Albany City Council held its first meeting of 2013 last Tuesday, January 8 with five of six members present. Since the regular meeting fell on New Year’s Day, the session was technically a “special” meeting with only items listed on the agenda could be acted on.

In his opening remarks, Mayor Nicky Smith thanked everyone who participated in any way in the 2012 Christmas at Home food and toy drive. He noted that city workers and volunteers processed and delivered 229 food boxes to homes and 491 children received toys.

The council heard its annual audit report from Auditor Sammy K. Lee of Lexington. Once again, despite the economic conditions, the city is solvent overall, with assets above liabilities as a whole.

The only shortfall in the budget, where there was a deficit, was in the sewer department. However, the water and sewer departments are a combined entity and overall, with the water department’s surpluses, the overall amount of revenues compared to deficits in those departments were in the black.

Lee reviewed the audit with council members, highlighting each area of government and operations the city controls. Following the presentation, a motion was made by Councilman James “Smitty” Smith to approve the audit, ending June 30, 2012, with the measure passing by unanimous vote.

In other business, the council:

* Reviewed the monthly projects update from Monarch Engineers. That report indicated that the three-inch water line along Mountain Drive area has been relocated, tested and ready for service. Also, work on section two of the Albany (127) Bypass project is complete, including installation of the pressure reducing stations and contractors are completing clean-up work on the third and final phase of the utility relocation project toward the Tennessee line.

* Mayor Smith presented council members with “Your Duty Under the Law and Managing Public Records” documents as required by Kentucky statutes. The documents detail council members’ duties, as well as updating them on public records and open meetings laws in Kentucky.

* The mayor also passed along a copy of sample ordinances pertaining to nuisances on property inside the city limits.

At its December meeting, the council had agreed to look into adopting stronger measures pertaining to controlling nuisance properties inside the city limits and are looking at area cities’ ordinances pertaining to the issue prior to possibly revamping its own laws.

The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, February 5 at 5 p.m. at city hall and is open to the public.