Albany Commission members address chaotic Tuesday clash on budget
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
alan.mauldin
@albanyherald.com
ALBANY — A raucous Albany City Commission session didn’t end when the meeting was gaveled to a close Tuesday, as protesters followed elected officials to their cars.
During the meeting, a group of about 30 people stood outside the Government Center as commissioners took a preliminary vote on a $291 million budget. Commissioners could give final approval during a 2 p.m. meeting Thursday.
The dispute was over $10 million in federal COVID-19 relief money, which was earmarked in the budget to help pay for the city’s sewage/wastewater separation project, which has an estimated cost of more than $200 million.
The protesters at times banged on the windows and shouted chants including “Hey hey, ho ho, Bo Dourough’s gotta go,” referring to the city’s mayor — a chorus that also included Commissioners B.J. Fletcher, Matt Fuller, Bob Langstaff and Chad Warbington — “Vote them out” and “Give us our money.”
Prior to that, audience members in the group cheered remarks by Commissioners Jon Howard and Demetrius Young, who both voted against the spending plan,
At previous meetings and on Tuesday, Young has stated his belief that the relief funds should be used to assist the community that was impacted by the pandemic and to address health disparities that were exacerbated by the disease.
Fletcher and Warbington said on Wednesday that some of the protesters followed them to their cars, and Dorough also had a group accompanying him to his car, Warbington said.
“It happened so fast,” the Ward IV commissioner said. “I didn’t know what to do. I listened to what they had to say, but I didn’t engage back.”
Warbington said in hindsight he should have returned to the building and requested that a police officer escort him to his truck, a practice he said he will follow in the future.
“It’s a free country, so people can say what they want to chant,” he said. “(But) they were saying my name and following me. That was borderline aggressive.”
Some of the group also blocked his truck for a brief time but eventually moved out of the way and he was able to leave, the commissioner said.
Warbington said he would like for the city to initiate a conversation with the Dougherty County Commission and Dougherty County School Board to discuss using future disbursements of federal COVID-related funds to address community issues. That strategy would allow the three governments to coordinate their response or establish areas of responsibility that each would address.
The protesters were disruptive during the meeting, as was a woman with a video camera who walked behind the dais and aimed it at him from over his shoulder, Warbington said.
“That was completely wrong,” said Wargington, who said allowing someone to approach so closely was a security breach. “That won’t be happening again. We’re there to do the city’s business, and you can’t do that business with this chaos going on.”
In the future, he said, the mayor and/or police department should prevent such occurrences.
Ultimately, Warbington said, the display presents a bad image of the city that is not conducive to luring industries and businesses.
“About 10 of them met me when I went out a side door,” Fletcher said during a Wednesday telephone interview. “They were always within arms reach of me.
“It was amazing to me that it was allowed to go on for so long” during the meeting, she said of the chanting during the meeting. “Last night was an embarrassment to this community.”
Fletcher, who saw no police officers during her walk to the car, said she will not be intimidated.
“I will be seeking a third term,” she said. “I will fight for our city, not for shenanigans like this. I will fight as long as God gives me strength.”
At issue, for her, is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deadline of five years to have 80 percent of the city’s stormwater and sewage flow separated. The city could face $50,000 fines per day for not complying.
“We don’t have a $50,000-a-day tree,” she said.
The $10 million in federal funds, in addition to $4 million in state funds and $2 million in sales tax funding dedicated to the sanitary sewage system, will cover the first year’s cost of the process, Dorough said during a Wednesday telephone interview.
When commissioners met earlier this year to discuss how to pay for the work, the consensus was that it would require a 5 percent increase in water and sewage rates for five years, the mayor said. In addition, nearly all of the next special-purpose local-option sales tax initiative would have to be spent on the project, meaning that money would not be available for recreation and other needs.
The rate increase would have been like a tax that would hit low-income residents the hardest.
“The highest percentage of their household income goes to utilities,” he said. “Who’s going to be most adversely affected by a rate increase? I would say those who live below the poverty line.”
Dorough said he has fielded complaints from commissioners and individuals who were unable to hear what was being said during the meeting because of the protesters. He said he will move to initiate policies to prevent such occurrences in the future.
He and Warbington noted that there have been four commission work sessions that included public hearings during which the budget was discussed and during which members of the public could have spoken.
“I just think it’s unfortunate that citizens would attend the meeting with the intention of being disruptive,” Dorough said. “We heard their concerns during the public hearings. I understand some citizens think the money needs to be used for other purposes.
“Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions. I don’t think this was a difficult decision.”
Howard said on Wednesday that he supports residents’ right to protest and that the chanting did not cross the line. However, he said that the pounding on the windows and blocking a commissioner’s car did.
He said his vote was based on the need to use the money to address community needs and the awarding of a residential garbage collection contract on the east side of the city to a private contractor.
The contractor has had less than a year collecting residential garbage west of Slappey Boulevard, he said, and Howard said he did not believe the contract should have been expanded without it having a track record.
“You know, I voted my convictions and I felt I did what was in the best interest of my constituents,” said Howard, who said he has received calls from residents voicing opposition to the garbage contract. “In reference to protesting, I support peaceful protesting. I feel it was in good spirit, but I think when they started banging on the windows that was a little too much. Beating on the windows, that’s a distraction.
“As long as they were outside in the park, I think it was OK (but) not calling names, derogatory terms.”
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