Five Years on, Million-Dollar Apparatus Donor Still a Mystery in Pa.

Jan. 08--It's the million-dollar mystery.

More than five years ago, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton led city residents to believe money from a grant, the city's general fund, community development coffers and emergency services tax bankrolled the $860,000 purchase of three new fire engines.

In reality, an anonymous donor stepped forward with a $1 million gift specifically earmarked for the new fire equipment, according to interviews with city officials and documents reviewed by The Citizens' Voice.

A generous and still unnamed stranger funneled the donation through Kids for the Kingdom, a Graton, Calif.-based Christian charity that helps children and families in third-world countries.

The city received notice of the donation in a letter dated June 7, 2006. Leighton never made mention of the gift when he unveiled the fire engines a month later, despite receiving permission from the charity's international director, Greg Dabel, to announce the donation.

"We realize you will want to publicize the arrival of the new fire trucks and the fact that a generous local donor provided the money. Feel free to do so," Dabel wrote in the letter. "However, please keep the donor identity confidential."

Some city officials, including Councilman Bill Barrett, said they learned of the donation only recently. Barrett, a member of council since 2004, said he originally thought the city received a grant to purchase the fire engines. Another council member told him of the donation, Barrett said.

"It's certainly unusual," Barrett said, adding that he did not know the donor's identity.

Request reveals gift

Karen Ceppa, a former Republican candidate for city controller, uncovered the letter detailing the donation through an open-records request. She asked for documents related to the purchase of the fire engines, including bid specifications, advertisements, change orders and meeting minutes detailing the approval of the expenditure.

In addition to the letter from the charity, the city provided a sworn affidavit dated Jan. 3 and signed by Drew McLaughlin, a city spokesman and aide to the mayor. McLaughlin wrote that none of the documents Ceppa requested existed because the fire engines were purchased with a donation.

City records show Wilkes-Barre spent $860,408 from its long-term investment account to buy the three fire engines from the KME-Kovatch Organization in Nesquehoning.

The city's deputy controller, Raymond McHugh, sent Ceppa an email Tuesday indicating there had been little activity in the fund in recent years, but he noted the city used a $1 million "public safety grant" to buy fire equipment in 2006. It's unclear how the city spent the nearly $140,000 remainder of the donation.

The city purchased the fire trucks through COSTARS, a state "piggyback" purchasing program that eliminated the need for a public bidding process, McLaughlin said Friday. Council also did not approve the expenditure at a public meeting because the city used a donation to buy the engines, McLaughlin said.

"It wasn't public money," he said.

Council normally must approve expenditures of $10,000 or more and, at its public meetings, routinely authorizes the purchase of emergency vehicles through the state piggyback program. Because the donor specifically earmarked the $1 million for three fire engines, that protocol was likely unnecessary when buying the vehicles, Barrett said.

"If they say, 'Here's $1 million, put it in the general fund and spend it the way you want,' it's a little different, I guess," Barrett said.

Ceppa disagreed. The city charter does not allow Wilkes-Barre officials to treat donations differently than other funds, she said, calling the purchase of the fire engines "illegal."

Ceppa, who has a master's degree in accounting, said she's concerned about whether the city is "doing everything by the book legally --without giving special favors to certain people."

"That's my bottom line: I don't want to see favoritism or giving more of the work to somebody because they made a specific amount of donations," Ceppa said. "A million dollars is a lot of money."

A solid secret

Those around city hall on Friday offered shrugged shoulders when asked about the mystery money.

"I honestly don't know much about that at all," said Butch Frati, the city's operations director. "Very nice person, though, whoever it is."

Fire Chief Jay Delaney could not be reached for comment, but a woman who answered the phone at his office said she "never heard" of the donation.

Even Jacob Lisman, the city's fire chief from 2004 to late 2008, said he did not know about the $1 million or who donated it even though, during his tenure, the city formed a committee of firefighters to write specifications for the engines.

"I don't know that answer," Lisman said. "I wasn't involved with the financing at all."

The donor's identity might never be revealed. Whoever earmarked the money for Wilkes-Barre seemed to know the city needed an upgrade of its decades-old engines, but wanted none of the publicity that would accompany such a donation.

"The donors wish to remain anonymous and out of the limelight," Dabel, the charity's international director, wrote in the 2006 letter. "They have a heartfelt desire to see their community well-served by the latest and best fire-fighting and life-saving equipment."

The charity's tax returns reflected the donation, but did not identify the donor. In 2005, the charity collected $1,872,213. The next year, Kids for the Kingdom received $825,021.

Tim Dabel, Greg Dabel's son and the operations director for Kids for the Kingdom, would not identify the donor Friday. He worried that, if named, the donor or donors would be inundated with attention and requests from people who might not realize they had such wealth.

"All of a sudden, somebody has something they need," Tim Dabel said.

The donor lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Tim Dabel said. He added that he was unsure if the donor had any connection to the city fire department.

Leighton could not be reached for comment about the donation. When a reporter visited city hall Friday afternoon, the mayor's receptionist said he was in a meeting. Leighton did not return a cellphone message.

Records that identify anonymous donors who lawfully contribute to an agency cannot be obtained under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law unless the donation is intended as payment for services or employment, or as a "personal tangible benefit to a named public official or employee of that agency."

That means unless the donor comes forward -- or his or her identity is leaked -- the million-dollar gift will likely remain a mystery.

"The city's hiding, trust me," Ceppa said. "And they know who the donor is."

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