City council approves funds for Water Study at special meeting

The City of Albany now has funding in place for a comprehensive Water Study of the city’s water system to soon begin, thanks to the Clinton County Community Foundation, a local non-profit community-based organization.
Albany City Council, meeting in special session last Thursday, January 25, with five of six members present, accepted a $40,000 offer of assistance from the Clinton County Community Foundation for the study.
The water study is believed by city officials, engineers and others to be a major step in pinpointing problems and finding solutions to the city’s aging water system, a problem that has been ongoing for the past few decades.
Councilman Reed Sloan made the motion to accept the Foundation’s funding offer to be used to conduct the study, which passed by unanimous vote.
Late last year, when the study issue was first brought to the table, a representative of the Community Foundation addressed the council and made the offer of financial assistance.
The payment for the study will go directly to the city, and although not a loan of any type, the council did unanimously agree to repay the amount donated back to the Foundation over time.
Albany Mayor James Bray said the city would “pay back the funds in some way over time” with all council members agreeing the money should be paid back.
City Attorney Jeff Hoover, who was attending his first meeting in that new role, advised Sloan’s motion to stipulate that in accepting the donation, it would acknowledge the funds would be repaid at some point when (city) funds become available.
Mayor Bray said the $40,000 amount would cover the cost of the water study “in its entirety,” and would also save a few month’s time in searching for funding elsewhere.
He noted the water study would be conducted by Commonwealth Engineering.
In relation to the $40,000 donated for the study, the council, on a motion by Leland Hicks, voted unanimously to amend the current fiscal year budget to include that amount into the city’s budget.
Also during the called meeting last week, the council unanimously chose Wes Finley of Monticello as the city’s new Building Inspector, following suit from the Clinton Fiscal Court’s action to secure Finley earlier in January.
The Building Inspector position is at no cost to either the city or county, but rather paid through the state and the primary duties are generally to inspect the condition of commercial structures to assure buildings are in compliance with state codes and regulations.
On a motion by Councilman Junior Gregory, the council also approved sign-up for electronic banking to view bank statements, at the request of the banks, with statements to be viewed only by the council.
No member of the public was on hand for the special called meeting and no water issues, other than the water study funding, wereon the agenda.
The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 6 at 5 p.m.

The Clinton County Community Foundation board members Willard Johnson, Jessica Sullivan and Keith McWhorter presented Mayor James Bray, second from the left, with a check for $40,000 for the City of Albany to get started with a water study. The study will provide data to the city and Commonwealth Engineers to make plans to begin reconstruction on the city’s water infrastructure.