Albany City Commission OKs pre-hazard mitigation plan

ALBANY — Maybe it was a touch of irony, maybe a harbinger of things to come.

But the most compelling conversation at Tuesday’s Albany City Commission business meeting centered around the city’s hazard mitigation plan. It came hours before the city was hit by a storm cell that dumped inches of rain and kept most of the region under a tornado watch throughout a long, scary night.

Albany Fire Department Chief Ron Rowe, who also serves as the city/county Emergency Management Agency director, told commissioners their vote on a pre-hazard mitigation plan is a federal requirement.

“The federal government requires us to determine the most likely disaster scenarios in the community and come up with a plan on how we will react to them,” Rowe said. “Most of ours, obviously, are weather-related.

“In order to continue receiving state and federal funding, we must have an approved plan in place.”

Also at the brief meeting, commissioners:

— OK’d a C-2-to-C-3 rezoning application that will allow SOWEGA Warehousing LLC owner Todd Davis to utilize the property at 1908 N. Slappey Blvd. (the former United Furniture Outlet) for off-site storage and to market it as a retail space larger than 25,000 feet (which was a restriction under C-2);

— Appointed Allen Baggs, the lone applicant, to both the Citizens Transportation Committee and the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission, and Barbara Jackson to the Albany Housing Authority;

— Agreed to an alcohol license transfer at the 1905 S. Madison St. June Bug’s Grocery convenience store;

— Approved Tallahassee, Fla.-based architectural firm DodStone Group’s $79,900 bid for space planning and design at the city’s new Pine Avenue Utility Board/management office complex;

— Signed off on new vision/mission statements and a logo that will be part of the city’s rebranding campaign;

— OK’d the pre-mitigation plan.

— Approved spending for Utility Board FCC service fees ($52,037.45) and the rehab of Well No. 39 ($53,120).

Both Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard and Ward II’s Bobby Coleman voted against the DodStone contract. Howard said at last week’s work session that he is not in favor of moving city offices out of the downtown Government Center.

Howard also asked City Manager Sharon Subadan during a meeting prebriefing the cost of the consultant’s fees for work on the city branding campaign. She said the cost was $38,500.

Subadan said the city’s new logo would be unveiled at its March 1 work meeting. The vision statement approved by the commission reads: “The city of Albany is a collaborative regional leader delivering exceptional services and enhancing quality of life, while fostering an atmosphere where citizens and businesses can thrive.”

The approved mission statement reads: “The city of Albany delivers fiscally responsible, highly dependable services to the citizens in the community and the region with integrity and professionalism.”