Board of Trustees
Albion Trustees Loosen Water Plant Purchasing, Then Order a Spending Memo to Department Heads
Source records: Apr 17, 2024
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▶ Key Actions & Decisions
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• Trustees voted 3-0, with Angel Javier Jr, Mayor, and William Gabalski, Trustee, absent, to let Adam Rush, Water Treatment Plant Chief Operator, purchase equipment needed because of the April 17 power outage at the plant.
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• In a second 3-0 vote, trustees let Rush make further outage-related purchases without returning to the board, keeping it informed "as it progresses," for this power outage only.
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• Trustees also voted 3-0 to let Aric Albright, Pollution Control Plant Chief Operator, buy pipe for a bench from his own budget line, and to let Jay Pahura, Superintendent of Public Works, have the codes car decaled.
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• A further 3-0 vote directed Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor, to issue a general statement to department heads on spending.
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• The special session opened with the pledge of allegiance at 3:12 PM and adjourned at 3:44 PM.
Three of Albion's five village trustees convened a special meeting on April 17, 2024, after a power outage hit the water treatment plant that day, and within roughly half an hour had loosened the rules for how the plant's top operator could spend money to deal with it.
Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor, opened the session with the pledge of allegiance at 3:12 PM. Angel Javier Jr, Mayor, and William Gabalski, Trustee, were absent, leaving Riley to preside alongside Greg Bennett, Trustee, and Timothy McMurray, Trustee.
The board first voted 3-0 to let Adam Rush, Water Treatment Plant Chief Operator, purchase whatever equipment the outage required. It then went further, voting 3-0 to let Rush make additional outage-related purchases without bringing them back to the board at all, keeping trustees informed "as it progresses," according to the minutes -- an allowance limited to this power outage only.
The same meeting handled two smaller purchase requests unrelated to the outage. Aric Albright, Pollution Control Plant Chief Operator, was cleared to buy pipe for a bench using his own budget line, and Jay Pahura, Superintendent of Public Works, was allowed to have the department's codes car decaled.
Then, in its fifth substantive vote of the session, the board directed Riley to put out a general statement to department heads on spending -- issued the same afternoon trustees had just widened one department's purchasing latitude for an emergency.
Trustees adjourned at 3:44 PM. The minutes record no discussion of what caused the outage or what it is expected to cost, and list no dollar figure tied to any of the day's purchases.
Archived coverage for Board of Trustees. Record date: 2024-04-17. View original document ↗
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▶ Key Actions & Decisions
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• Trustees closed a hearing on the 2024-2025 budget, then opened and closed a hearing on water and sewer rate increases; moved by Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor, and Tim McMurray, Trustee, the new rates carried with Angel Javier Jr., Mayor, presiding.
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