Rio Arriba County spent nearly $2,000 to send Fire Marshal Jerome Sanchez and Wildland Fire/EMS Coordinator Mateo DeVargas to Denver, Colo., to look at new equipment and show off their new rescue vehicle.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs held a three-day conference Aug. 14 through 16 that included several days of pre-conference educational sessions on topics such as leadership, recruiting, air management and apparatus maintenance. The conference center was also filled with new technology, and Sanchez and DeVargas said they spent much of their time seeing what new equipment was available.
“There was a little bit of everything,” DeVargas said.
Included in the collection of new vehicles on the floor was Dixon Volunteer Fire Department’s new emergency rescue vehicle. DeVargas drove it to Denver Aug. 11, and he said Braun Industries, which made the vehicle, paid for his hotel room.
Besides a registration fee of $460 for both Sanchez and DeVargas to attend the conference, the County paid $315 for DeVargas’s week-long trip, County Comptroller Mary Louise Martinez said. Martinez said DeVargas received $45 per day to cover his meals and some fuel costs. Martinez said that amount was not based on “actual cost,” so DeVargas did not have to submit receipts.
The County also paid $1,120 for Sanchez’s mileage and per diem expenses during his trip, at $215 a day in per diem expenditures to cover his meals and lodging. Martinez said the normal out-of-state per diem rate, as set by the state, is $115, but Denver has been classified as a “high-cost city” and warrants the higher rate of $215. He also did not have to submit any receipts.
County Manager Lorenzo Valdez said he did not see how allowing Braun to pay part of DeVargas’s expenses was a conflict of interest; he did not think it will cause the County to buy more vehicles from Braun in the future. He said Braun simply made a deal with the County to bring the company some publicity at the show.
“They didn’t have a vehicle to show at the show,” he said. “I didn’t see a whole lot wrong with it.”
DeVargas said his wife, a Santa Fe firefighter, followed him to the conference in their personal vehicle. He said Sanchez’s wife, Española School District Finance Director Charlene Sanchez, rode along with Sanchez in their personal vehicle, too. Sanchez emphasized the County did not pay anything for his wife to attend the conference.
Human Resources Director Jessica Madrid and Valdez both said it is common for employees to take their spouses on taxpayer-funded work trips. Valdez said as long as the County does not pay for a spouse to attend an event, there is no problem. Madrid said a problem only arises if they go in County vehicles.
“There is not a County policy in place prohibiting them from taking their spouses,” she said.
Sanchez said he enjoyed the lectures and meeting vendors. He said a new fire pump-testing unit he saw at the conference could help boost the County’s insurance ratings and help volunteer departments meet National Fire Protection Association requirements.
The Association requires that fire trucks are “pump tested” annually, and when departments’ insurance ratings are assessed, inspectors check their records to make sure the tests are being conducted. Sanchez said the unit would be towed among the County’s fire departments to conduct the tests without the departments temporarily losing trucks and personnel when they travel to Albuquerque to test the vehicles, as they currently do.
“There’s a lot to be said for this unit,” he said.
Sanchez said he is not sure how soon the County would buy the tester.