Samuel Sneed sworn onto Albany Utility Board

ALBANY — The Rev. Samuel Sneed Jr. was sworn in as the fifth member of the city’s Utility Board Thursday, officially filling the seat vacated by businessman Jay Sharpe.

City Attorney Nathan Davis administered the oath of office during the Utility Board’s meeting, after which Sneed said he’s ready to serve the community.

“I spent more than 20 years in the Navy, so I’m used to serving,” the new Utility Board member said. “I’m available to help this community in any way I can.”

Following the swearing-in ceremony, Sneed voted along with fellow board members to recommend that the Albany City Commission approve a $79,900 bid by Tallahassee-based architectural firm DodStone Group for space planning and design services at the city’s new 401 Pine Ave. office complex and a $133,632 bid for a one-year contract with Kalamazoo, Mich.-based LED Lighting to supply security light fixtures for the Utility Board.

“The goal for that (office) building is to maximize usage of the space available,” City Manager Sharon Subadan said of the 21,564-square-foot former Synovis Bank building and its 5,600-square-foot storage facility. “This is our first step in moving into our new administrative offices.”

Assistant City Manager Stephen Collier said the city had budgeted $2.8 million for the renovation project.

Finance Director Derrick Brown told the board net profit from utilities currently is at $5.8 million, but he tempered that good news with a warning.

“You have to put things into perspective,” Brown said. “About $4 million of that total is from revenue that’s not typical, such as the $1.4 million MEAG credit.”

Brown told the board cost of goods is 2 percent below projections, helping — along with expenses significantly below budget — keep the Utility Board’s financials strong. He noted that revenue is running right at projections.

“A big part of the reason we’ve been able to keep expenses below projections has been our ability to maintain our staffing levels,” the finance director said. “But we may need to talk about that soon. There are 10-12 positions that may eventually need to be filled.”

Subadan said each potential new job would be weighed carefully.

“We’ve been jockeying back and forth between what we need and what we want in regards to personnel,” the city manager said. “I believe smaller is better; keeping costs as low as possible is part of our fiscal responsibility. I’ll continue to work with staff on bringing personnel on board without negatively impacting our citizens.”

Staff presented a detailed tutorial during the meeting on reading new utility bills sent to customers by third-party billing service South Data.