Oakill officials apologize for late fire-levy reimbursements; commission pauses Oakill vouchers for further review

City representatives and Oakill Volunteer Fire Department officials told the Fayette County Commission on May 22 that staff turnover left a backlog of reimbursement requests and that they had moved to centralize submissions to avoid future delays.

"We have now got the process dialed in, streamlined," a city representative said, explaining that the assistant city clerk will compile one packet for county review. The representative apologized for administrative errors during recent city manager and clerk transitions and said the goal was to submit only eligible expenses going forward.

Commissioners repeatedly stressed the county's 90-day reimbursement policy and the special status of the fire levy, which they said should cover extraordinary fire-related costs rather than routine municipal purchases. One commissioner raised a nearly $4,000 invoice line described in county materials as for a dump truck. Oakill officials said the amount represented the cab-and-chassis portion of a replacement service truck; the dump bed was to be removed and the vehicle converted into a service truck used for apparatus maintenance, not a frontline fire apparatus. Oakill said that line could be removed from the levy submission if the commission found it ineligible.

Oakill representatives also said they would provide revised voucher packets and highlighted that some invoices had been duplicated or split across documents. County staff agreed to review revised submissions and handle fiscal-year boundary items (for example, June bills) according to county policy. The commission voted to approve all vouchers presented at the meeting except the Oakill Fire Department packet, which was set aside for further review at a future meeting.

The county directed Oakill to supply clearer documentation and revised cover sheets so staff and commissioners could determine which items met the levy’s narrow eligibility criteria. The commission emphasized that independent sources of municipal or state funding should not be replaced by levy reimbursements.

The commission did not take a final funding decision at the meeting. Staff said they would examine the revised materials and expect to return a recommendation at the next regular meeting.