Roger Marietta touts accomplishments as Ward IV Albany commissioner

Fifth in a six-part series about the city of Albany’s Nov. 3 municipal election.

ALBANY — Incumbent Ward IV Albany City Commissioner Roger Marietta wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Just because the commission passes certain legislation, he notes, doesn’t mean the legislation has gotten unanimous support.

Case in point, according to Marietta, is the city’s “takeover” of its Water, Gas & Light Commission.

“I didn’t want — and I never supported — taking over the city’s utilities,” said Marietta, an associate professor at Darton State College and an eight-year veteran of the City Commission. “I’m the one who complained when (former interim city manager) Tom Berry presented a budget that, I thought, would try to transfer too much money from the Utility Board. I’m the one who raised hell when (utilities officials) wanted to raise monthly stormwater charges by a dollar.

“I don’t think we as city commissioners are qualified to set utility rates. That’s why we appoint a Utility Board, to study and then make those kinds of decisions. I do think the City Commission should have some authority over Utility Board spending so you don’t have situations like when they approved a $700,000 tree-cutting contract. They contracted through Electric Cities of Georgia, which in turn contracted with an Alabama company to do the tree-trimming. Why weren’t local or even Georgia companies given a chance to bid on that project?”

Marietta is engaged in a heated race for the Ward IV seat with businessman Chad Warbington, a former member of the Utility Board. The two have leveled a number of accusations at each other, and Warbington has made Utility Board finances a cornerstone of his campaign. Marietta says there is irony in that strategy.

“I find it odd that Chad is complaining about the Utility Board’s finances and saying the utility should lower rates or offer rebates when he voted eight times as a Utility Board member to increase rates,” the incumbent said. “I’ve always considered Chad a friend, but I’m concerned about his campaign strategy.”

Marietta did not say that Warbington was personally behind attacks on his support of public safety during his commission tenure, but the incumbent said someone is spreading false rumors.

“When my campaign coordinator was out canvassing one area of town, she came to a house that had a police car parked in front,” Marietta said. “She asked if she could put a sign in the owner’s yard, but he told her to get away from his property. He said, ‘That guy (Marietta) has voted against us getting a raise three times.’ That’s happened a couple of times, and it’s too much of a coincidence not to be coming from (Warbington’s) campaign.

“I sent an email to (APD) Chief (Michael) Persley passing on the fact that this is misinformation. I invite anyone to check my record. I’ve voted for police every time.”

Marietta said he’s proud of his service on the commission, noting a number of improvements during his tenure. He said he worked with the Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Committee to stave off closure of the local Marine base; worked with the Aviation Commission to help bring a new terminal to the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport; supported special-purpose local-option sales tax initiatives that benefited Albany State University, Darton and Albany Technical College; helped modernize the city’s sign ordinance; and helped quell specific public safety concerns in his ward by going through the arduous process to bring traffic-slowing speed humps to certain areas.

He said he’s also pushed for use of the city’s so-called Job-Enhancement Fund to help with the redevelopment of the city’s flagging downtown district.

“I believe that $5 million revolving fund that we approved for downtown surfaced because of frustration over non-use of the city’s ($18 million) Job-Enhancement Fund,” he said. “I think everyone believes we should be doing more with that. We’ve only granted $200,000 (to Albany-based Thrush Aircraft) for 100 jobs so far. I really think we should look at some kind of sliding scale that would allow us to offer smaller grants for businesses that have a lesser impact (than the current $10 million/100-job threshold).”

Marietta also said he’s worked well during his tenure with his fellow commission members and with new City Manager Sharon Subadan.

“I’m really impressed with Ms. Subadan,” he said. “She’s shown about three times as much energy as everyone else since she’s been here. She’s been able to do things like cut through all the smoke and mirrors with the (planned) downtown (Home2 Suites) hotel and make it into something legitimate.

“I think we’ve got a commission that wants to make our community better, and I have an excellent working relationship with them. Tommie (Postell, Ward VI) and I are Navy veterans, and I’ve worked with him to get some of these important projects done. That’s what we have to have, a commission that works together.”

The veteran Ward IV commissioner said his work at Darton has him uniquely positioned to help with efforts to bring a college center downtown, possibly at the soon-to-be-vacant Utility Board building.

“I know how important education is to our community, and I think a SPLOST-funded college center downtown supported by Albany State, Albany Tech and Darton would be a tremendous asset,” he said. “We can create the kind of public-private partnership that’s vital for redevelopment.”

Tomorrow: Ward IV challenger Chad Warbington.