Albany City Council held its regular monthly meeting last Tuesday evening with five of six council members present. The session was brief, lasting only 35 minutes, with about half of that time in closed session.

After approving minutes from two previous meetings in June, the regular and a special call meeting to finalize the budget, Albany Mayor Nicky Smith gave the council an update of the new Albany Fire Station project.

The mayor informed the council that as of July 1, the day of the meeting, construction on the new facility north of Albany was already 30 percent complete and a little ahead of schedule. He noted that at the current rate of construction, the facility could be complete by the end of September, or a few weeks sooner than originally projected.

The council then discussed an issue that had been brought up at last month’s meeting involving some property in which the city had some complaints about insofar as needing to be cleaned up.

The mayor said that one of the properties in question on Third Street, the renters were moving out and the property owner was in the process of cleaning up the area. He also noted he would get in contact with property owners on Walnut Street pertaining to similar issues.

The council then entered into an approximate 15 minute closed session to discuss possible or pending litigation but took no official action upon returning to open session.

Following the executive session, mayor Smith reminded the council of the July 4th fireworks celebration, co-sponsored by the City of Albany, that was held last Friday afternoon and evening at Mountain View Park. (More information and photos from that event can be found elsewhere in this week’s Clinton County News.)

The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, August 5 at 5 p.m. at city hall and is open to the general public.