The same for the attorney! Again, while the town board has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers / citizens and needs to know where their $100,000+ a year is going to. It is common sense. Why did his request for an additional $50,000 raise eyebrows? By your logic, they simply should have given them the extra 50K…after all they are a private company and have their own board just give them the money and don’t think twice about it, right?
I am in agreement, Mr. Bluhm would do anything to help out in a time of need and is a good man. As he maneuvers through the minutia of the legal ramification of his decisions, Tichigan needs to keep in mind… no one is perfect.