Albany City Council held another lengthy regular meeting last Tuesday, June 4, with all council members present.
Only a few items of business were actually voted on during the one hour and 15 minute session. The bulk of the meeting pertained to the city’s water system, progress being made, and a power point presentation on the needs and possible funding sources for the water and sewer treatment facilities.
The council opened the meeting by approving previous meeting minutes, approving bills payable that were presented, and reviewing the monthly financial statement.
It was noted after review of the bills and financial statement that the city apparently owes state and federal back taxes dating back to 2021 through 2023, according to Mayor James Bray.
City Clerk Sydney Denney told the council the city was currently working with Congressman James Comer’s office to find assistance in getting those taxes paid, and also said she was working with insurance companies to recoup some funds allegedly overpaid to employees who received insurance, but were not working at the time.
Mayor Bray also announced a new excavator has been leased and they were waiting on the bucket to arrive. He also updated the council on the new fire truck, which he said should be delivered by October of this year.
Other issues still in the works include minor changes to the city’s nuisance ordinance and the involvement in the Fire Recovery Program, for which an application has already been submitted.
The mayor also announced the Duvall Valley Water Improvement Project is on schedule and may be complete by September.
It was then announced a property owner has requested a small 40 foot dead end section on Columbia Street, behind Neal Realty and the Hubbs property, be closed.
The property owner apparently offered the city $1,000 for the property.
After a short discussion, the council determined the area was of no right-of-way use for the city. The council, on a motion by Junior Gregory, voted to approve first reading of an ordinance to close the street. The motion passed unanimously.
However, since the city owns the street, they will have to decide later as to how to sell it, such as taking sealed bids or auction.
Denney then told the council she has been working on the payroll system to hopefully allow for paying city employees weekly, rather than the current two week schedule. She also said she would discuss a Direct Deposit option with city employees.
Albany Fire Chief Robert Roeper then gave the AFD monthly report, noting the department had made 85 total runs last month, with 66 being outside the city limits. He gave a breakdown on the nature of each call made.
Jeff Conner gave a report on the Water Distribution and Treatment Plant, as well as the sewer department.
He informed the council on the amount of water treated and not one new hire.
As far as the sewer department, he said two new pumps had been ordered and one had failed, and said the purchase price was $24,000. He also estimated it would cost about $2,000 to make repairs to equipment at the corner of Hospital and Cumberland Streets, saying there was “no easy fix” on some of the equipment.
Assistant Police Chief Wayne Glover, in his report for the APD, told the council that maintenance on two cruisers were needed.
Commonwealth Engineer Toby Church then presented the engineering report to the council. He noted two other representatives from Commonwealth were there to give a PER (Preliminary Equipment Report) on ways to seek funding for much needed equipment purchases and repairs to the water system.
Church noted the necessity for new master meter installation, as well as replacement of residential meters.
Some of the report included:
* Master meter status and 4,000 residential meter status. The LCADD (Lake Cumberland Area Development District) is converting a $1 million line item into money to complete the two projects instead of one.
The overall cost is estimated at $2.5 million, which would result in a water model to enable system evaluation; assist distribution staff in finding leaks; and most importantly, result in more incoming revenue for the water department.
Commonwealth is also seeking $200,000 for raw water intake pumps and have purchased three flow meters and one leak detector from CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds.
Other projects that may assist the water system in the future are also in the works, according to the engineer’s report.
Two other representatives from the engineering firm then presented the council with the Preliminary Equipment Report.
Highlights include that the water/sewer system services 5,000 customers, including 200 businesses (the largest being Tyson Foods), and the total combined water treatment plants have a capacity of five million gallon per day.
The existing plants, A and B, are 50 and 25 years old, respectively and the city is running at about 90 percent capacity per day, with one representative noting the plants are about “maxed out.”
The reps noted that due to the age of plant A, needs there need to be addressed.
They gave alternatives to take pertaining to the plant, including taking no action, apparently not a viable option. A new raw water intake system would be around $3.9 million.
An option that may best fit in the long haul would be doing away with the oldest plant, construct a new plant–which was estimated at $36.5 million, and rehabilitating plant B, at an estimated cost of $36.4 million.
Alternatives to the total water system upgrades would include booster pumps, water tanks, etc. and a total system upgrade estimate of $90 million.
The total system repairs and facility construction, due to lack of funding, would have to be prioritized and be completed in phases over several years.
The engineers advised the council that priorities to help the system immediately would be not to run at capacity 24/7, and continue to find and stop water leaks and water losses–which is where the need for new master meters and residential meters seem to be essential.
There was one bright light in the report, however, that being the water loss percentage–due to the number of water leaks being detected and stopped over the past few weeks has been reduced from a 70 percent loss to 40 percent loss of water in the system.
The city and engineering firm are in the process of submitting funding requests to various agencies, apparently with the assistance from the Lake Cumberland ADD and others.
“We have been working and talking with politicians,” one representative added.
Mayor Bray said, “I feel like we have made progress and are heading in the right direction,” adding, “It’s a huge deal to have a 30 percent reduction in (water) loss.”
The master meters will reduce that even further, Bray said. He also thanked the employees of the water department for their work in finding the water leaks, adding, “they need a raise…They can’t work for $12 an hour.”
Also during the mayor’s report last week, Bray said he had spent most of May speaking to vendors about bills they were owed by the city and said in the future, that will be taken care of.
He also said the recent Albany Lodge sponsored Car Show held in downtown Albany went extremely well, and hopes to see it again in the future.
Finally, one of the few items of business on which action was taken on came prior to adjournment, as Councilman Reed Sloan moved to approve a resolution accepting $40,000 from the GRANT Program 2024.
This funding will be used to match some monies already received for water/sewer related studies and help secure the probability of receiving more grant funds in the future.
The council held a brief special meeting this past Tuesday, June 11, with a limited agenda. Details on that meeting will be published next week.
The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for July 2 at 5 p.m. in the conference room at City Hall.