On Tuesday, December 1 the Kingston Common Council passed a resolution to approve its capital project plan, with a last minute amendment totalling $1,324,500. The amendment was introduced by Aldermen Douglas Koop, who stated that the director of building safety and zoning enforcement, Stephan Knox, was requesting that an additional $38,000 be used to purchase a work vehicle for a zoning officer, who had previously been using his personal vehicle.
The finance committee had previously seen this request, but denied it and took the funding out of the capital plan. However, the day of the meeting, Koop received a memo with further detail about the request. The zoning officer’s vehicle was not expected to last to the end of 2021.
“Failure of the old vehicle to perform could have a direct effect on availability to conduct inspections and projected revenue,” the memo read.
However, a few aldermen were not in favor of the amendment as they felt that $38,000 was too expensive and that the memo should have been discussed further in advance.
“We didn’t know the zoning officer was riding around in his own vehicle,” said aldermen Tony Davis. “Knox should have known prior to this afternoon that this vehicle was pulled out of the capital plan. We wouldn’t be doing this right now if there was better communication.”
However, the majority of aldermen voted yes for the amendment. The final vote was 5-4 for the amendment to the capital plan.
“It’s not right that a city employee has to use a personal vehicle to do city business,” said aldermen Rennie Scott-Childress. “We need to be sure that we have adequate transportation, especially for building safety.”
With the last minute amendment, some aldermen felt not as confident with the resolution for the complete capital project plan. Aldermen Michele Hirsch, Rita Worthington and Davis voted against the final resolution.
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