Gloucester supervisors voted to appropriate $600,000 of funds from its Unassigned Fund Balance to utilities for the purchase of a new sewer cleaning vehicle during its Nov. 1 meeting, which was held at the colonial courthouse.
The board approved the appropriation by a 6-1 margin. The new vehicle will replace a truck that was purchased in 2005 and currently needs a new engine to be operational.
James Dawson, Director of Public Utilities said the old vehicle is repairable but repairs would cost about $50,000. If it ran, it would have a value of $15,000 according to the manufacturer. The vehicle is also past its 15-year recommended useful service life.
Gloucester’s Director of Public Utilities James Dawson said the sewer cleaning vehicle cleans the wells of the county’s sewer pump stations once a year and cleans 20 percent of the sewer system annually, which equates to 58,000 linear feet of pipe.
Since the equipment failed, the utilities department has been hiring contractors to perform t...
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