Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I live blogged one of our City Commission meetings. Well, not really “live blogged”, more of a “live note taking”. If I had pda or laptop I would have done it the right way, but as is such, I took notes and jotted down times and what was going on.

This will give you a little glimpse into part of my job. One of my guys had a contract to get approved by the Commission, which was next to last…

Anyway, here it goes:

8:30: Meeting starts. All Commissioners and the Mayor are present. They begin with the Police update. (those not in the know, our police force has had some serious problems over the past few years, lots of corruption and what not). The police chief spoke about a recent murder…that makes 5 murders so far this year. He also talked about some bogus e-mail going around that says there are gang roving the Mall…he says it’s not true…

8:33: Questions from Commissioners. Mainly deal with a local restaurant/nightclub that has been generating lots of complaints.

8:36: Drug unit update. 64 arrests and $71k in drugs seized. Marijuana is still tops. Some hot spots cleared up.

8:40: Questions. Several questions about the % of arrests made of individuals with prior arrests…around 90%…questions about going after the bigger fish. Most arrest are street level dealers, but some have been bigger traffickers. Interesting tidbit: Drugs once came Florida up, now they seem to be coming in from Texas to Atlanta and then down to Albany.

8:47: Funding for the Flint RiverQuarium. It appears that our new (2 year old) aquarium is running out of money. They need $600k per year for the next 5 to 6 years to keep the doors open. $31 million State funds and $4 million private funds were used to build it. Cost overruns caused them to dip into their endowments…now they don’t have enough money.

The Commission spent a lot of time on this issue. It boils down to three things: 1) the RiverQuarium is a essential for continued growth Downtown. 2) Commission does not want to see the project fail. 3) The RiverQuarium is a PRIVATE corporation, as such, the City Commission can not just give them money (per City Attorney). The City would have to show some sort of benefit, such as recreation or something, even then it would be tough.

Basically, the RiverQuarium will shut their doors in 45 days. The County was approached for funding as well, does not seem like they will give any money.

Discussion ended with the Commissioners requesting to see the RiverQuarium’s budget and to look at other cost cutting measures.

9:57: Citizen appearance. Contractor is upset and is claiming Albany has unfair contracts and does not pay in a timely manner. The Mayor spanked him and spanked him hard. Our Mayor is a black man and a highly respected doctor. He told the guy (black too) that he wants to be known for is accomplishments and not given special treatment because of his skin color.

It also appears that the guy has been double billing the City…

10:09: Airport update. The Airport Director presented their new DBE goal for 2007-08. DBE is a Federal designation. FY 07 goal = 15%, FY 08 goal = 15.2%.

10:14: I wonder what’s for lunch today…Tuna sandwich? Maybe…with chips and sweet tea…

10:15:Talking about local firms being designated locally as disadvantaged businesses, but not Federally…need to fill out some forms or what not to get Federal DBE designation.

10:20: My tail bone hurts. The canoe trip was hell on it…Looks like it might rain…

A quick sidebar. We have two media outlets here in town: NBC and FOX. The local NBC station has lots of money, well paid anchors and top of the line equipment…the local Fox station is about as polished as a high school news program.

The funniest thing is the difference between the talking heads. The NBC talking head is all done up. She probably has a makeup and hair person and her clothes look expensive.

NBC talking head

The FOX talking head looks like a teenager. You can tell she does her own hair and makeup and she just doesn’t look as professional.

FOX talking head

Another funny thing is how they work. The NBC reporter has a cameraman. He has a large, professional camera like you would expect from CNN. He does all the heavy lifting, moving the camera and other equipment while the talking head looks pretty. The FOX reporter is not so lucky. She has to do everything herself. She sets up the camera and starts it and then walks in front to begin her report. Something tells me she has to do her own editing as well.

10:22: More talk about DBE’s and getting more local minority firms involved in the process.

10:25: No, seriously, my tail bone really hurts.

10:27: Local NAACP president is now talking. This guy is a hoot. Talking about last year the Airport hired some “salt and pepper” team when their organization could have done it for them. He is talking about “Black owned businesses”, yet he does not seem to realize that DBE does not mean only “Black owned”.

10:33: Moved to appointments to various boards…rats…I was not picked for the ethics board…there is always next year.

10:37: 10 minute break.

10:50: Alcohol licenses. Man, nothing causes more problems than alcohol licenses. One of the Commissioners is a Muslim and is always the lone “No” vote.

Oddest part was when several of the Commissioners started complaining about churches inhibiting growth.

There are more “store front” churches springing up in shopping centers. Their presence means that no establishment selling alcohol can locate within so many feet of it.

Several asked the City Attorney what could be done to limit these churches. Couldn’t the City make them jump through hoops or not allow church splits? Make them be a member of one of the mainstream branches? What makes a church? Can the City have rules that make it harder to form a church? I kid you not, they actually asked these questions.

The City Attorney, stifling a laugh, indicated that he did not think the City could pass Constitutional mustard on that one. You know, freedom of religion and what not…I can’t believe they actually asked those questions.

11:05: Time for the big showdown on alleys.

The City paves alleys using Sales Tax funds. They only set aside $3 million this round. Public Works has a list of alleys that cause the most maintenance headaches. The Director of Public Works picks three alleys in each Ward from that list. Commissioners have a chance to pick different alleys, but in order to avoid getting politics involved, they usually defer to the Director of Public Works. The Mayor gets one alley, picked the same way.

A few months ago a group of citizens showed up at a Commission meeting asking that their alley be paved. The Mayor (up for re-election) grandstanded and said that he would give up “his” alley so that these good people could have their alley paved. There were two big problems, the first was that the alley in question was in fact two alleys, the second was that the Mayor’s ally was only 500 feet long, while the new alley would be 2,200 feet long. Quite a bit of difference in cost.

This got passed around for a few meetings, but the gist of the matter is that the City Commission voted on the alley list, so any changes to the list would have to be voted on.

Commissioners are talking about what to do.

One Commissioner, not known for not always asking the most intelligent questions, is actually asking intelligent questions. It seems that there is a rift between the Mayor and the Commissioner in whose Ward the “New” alley is located.

The Commissioner apparently embarrassed the Mayor about a campaign contributor and the Mayor told the citizens that the Commissioner picked the alleys and that he chose not to pave their alley.

The Commissioner wants an apology from the Mayor for falsely stating that the Commissioner did not pick their alley. The Mayor wants an apology for being embarrassed.

The not always on Commissioner said it is very easy, the Mayor needs to withdraw his request for the new alley and take the political heat and the Commissioner in whose Ward the alley is in, should write a letter to his constituents explaining how alleys are picked.

Best line of the day, from the not always on Commissioner: “Let’s stop playing marbles because no one is hitting anything our of the circle.”

11:31: Mayor takes a straw vote to see if he could change his alley…fails…Mayor to eat it…original list of alleys stands.

11:35: On to recent bids…our two things…pass easily…Yay!

11:45: Meeting is adjourned.

I know this has been fascinating for you to read.

You should see it in person, and this was a tame meeting.

There are times that the Commissioners ask really strange questions. Many times they are simply mistaking one issue for another. But sometimes they hit the nail on the head. This was one of those times.

Fun times. Fun times…