Fire chief surprised to find his name on New Chapel EMS taxes

FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. — At 5203 Charlestown Road, just across the Floyd County line, there's a fire department starting over.

“Morale has done a 180,” said New Albany Township Fire Chief Tim Franklin. a lot of that.

The building was occupied by New Chapel Fire, one of the branches of the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association, until May 31 at 6 p.m.

“They were still our bosses, and we would help them load what they wanted, because we worked for them,” Franklin said. He and the majority of the new department's members were employed by New Chapel Fire.

Franklin served as the “Deputy Chief” from 2019 until May 31, 2024.

New Chapel Fire recently lost its $1.4 million annual contract to provide fire services in New Albany Township as part of the fallout from the Jamey Noel investigation. Darrell Mills, who is the fire district president and decides who will provide fire services, said he learned of numerous contract violations during a recent audit.

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Mills said New Chapel has a policy of prioritizing EMS runs for New Chapel EMS and often will not have a full fire crew available. They also requested financial documents from New Chapel's new management this spring, but did not receive them.

“I call it a facade, which are harsh words,” Mills said. “I think that was the image that was being portrayed that they had a full complement of fire department personnel when the board met. But I think when we were gone, they would go back to doing their jobs on ambulances.

Franklin proposed to Mills the idea of ​​creating the New Albany Township Fire Rescue Department. Last weekend was their first responding agency. Franklin said he responded to 13 calls Wednesday.

As Franklin and the new department focus on the future, he has recently become aware of something from the past.

During the State Board of Accounts' investigation into UTVFA, new CEO Matt Owen told Franklin he was listed as the agency's tax “director” in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

“I heard about it a month ago … but nothing has been said to me about it by the people in charge of the investigation,” Franklin said.

In 2020 and 2022, the “executive signature” section is empty. In 2019, someone else's signature is there. Franklin said he was very familiar with Jamey Noel's signature and thought it was his.

FOCUS found two other Jamey Noel signatures from publicly available records, and both appear similar to those used on UTVFA tax returns.

Franklin said he suffered no negative consequences from having his name on the forms.

“I do not know why [Jamey Noel’s] did a lot of things that he is accused of,” he said.

Jamey Noel's attorney in his criminal case, Larry Wilder, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Current UTVFA and New Chapel leadership sent an emailed statement:

“Since these documents are several years old now, the current leadership of the New Chapel organization was not involved in their preparations. That being said, the documents speak for themselves and illustrate another way in which Mr. Noel concealed various financial matters related to New Chapel from other members of the organization's leadership. They represent another example of how Mr. Noel abused and betrayed the trust that so many people placed in him. and we look forward to him facing the full legal consequences of his actions,” spokesperson S. Coy Travis said in part via email.

Franklin said this confusion is just another reason he's glad the new department is moving forward.

“The residents of New Albany Township should also be happy because they now have the dedicated fire services they deserve and paid for,” Franklin said.

The New Albany Township Fire Department has 11 employees and hopes to hire nine more to work at the second station owned by the fire district. This station is on Budd Road near the Duke Energy power plant.

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