Albany City Council held a call meeting last Thursday evening, August 10 with all members present, and although only three items of business were on the agenda, two were discussed at length, as the session lasted an hour and 15 minutes.

The meeting also included a complete 2016-17 year audit review from adjustor Sammy Lee, which took up at least one-half of the meeting and a separate article on the audit report can be found in a separate article on page one.

The council first addressed an emailed request from The Clinton County Community Foundation, requesting the city block off Jefferson Street (between Cross and Washington Streets) on the night of Saturday, September 16 to allow the Foundation to conduct a fundraiser street dinner and gallery show.

The event, being billed as “All for Benny Cultural Event and Dinner”, would see a gallery hour held at 5:30 p.m. and catered dinner at 6 p.m., with some possible light musical entertainment during the dinner.

According to the email from the Foundation, “The Clinton County Community Foundation puts your gifts, small and large, to work for a healthier, thriving community. It promotes philanthropy by providing a way for you to support a legacy that will make Albany and Clinton County a better place to live.”

There will also be a silent auction to raise additional funds above the $50 per dinner cost, with gift cards to be auctioned. The group, according to its correspondence to the city, plans on obtaining a liability insurance policy for any liability arising from the event.

After a brief discussion, the council, on a motion by Leland Hicks, voted unanimously to close off the Jefferson Street on the aforementioned night to allow for the fund-raising event, with more information to be forthcoming in the weeks leading up to mid-September.

The council spent a great deal of time discussing the new water office computer system that is being installed and will likely be online by next month, as well as water bill collections and other water related issues.

City Clerk Melissa Smith updated the council on the new water department’s computerized billing and collections system, noting the company installing the system is going to have a training session with employees later this month and the new computer system should be in operation as early as September.

It was noted the new system would cut down on working days it takes to bill customers by up to five days a month, as well as making collections and fees easier. Hand held meters will also be used to key in water usage numbers directly to the computers at the water department.

Auditor Lee, when asked about his opinion on the new system, said it was “the best system…money wise,” that the city could get.

There was also a long discussion on water bill collections, water usage, and, other issues with water department employee Pam Allred.

The water district is a complex system with over 200 “tiers” of rates, and for example, manual billing is conducted on apartment complexes.

The city does now have a new policy of only one “water break adjustment” per year per customer.

Issues such as “water loss” was also discussed with officials, including Kenneth Delk with the water department and auditor Lee, with an estimate of at least 20 percent of water being unaccounted for. However, some municipal water districts have much higher water loss percentage rates due to various reasons.

Delk said the Division of Rural Water was going to be in Albany later this month to look into the problems with leaks.

Lee also noted that of the last data year available, 60 percent of the city water was being sold to customers, 40 percent was not being sold, but some of the water not sold was used by such agencies as the fire department, etc. which accounted for some of the water usage, meaning only about 20 to 25 percent was actually unaccounted for.

The council also discussed some recent major errors showing up on some water customer bills, which hopefully the new computer system will correct, as well as when customers are disconnected for non-payment of bills.

Delinquent bills, according to Lee, is one of the problems in the water department that needs to be addressed. According to Allred, 56 meters had been disconnected through July of this year due to non-payment of bills, but usually a customer has to get behind at least two full months before being cut off.