Albany Utility Board plans campaign to address utility complaints

ALBANY — In an effort to address the continuing public clamor over what many claim are rising utilities costs, the Albany Utility Board marketing team has established an Energy Efficiency Task Force that will work to find ways to not only educate the public about utility usage but also take a proactive approach to finding efficient practices.

Utility Board Marketing Manager Monique Broughton outlined the task force’s responsibilities and an overall public relations campaign during the Utility Board’s meeting Thursday morning.

“The real problem with increased utility bills in this — and any — community is usage,” interim Albany City Manager Tom Berry told the board. “And we’re not doing a good job of communicating how our customers should use our products. We have to create a mechanism where we’re part of the solution.”

Two areas that the Energy Efficiency Task Force will tackle immediately are creation of a citywide energy code and a weatherization program.

“When you talk about an energy code, you begin with the property owners who own rental property in the community,” Berry said. “And since 60 percent of the people in Albany are renters, that’s a significant number. And we have owners on each end of the spectrum; they range from very efficient to atrocious.”

Assistant City Manager Stephen Collier said a joint weatherization program with Community and Economic Development would be a good starting point in the city.

“We’ve talked with EDC about us administering the program using (federal) funding granted to CED,” Collier said. “At some point, though, we might want to add to the program by budgeting some funding as well.”

Also at the Utility Board meeting, commissioners voted to approve a 15-year, $2,344,355 contract with American Tank Maintenance for inspection, renovation and maintenance of the city’s 10 elevated water tanks; approved an insurance services renewal contract with the McCart Group for $205,784, a decrease from previous liability policies; and heard a “clean” Fiscal Year 2014 financial audit report from Craig Moye of CPA firm Mauldin & Jenkins.

“We recommend the proposal offered by American Tank Maintenance because, not only was theirs the lowest bid, but it met our goals,” Utility Board General Supervisor for Water Production Kurt Anthony told the board. Collier said the contract with American Tank automatically renews each year “unless we see a reason to stop it.”

City Finance Director Derrick Brown gave the board what he said was an overall positive report that included better-than-expected numbers with the solid waste, sewer, stormwater and water departments. Brown said, though, that cash is not flowing as well as expected in the gas, light and telecommunications departments.

Berry warned the board that the Fiscal Year 2016 budget being put together by Finance would include “aggressive revenue assumptions.”

“To make the budget work, there are aggressive revenue assumptions,” the city manager said. “We’re also assuming no use of MCT credits. But it has to be our goal to increase our transfer to the city. The average transfer statewide is between 11 and 12 percent of revenue.”

The Utility Board currently has an 8.5 percent transfer rate scheduled.

Utility Board member Jay Sharpe told Broughton and her staff that he’s excited to see a proactive approach in marketing the utility authority.

“We always seem to be on the reactive end, explaining what we’ve done, when we need to be proactive,” Sharpe said. “I’m excited that we’re going to let the people in the community know what a wonderful utility this is.”

Offering a report on action taken by the Albany City Commission Tuesday on a proposed agreement with South Georgia Rails to Trails, Assistant City Manager Phil Roberson said the City Commission, which approved the proposal, had “taken the first step toward additional revenue.”