City of Albany set to open new utilities drive-through on Monday
Utility Board recommends software contract renewal, purchase of refuse trucks
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By Carlton Fletcher
ALBANY — As the city works to prepare for the opening Monday of its new utilities payment drive-through facility at 401 Pine Ave., its Utility Board voted Thursday morning to recommend approval of a pair of expenditures.
The board approved the staff-recommended $63,372.27 renewal of the city’s annual maintenance and license software support contract with Hansen Technologies and a proposal to purchase two front-loader refuse trucks from New Way Inc. for $489,348.75.
Both expenditures require formal approval of the Albany City Commission.
The contract with Hansen calls for a software “true-up,” an audit for which showed that the Utility Board has 40,841 customers rather than the previously accepted total of 39,000.
“The reason for the increase is the addition of our stormwater customers,” Assistant City Manager Stephen Collier said. “We had not added them to our customer base, but it makes sense. They’re our customers, too.”
Collier’s fellow assistant city manager, Phil Roberson, said the refuse units sought by the Solid Waste division of the utility would replace vehicles that have been in service for nine years.
“The typical life cycle of these vehicles is five years,” Roberson said. “The city manager (Sharon Subadan) is trying to get us back on track where we’re replacing this equipment on a regular cycle.”
Subadan said the city will get “better residual return” on equipment if it is replaced in a more timely manner.
The city manager also said that while Albany had “fared well,” with only minor and brief outages during Hurricane Hermine last Thursday and Friday, its line crews had reached out to the city of Thomasville on the day after the storm to help the “sister city” restore power to its customers.
Subadan also introduced Steven Carter as the Utility Board’s chief information officer. As part of his duties, Carter will be in charge of the utility’s telecommunications operation.
The city’s new drive-through payment center will operate 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and will accommodate three teller stations. The drive-through will have entry points from Pine Avenue and Jefferson Street.
The city’s existing 218 N. Washington St. drive-through facility opened in June 1978, according to a release from the city. It closed at noon Thursday.
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