Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves expenses, raises audit and equipment concerns for fire department
Summary
Glendale’s council approved monthly expenses and discussed fire department spending practices after a large tool purchase; members raised audit concerns about personal-card purchases, requested inventory/receipts, and debated expensive county trunked radios and backup chainsaws.
The Glendale Town Corporation approved its monthly expenses at the Nov. 13 meeting and used the review to question recent fire department spending and equipment choices.
Council members recounted that Glenn Stacy purchased a large quantity of equipment for the fire department, including Milwaukee tools and a chainsaw. One council member said Stacy asked permission to buy tools but that the total appears to be near $9,000, which prompted questions about prior approval, reimbursement and whether purchases should be made on a town card rather than a personal account because charging personal accounts could generate audit findings.
Councilors asked for an inventory and a folder of receipts to document purchases and discussed creating a clearer process for approvals. A member said, "I've told him not to do that... I told him to go ahead and buy the tools. He told me, I think they go a folder full of receipts that you can offer." The council recorded concern that running purchases through personal accounts rather than the town’s charge card would be a red flag on an audit.
Members also discussed radio equipment: the county-wide system uses L3 Harris trunked radios that cost roughly $4,000 apiece, and attendees said battery life can be problematic. One speaker noted the radios require programming and that local contacts (a deputy sheriff and a specific programmer) have historically handled programming. The council recommended exploring higher-capacity batteries or alternatives but recognized the county’s system requires compatibility.
On firefighting tools, the council suggested keeping at least one gas-powered chainsaw on each truck as a backup to battery-powered tools, citing longer continuous cutting needs. The meeting record shows the motion to approve monthly expenses passed and the council moved on to other agenda items.
