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...