Albany City Commission votes to extend alley

ALBANY — What started as a squabble between a local business owner and a resident on East Albany’s Delta Street was settled Tuesday morning when the Albany City Commission voted to spend $175,000 to extend an alleyway that would allow Larry Sexton’s employees to easily maneuver large trucks from his Poultry Housekeeping Service business onto Delta without hitting vehicles parked in front of the residence at adjacent 120 Delta St.

The disagreement started in 2015 when Alice Goseer Jenkins, Dougherty County’s human resources director, complained that her son, who lived at the Delta Street residence, had been ticketed for parking in front of the residence. Sexton said he had asked the tenant to park his vehicle a “few feet further north” so that large trucks leaving his business would have room to turn onto Delta.

The resident initially complied, but eventually refused to move his vehicle. The city marked a portion of the curb in front of the residence as a no-parking zone, but Jenkins complained to the city and the issue has remained in limbo since.

Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher at first questioned the matter brought before the board Tuesday morning.

“So, basically, we’re going to spend $175,000 because one person did not want to be told where to park his car?” Fletcher asked.

City Manager Sharon Subadan quickly countered.

“While it’s true this incident started with a conflict between the business owner and the resident, it was actually the symptom of a bigger problem,” the city manager said. “Yes, the money that we’re proposing to spend may seem expensive, but in reality this plan we have is a real solution put together by a real traffic engineer.

“What happened in the past was one of my predecessors in this position made a decision not to allow someone to do what he had a legal right to do. What we want to do will allow us to accomplish four solutions to issues, including a drainage problem and bringing that alley up to the standards required for the business that uses it.”

Engineering staff told commissioners costs for the upgrade include the purchase of three lots that will allow for a 25-foot right-of-way, the construction of wide concrete aprons, correction of storm drainage issues, an environmental assessment and an appraisal.

In the first of the commission’s newly enacted dual-meeting schedule, the board also voted at its business meeting that immediately followed an early-morning work session to reinstate one- and two-hour parking limits downtown.

Albany Police Department Chief Michael Persley said an initial 120-day moratorium on the shorter parking periods and a 180-day extension had expired since the commission decided to allow four-hour parking downtown as a means of being “customer-friendly.” Persley noted, though, and Fletcher reiterated, that many city employees were taking up parking spaces that were intended for downtown patrons.

Persley said APD will start sending out notices soon.In two weeks, he said, the department will start handing out $35 parking tickets at certain locations.

The board also voted Tuesday to approve alcohol licenses for 240 Lounge at 242 W. Broad Ave. and Needs 2 at 1600 McArthur St.; authorize Subadan and Assistant City Manager Stephen Collier to communicate beneficiary decisions with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and OK’d acceptance of a $33,750 Department of Community Affairs grant for utilities and rental deposits at low-income housing.

Commissioners approved bids that included $124,500 for roof replacement at 401 Pine Ave. (by Jenkins Roofing of Jacksonville, Fla.) $61,500 for continued computer support service from Denovo Ventures, and $62,400 for telephone service from AT&T.

In his quarterly crime data report to the commission, Persley noted that certain specific Part II crimes were down over year-to-year and monthly periods, including drug abuse violations, offenses against children and vandalism.

“We still believe we can curtail some of the (more serious) Part I Crimes by focusing on the quality-of-life, Part II Crimes,” Persley said.

Fletcher and Ward I’s Jon Howard asked Persley to have officers address the issue of panhandling in the city. Both offered instances in which customers at retail outlets were accosted by individuals asking for money. Fletcher also noted that “groups with buckets standing beside the road” were a growing annoyance and were breaking the city’s law of soliciting on roadways.

Ward II Commissioner Bobby Coleman said locking people up for minor crimes was not the solution the city needed.

“We’ve got to think outside the box,” he told Persley. “We’re too quick to criticize and too slow to empathize. There’s got to be a better solution than locking these people up.”

Also at the meeting, Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker asked city officials to help him spread the word about the Move on When Ready Program at the college. The program serves three groups, he said, “The underemployed, adults seeking a higher level of education and high school students looking to get two years of college by the time they graduate.”

“We think it’s important to let parents know their students can get two years of college at no direct cost,” Parker said.