Overtime Probe Riles Firefighters : Investigation: Westminster council instigated the D.A. inquiry into fraud charges in a bid to discredit union, official says. Council members insist probe is justified.

The Orange County district attorney’s investigation into allegations of overtime fraud in the Westminster Fire Department was instigated by the City Council to discredit the firefighters union, a union official charged Thursday.

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“They cannot say we’re doing a bad job (as firefighters), so they have to picture us as greedy, self-centered people,” said Mike Garrison, a director of the Westminster Firefighters Assn. Local 2425. “The council has stooped to an all-time low.”

But council members insist the investigation is justified, and that it might lead to criminal charges being filed against some firefighters and their superiors, based on a financial audit that found massive overtime that could be attributed to fraud.

In a 10-week period, from July 1 to Sept. 15 last year, for instance, the audit discovered that the Fire Department incurred $283,000 in overtime expenses, four times more than the department’s fiscal 1993-94 overtime budget of $75,000.

Mayor Charles V. Smith said the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick in Costa Mesa is looking closer into the records for that period to determine “why so much money has been spent in so short a time.”

Preliminary results of the audit, including the department’s daily logs of firefighters coming to work, have been turned over to investigators, according to City Atty. Richard Jones.

Jones said that although the district attorney’s probe started two months ago, there have been no requests for additional information or interviews with firefighters.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Guy N. Ormes, who heads the district attorney’s unit that investigates corruption by public officials, has declined to disclose the scope of the investigation, but sources say it may include a look into the possibility of a broad conspiracy to defraud the city.

Meanwhile, the firefighters’ lawyer, Alan C. Davis, said Thursdaythat he will ask the district attorney to investigate what he described as “criminal slander” and “invasion of privacy” committed by members of the council against his clients.

Davis said council members have embarrassed the firefighters and tarnished their reputation through “outrageously false and malicious” public statements that implied criminal conduct on the part of the firefighters.

Davis, who represented the firefighters in a lawsuit against the city over layoffs last year, said he expects the district attorney to dismiss the allegations against his clients, and “then begin the serious business of investigating our charges of criminal slander.”

The exchange of charges is the latest in the escalating dispute between the council and the firefighters union, which also fought in court last year and are now at opposite ends of a recall campaign.

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The recall campaign, which is supported by the firefighters, targets Smith and council members Craig Schweisinger, Charmayne S. Bohman and Tony Lam. Recall proponents have until Feb. 19 to gather 6,937 signatures to put the petition on the ballot.

“The citizens will eventually know the truth,” said Garrison, who said that by asking for the investigation, the council wants to divert the people’s attention from the recall effort. “The council members will be in deeper trouble than they’ve ever been.”

Smith said that the recall and the investigation are separate issues, but both indicate that the firefighters are after “money and power.”

“They have fought us every step of the way,” Smith said. He added that the reorganization of the Fire Department, which the firefighters tried to block in court last year, has succeeded in cutting overtime expenses in the department.

Since October, when “floaters” were assigned to work in place of department employees who were sick or on vacation, overtime expenses have been steadily decreasing, city financial records showed.

In October, overtime expenses were $14,700 lower than for the same month in 1992. Expenses for November and December also decreased. From July to December, 1993, the overtime expenses were $64,000 less than the same period the year before.

That, Smith said, was in spite of the “overtime binge” from July 1 to Sept. 15, 1993, in which the Fire Department incurred nearly $300,000 in overtime costs.

“It’s a management issue,” Smith said, adding that by assigning floaters, which was the key to the reorganization, the city has eliminated the need for overtime, except in emergencies.

Smith said that council members were surprised by the extent of “overtime abuse” uncovered through the audit.

“As we dug deeper, we uncovered more worm,” he said.