Albany City Council adopted the 2015-16 fiscal year budget, once again discussed a nuisance ordinance and addressed Mediacom Cable’s request for a renewal of its’ franchise agreement at its regular meeting held last Tuesday, June 2, with five of six members present.

The council first heard from water department employee Kenneth Delk who reported he had gotten a cost estimate on how much it would take to be able to run a line to a remote residence in the Cartwright Community, which would require a road borer with heavy equipment; the estimate from Patton Construction was $6,500.00

The estimate does not count the cost to the city for labor in running the line, getting an easement and other costs.

Councilman Leland Hicks said that the $6,500 estimate would still be cheaper on the property owner than having to dig a well.

Recently, the landowner, Raymond Shelton, had addressed the council requesting help with getting water to the property, saying he couldn’t get an easement from an adjacent landowner to have a line run.

The city in turn got the estimate for the work, and Mayor Nicky Smith asked Delk to contact Shelton to see if he (Shelton) would be willing to pay for the work it would require to get a water line run.

Mayor Smith also gave the council an update on ongoing water related projects, but noted there was nothing different on any project since last month.

The council once again discussed an ordinance which would relate to abandoned and blighted property in the city limits.

Mayor Smith said he had been advised by other city officials who have such ordinances that putting a maximum property tax fee on such properties wasn’t a good idea. Currently, the ordinance on record does allow for liens to be placed on property that is not cleaned up, or eventually the property may be condemned.

Councilman Tony Delk suggested forming a three-person committee to work on putting together an ordinance or at least identifying problem areas. The council agreed to take referrals from the public, some of which have already been reported, about property they feel would fall under the category of abandoned or blighted property and have city attorney Norb Sohm to do further research on an ordinance that may best fit the city.

The council then had second and final reading of the 2015-16 fiscal year budget, which totals $3,960,073. The budget also contains a small increase in salary for city employees. The motion to adopt the budget was made by councilman Frankie Stockton and passed by a 4-1 vote with Tonya Thrasher, Leland Hicks and Steve Lawson also voting yes and Delk voting no.

As is the case every year, the bulk of the budget in receipts and expenditures are within the water and/or sewer departments.

A break-down by department includes: general government, $249,611; police department, $522,417; fire department, $189,300; street department, $253,450, for a total general government fund of $1,214,778.00. Waste water utilities is $350,060; water department, $2,394,675 for a total water/sewer budget of $2,745,275.00

The council then discussed the franchise agreement with Mediacom Cable, with Mayor Smith informing the council that the company has requested the city renew its franchise–which expires in November–for another 15-year period. The current agreement was a 10-year agreement.

Councilman Delk asked what the city actually “has to do with the cable system” anyway, since due to deregulation of the industry, there isn’t anything cities or counties can actually do to control rates, channel line-ups, etc. Also, cities and counties make little revenue from cable companies, only in the area of franchise fees.

Mayor Smith said about the only thing the city had control over was allowing where the cable lines could be run and suggested the city once again have attorney Linda Ain, out of Lexington, work to negotiate the actual contract with Mediacom, as she did prior to the last agreement being made.

Councilwoman Thrasher questioned exactly what Ain’s work would include and what she would be able to do in negotiating with Mediacom for a franchise contract.

After some further discussion, the council agreed to have the attorney attend a future meeting to address the issues of renewing the contract.

Councilman Delk also noted there were a lot of local residents “dissatisfied” with Mediacom insofar as their services provided, channel line-up and cable rates.

The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for July 7 at 5 p.m. and is open to the public.