Life-long Albany resident Tim Norris, who made his first ever political run a successful one, is now a “brand new” member serving on the Albany City Council.

Norris, 53, a Clinton County native who has lived here all his life, is the son of Johnny Earl and Ruby Norris. He has two siblings, Brandon Norris and Pam Upchurch.

He is married to the former Carla Gilbert and currently resides in Nolan Subdivision on Rainbow Drive.

For almost all of his adult life, the new councilman has not only served the local community, but helped residents, locally and beyond, in his profession of Physical Therapist Assistant at Clinton County Care & Rehab. He has worked in that profession for some 21 years. Prior to that, he worked in home health.

Norris said he grew up here, was a family man raising three sons and wanted to “get involved as a citizen to help make a change.”

“To me, it will be a learning process,” he said, adding, “I love Albany and will try and contribute as a council member to make it a better town.” He also noted that many people, especially younger ones out of school, want to leave Albany, “but I’ve always wanted to live here.”

The Clinton County High School graduate said that working in the health care profession, and meeting Clinton County people inside and outside his job, will be an asset to his service on the governing body.

“I understand what they (people) want for this town. I get a higher pulse of the needs by working with the public and I think I can represent those people,” he said. “I know about everyone here.”

Norris said the top duties he considers in his new role are to ‘represent the people,’ make good decisions, and spend the city’s money wisely.

As with most other members that make up city government, the issue of water is a primary concern for Norris as well. To get that (and other) problems fixed, “We need money…to seek funding outside of our small town,” he said.

Norris feels the city really needs federal and state help when it comes to funding services, especially the water system projects that are ongoing.

The council member assessed that the city’s water system needs to be ‘built back’, and the city should ask citizens to report lower pressure water areas and water leaks. “We need to get more people involved in reporting those things, and be vigilant, because we (city) are losing way too much water.”

Another issue that wason the minds of citizens, and often discussed, during Norris’ campaign, was “cleaning up the town.” He hopes the city and other groups can find ways to make the city “look more presentable” to visitors, tourists, and its own residents.

He added he would like to see both homeowners and businesses take pride and straighten up their property, as well as some downtown renovation work done to make the city more presentable to visitors.

Norris thinks the almost totally new city council will be absolutely good to work with and get things done. “There are some great people (on the council), and a great mayor too,” said Norris. “Hopefully, together, we can get a lot done.”

The first time elected official said that if anything positive were to get done, it would be imperative for the city and county–among other agencies and governments–to work closely together.

“We have got to work together if we have any hope in making things better,” said Norris, saying “unity” would be the word he would stress.

He also feels making and keeping the public more aware of what the city is doing is important for everyone, mentioning the proposed “one-call” system the city is planning to implement to inform the public about issues, alerts, etc.

Norris also encourages the public to attend council meetings and stay informed in other ways. “The more people we have involved, the better chance we have in making a change.”

Over the next two years, which is a short period of time for political office holders, Norris said he would like to see improvements to the water system and cleaning up the town area as main priorities for his initial term.

Norris also thinks the city should be mindful and respectful of the resources they currently have, saying they should utilize resources that are here, such as taking care of equipment and being respectful of what we’ve got.

By being vigilant, with such little things as reporting water leaks, etc., “We could save tons of money on water,” he said, noting we should be “good stewards of what we have.”

Norris concluded by saying he was honored and humbled by the chance to represent the citizens of his town. He thanked the voters and said, “I will do my best to represent you.”