Dumfries has been late when it comes to paying its bills on time. In one instance, the town was 10 months late, apparently.
Back in August of 2019, the town received an invoice from Axon Enterprises for $23,000 worth of tasers that were sent to the Dumfries Town Police Department.
Two weeks ago, Potomac Local News received a copy of this invoice along with the message that Dumfries has still not paid despite the police department receiving and using the tasers.
The payment due date according to the invoice was Sept. 6, 2019.
When contacted about the invoice, Axon Enterprises had no comment and asked us to speak with someone who works at the town hall. Town officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and it is unclear if Axon is still awaiting payment.
This comes as other allegations of late payments are leveraged against the town.
On Nov. 22, 2019, the Berkley Group, a local engineering consulting firm, sent a letter to the town council demanding payment for a project it was hired to complete for the town — a redesign of the intersection at Main Street (Route 1), Graham Park Road, and Curtis Drive. The work order dated was April 17, 2019, and design was to be completed in October.
The letter demanded payment for five outstanding invoices, the last of which had been sent on Oct. 16, 2019. These invoices amounted to $87,000.
Also mentioned in the letter was the firm’s communications with Town Manager Keith Rogers:
“I met with Mr. Rogers and Ms. Prevost-White on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at Town Hall to discuss this matter and achieve resolution. Mr. Rogers stated he had only recently become aware of the outstanding invoices and would need two (2) weeks to determine a course of action and would respond regarding the future of the project and payment for outstanding invoices. I followed up by email to ascertain progress on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 and Wednesday, November 13, 2019. No response has been received to date,” the letter says.
The Berkley Group stated in the letter that it would pursue legal action if the invoices were not paid by Dec. 6, 2019.
Following the letter, the company received payment, according to Chief Operating Officer Andrew Williams.
