Albany City Council dealt with a variety of topics at its’ monthly meeting last Tuesday with five of six council members in attendance, as well as a few spectators.

The council first heard from some property owners who own land adjacent to East Cumberland and Hospital Streets about a standing water problem, as well as a trash problem in the area. The situation has apparently been somewhat ongoing and the property owners said it created a bit of a problem for the city.

Mayor Nicky Smith assured the landowners the city would look into the situation, as well as clean out the ditchline. It was also mentioned there may be a question as to the establishment of a water easement on the property and legal advisor Norb Sohm agreed to look into that.

After another resident asked about a water problem causing break-off in pavement near the old hotel building at the corner of Cross and West Cumberland Street, the mayor said that area was going to be concreted last week to hopefully solve that problem.

In the monthly progress updates, it was noted that the new one million gallon water tank behind the high school is now in full operation and the telemetry system allows the city storage tanks to be monitored from the water plant. Also, work on water lines from the industrial park to near the Wayne County line was 44 percent complete as of early last week.

The council, on a motion by Tony Delk, voted to accept Jersie Lane into the city road system. That road leads into the new water plant.

On a motion by councilman James “Smitty” Smith, following a recommendation by the mayor, the council unanimously appointed Wayne Glover to the Rec/Park Board.

City Attorney Sohm informed the council that Gasco Company, the past supplier of natural gas to Albany customers, had recently filed bankruptcy and the PSC (Public Service Commission), who has control over the utility, had approved a transfer to another supplier.

Sohm recommended the council adopt a resolution in support of the transfer, saying it would be a benefit to the city, especially those on natural gas, and would continue to assure a natural gas supply to local businesses and residents.

A motion to approve the resolution to support the transfer from Gasco to another supplier was made by council member Tonya Thrasher and passed by unanimous vote.

The city has approximately 134 natural gas customers.

Lanny Bowlin, representing the water department, told the council that the reverse online bidding process for chemicals to treat waste water had wound up saving the city about $12,000 on three different chemicals for the coming year. He also added that with the new one million gallon water tank online, the old tank can be shut down a few days a week, creating more savings on electricity.

Following Bowlin’s presentation, Mayor Smith told the council that the average electricity bill cost to produce water had gone up about $9,000 per month. “We are working on budget reductions,” he said, adding that letters had been given to city employees urging them to take as many cost saving measures as possible during this downturn in the economy.

The council also discussed a few other general street and ditchline related repairs, including having a speed limit sign put up on Harper Lane; blacktopping some broken off areas on Foothills Avenue and having the state look into a ditchline problem that is causing standing water on Dawson Street and the ditchline across from Upchurch Carpet in South Albany, which councilman Smith noted was a hazard because it came up “even with the sidewalk.”

While on the subject, Smith also asked to go on record as saying (during the January meeting) that sidewalks were needed near Albany Manor on Hwy. 738 and had not mentioned the Golden Harvest Village area, as had previously been reported and recorded in the city’s minutes. (The minutes to reflect the change in wording was amended at the council’s February meeting.)

Council members also discussed the high amount of trash being thrown out on roadways in the city limits and discussed possibly doing something in conjunction with the county’s free dump days or running some type of public relations campaign.

Councilman Thrasher suggested a possible “Adopt-A-Street” program where residents on certain streets, at least twice a year, volunteer to clean up their neighborhoods.

Following that discussion, she also told the council she had been checking with an official with the Area Development District about applying for a $25,000 state Park Boards grant that would benefit the youth of the area if approved.

Finally, councilman Delk said he had received a lot of positive feedback about how the city employees had worked to keep snow and ice removed from city streets during the past winter’s snow storms.

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