Albany City Council held its regular meeting Tuesday, July 2, with five of six councilmen present and a long agenda on tap. The just under one hour meeting also included a brief closed session.
The council, after approving previous meeting minutes, reviewed monthly bills, which included approximately $145,000 due for past Internal Revenue Service (IRS) bills.
City Clerk Sydne Denney said she has been in contact with the city auditor about the IRS debt and would be working with him on measures to take to get the debt down.
She further noted the city still had the option of contacting Congressman James Comer’s office for assistance with the debt.
Mayor James Bray said the debt pertained to payroll taxes and more bills could be coming in. He said they would be working with their auditor, but didn’t know what, if any, debt would be forgiven.
The council again discussed the ongoing Fire Recovery Program proposal, with Albany Fire Chief Robert Roeper discussing the matter with the council.
Roeper questioned the process and procedure of getting information to bill the recovery company following an incident such as a motor vehicle accident.
Councilman Junior Gregory, who first proposed joining the program early last year, said Somerset does it, and said they got reports from the law enforcement agencies. He said the fire department may be able to get reports from local responding law enforcement agencies.
The fire chief noted the current protocol is to take care of the patient first, determining fire hazard, and road clean-up. He noted firemen rarely got a chance to talk in person to a patient.
No official action was taken, but the mayor suggested that Roeper and Albany Police Chief Mark Bell contact their respective departments in Somerset to see how their process of getting the needed information to file insurance reports is handled.
It was also noted the first step was to talk to the Fire Recovery Company to see what the actual protocol should be.
The city clerk did note that some members of the fire department would need to have training in how to bill insurance for auto accidents if they join the Fire Recovery Program.
The mayor said the city was just trying to gain more revenue for the local fire department in joining such a program.
The Albany Police Department was then presented with new weapons that had been ordered from Page’s Gun & Pawn in Albany. The guns were engraved at no charge, according to Mayor Bray.
The mayor and council had a photo opt, presenting the new weapons to APD Chief Mark Bell and Assistant Chief Wayne Glover at last week’s meeting.
The council also held second and final reading of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget in the amount of $5,255,230–which was unchanged from the first reading held the previous week.
The motion to approve the budget was made by Councilman Gregory, seconded by Councilwoman Renee York and passed by unanimous vote.
Fire Chief Roeper then gave the monthly fire department report, noting the department had made 30 runs during the month of June, including two structure fires.
Roeper also noted that two old, unused vehicles needed to be declared as surplus property.
The fire chief also noted members of the department had made a visit to Horizon Adult Daycare Center last Tuesday. He noted the department had visited a lot of schools and other places, but noted the welcoming at the adult center was “truly a blessing.”
The water distribution and water treatment plant monthly reports were then presented by Jeff Conner and David Guffey.
It was noted there was 135 million gallons of water treated during June with “no breakdowns” at the plant, and Guffey reported on the amount of new installations, meter replacements, etc.
Although no one was at the meeting to give a sewer department report, the mayor said “Things are in the works that can’t be discussed right now,” but will be made public later.
Commonwealth Engineer Toby Church then gave the monthly engineer’s report, starting out by saying the city was “heading in the right direction.”
However, the bad news to some is there will be no more hook-ups until the water system gets under the 85 percent capacity range. “If anyone requests a hook-up, the answer needs to be ‘no,’” Church said.
The engineer said the city was under an agreed order for future funding, and it holds the purse strings to future plans. He continued that he knew it was painful not to allow any further water installation hook-ups at this time.
Mayor Bray said this was something that was inherited over time, saying he wasn’t blaming anyone, but added the city had to adhere to policies and procedures.
“There is a plan in place,” he continued, “and it’s going to happen this year. Once the master meters are installed, we can make improvements on wasted water,” he said.
The council then entered into an approximate 13 minute closed session to discuss “possible litigation,” but took no action after returning to open session.
The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, at 5 p.m.