Fire victim donations at center of disagreement between Franklin's Promise and Franklin County

 Franklin County is going through an ugly separation from Franklin's Promise, a non-profit group that for nearly a decade has provided the county with volunteer assistance during emergencies.

Franklin's Promise has served as the county's ESF-15 vendor through the Franklin County Emergency Management Office for the past 10 years which basically means the group has overseen volunteers and collected donations to help residents among the many other functions it provides during emergencies.

The agreement has worked well through many disasters including the BP oil spill, but a disagreement has arisen over donations for the Eastpoint fire victims.

According to Franklin's Promise the group collected 288 thousand dollars in donations after the fire, and so far have spent about 78 thousand helping people move into temporary housing – including paying for the power poles, impact fees and water connections for those homes.

They have also overseen collection and disbursal of donated items like furniture, clothes and other supplies.

The county commission said because the donations are made to Franklin's Promise in its role with the county emergency management office, the county should have a complete accounting of every penny collected and spent and asked that the group sign a new contract reflecting that.

The board did point out that it is not accusing the group of misusing the money, but commissioners say they have to know how the money is being used because the donations were made with the impression that the county is overseeing the funds through its Emergency Management Office.

Franklin's Promise said it cannot sign the agreement as it is written but did provide an accounting of collections and expenditures so far.

When the county forced the issue, Franklin's Promise tendered its resignation as the County's ESF-15 Vendor but did not agree to return the unspent donations.

At the recommendation of the county attorney the county commission last week rejected the resignation and are now demanding that the unspent donations be given over to the county to be provided to another group which will replace Franklin's Promise.

The board says that if the money is not returned then the county will terminate Franklin's Promise from its contract and the issue will be taken to court to seek an injunction keeping the group from disbursing any of the funds until the issue is resolved.

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