What started out as a simple dispute over an old fire truck has now escalated into a much larger problem leaving county administrators questioning the integrity of its own, and the Front Mount Pumper ending up in the hands of the county.

The mystery surrounding the pumper – believed to be between a 1964-70 model – finally came to an end last week, when Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson found out where the truck was being stored and had it towed to the county vehicle maintenance shop.

On Wednesday morning, Anderson said his concern was no longer on the pumper, but on the untrue information given to him, County Administrator Phil Hinely, county council and other county staff by Mitford Fire Department Chief Dwayne Robinson and Fairfield County Fire Board chairman Michael Roseboro.

“They were untruthful, so now its an ethics issue,” Anderson said.

Not only is Robinson the fire station’s chief, he also works with the state Transport Police, and Roseboro is an investigator with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office.

“The issue is if they will tell us something untrue about an old fire truck then who’s to say they won’t lie to us about other serious things,” explained the deputy administrator. “They’re suppose to tell the truth and uphold the law.”

On Jan. 11, county council entered into executive session to discuss the pumper. At that time, Hinely questioned both Robinson and Roseboro on the whereabouts of the pumper, who the fire station allegedly sold the pumper to and how much they sold if for. He also asked to see the bill of sale, or some document verifying the truck was sold.

Robinson said the station sold it for about $800. He also told the council that the fire truck was towed to its new owner’s house because it wasn’t working.

However, after speaking with the man who purchased the truck, Anderson found out the truck was not towed to his house, but driven there by two firemen.

“At about 11 p.m. that night, the fire truck rolled onto his property, driven by two firemen, one of which was Mr. Robinson,” state minutes recorded by Fairfield County Safety and Liabilities Supervisor/HR Rep. Hyatte Kelsey. Kelsey and Anderson went to Great Falls on Jan. 14 to speak with Dalford Wilson about buying the pumper.

According to the minutes, Wilson first purchased the truck, without a title, from Robinson for $2,000. After a few months, he requested his money back because Robinson could not produce a title.

Roseboro, who is not only the fire board’s newly elected chairman, but also a volunteer fire fighter with the Mitford Fire Department, said he knew the truck was parked at someone’s house for a few years as well as at the fire station for more than a year.

“It’s my belief that the truck itself is not the issue, it’s just one topic to address” Roseboro said.

And, according to Anderson, the other topic needing to be addressed is Roseboro and Robinson giving false information to 14 county employees and representatives.

The minutes go on to show that Robinson attempted to sell the fire truck to Wilson a second time.

“A few months later, Mr. Wilson’s brother explains to him that he could use the fire truck to wet the track at his go-cart raceway in Great Falls, so the Wilsons got back in contact with Mr. Robinson. They offer Mr. Robinson $1,000 for the fire truck as-is with no title. The offer was accepted.

“Mr. Wilson could not remember the exact date, it was either in October or November of 2009, but he received a phone call about 10 p.m. one night from Mr. Robinson telling him that he needed to bring him the fire truck to get it off the fire department yard. Mr. Wilson okayed it, and at about 11 p.m. that night, the fire truck rolled onto his property driven by two firemen, one of which was Mr. Robinson. The fire truck has been sitting on Mr. Wilson’s property ever since,” the minutes state.

After the meeting with Wilson, the pumper was towed by the county to the vehicle maintenance shop.

Anderson believes it was delivered to Wilson shortly after the fire board’s Oct. 29 meeting, where former board chairman Jimmy Walters told Robinson not to sell the truck.

Following the towing of the truck by the county, Roseboro said that it’s not fair to criticize the Mitford station for its actions, because it’s common for fire stations to accept equipment without first going through the county.

“You can’t label one station for doing the same thing that other stations are doing,” he said.

County Ordinance #20 states that any vehicle given or donated with a value of $1,000 or more belongs to the county.

Anderson said that if the fire station’s actions were innocent and any of the investigation was untrue “then why do I have the truck down at transit.”

“The problem is that they did not tell the truth,” Anderson said, adding that he has already spoken with Fairfield County Sheriff Herman Young about Roseboro’s actions and that he plans to contact the SCSTP concerning Robinson.

Young said he is currently looking into the matter.

“Before any disciplinary actions are taken, I want to make sure I have all the facts and figures,” the Sheriff said.

He has not yet spoken with Roseboro.

“I cannot dictate what they should do, but what I can do is let them know what type of people they have working for them who are coming to our meetings dressed in their uniforms,” Anderson said.

Anderson does, however, have say over their futures with the fire department. He and Hinely can recommend to council that the two no longer serve as volunteer fireman.

“The council and administration know that we have fire house politics going on, and that we may or may not have had similar cases like this one with fire trucks before. But at this point, the issue has moved past the truck to the issue of integrity of our voluntary employees, whom we must have trust in. These two employees have breached that trust by giving false statements to county council. Statements that we can prove were false,” Anderson said.

Hinely will make a recommendation to the council in the upcoming weeks concerning the two men.

Roseboro recently became a lifetime member of the Mitford Fire Department for his more than 20 years of service to the community.

“People within other fire stations and the community try to portray Mitford as a bad fire station, but if you ask anyone from Mitford or the council about our response time, about how we keep our station or about our equipment, they have no complaints,” Roseboro said.