Albany City Council voted to table an issue involving a pay increase for future city council members at its regular meeting last Tuesday, March 4. All council members were present for the just under one hour session which included several items of business being discussed and/or voted on.
After approving two previous meeting minutes, the council, on a motion by Councilwoman Renee York, voted to declare several items of surplus property to sell, including 96 yokes and 161 old water meters. The motion passed unanimously.
On a motion by Councilman Reed Sloan, they unanimously approved another resolution pertaining to a grant assistance agreement (for over $1 million) in federal funds for new master meters and water meters in the county.
The Clinton County Community Foundation and PTA had requested the city close off West Jefferson Street and the street next to Cash Express on Saturday, May 3 for the annual Derby Day event. A motion to close the streets during that event passed 6-0.
Mayor James Bray then recommended increasing the city council members’ pay–starting with the next term beginning January 2027–by $150 per month.
Council members are currently paid $350 per month, with that figure having been unchanged for the past few years. The proposed increase would bring council members’ monthly pay, before take-out, to $500 per month.
A brief discussion then followed, with Councilman Sloan saying, “I don’t know if I would want to raise myself” right now.
Mayor Bray said his reasoning behind the recommendation was to encourage people to run where they may not otherwise because the pay isn’t enough.
Sloan asked about using the money for employees, saying, “We run for office.”
Councilman Eric Smith asked, “Can we afford it?,” noting there might be a little guilt there if they voted for a raise.
The issue of previous administrations and water issues also somehow got briefly into the mix of the pay discussion, with Smith asking “Will water bills be going up in the future?”
The mayor said the answer to that wouldn’t be known until the new water meters are put in, and further said voters (he had talked to) were not against it and that the raise proposed “was not substantial.”
Councilwoman York then proposed tabling the matter until they see what happens down the road, and eventually made the motion to table, which was seconded by Councilman Randy Speck and passed by a unanimous vote.
Councilman Smith thanked Mayor Bray for his consideration of council members for making the proposal, and later in the meeting, Councilman Junior Gregory also suggested that if the council took action on council members’ pay, they should also look at the mayor’s salary as well.
Mayor Bray also announced that bids for the master meters and new water meter project were to be received last week and the water department would soon have their generators in operation.
City Attorney Jeff Hoover then updated the council on the easements needed for the Duvall Valley Water Improvement Project, saying there were 10 to 12 left to have titles run on and filed.
Councilman Smith then discussed parking meter fines in shopping centers and other areas of the city, which currently is only $5 per ticket.
All council members felt those fine amounts were outdated and Councilman Gregory suggested and made a motion to set fines for illegal parking at $25 for the first offense and $50 for each second or subsequent violation. Smith seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Assistant Police Chief Wayne Glover then gave the council the monthly police department report. (The APD activity report can be found elsewhere this week.)
It was noted the APD currently has six officers on duty, with Glover saying it was hard to hire and retain officers.
Councilman Gregory asked if new officers could be held to some type of binding contract to work for a certain number of years if the city pays for their training and academy time.
Glover said it took four to six weeks of processing for a new officer, plus 20 weeks in the police academy.
Albany Fire Chief Robert Roeper then presented his monthly report to the council. (An AFD activity report can also be found elsewhere this week.)
Following the fire chief’s report, York made a motion to declare an old fire truck as obsolete and sell as surplus. The motion passed unanimously.
Roeper also noted the department has applied for a 80/20 matching grant for 37 mandated safety racks at an estimated cost of around $40,000.
The fire chief explained that although the department has only 24 active firemen, the state requires that each seat in a vehicle have such safety equipment, regardless of the number of actual personnel.
Water Department Supervisor David Guffey reported the department had repaired 15 leaks over the past month and installed nine new meter boxes.
There was also a long discussion, with no action being taken, on what to do about boxes that are broken by people who run over them with vehicles, equipment or in other ways and whether or not the city could recoup any of the lost revenues from replacing those boxes.
Jeff Conner, with the distribution plant, said that both plants combined had treated 123,530,000 gallon of water over a 28 day period last month.
He said this was down from the full capacity the plants have treated and they were working on ways to get that number down to around 85 percent usage.
The mayor also said there was a manhole that needs to be replaced on Tennessee Road near the old Nazarene Church. He said that would cost around $40,000.
The council again discussed the lift station problems on Hospital Street, with the engineer saying there are two options, either waiting several months for funding or the city pay for repairs out-of-pocket.
Commonwealth Engineer Toby Church then presented his monthly progress report, again presenting a list of needs that have to be submitted to the Kentucky Division of Water by the first of April under an agreed order with the state.
Church said five orders had to be addressed, most of which were minor and could be easily taken care of in-house.
One item is a state law that commercial buildings require a back flow preventor on water lines. He noted there were 20 to 25 of those he knew of locally.
Another item is imposing sanctions on new connections until the water flow capacity is down to 85 percent usage. He noted this month there was an 88 percent usage rate.
However, he said the new master meters to be installed later this year should alleviate that problem and he would note that in the report to the DOW, but the water situation locally is still considered in the crisis stage by the Division of Water.
“The new meters may find enough water leaks to prevent loss,” Church said. This may help get the usage rate down to the needed percentage rate.
The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, at 5 p.m.