The Franklin's Promise Coalition on Tuesday turned over to Franklin County the balance of the donations it accepted after the Eastpoint wildfire

The Franklin's Promise Coalition on Tuesday turned over to Franklin County the balance of the donations it accepted after the Eastpoint wildfire in late June.

The check was for $257,717.60.

The group collected over 288 thousand dollars in donations after the fire, and spent some of that money helping fire victims move into temporary housing – including paying for the power poles, impact fees and water connections for those homes.

They also oversaw the collection and disbursal of donated items like furniture, clothes and other supplies.

The Franklin County Commission had demanded the group hand over the unspent donations after the commission and Franklin's Promise were unable to reach an agreement over a contract allowing Franklin's Promise to collect and distribute funds on behalf of the county.

Franklin's Promise had 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 partnership worked well through many disasters including the BP oil spill, but a disagreement arose over donations for the Eastpoint fire victims.

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 contract reflecting that.

Franklin's Promise refused, saying it could not agree to all of the terms of the contract, and when the county forced the issue, Franklin's Promise tendered its resignation as the County's ESF-15 Vendor.

Commissioners then demanded the unspent donations be given over to the county to be provided to another group which will replace Franklin's Promise and threatened legal action if the donations were not returned.

Franklin's Promise wrote the check on Tuesday after its Board of Directors was ensured by the County Attorney that 100% of the funds would be used to benefit the fire victims.

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