Staff additions and increased oversight have improved the way the Chugiak Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department handles its finances, according to a recent municipal audit and the department’s new chief.
“Just taking the new job and being the first full-time chief, I thought it would be a good idea to see where we stood,” said CVFRD chief Tim Benningfield, who said he and the CVFRD board asked for the audit when he took over as the department’s first full-time paid chief near the end of 2017.
The audit found the department had made improvements in its cash-handling procedures since 2013. But Michael Chadwiwk, the muni’s Internal Audit director, said more could be done.
“Specifically, there was a lack of segregation of duties regarding controls over accounts payable,” Chadwick wrote.
Benningfield said the items raised by the audit have already been addressed through the addition of an administrative officer, the department’s fourth paid employee. In the past, he said one of the problems the department had was a lack of oversight due to the department’s limited staff.
“Being able to segregate duties and having a second set of eyes on it, just to have that oversight was…
