Civil Suit filed in Fulton County to resolve account issues with fire department

The Bank of Salem filed a civil suit against the Geep Volunteer Fire Department: Tim Adams as agent for Geep Volunteer Fire Department and Max Ray Shrable as agent for the Geep Volunteer Fire Department.

According to the complaint filed Sept. 8, in September of 2015, a Corporate Authorization Resolution for the Geep Volunteer Fire Department was given to the bank regarding an account set up in 1997.

Since that time, the bank has not been presented with any notice of rescission or modification of the 2015 documents.

On July 21, Senior Vice President and Senior Loan Officer Andy McCandlis sent a letter to the fire department informing them the account was being considered frozen by the bank until details for transition of the governing board of the department had been resolved.

McCandlis stated any automatic transfers currently in place would continue to be paid, as well as outstanding checks for mowing and HVAC repairs, but no other debit transactions would be allowed until the matter could be resolved.

The Geep Fire Department has recently undergone a rejuvenation effort with new members and a newly seated board and on Aug. 25, the Bank of Salem received a letter from the board of the Geep Volunteer Fire Department demanding access to the account set up previously and that the funds be transferred into the newly created account for the department.

In their letter, the board of the fire department explained the funds are necessary to operate the department and provide protection to the citizens of the fire district.

In the suit, the Bank of Salem stated it stands ready to either deposit the funds from the 1997 account into the registry of the Court or to transfer or provide access to the funds to the appropriate party as directed by the Court, but needs the court to make a determination in order to avoid potential double liabilities and otherwise has no interest In the funds of the 1997 account.