Local & State Headlines

Albany City Commission welcomes new members

• The Albany City Commission marks a changing of the guard as it heads into 2008.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Albany city commissioners said farewell to one of their colleagues and welcomed a new member Monday night during a special organizational meeting at the Government Center.

After honoring outgoing Ward 4 Commissioner Bo Dorough for eight years of service to the city, the commission welcomed the ward’s new commissioner, Darton College Professor Roger Marietta, who was sworn in by Dougherty County Probate Judge Nancy Stephenson.

In his first statement as a member of the commission, Marietta asked Albany families to join him in an effort to beautify the city.

“I’d like to invite families in Albany to join me in cleaning up our city,” Marietta said after the commission had finished making appointments to various boards and authorities. “I encourage you to take a walk on Sunday afternoons and pick up the litter that is in your neighborhoods.

“It doesn’t take an ordinance by the city commission for families to get involved in making the city a more beautiful place.”

Marietta, Mayor Willie Adams and newly re-elected commissioners Jon Howard and Tommie Postell of wards 1 and 6, respectively, were sworn in by Stephenson shortly after Adams presented a plaque to Dorough.

“I implore you to continue working with the citizens of this community,” Adams told Dorough. “There will be other opportunities. I appreciate what you have done for the city, and I wish you and your family godspeed.”

Following the ceremonial festivities, the commission appointed more than 50 applicants to positions on a number of key committees and authorities. City Attorney Nathan Davis, City Clerk Sonja Tolbert and Assistant City Clerk Sissy Kelly were all reappointed for two-year terms expiring in January 2010, as was Municipal Court Judge Willie Weaver and Public Defender Ingrid Driskell.

Carol Fullerton and Jim Deal were appointed to expiring seats on the Water, Gas & Light Commission. Deal will take the seat currently held by Brenda Hodges-Tiller.

In an otherwise light agenda, the commission voted to declare property at Westover Road and Phillips Drive surplus for the purpose of selling the property; approved Commissioner Dorothy Hubbard as Albany’s voting delegate at the Georgia Municipal Association’s Mayor’s Day Conference in Atlanta Jan. 27; and approved the purchase of a mobile speed tracker from Control Specialists Company for $4,230.

In a prehearing session, Howard — referencing the shooting death of a teenager in East Albany Friday — warned fellow commissioners that gang activity in the city had become an “epidemic.”

“It’s just a matter of time — and I hope none of us here are ever victims — but if we don’t do something about this epidemic, this city is in danger,” Howard, who was later named mayor pro tem for the next four years, said. “It’s no longer just the senior citizens who are frightened. I’m getting paranoid about stopping at a convenience store.

“I never thought I’d see the day that I wanted us to be like the Soviet Union — use an ‘iron fist’ — but if we don’t get this thing in hand, we’re going to lose all the ground we’ve gained.”

Adams, who said in closing remarks that public safety is the No. 1 issue city leaders face heading into 2008, agreed with his colleague.

“I’m confused,” Adams said. “I keep hearing that we have information (about gang membership), we have a database, we have a task force. But I’m not hearing that anything is being done.

“This thing is like a malignancy. If we don’t stop it, it will spread.”

More Headlines>>