St. Albans council approves $24,441.33 in invoices, fire engine outfitting and community grants

The St. Albans City Council approved several finance items including payment of current invoices totaling $24,441.33, authorization to pay Johnson's Emergency Vehicle Solutions $12,513.45 to outfit a new fire engine, a renovation grant of up to $10,000 for Morgan's Kitchen from legislative funds, and the purchase of a used vehicle of up to $5,000 charged to the vacant building fund for the Building Department.

Councilman Rowe requested the motion to approve payment of current invoices in the amount of $24,441.33; the council approved the payment by voice vote. The council separately approved payment to Johnson's Emergency Vehicle Solutions for outfitting a new fire engine with the specified amount charged to line item 706-459.

The council approved up to $10,000 in legislative funding to renovate Morgan's Kitchen; the presiding official noted that the nonprofit or business must provide an invoice before the city will issue payment. The transcript records: "When those lead of funds came in, and, Delegate Hall had a lot to do with this, they wrote check city and say no. So what Morgan's Kitchen has to do is get to work, give us an invoice, we'll write the check for the invoice." The council also authorized purchase of a used vehicle, up to $5,000, to be paid from the vacant building fund and assigned to the Building Department.

Questions raised during the discussion were limited; one council member asked for clarification about what "outfitting" entailed for the fire engine, but no detailed specifications were recorded in the transcript. No roll-call vote totals were recorded for these finance approvals in the transcript; each item passed by the council's voice vote.