EMSA President Breaks Silence and Addresses Questionable Spending

STROUD, OK-- EMSA Board Members from Tulsa and Oklahoma City met in Stroud Wednesday to establish a system of checks and balances to provide more oversight at the public trust.  This comes one month after an audit unveiled some questionable practices at the agency.

"I am sorry for the amount of scrutiny that it's caused," said Stephen Williamson, President and CEO of EMSA, as he took the podium.

After his public apology to EMSA and its stakeholders, Williamson also tried to justify some of the purchases made in his name.

The audit released by the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector's Office reveals Williamson spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel, $1200 on three Mont Blanc pens, $900 in spa services, and two lifetime subscriptions to Sirius Satellite Radio.

As he addressed the board and EMSA stakeholders, Williamson said he spent the $900 on two spa packages as a reward for two hard working employees from Tulsa. 

Williamson also said he purchased the two lifetime subscriptions to Sirius Satellite Radio for radio systems installed in two of EMSA's IT trucks.

"They were not purchased for my car as somehow has gotten started," he said.

Williamson also defended EMSA's $30,000 spent on floral services and discussed other audit findings that question EMSA's integrity as a public trust. 

After Williamson addressed board members, members of the board of trustees told Williamson he must provide copies of all disbursements to board members before each meeting. 

The EMSA Board also established a finance and ethics committee to provide more oversight at EMSA.

"If there's something we need to clean up, we're going to clean it up," said Lillian Perryman, chairwoman of The EMSA Board of Trustees, "and it's going to be resolved."
EMSA President Breaks Silence and Addresses Questionable Spending

Posted: Wednesday, February 27 2013, 09:55 PM CST